Afterlife - Julia Alvarez Page 0,45

Izzy. The only way to draw her back from the edge is to engage her in one of the sad stories that Izzy always gets involved in.

Listen, Izzy, Antonia cuts through Izzy’s rant. I’m not in Illinois anymore. I’m in Athol with Mo-mo; Tilly is on her way here; we’ve been trying to find you. But here’s the thing: I need to get back to Vermont. There’s this young girl, undocumented, pregnant, about to dar a luz, alone in this world, no one else she can call on. Antonia relates the tale, heightening the pathos, not that it needs any touching up. She can feel Izzy listening. Can such empathy be a pathology?

Antonia concludes with her bargaining chip. She’s not going home until Izzy is back.

I can’t, Izzy wails. I signed papers. I don’t have the money. And I know you guys aren’t going to lend it to me. If I rob a bank, I’ll end up in jail. Or in the loony bin, she jokes. So, the reality gauge is not totally off. Izzy has not lost her sense of humor. There is hope.

We can get you out of that agreement. Your Realtor friend Nancy as good as said she’s ready to tear up the agreement. Antonia does not need to add the caveat: if something untoward has happened to the signatory. The last thing Izzy needs is an idea like that put in her head.

As she has been speaking, Antonia is walking back into the house, through the sunporch, into the living room, which has suddenly become very quiet. Mona and Maritza and Dot have sensed a surprising development. Antonia makes an emphatic gesture—jabbing a finger to her lips, then mimes writing on a piece of paper, afraid if she turns on the speakerphone, Izzy might get suspicious and hang up. Izzy, Antonia scribbles, pointing to the phone. Mona’s mouth falls open, but Antonia again gestures for silence. The three women crowd around Antonia.

Ask for her location, Dot jots down.

Antonia nods deeply. Precisely what she has been trying to do. Izzy, honey, where are you, cuquita? Their mother’s moniker for the favorite daughter of the moment.

Izzy again says, How should I know? Some rest stop on the interstate.

Hey! Antonia hears a male voice in the background. You’re going to have to finish up. I gotta go!

Who’s that? Antonia asks.

A really nice guy who is letting me use his cell. I lost mine.

Put him on, Antonia says, unsure whether Izzy will comply. Could you, please? Antonia inflects the command into a question. The eldest has to be made to feel she is in control.

Ralph sounds nice enough. Antonia explains her sister doesn’t quite know where she is. Always has had a bad sense of direction—best to leave it at that in case this Ralph is some shady character for whom a vulnerable older woman, flashing her wad of cash from the bank account she emptied, would be the perfect setup.

Antonia jots down the location, Interstate 94, Exit 9, in Gary, Indiana. Dot and Mona hurry into the porch, dogs in tow, to make follow-up calls. Antonia can hear them—Dot dialing the state police; Mona, their sister Tilly. Meanwhile, Ralph really has to go. He’s got a load of cream cheese to get to Chicago yesterday.

Does she offer to buy the whole truckload in exchange for Ralph babysitting Izzy before the cops come? Can you put my sister back on?

Hey! she hears Ralph shouting into the roar of interstate traffic. Your sister still wants to talk to you!

I’m afraid she just drove off, he says when he comes back on. Don’t worry. She’s not going fast pulling that big trailer of animals.

It doesn’t take long to set their rescue operation in motion. The Indiana state police have already stopped a driver swerving on the highway. Dot asks them to please hold Felicia Vega. She has been missing. The family is worried. Mona reaches Tilly and Kaspar, who were only a couple of hours away from Athol. They are turning around and racing back to Gary. Depending on what the state police might require, the plan is to pick up Izzy, and—then what? That’s what the sisterhood has to decide. Where do the homeless whose ice floes have melted reside? What is the right thing to do by someone whose head isn’t on right?

Another call comes in, but this time it’s Beth Trotter. Just wanting to give Antonia an update. Beth has checked out the expectant mother. The position of the