Alec and Abby arrived early at the market plaza.
They borrowed a broom from the mango seller and cleaned their spot before spreading their blanket over the cardboard.
“How’s your mother?
Is she feeling better?” the mango seller asked.
Abby smiled and nodded.
“Mom’s fever broke last night.
Thank you for the mangoes, sir.
Our mom loved them.”
“Good.
Good.” The old man nodded.
“Your mom is lucky to have kids like you.
By the way, there was a man looking for you yesterday.”
Alec froze.
He had just finished tying the garbage bags.
His hands went still.
“A man?
Is he a customer?”
The old man shrugged.
“It doesn’t seem like it.
He looks rich.
You don’t see such men walking around in a place like this.”
Alec and Abby shared a look.
Neither of them knew who the man was.
“Do you think it’s a friend of Mom’s?” Abby asked quietly.
Alec shrugged.
“Maybe he heard she’s back.”
“But why look for us?” Abby frowned.
“Did he know she’s our mom?”
Alec paused.
Their mom never mentioned any friend from Costa Verde.
Only Uncle Zach and Aunt Cassie, and they were from the place they came from.
They quickly spread their goods once they noticed the crowd growing.
A few women came by and bought a couple of purses and hair ties.
An old man bought a purse to hold his loose coins.
An hour passed, and they sold seven coin purses and five hair ties.
It was the best sales day they’d had since they started.
The milk can back home would surely get a little heavier later.
Then a man in a gray jacket came over.
“How much for all of them?” he asked.
He pointed at the remaining goods in the small box next to Abby.
Abby’s heart skipped a beat.
Alec’s eyes widened.
No one had made a bulk purchase for them before.
“All of them?” Alec asked.
“Yes, all of them.” The man nodded.
“My niece’s birthday is coming.
We need giveaways for our guests.”
Alec did the math fast.
With their remaining goods, they should be able to earn over a hundred coins.
He thought of their mother’s expensive surgery.
The more money they earned, the sooner she could have the surgery.
Alec said a price.
The man didn’t even negotiate.
The man pulled a wad of bills from his pocket, counted them, then pressed them into Alec’s hand.
He then scooped the whole box under his arm.
He turned to go without saying another word.
Alec looked down at the money.
Something was wrong.
The bills looked normal.
The colors were bright.
But the paper felt too smooth to touch, almost slick in his hand.
When ink smudged under his thumb, Alec’s suspicion grew.
They had been selling for more than a month.
Alec knew what real money felt like.
“Hey!” Alec shouted.
“Wait!
This money’s fake!”
The man didn’t stop.
Instead, he walked faster.
Alec clutched the fake bills and ran after him.
“Alec!
No!” Abby cried behind him.
She looked around, hoping to find an adult who could help them.
But the other sellers were busy at their own stalls.
Alec didn’t stop.
The box contained two weeks of work he and Abby had done.
It was for their mom’s surgery.
It was for her eyes.
He caught the man’s sleeve and pulled with everything he had.
“Give it back or pay us properly!”
The man spun around.
His face hardened before he kicked Alec away.
Alec went down, but he scrambled up and chased the man again.
The man cursed under his breath and pushed Alec again.
“ALEC!”
Abby’s scream rang across the market.
***
Adrian heard the scream before he saw anything.
He had come to the market early, the way the mango seller suggested.
Calvin walked a step behind him, his eyes scanning the crowd.
Adrian wanted to see the two children and had lain awake the night before.
He had cleared his entire morning for it.
He still couldn’t have said why he was nervous about this meeting.
He was near the mango seller’s stall when a girl’s scream reached him.
Adrian instinctively went toward the sound.
A young boy lay on the ground with a bleeding scratch on his elbow while a grown man stood over him, one foot ready to kick again.
Adrian had seen violence throughout his life, but what he despised the most was an adult laying hands on a child.
Rage he hadn’t felt in a long time rose in him.
He crossed in a few long strides and caught the man by his collar, hauling him up away from the boy.
The man was stunned.
In Adrian’s grip, he looked small and weak.
“Pay the kids or get lost!” Adrian said.
His voice was low, but it was the quiet that Calvin learned to fear in the seven years he worked with Adrian.
The man struggled to break free.
“Hey, man.
This is none of your business.”
“None of my business?” Adrian sneered.
“You think you can pull such a stunt in my territory?”
The man opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He took a good look at Adrian’s face.
Whatever he saw there drained the color from his face.
He dropped the box, and Adrian let him go.
Then he ran, shoved through the crowd, and never looked back.
Adrian let him go and didn’t ask Calvin to chase after the man.
He turned his attention back to the children.
The boy was still on the ground, holding his injured arm.
His sister was crying next to him.
“I’m okay,” the boy told his sister.
“Abby.
I’m okay.
Please don’t cry.”
The girl sniffed and looked at her brother’s bleeding elbow.
“But you’re bleeding!”
“It doesn’t hurt that much!
It will heal!”
The boy then glanced at their ruined goods on the ground.
They were smeared with dirt.
Some had even been stepped on by the man earlier.
He was so busy looking at their goods that he didn’t notice Adrian approaching.
Adrian immediately moved.
He crouched, picked up the scattered ties and purses, and put them back in the small box.
He then moved to hand them back to the children.
His hands froze midair.
The girl shrank back beside her brother, while the boy looked alert as another stranger approached them.
“What do you want?” he asked cautiously.
“These are yours,” Adrian replied.
The girl looked up at him.
Her eyes were red from crying.
Her cheeks were tear-streaked.
But her eyes—something about her eyes made him go still.
He had seen those eyes before.
But he couldn’t place them.
He couldn’t think.
He couldn’t move.