“I'm eight,” she said, looking at him like he was stupid.“You want to watercolor or paint some shit with me?”
“Language, Isabella,” he said.“I am not fond of watercolor painting, but if it is something you wish me to learn so I may spend time with you, I shall.Are there other things you like to do?”
“I like to catch and kill the bugs in the garden,” she said.
“I can spend time with you in my lab and show you the oils I am using for the garden to keep control of the bugs, but we do not want to kill them,” he said.“The bugs are used to feed the chickens.What we grow to eat, we must take care of, including the bugs which serve a purpose in our lives.”
“You're so smart.How do you know all that stuff?”
“I learned from Papa and my brothers, and I am sharing it with you,” he said.
She gave him the side-eye.Unlike Catarina, who had inherited Ryanne’s dainty features, Isabella looked more like the girl version of their father.She even walked like him, strutting as if she owned the room.
“And the hug and kiss thing?”She asked, batting her eyelashes at him.
“Kids have the cooties,” he said, laughing as he dropped to one knee.She walked into his embrace, and he gave her a peck on the cheek.
“Mommy is teaching me to play piano,” Isabella said.“Can you play piano, Micah?”
“I know how but don't like it,” he said.“The sound of keys is not friendly to my ears.”
“Okay, but you play your drums, and that is louder, and I've heard you play the guitar.”
“Rhythm has a different sound than the plunk of the ivories,” he said.“Subtle, but noticeable.”
“Okay,” she said, waiting for something he wasn't sure of, but he also waited.“Micah, I love you.”
“And I love you,” he said softly as Alita approached.He knew she was coming even before she arrived.It was as if his nervous system could feel her approaching.He looked up to acknowledge her.
“Andres is arriving, Boss,” she told him, watching his body language.He bid good afternoon to his sisters making his way to the kitchen.This would be the first stop for Andres who would come looking for a sweet treat.
Micah had a strained relationship with Andres.If there was a sibling that always got the other in trouble, it was Andres.He didn't treat Micah differently; he simply treated him as a little brother, whereas Yuñior treated Micah as an equal.At times, Alita didn't think Micah cared for Andres but respected the hustle of the man who arrived in his flashy sports car, reeking of cologne and dressed like an ad forVogue Hommes.
The brothers met in the kitchen as Micah came through the back door while Andres was searching the cookie jar for treats.They spoke, and Andres eyed his young brother's tattoo, noticing the difference in the placement of the eyes.On his tattoo and Yuñior's, the eyes of the vipers were over their nipples, but not on his.
“Hey, why are the eyes of the Bushmaster not over your man titties?”Andres asked.
“Didn't want the nipple infections you and Yuñior got from the ink, so I asked for an enlargement of the head and widening of the mouth to increase the range of the viper,” Micah said.
“Is that some sort of metaphor for your life?”
“Perhaps,” he said.“My course is not pre-determined, and I'm figuring out my path.How have you been?”
“You know me, just a brown man getting it in,” Andres said as Alita came through the back door.She took the wet towel from Micah and took it to the laundry room.Alita acknowledged Andres, speaking and making herself scarce.“You tapping that yet?”
“What means this tapping?”Micah asked, squinting.
“You and your guard...you knocking the socks off that at night?”Andres asked, shocked at how fast his brother moved and was in his face.
“Her job is to guard my life, help regulate my nervous system, and keep me from looking like a freak in social situations,” Micah said.“None of that stops me from fucking up a brown man who steps out of line with her, are we clear?”
“Whoa.Whoa!”Andres said, stepping back.“You seem wound a little tight.Do you need to spend a few days with me at my place in Medellin?”
“Hell no,” Micah said.“I don't want to sit on your furniture, let alone take part in any of that communalcucalaying on it.”
“It's not communal; it's friendlycuca,” Andres said, laughing.“Let me know if you need a chance to do something strange.”
“Strange is this conversation.”
