Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 THREE HOURS LATER AROUND NOON WATERFRONT THE NORTH END, BOSTON Carmen's eyes snapped open and she scrambled to her feet. She thought she'd dozed off for a minute or two. But now the day was very bright. And warm.

She unbuttoned her coat and looked around. Some men were on benches with open lunch pails. It must be past noon! Carmen couldn't believe she'd slept so long! Everyone must be worried about her. She had to get back to the Grassos' apartment. Or maybe she should go to school. Maybe she should… And then her insides turned to jelly. Where was Rosie? Carmen whirled around, but the horse was nowhere to be seen. What a fool Carmen was! She hadn't tied Rosie up. And now… What if the horse had wandered into the busy streets? She could get hit by a motorcar—that happened all the time. Before Carmen knew it, she was running, screaming Rosie's name. Carmen sprinted to the stable. She burst through the door and over to Rosie's stall. But Rosie wasn't there.

"Think, Carmen, think," she said to herself as she ran back outside. Rosie was smart. Where would she go? Carmen stopped and looked around. It was always so crowded down here by the water—even more packed than the streets up where Carmen lived. Men were everywhere. Trucks and wagons rumbled by. Carmen was sprinting to a nearby shed when she noticed her eyes were watering. Her nose was burning, too. Blech. What was that sickly-sweet smell? Molasses, she realized. The smell was thick in the air, worse than ever before. It even coated her throat. The molasses tank was just behind her. She turned around, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat. "Rosie!" The mare was standing at the tank, licking molasses off the sides.

Carmen almost cried with relief as she came up next to Rosie. Smart horse! Carmen remembered how Rosie licked the molasses from Tony's fingers. She must have smelled the molasses in the air and followed it right to the tank. "So you wanted a little snack?" Carmen said, patting Rosie's forehead.

The mare smacked her sticky lips. Her whiskers were dripping with goo. "And I guess you're saving some for later," Carmen said. She grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and started wiping Rosie's face. That's when she heard it. GRRR guh guh gug gug GRRR guh, guh, guh, guh… Carmen ignored the strange growling sounds. It was just the molasses, boiling inside the tank. She knew that now. And then Carmen heard a familiar voice. "Carmen!" It was Tony! He was running toward her from back near the stable. Carmen swung herself up onto Rosie and clicked her tongue. They trotted over to meet Tony. His face was bright red, his hair damp with sweat. "Where have you been?" he said, his voice cracking. "We've been searching everywhere!"

He looked so worried, and she could tell he'd been crying. Carmen reached down and grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I…" But she didn't know what to say. She felt terrible for disappearing like she had. And now she wondered: Did Tony know about the plan to send her back to Italy? Did he realize that in a week, Carmen would be gone, and they'd never see each other again? Just the idea of saying good-bye to Tony—to everyone—made her whole body shake. But wait. It wasn't Carmen's body that was shaking. Or Rosie's. It was the ground. And this time she felt sure there was an earthquake. Carmen gripped Rosie's neck tighter, expecting the ground to split apart. The horse snorted and nervously stamped her feet. "What's going on?" Tony said.