As soon as she arrived she went straight to the kitchen to see if the
monkey was there. It was: what a relief. She wouldn't have liked to
admit that her mother had been right. Monkeys at a birthday? her
mother had sneered. Get away with you, believing any nonsense
you're told! She was cross, but not because of the monkey, the girl
thought; it's just because of the party.
"I don't like you going," she told her. "It's a rich people's party,."
"Rich people go to Heaven too," said the girl, who studied religion at
school.
"Get away with Heaven," said the mother. "The problem with you,
young lady, is that you like to fart higher than your ass."
The girl didn't approve of the way her mother spoke. She was barely
nine, and one of the best in her class.
"I'm going because I've been invited," she said. "And I've been
invited because Luciana is my friend. So there."
"Ah yes, your friend," her mother grumbled. She paused. "Listen,
Rosaura," she said at last. "That one's not your friend. You know
what you are to them? The maid's daughter, that's what."
Rosaura blinked hard: she wasn't going to cry. Then she yelled:
"Shut up! You know nothing about being friends!"
Every afternoon she used to go to Luciana's house and they would
both finish their homework while Rosaura's mother did the cleaning.
They had their tea in the kitchen and they told each other secrets.
Rosaura loved everything in the big house, and she also loved the
people who lived there.
"I'm going because it will be the most lovely party in the whole world,
Luciana told me it would. There will be a magician, and he win bring
a monkey and everything."
The mother swung around to take a good look at her child, and
pompously put her hands on her hips. "Monkeys at a birthday?" she
said. "Get away with you, believing any nonsense you're told!"
Rosaura was deeply offended. She thought it unfair of her mother to
accuse other people of being liars simply because they were rich.
Rosaura too wanted to be rich, of course. If one day she managed to
live in a beautiful palace, would her mother stop loving her? She felt
very sad. She wanted to go to that party more than anything else in
the world.
"I'll die if I don't go," she whispered, almost without moving her lips.
And she wasn't sure whether she had been heard, but on the
morning of the party she discovered that her mother had starched
her Christmas dress. And in the afternoon, after washing her hair,
her mother rinsed it in apple vinegar so that it would be all nice and
shiny. Before going out, Rosaura admired herself in the mirror, with
her white dress and glossy hair, and thought she looked terribly
pretty.
Senora Ines also seemed to notice. As soon as she saw her, she
said: "How lovely you look today, Rosaura. "
Rosaura gave her starched skirt a slight toss with her hands and
walked into the party with a firm step. She said hello to Luciana and
asked about the monkey. Luciana put on a secretive look and
whispered into Rosaura's ear: "He's in the kitchen. But don't tell
anyone, because it's a surprise."
Rosaura wanted to make sure. Carefully she entered the kitchen and
there she saw it: deep in thought, inside its cage. It looked so funny
that the girl stood there for a while, watching it, and later, every so
often, she would slip out of the party unseen and go and admire it.
Rosaura was the only one allowed into the kitchen. Senora Ines had
said: "You yes, but not the others, they're much too boisterous, they
might break something." Rosaura had never broken anything. She
even managed the jug of orange juice, carrying it from the kitchen into
the dining room. She held it carefully and didn't spill a single drop.
And Senora Ines had said: "Are you sure you can manage a jug as
big as that?" Of course she could manage. She wasn't a
butterfingers, like the others. Like that blonde girl with the bow in her
hair. As soon as she saw Rosaura, the girl with the bow had said: