Day Six: Heart
"Casita, I'm back," Alma said as she entered the house. There was a welcoming clatter of tiles, and Alma went into the kitchen and set down the many packages she was carrying on the table. She found her babies just where she left them… well almost all, Bruno, never one to nap, had made his way out of his cradle and was sitting quietly on the floor playing with something she could not see. He let out a giggle and held it up, and Alma's heart skipped a beat when she realized it was a small rat.
"Brunito, no, no, no, no… " was all she could get out as she stepped quickly over the barricade Casita had made. The rat saw her first and began to wriggle in Bruno's grasp. Startled, Bruno let go of the rat, and it scurried quickly toward the wall and disappeared. She quickly checked his hands, but he'd not been bitten that she could see, and she sighed with relief. She picked up her son and took him over to the sink and set him on the counter and made a game of washing his hands up to his elbow.
Alma knew if there was one, there would be more and asked as she put Bruno back in the play area, "Casita, how many more rats are there?"
The house clattered its tiles and Alma closed her eyes as she realized the house could not count. She took a deep breath and decided she really didn't want to know the answer to that question.