“Yes, but don’t forget about the risks” Julia says,”Time affects people differently. You must write her a letter or phone her, she can loves you so much, but also she could hate you, or worse, forget you.”

“Those are the risks, aren’t they?”.

“Yes, the risks…. Someone said that to be alive, you have to take risks.”

Shane smile and says, “Carmen explained that to me one time; the same words.”

“Carmen said it ?wow. She is an intelligent girl”Julia says.”Is she pretty?”

“She’s beautiful. She’s a Latin girl. She is sweet and her smile “…Shane says and sighs, “And the way she speaks… is very graceful.”

“If it doesn’t bother you; now that you are going to be here for a few weeks, you can stay in my house; its your house. You can deal with her as you like. What do you say?”.

“Thanks, but maybe it would be better if I look for a motel.”

“That would be OK, too. But if you change your mind, remember this is your house, too” Julia says and asks ,”Do you like the city?”.

“Besides the airport, I didn’t see anything else.”

“When you want to, we’ll take a tour.”

“Hmm. Perhaps. We’ll see.” Shane says.Not for a moment did Shane want go to a motel; she felt good in her mother’s house.Neither could She believed what had just hapened – talking about her feelings. Shane is very reserved,and it was difficult for her to express what she felts. There were very few times when she confided in anyone what she felt, and in most cases she felt pressured to do it. Except for Carmen, nobody could understand what was in the depths of her heart.But speaking with Julia was easy, spontaneous.

Julia cannot continue with her paperwork. She needs to know more about her daughter, about Carmen, her life.”What country is she from?”.

“Carmen? She was born in L.A but her parents are Mexican. Her father died before she was born, and Mercedes was left in charge of her and her sisters”.

Julia asks, ” Mercedes?”.

“Oh, she’s Carmen’s mother.”

“I see you get along well with Carmen’s family.”

“Yes, I love them, especially the grandmother”Shane says,” She doesn’t speak a word of English, but I believe she understands some things, but I don’t know how to explain it. Once we were in Carmen’s house, and I passed to her some Cuban cigars. She hugged me and looked directly into my eyes, and soon she smiled. She didn’t say anything but I felt that she wanted me.”