Before We Were Free

Lucinda leaves. Anita cannot shake the suspicion that she has done something wrong—her diary, perhaps—that will lead SIM to them. In school, Miss Brown announces that the American school will temporarily be closing. Anita is so sad that she feels as if she cannot go on. Miss Brown sees that Anita is not feeling well and insists on calling the nurse. Mami comes to get Anita and asks if she told the nurse about Lucinda leaving.

The men in Anita’s family keep meeting on the porch, but Anita can never hear what they’re discussing. Sometimes they are obviously speaking in code, however, and are often talking of supplies that must be delivered for a picnic. She starts to worry that she is going crazy and feels that she will never be as brave as Joan of Arc. She starts to receive postcards from Lucinda, who is now in New York. Then she learns that the Washburns are going to return to America. Sam will be gone. Anita realizes her feelings for him are changing, but now he spends most of his time with Oscar, anyways, talking about cars.

One morning, Mr.