He now worked collecting cacao pods with his father but—it pained me to admit it—he was lazy and often hid from his father to meet with me. This lack of drive was frustrating because I knew firsthand how bright he was. When I’d taught him numbers as a child, he’d learned all four operations in a matter of days and would often figure out an answer faster than I would.

Why was he wasting his life here? I’d asked him, but he said he had a good reason, though he wouldn’t say what.

In all truth, we didn’t talk much. Mostly, we went for walks and sometimes I read to him while he fished.

This afternoon, he stood by the creek, throwing stones in the water. In his back pocket, as usual, was a slingshot for catching lizards. Even though we were in our early twenties now, he still carried it around. From the puny boy I’d befriended ten years ago, he’d turned into a stocky man with large, callused hands. But in some ways, Franco never grew up.

I came up behind him and whispered a hello.

When he turned to me, there was a glint in his eye that sometimes made me nervous.

He wasn’t attractive, nothing like my brother-in-law Laurent, or even Martin, but he had the most expressive and melancholic eyes I’d ever seen.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said.

“A surprise? Why? It’s not my birthday.”

“I know, but I didn’t want to wait any longer.” He pointed in the direction of his house with his chin. “Don’t worry, my mother went to town for rice and flour.”

Years ago, when I’d started schooling him, I’d gone to his house when his parents were away. But as we grew older, it seemed improper. That was why we always met here.

“I left my cigarettes there,” he said with a wink.

I’d run out of cigarettes days ago. They were so hard to come by. My vice depended on Franco one hundred percent. Even though my mother had passed away two years ago from diabetes, I still hid my habit from everyone in the family. I couldn’t explain why. My father paid me so little attention he would’ve never noticed if I smoked. But years ago, I’d decided that I would live up to the high standards of my reputation. It wasn’t always easy, like today when I nodded and followed him to the house. Such was my urge to smoke.