Smoke in the Rain

Silvia and Claudia got off of the bus outside Jim’s hotel and leaned forward to fight the push of the wind as they walked up the narrow cobblestone street. According to the city’s most conservative traditions, the bus they had to catch hadn’t come, forcing them to wait another twenty minutes in that cruel  Patagonian combo of cold-wind-rain until the next bus came, obviously crowded and in no hurry, so they were almost an hour late.

Claudia stopped short halfway to the bar, the cake in precarious balance on her gloved hands.

“The candle!” she cried. “We forgot the candle again! Why do we always forget it?”

Silvia pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll get it. You go ahead, before the rain spoils the cake.”

Claudia hurried on toward the bar while Silvia walked back the way they’d come, to the minimarket across the street from the hotel.

A few minutes later, she was p