Angel by Zoe Daniel & Lyn White

Author:Zoe Daniel & Lyn White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2018-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Angel hasn’t let go of Juan’s hand since she found him an hour ago. One of his arms is in plaster and he has suffered a bad concussion, but there is no permanent damage. They have both shed tears of relief, and now Angel begins to tell her father of her miraculous escape.

‘I saw her!’ exclaims Juan when Angel describes her rooftop rescue. ‘I caught a glimpse of Mrs Reyes and I pushed you up through the water with all my strength.’ ‘She held on to me, Papa, and she never let go. For hours and hours. She saved me.’

‘Thank God she was there,’ sighs Juan.

‘And look, Papa, I still have my pearl!’

‘You see? I stayed with you, like I said I would.’

‘What about you, Papa? What happened to you when the water filled the house?’

As he recounts his story, Juan fixes his gaze on the ceiling of the tent, as if picturing the traumatic scene from days before.

‘I pushed you up but the sea snatched me back and I was sucked down. It was a whirlpool: spinning over and over, bouncing off the walls and the furniture. I have never felt so helpless. I couldn’t breathe. I tried to find the door or a window but I was thrown around so fast. And then I knew I had to get out the same way as you, through the roof, so I swam up and I managed to get a breath or two. But I couldn’t find the opening, just timber and iron. And I wished, oh how I wished that I hadn’t built my walls so strong and my roof so sturdy!’

They both laugh weakly at that.

‘Finally the whole roof came off in one piece and I was dragged out with it. I was so confused, so frightened, being pulled along at such a speed. No control. A car floated past me. A CAR! Then a wooden pallet floated by and I threw myself onto it with the last bit of my strength. Like a big clumsy raft it smashed into things and bounced around in the black swirling water. I clung on for my life.’

Juan pauses for a moment and winces at the awful memory of it.

‘I called out for you, my Angel. I screamed your name. I thought the storm had taken you. And then the pallet smashed into a building, exploding into pieces and I was thrown onto the rooftop where I passed out. And that’s where I woke up.’

He lies there, eyes closed, taking deep, calming breaths.

‘Shall I leave you to sleep, Papa?’ Angel enquires timidly. Juan grips her hand tighter. ‘No, no, not yet. I have to tell you the rest. You must hear this! When I came to, I was on the top of a two-storey building. My head was throbbing and sticky with blood. My arm was terribly painful. I realised that I was on top of a bakery – you know the one beside the jeans shop? More than a kilometre from home.

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