Hurricane by Terry Trueman

Author:Terry Trueman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

ELEVEN

Mom holds Juan and rocks him quietly. He looks scared and sick. I keep staring at his skin color. We can’t find the thermometer to take Juan’s temperature, but we know he has a high fever. One moment he sweats, and the next he shakes and quivers from chills. His breathing still makes a bad rattling sound.

I can barely catch a breath myself; my heart pounds so loudly that I wonder if the others can hear it. Juan is so small and weak. I feel so helpless … I feel crazy.

“What can I do?” I ask my mom, my voice too loud.

“I don’t know,” she answers quietly. “We need a doctor.”

“I’ll go get one,” I say, even louder.

“But the nearest doctor is in San Pedro Sula,” Mom says.

“Yes,” I answer, forcing my voice to be quieter.

“How will you get there?”

“I’ll run,” I say calmly, and I’m already on my feet, moving toward the door.

Mom says, “No, José, you can’t! The bridges probably aren’t there anymore, and with all the flooded roads—”

I interrupt, “I’ll be careful, but I’m going, Mom. I have to!”

Mom says, “José, we need you here, we need—”

Suddenly Ángela, who has been sitting quietly on the couch, listening to us argue, says, “Mamá, José will be okay.”

We both look at her. She looks back and forth between Mom and me. “God will not let any harm come to José, Mamá. I know this,” she says.

Mom starts to ask, “How can you …?” but she stops and stares into Ángela’s eyes.

Ángela says, her voice calm and certain, “I just know, Mamá. God does everything for a reason. We pray to Him to learn what His reasons are and to tell Him we love Him. God will save José, Mamá … I just know it.”

Ángela is a kind of odd little girl. She’s always very quiet and never says anything unless she has something important to say. She and Juan are close, like María and me, like Víctor and Ruby.

I smile at Ángela and say, “Thanks, Angie.” Then I turn to Mom and say, “Ángela is right, Mom. I’ll make it. It’s what Víctor would do and what Dad would do. I’ll be careful, but I have to go.”

Mom, with tears in her eyes, shakes her head. “But what if …” She stops in the middle of her sentence. Now she says, “You promise me that if you can’t make it, if it looks too dangerous, you will stop and come back home. Promise me, José. I can’t lose you too.”

This is the first time Mom has mentioned anything about losing anybody. I understand what she means. “I promise, Mom, but I’ll make it. We can’t lose Juan either.”

Mom says, “Yes, son, that’s true.”

As I’m getting ready to leave, Mr. Barabon comes up to me. “I’ll watch over your mother and sisters and little Juan.”

I look him in the eyes and say, “Thanks.”

He says, “I’ll watch over them until you return or …” He hesitates and then says, “I’ll take care of them no matter what, no matter how long.

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