The Skirt by Gary Soto

Author:Gary Soto
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307830203
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-10-09T21:00:00+00:00

“Do you see it?” Ana asked in a whisper.

“No,” Miata answered flatly. She had scanned the inside of the bus, but saw nothing that looked like a skirt. She slid down the hood, nearly face first, to the ground. She brushed the gravel off her hands and ordered, “Let’s check the next one.”

Again Miata climbed onto a bus and gazed in. This time she saw a sweater, a baseball cap, and a smashed milk carton in the aisle. For a moment her heart fluttered because she thought she saw her skirt. But it was only a jacket on the floor.

“Do you see it?” Ana asked as she looked around nervously. Two more cars passed. A diesel truck was rumbling up the street. Black smoke rose from its shiny chrome exhaust pipes.

The truck driver waved at Miata. Not knowing what to do, she waved back. “The driver saw us,” she told Ana. She grew nervous and started climbing down.

“He saw you?” Ana asked in a loud voice. She turned around and saw the diesel truck rumbling away. Its taillights were dusty red. “Do you think he’s going to call the police?”

“Nah,” Miata answered. “Give me some room.”

Miata slid down the hood. This time she fell on the gravel and skinned her knee.

“Ay!” she screamed. Blood the color of pomegranate juice began to rise to the surface of her skin. She hobbled on one leg, her face pinched from pain. Miata stopped and took a long breath. She pressed a thumb to the scrape and counted to ten.

“Are you all right?” Ana asked. She examined the scrape. A worry line rippled her brow.

“I’m okay,” Miata answered, and counted in a whisper, “… ocho … nueve … diez.” The blood had stopped flowing. She rose to her feet and said, “It’s gotta be in that last bus.”

Ana marched alongside a hobbling Miata. They were going to search the third bus.

“Let me look,” Ana demanded.

Miata was surprised. She knew that Ana was scared of heights. Scared of the dark. Scared of dogs, cats, and thunder. Ana was scared of everything, it seemed to Miata.

Ana boosted herself onto the fender. She strained and grunted. The muscles in her skinny arms shivered. Her knees got dirty and hurt from pressing into the metal.

“You’re almost there,” Miata encouraged. “Keep going.”

Ana climbed onto the hood and looked in through the windshield. She saw a book, a paper cup, and gum wrappers on the floor. Then she screamed, “It’s there! In the back.”

“You see it?” Miata yelled.

“Yeah!” Ana hollered.

In her excitement Ana lost her balance and rolled off the hood. Luckily she landed on her feet, just like a cat.

“That was cool,” Miata said. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know,” a dizzy Ana said. “How are we going to get in?”

“Easy,” Miata answered. “You’re going to squeeze your arm through the door and pull the lever that opens it.”

“Me?” Ana asked, her eyes big.

“Your arms are smaller. You can do it.”

Ana shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the door.

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