Un Regalo Presciosa

by Matt Smith

Dedication:

  Yesterday, Wide Horizons for Children sent out a letter.

  This book is to all of the Tomas’s of Guatemala.

  Prologue

  “So, if we add two to this side of the equation,” said Mr. D, gesturing up at the SmartBoard with his marker, “then we have to add two to this side, meaning we have y is equal to two minus four plus twelve. That means y is equal to ten, do we get this?” Period 2 Math nodded in agreement. Looking at the board, knowing a test was sure to be coming up on this. Luke Smith, for one, was bored. He had covered this particular topic on Khan Academy just about a year ago. Still he listened, out of courtesy.

  Luke’s demeanor of calm masked his apprehension on the inside. He waited, like a tiger out for pray, every muscle tensed. Waiting for the bell… Yes! The final bell had rung. Luke made for his locker, walking quickly and efficiently, using elbows if he had to. He could apologize later. He wrenched open the door, buried through his backpack and pulled out his phone. He quickly input his passcode, and navigated to Messages. He popped open the application, scrolling through lists of group chats about NFL playoffs until he reached his texts from “Mom”. One new message. Luke was barely able to mask his trembling hands. It was dated: January 29th, 2013. On it was two words. Referral Accepted. Another text came in. We’ll book trip to see her when u get home. Luke let a huge grin immerse over his face. He had a baby sister.

  Chapter 1:

  June 21st, 2013

  It was Luke’s last day out of school. Six months had gone by since the referral was accepted and Virginia was confirmed as being adopted and being his sister. She was born in a small village near Quetzaltengo, Guatemala. Luke’s family now included him, 12 years old, his brother Jacob, 10 years old, and their 6-month-old sister, Virginia, born January 15th. Luke, Jacob, Luke’s mom and Luke’s dad were flying down to Guatemala City the next day to visit Virginia. She was slated to come home in September. They would be staying at the 5-star Westin Camino Real, in the middle of Guatemala City. Luke shot a glance at his clock. His mom wanted him in bed at 6:30, because Luke would be waking up at 1:30 the next morning to drive to Logan Airport for their connecting flight into New York. From there they would fly direct to Guatemala City.

  Luke looked at his docking stand. Check. His phone and charger were packed. He looked at the spot where his Kindle normally lay. Check. His Kindle and wire were packed. Luke knew that his suitcase was packed and laid meticulously at the kitchen door by his mom. Luke checked that his laptop was plugged in at his desk. Check. He then lay down in his bed, letting his head sink into his memory-foam pillow, falling into dreams.

  Chapter 2:

  Getting There

  Luke slowly woke up, at first oblivious to his light being turned on, but then slowly drifted into reality. His memory came back to him. He sprang out of bed, and threw on his Vineyard Vines shirt and cargo shorts that his mom had him lay out the night before. He wrenched open his door, and sprinted to the kitchen door. Minutes later his tired, irritable family filed into the kitchen, wondering how Luke could be so bright eyed at such a preposterous time. Normally before the family went on trips Luke’s parents took family photos. Because it was 1:30 AM in the morning, they were willing to make concessions. Luke’s mom and dad hauled the suitcases into the garage. Luke’s dad hit the garage door open button, and outside, to Luke and Jacob’s delight, was a limousine. Luke and Jacob both sprinted to the limo, Jacob throwing off his early morning grumpiness. They both crash on the soft leather seats, oblivious to the fact that their parents and the limo driver have to drag some 200 pounds of luggage to the limousine. Luke quickly lay down and nodded off.

  Fifty minutes later, Luke’s mom shakes him awake as they pull up to the curb at Logan International Airport. Luke’s family chose to travel First Class with Delta, and had printed their boarding passes already. Luke read the first one. And then the second one. He pocketed the second one and held the first one tightly in his fist. He rolled his suitcase behind him with he carryon attached on top. Luke made his way to the baggage stand with his parents. He heaved his approaching-50-pound-bag onto the stand. It weighed 47.6 pounds and carried clothes and other accessories for a week. After waiting for the agent to check his parents’ and brother’s bag, they all walk to security. Being as they booked First Class, even if it was for this 55-minute commuter flight, they got a priority security line, which made dealing with the TSA almost easy1. After breezing through security, the Smith family walked towards the A terminal, all checking their boarding passes. They will be at gate A32. The Smith family pulls up to A32 at 2:08 AM. Their flight will be taking off shortly after 3. Luke’s mom, Kim, directs the family to a Dunkin’ Donuts not far from their gate. The entire family grabs breakfast, and returns to their gate at 2:45, just as first class boarding starts. Luke steps on board, and stops at seat 1C, and plops down. He quickly takes the cap of the Dasani water bottle in his cup holder, and quickly downs the whole thing. Luke reclines his plush chair back, and closes his eyes as the announcements come on. “Welcome to Delta flight number 2224. We are in a Boeing 757-300 aircraft. We will be flying to New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport. Our flight time will be approximately 55 minutes at a 412-knot speed. There will be cabin service of an early morning snack 15 minutes into the flight. For those of you connecting at John F. Kennedy airport, please check your flight status on our Delta mobile app. We are now being given clearance to push back from the gate. Thank you and…” Luke nods off.

  Chapter 3:

  Opulent

  Luke is not awoken by the plane touching down on JFK’s runway 4L. The Boeing has nearly 11,500 feet to stop, so the pilot can afford a fancy, no bump landing. The 757-300 brakes with 3,000 feet of runway left and turns off to a taxiway. Luke wakes to the sound of the persistent beep-beep-beep of a truck towing the 757 into its parking spot in Delta’s Terminal 4. Luke sits up, rubbing weary eyes. He quickly disembarks, rolling along his carry-on. Kim says that the family’s luggage will automatically be transferred to their next flight, a relief for Luke, who did not relish the prospect of carrying luggage at 3 A.M. through one of the busiest airports in the world. Luke’s family quickly and efficiently walks across the brand new concourse to gate 23. Their flight had arrived at gate 5. Up on the electronic board, Luke reads: FLIGHT #772 FROM: New York (JFK) TO: Guatemala City (La Aurora) BOARDING: 4:15 TAKEOFF: 5:00.

  The Smith family would have nearly an hour until boarding time if they traveled in economy, but because they were in First Class, they got to board on their whim. Once Luke’s mom made sure everyone was situated, they went up to the gate agent, who checked their tickets, and allowed them on board, bidding them “Have a safe flight!”

  Luke stepped on the aircraft first. At the main cabin door, a smiling flight attendant directed the Smith family to the First Class section of the plane. Luke gasps as he enters. In the First Class area, there are 8 suites. The suites are privately enclosed rooms with a luxurious seat, that reclined into a bed, a 30 inch TV, a power port for charging electronics like phones, Kindles, and laptops, and a table on the side of the seat, containing noise cancelling headphones, an information card about the plane they were on, and a food menu. Luke, ever addicted to food, picks up the menu first. The menu contains a plethora of food selections. It also tells Luke that he can order from the remote control for his television. Luke silently promises to try this service later. Studiously, Luke picks up the airplane information card next. It says he is on the 777-200LR, the longest-range commercial airliner in the world. It can connect nearly any two cities in the world, the major exception being antipodes. The sheet says the aircraft can travel some 10,800 miles, doing so at 510 mph. Luke resolves to also do some research about the 777-200LR on
what he expects to be a 5-hour flight. A flight attendant soon tells him that due to military exercises where their flight path was going to be, they would have to swing out around Bermuda, making the flight longer than 8 ½ hours. Luke resigns himself to this fact, and reminds himself that he will at least spend 9 hours in an opulent place like this.

  Chapter 4:

  Wallets

  Eight hours and 45 minutes later, the 777 is making its final approach to La Aurora International Airport. Luke has spent this entire time being papered by flight attendants, eating, sleeping, watching TV, and reading. He had not talked to more than 5 or 6 people for more than 9 hours. Luke glances at the clock on his phone. 2 PM. He mentally subtracts the three-hour time difference between New York and Guatemala City. He will touch down at about 11:10. When Luke does touch down, the roar of the GE90-115B engines is apparent. These engines are the most powerful commercially available engines out there, and can deliver up to 127,000 pounds of thrust. That means that if you stood where the engines ejected air, the force on you would be equivalent to some 381,000 horsepower. The pilot turns the engines off after landing and taxis to a parking spot where air stairs will meet the airliner. The Smith family is the first people to exit the aircraft. When they do, one thing hits Luke. The Guatemala City air is humid, and the air almost feels heavy. Luke climbs down the air stairs, a foreign object to him. He is used to the comforts of domestic air travel, like jet bridges. He has never experienced air stairs in a third world country. Luke continues through a door, and into a long hallway stuffed with people. Luke hypothesized that the hall leads to the immigration checkpoint. His hypothesis was proved five minutes later when he took a peek above the line. The hallway did not lead to security, but in fact security was in the hallway, at the very end. After security were the luggage carousels. Five minutes later the entire Smith family steps away from the checkpoint. They had answered some basic questions as to why they were traveling to the Central American nation, and then got stamps on their passports.

  Because Guatemala is a third-world country, crime run unchecked there, and could be found all over. Drug-runners infested the country, and Mexican cartels often had second homes in Guatemala. Besides organized crime, many independent criminals made a killing off of ransom of tourists. Along with all of this, murders, violent rallies, muggings, and thefts are all commonplace. Knowing all of this, the elder Smiths arranged a safe ride to their hotel through the U.S. Embassy.

  The Smiths walked out onto the curb beside the airport in the 90° weather.

  On the curb was a sight that made Luke’s blood run cold.

  Five or six year old girls were selling beautifully hand-sewn wallets. There were about 10 or 15 of them, arranged along the curb. Beside them were handwritten signs, in Spanish. Luke knew barely enough Spanish to get by in a Spanish country, and so he did some rough translations in his head. They dismayed him even more than seeing the girls had. The translations said: “Buy wallets. Need food for family.”

  “Need money to buy clothes. Help.”

  “Last day here. Buy so my family can eat.”

  “Hand-sewn wallets and bracelets. Buy.”

  There was one mysterious one that Luke didn’t translate until he got to his hotel. I made his stomach shoot up in pains. It said: “Mi familia se muere de hambre. ¿Necesitas dinero para comprar comida para sobrevivir. Por favor, ayuda.” A particularly thin and ragged looking girl displayed it. “My family is starving. Need money to buy food to survive. Please help.”

  Luke was so anguished; he immediately went to his parents to get them to buy. They were fumbling around at the currency exchange counter, playing with large sums of U.S. Dollars and changing them into even larger sums of Guatemalan Quetzals. He sprinted straight up to them and got to the point. “Mom, Dad, get out here now!” Jacob, Luke’s junior by two years, and a 10-year old fourth grader, asked Luke: “What is it?” Luke didn’t warrant his younger brother any attention. Instead, he grabbed his Mom by the sleeve and tugged her out to the curb. Upon seeing the spectacle, she quickly succumbed like Luke, and ended up buying $75 of wallets, some 596 Quetzals. Luke clutched his own wallet, silently swearing he would keep it safe until he got home. Finally the safe car arrived, and the Smith family hopped in, glancing guiltily at the girls, and thinking about what a privileged life they had.

  Chapter 5:

  Tick-Tock

  The airport car pulls up in front of the Westin Camino Real Guatemala City. Luke and Jacob hop out, eager to see what their hotel is like. Jacob is armed with the explanation from his parents: “It’s a nice hotel.” Luke however, has done his homework and knows that most ratings of the hotel give it 5 stars, and it is the #1 choice for a hotel in Guatemala. Luke has seen pictures as well. The Smith family steps onto the curb, under a covered drop off area. Immediately a bellboy, fluent in both English and Spanish, takes their bags, promising that there will be no wait once the Smiths were in their room.

  The family walks confidently into the Westin. Luke’s parents stride up to the front desk. The have a quiet conversation with the front desk. To Luke and Jacob, the conversation seemed to be stretching on forever. Luke overhears snippets and realizes that there is a linguistic barrier, and the two parties (front desk and parents) are trying their best to effectively communicate, but their method was ineffective. The clerk would say something, and Luke’s parents would type it into Google Translate on Luke’s dad’s phone. Then they would formulate their response, type it in, and hand the phone to the check-in clerk. Luke resists the urge to tell his mother that he understands a rudimentary amount of Spanish, and could get them by, but he doesn’t. Instead he chooses to plop down in one of the lobby’s plush chairs. Beside him is a pot of lucky bamboo. Luke reads an information card about the bamboo, and learns many things. Lucky bamboo is actually a houseplant with nearly no relation to bamboo (both are in the Plantae Kingdom, but the similarity ends there). It is often used by the Chinese, and if the plant has three stalks it means happiness, five for wealth, and six for health2. Luke’s parents finally finished their lengthy conversation with the clerk, and tell Luke and Jacob, “Room 1124, top floor.”

  Jacob bounds across the lobby of the 5-star hotel, throwing proper and appropriate out the window. Luke walks quickly after his brother, drawing some dirty looks, but not even in the same spectrum as the amount Jacob gets. Jacob bounds into the elevator, hitting the button for the eleventh floor. Luke follows, getting in right before the door closes. Luke has a second to see his parents shell-shocked in the lobby, and decides not to tell Jacob that he seems to be missing something. Luke had only gone with Jacob because he didn’t want his dopey brother wandering through a hotel alone. He would probably get lost in some conference room. The Toshiba elevator quickly makes its ascent to the 11th floor, carrying one naïve passenger, and one who was secretly laughing at his ignorant brother. “What are you laughing at?” Jacob asked. Whoops though Luke.

  “Nothing really, I am just so glad to be here.” Luke let off a lie. It was partially true, He was so very glad to be here; he just didn’t want his brother to know about where he had left his parents. Jacob stepped out, sprinting down the hall. Luke hid behind the console of the elevator, and waited. Once Jacob was far enough away not to be able to hop in the elevator, Luke hit the Floor 1 button, and the elevator speedily descended.

  “You forgot us,” said his parents, laughing in the lobby.

  “No.” Said Luke pointedly, “Jacob forgot you.”

  “Suuuure,” said Luke’s mom, drawing out the s sarcastically.

  Luke realized that this was not a battle to fight, and got into the elevator. He briefly wondered about Jacob. When the elevator dinged at the 11th floor and the doors opened, Jacob wasn’t there. “He didn’t have a room key,” remarked Luke’s mom.

  The group brainstormed where Jacob could have possibly gone. Finally they came to a consensus that he had probably gone down to the lobby, after seeing the room, and realizing that there
were no parents with him. “Let’s just wait a minute, he could come back up here” was the battle fought against going down to the lobby. Grumbling, Luke and his mom agreed with the dissenter to their strategy. A minute later, Jacob came whizzing up. “Whoops,” was all that he said.

  The only word to describe the hotel room was opulent. It was bigger than most apartments. There was a main entrance hall, which branched off right into a master bathroom, and left to a kitchen. The hall ended in a spacious living room with three bedroom doors on the sides. Inside each bedroom was a bathroom, a television, an iPod charger, and many power outlets. There was a kitchen table in between the kitchen and the family room.

  Now that the Smiths had unpacked and assimilated, the only thing left was to wait for Virginia. The front desk would call them when her foster parents brought her. Everyone had settled down into various chairs and beds, and began the waiting game. Luke’s mom was reading The Perfect Storm. Luke’s dad was flipping halfheartedly through an issue of Sports Illustrated. Jacob was playing RISK on his phone. Luke himself was reading Unbroken. “This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subjected to dehumanizing treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors, and the circumstances in which they are forced to live. One American airman, shot down and relentlessly debased by his Japanese captors, described the state of mind that his captivity created: “I was literally becoming a lesser human being.” Few societies treasured dignity, and feared humiliation, as did the Japanese, for whom a loss of honor could merit suicide. This is likely one of the reasons why Japanese soldiers in World War II debased their prisoners with such zeal seeking to take from them that which is most painful and destructive to lose. On Kwajalein, Louie and Phil learned the dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler’s death camps, the slaves of the American South and a hundred of other generations of betrayed people. Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man’s soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure, and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty. In places like Kwajalein, degradation could be as lethal as a bullet.” Luke continued reading, until finally he could take it no longer. “Where is Virginia?” he wondered aloud. Everyone one nodded in assent that they too, felt that way. Luke looked up at the clock on the wall. Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock…