Connie sipped the coffee slowly and looked down to the floor at the box holding the boys’ treasures. All those things had been bought to encourage them to do better in school. Rodrigo wanted the boys to have everything that he didn’t have when he was growing up and Connie knew it hurt him to take these things away after giving them as gifts.
It was after the sixth grade that both boys started having trouble at school.
Both Miguel and Ramón had been involved in two fights within just the past month. No one had been seriously hurt, but the school principal wanted to expel them. When Connie and her husband met with the school guidance counselor, he said that their violent behavior was due to peer pressure and that they both needed more discipline at home. Connie remembered walking out of the counselor’s office feeling embarrassed and ashamed of what they had told her and her husband. Rodrigo had gone into a rage and threatened to send each one to a military school if they didn’t shape up.
They were also deeply concerned about the boys’ grades. Miguel had been a good student, especially in history and science. The teachers at his middle school had told Connie that her son would be a natural as a history teacher. He especially liked the study of ancient civilizations. Rodrigo had bought him numerous books on ancient Egypt and Greece, hoping that his son would learn more than he did in school. But as the months passed, Miguel stopped reading the books and his interest in school diminished.
Ramón had never done well in school, even as a young child. His teachers had described him as not attentive in class and not focused on his assignments. The young boy was interested and talented in art and music, but the teachers and school counselors never allowed for his unique abilities. With their recent failures, Miguel and Ramón had begun to doubt themselves in school and in life.
Connie took a deep breath and finished her coffee.
Now the boys were finished with middle school and about to enter their first year in high school. Both Rodrigo and Connie wanted their sons to succeed but the pressures of the modern world seemed overwhelming. They knew that the boys were at a critical point in their lives. Rodrigo had always been a strict father but he had never taken the time to raise the children. He left all family matters to his wife. He thought that a mother could handle all the responsibilities of raising two sons as long as he worked hard and provided for the family.
Connie knew that things at home couldn’t stay the same. Her husband was growing angrier every day and becoming less tolerant of the boys’ bad behavior. She knew the boys needed a drastic change and that her husband needed to see the boys as young men but she felt powerless to do anything.
“I’m leaving plenty of food in the refrigerator and Abuelita Rosa will take good care of you,” Connie said soothingly. She then took her wallet from the tote bag on the counter and opened it.
“Here is $100 in case you need money. Miguel, put it in your pocket before your father comes back.”
Miguel took the five twenty-dollar bills and put them in his front pocket quickly when he heard his father open the door.
“The car’s packed and started. Let’s get going.” Rodrigo had packed the SUV himself, in spite of his earlier demands that the boys help. He picked up the box filled with the boys’ belongings and took one last look at them.
“I don’t want to hear anything from either of you while we are gone, and don’t expect phone calls from us. We’ll call before we start heading back home.”
With those last words to the boys, Rodrigo kissed his mother on the cheek and motioned for his wife to follow him out to the waiting car.
Connie kissed Miguel and Ramón on their foreheads, “We’ll be back soon, we love you,” she said.
Marisol was packing her pink backpack in the living room while listening to the conversation from the kitchen. She stuffed one last DVD into the side pocket and ran to her grandmother for a hug goodbye.
She looked at the boys as she readjusted her jacket and braids and said, “I’m going to have fun at Tio’s party, I’ll ride horses, swim, everything, and you’re going to be stuck here in the middle of nowhere!” She laughed, picked up her backpack, and lifted her nose in the air as she skipped to the car.
Manuel and Ramón slumped in their seats and glanced out the kitchen window as their family drove off for a summer vacation without them.
Chapter 4
The morning air was warm and dry. June was always a hot but tolerable month in northern Arizona. The trees along the side of the house provided shade for the side yard and some of the backyard as well. The old shed was located behind the house alongside the carport. It was a weatherworn shade of green and, despite the lack of water, small weeds were accumulating in the dirt along the walls. The door to the shed was bolted shut with a lock and looked as if it hadn’t been opened in years.
“Are you sure this is on the list?” Miguel asked, shaking the lock, then wiping his hands on his pants.
“Yeah, it is.” Ramón took the list out of his back pocket and read the fateful words aloud to his cousin: “Organize the shed contents in a manner which behooves a decent individual.”
“What does that mean?” Miguel asked.
“It means, no fooling around, we have to empty this thing out.”
The boys looked down the list to see if there was another chore to do that was less disagreeable. To the boys’ horror, the list included washing windows and screens, repainting the side of the car port, scrubbing the two bathrooms, and clearing the yard of weeds. After carefully evaluating the list, they decided that the shed was not as bad as the other awful chores. They unlocked the shed door in dreaded anticipation of what it held inside.
The shed was packed to the ceiling with junk.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Miguel said with a moan.
“This is no joke.” Ramón stared into the shed and put on his work gloves, motioning for Miguel to do the same. “We better get started. I’ll pull out the stuff on the top and hand it to you to put over there.” Ramón pointed to the open grassy area that was a few feet away.
The morning hours passed as the boys slowly unraveled and untangled all the contents of the shed. Piece by piece each object was pulled out. Rusty metal objects, sports equipment, and Christmas decorations made big piles on the lawn.
“What are we going to do with this junk when we pull it all out?” questioned Miguel, exhausted from the lifting.
“Abuelita Rosa said she was going to call someone at her church to pick it up so they can sell it for charity,” Ramón answered, while pulling out items from the entrance of the shed.
Underneath stacks of old blankets wrapped in plastic bags was an object that looked promising. Ramón carefully lifted the plastic bundles and moved the golf clubs from the floor around the newfound treasure.
“Hey, Miguel, I think I found something here!” said Ramón. He slowly pulled the object out of the shed onto the grass.
“No way. What is that?” Miguel stood over the two wheel contraption covered with spiderwebs and dust.
“It’s a Vespa!”
Ramón’s eyes were wide with excitement, and he grabbed an old towel and began to wipe away the spiderwebs.
“Does it run?”
“Who knows, but maybe … ” replied Ramón.
The motor scooter leaned on its sturdy metal stand and resonated with adventures of a bygone youth. The blue paint was still smooth and the metal framework had not rusted despite years of neglect. The seat was made of black leather and had enough room for two. A small luggage rack was fitted on the back of the seat and the two tires were worn slightly but still in good condition.
“It’s a sign from God!” said Ramón, reverently inspired by the new treasure.
“You’re crazy,” Miguel laughed. “It’s a sign we have more work to do.”
Miguel went back to the shed and began to remove more useless objects.
“No, seriously, if we can get this thing to run, we have transportation for the summer!”
&
nbsp; “What’s the use of transportation? We have no where to go. Remember where we are?” Miguel pointed to the dirt road leading out onto a desolate street. “There’s nothing out here, man.”
Ramón didn’t hear Miguel’s negative words. He kept cleaning off the scooter and dreaming of an open road leading to somewhere.
Chapter 5
The kitchen smelled of roasted chicken and mole. Abuelita Rosa was a great cook and nothing made her happier than to feed her darling grandsons. They had often spent the summer with her and their grandfather, Esteban, while he had been alive. Abuelita Rosa reflected on those summer days when Esteban would take the boys on fishing and camping trips in the mountains. She missed her husband but looking after her grandsons kept her mind busy.
Squeezing the lime juice into the fresh salsa she thought about how Enrique’s features were in the face of Ramón. He resembled his father more as the days passed.
“Mi pobre hijo, he was so young to die.”
Tears came to her eyes for a moment, then she shook her head and remembered not to cry. She still had a lifetime to cry, but for the moment she had to fix dinner for her hungry grandsons.
That evening, the three family members sat at the kitchen table. The boys ate hungrily. They swallowed glasses of sweet iced tea and sopped up all the mole sauce off their plates with tortillas.
“I don’t want you to work so hard tomorrow,” Abuelita Rosa said, looking with pity at the tired boys. “You don’t have to do all that work right away. I want you to have fun, too.” She realized that her small town wasn’t interesting for boys their age and felt sorry for them. They would have to spend four weeks doing nothing but chores.
“It’s okay, Abuelita,” said Miguel. “The work will keep us busy. Besides, my dad took all our stuff anyway.”
Ramón nodded in agreement as he stuffed his mouth with one more helping of chicken.
“Well, we still have the television. You know that I go to bed early so you’ll have the living room to yourselves every night,” she consoled them.
Both boys considered the thought. The television only received local channels, six to be exact. It was hardly something to get excited about.
The boys helped clear the dishes then plopped onto the sofa to watch the local news program, hoping that an old movie might be on later.
“Grandma, do you have a VCR or DVD player?” Ramón asked.
“Sí, mijo, I have one in my bedroom. You can connect it to the living room television, I never use it.”
Ramón raised his eyebrows in surprise and thought that maybe the situation wasn’t completely hopeless. Then he considered the fact that the nearest video rental store was two miles down the road. He reconciled the matter with the happy thought of the scooter. Maybe that would be its purpose for the summer.
“Goodnight, Abuelita,” the boys said in unison staring at the local weather report on the television.
“Buenas noches,” Abuelita Rosa replied, walking slowly to her bedroom.
Miguel and Ramón stayed on the sofa and stared at the television for the rest of the night.
Chapter 6
The next morning, the boys awoke to a quiet house. The sun was shining brightly into the bedroom window.
“Hey, what time is it?” Miguel asked, looking with halfclosed eyes at his cousin.
“What, what are you talking about?”
Ramón was still trying to sleep.
“It’s almost ten o’clock, man,” Miguel suddenly realized.
“So what?” Ramón said in an agitated voice.
Miguel turned on his back and stared up at the ceiling. The house was really quiet. He thought to himself that by that time the house always smelled of food. They should have heard their grandmother’s footsteps down the hall.
“Hey, we should get up. This is weird,” Miguel said, sitting up in bed.
“Whatever.”
Ramón then opened his eyes, remembering the scooter on the lawn outside and the leftover chicken mole. “Yeah, I guess we should get up.”
They both put on their jeans and T-shirts from the folded stacks left for them on the dresser. They opened the door and walked out to the hall. The house was still. No one was walking about or cooking in the kitchen.
“Where’s Abuelita?” Miguel said, remembering all the years that he had awoken to his grandmother cooking in the kitchen.
“Check in her bedroom,” Ramón suggested.
“Come with me.”
Miguel gave Ramón a commanding look and they both walked toward their grandmother’s bedroom door. The door was unlocked and opened with a small squeak.
“Abuelita, are you awake?” Miguel whispered.
No one answered. Their grandmother was in her bed facing away from the door. A soft peach quilt covered her small, still body.
In a louder voice, Ramón asked, “Abuelita, are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. The boys crept closer to the bed, softly touched her shoulder and shook it gently.
“Abuelita, wake up, wake up!”
Abuelita Rosa did not wake up.
Chapter 7
Abuelita Rosa was breathing but her breath was slow and shallow. Miguel carefully turned her over onto her back and felt for a pulse, holding her wrist gently in his hand.
“I think I feel a pulse, but I’m not sure,” he said, feeling his own heart pounding.
Ramón was nervously pacing the room and his eyes darted from the bed to the telephone on the bedside table. He quickly grabbed the phone and dialed 911.
“Hello? Yeah, my grandmother is in bed and I don’t think she’s doing well. I-I mean … I-I think something is wrong,” he stammered. “I don’t know what’s wrong. Shouldn’t you send somebody over here or something?” His voice grew impatient and rose with his next response, “Just send somebody over here. I don’t know what’s wrong!”
Meanwhile Miguel was gently patting his grandma’s hands and speaking softly to her, “It’ll be okay, Abuelita. Somebody’s coming over here to check on you, just stay still and rest.”
His words were calm but Miguel knew deep inside that something was terribly wrong. His grandmother had always taken medication for various ailments for as long as he could remember but he had never seen her unconscious before.
“When are they coming?” Miguel asked anxiously.
Ramón had just hung up the phone.
“They said they will send someone over right away.”
Ramón kept pacing, looking about the dark bedroom nervously. He went to the windows and drew back the curtains, allowing the sunlight to enter the room. Only two or three minutes had passed since they had first seen her lying still, but it felt like hours.
“Ramón, get her medications and put them in a plastic bag to give to the paramedics. I saw that on a TV commercial; you’re supposed to do that when an old person goes to the hospital.” Miguel ordered.
“Good idea,” answered Ramón and ran to the kitchen. He grabbed a large plastic bag from a drawer and went in search of the prescription bottles he had seen next to the sink. Six bottles went into the plastic bag along with a few pharmacy receipts he saw stacked in a corner on the kitchen counter.
“Okay, I got them,” he announced, running back.
“Put that bag down, get Abuelita’s purse and her suitcase from the closet. Put some of her stuff in there,” Miguel directed from the bedside.
“What stuff?”
“I don’t know. Go into the bathroom and pack her lotions, toothbrush, stuff like that … ” Then he added, after pausing, “also two or three nightgowns.”
As Miguel thought of which of his grandmother’s belongings should be packed, he remembered being rushed to the hospital as a small child many times when an asthma attack would strike. His grandmother never left his bedside and she always brought his toys to the hospital even when the nurses told her not to.
The ambulance finally arrived. Ramón ran outside to meet it and led the paramedics through the house
to his grandmother’s bedroom.
“All right boys, step aside,” the paramedic ordered. “We can handle this now.”
Miguel and Ramón took a few steps back and watched the paramedics use a black armband to check their grandmother’s blood pressure and a stethoscope to listen to her heart.
“Is she going to be okay?” Miguel asked, trying to look over the shoulder of one of the paramedics.
“We don’t know yet. Please step back,” the young man replied curtly.
Miguel and Ramón held their breaths as the emergency examination continued. After a few moments, the paramedics arranged the gurney and started to prepare their grandmother to be lifted onto it.
“Are you going to take her to the hospital?” Miguel asked with fear in his voice.
“Yes, she has to go. She needs more tests.”
“Here, take this,” Miguel grabbed the plastic bag with her prescription, her purse, and the small suitcase. “She might need these.”
“Are you kids all alone?” asked one of the paramedics.
“No, my mom will be right back,” Miguel lied.
Their grandmother was moved onto the gurney and wheeled out of the bedroom. The boys followed the paramedics outside and watched their grandmother disappear through the red-and-white doors. The ambulance drove away with the lights twirling and the sirens blasting.
Chapter 8
Miguel and Ramón sat at the kitchen table in silence. The morning was nearly gone and in the span of only a few hours their lives had changed forever. The house was unbearably quiet, with the occasional noise of passing cars in the distance. The day held no promise.
“Do you think we should call my dad?” Miguel asked in a low voice.
“We cannot make long-distance calls from Abuelita’s phone. Remember that he took our phones? He doesn’t want us to call them,” Ramón replied, looking at the useless black phone mounted on the wall.
Desert Passage Page 2
