Both Sides of the Border, page 26
“Dolores, way over there.” He pointed. “It looks like there are people moving.”
“Can you tell what they are doing?”
“No. It looks like several people. It’s like a large group.”
“Let’s watch. Are they coming this way?”
“Yes. I think they are.”
Dolores, Lupita, and Ernesto sat on the concrete as the group got closer. As the group neared, Ernesto said, “We might have a problem.”
“What?” Dolores asked.
“Uh, I think—no, I am sure. They are the Salvadorian gang.”
“No!” Lupita said. “Are you positive?”
“If we sit here a little longer, you’ll see their tattooed faces,” Ernesto said.
“I can tell now that you’ve pointed it out,” Dolores said.
“What can we do?” Lupita asked.
“We can’t stay here. I don’t trust them. They’re survivors. They look strong. But they’ll be as desperate as we are. I don’t know what they might do,” Dolores said.
The three scrambled off the cement and moved through the water as quickly as they could. The Salvadorians seemed to be following them. Dolores, Ernesto, and Lupita traveled through the water at a much faster pace than before. They spent the remainder of the day looking for a hiding place and keeping a distance from the Salvadorians. They finally reached an area of several broken-down flooded buildings.
“We can go there. Let’s hide or go out the other side of the buildings and see what we can find,” Dolores said.
Inside one of the buildings, they found a stairway to three levels. Not all of the walls were intact. They climbed up the stairs and ran through what was left of the second floor and through another hallway to a separate wing. They went through the wing of the second floor and found a different set of stairs going down. They followed the stairs and went to the other side of the next building.
“I think we lost them. I don’t see or hear them,” Dolores said.
They walked up to the second floor inside another partial building.
“We can sleep here. It’s getting dark. Tomorrow, we’ll look for food,” Dolores said.
“That sounds good to me,” Lupita said. “There’s plenty of space here. I’ll sleep in this corner.”
“Dolores and I can sleep on this side. Tomorrow, we’ll find food; I’m positive,” Ernesto said as he closed his eyes.
A scream pierced through the night and awakened Dolores and Ernesto. They sat up and saw two men taking Lupita in the darkness. The men pulled her down the stairs and took her away. Down below, two other men were waiting. She was screaming and kicking as hard as she could to free herself from the four men.
Dolores grabbed Ernesto’s arm and said, “Shhh.” She took his arm and led him down the other hallway, out the other stairs, and out of the building. Lupita was making so much noise, the men did not hear Dolores and Ernesto as they quickly waded away from the commotion. They heard the men tell Lupita to shut up, or they would put her head under the water. She screamed, and they dunked her under and raised her up by her hair.
“Now, will you shut up? Or will I have to do it again?” one of the men asked.
The men took Lupita with them.
Dolores and Ernesto continued muddling through the water in the darkness. Dolores was shivering from fright. Ernesto held her arm and pulled her so they would move more quickly. When the sun appeared on the horizon, they were still walking quickly through the water.
“I think we are away from them,” Ernesto said.
“Ernesto, look around.”
There were partial houses on each side of a street. They stared for a moment at the street signs that were in English.
“Are we . . . ” Ernesto asked.
“Yes. We’re in the United States,” Dolores said.
“There’s nothing left,” Ernesto said.
“We’ll find people and food. And we’ll find Emilio.”
The water had receded a little more, and the wading was slightly easier.
“I feel bad for Lupita,” Ernesto said.
“There was nothing we could do. They took her in the night. They would have taken us, too, if they had seen us. We should pray for her. She came the whole way to the United States.”
“Those evil men came here to the United States,” Ernesto said.
“There was nothing to stop them,” Dolores said. “There were no officials posted and no barrier left after the storm.”
They walked through the street with rows of partial structures that at one time were beautiful homes. There were no people.
“Maybe some of these houses still have food inside?”
“We’ll look if no one is there.”
They found a house that had some partial rooms standing and went inside.
“Hello?” Dolores walked through the door. “Hello?”
They waded to a kitchen and opened the cabinets.
“Look at these nice dishes and things,” Dolores said. She had never seen anything like it.
“Oh, look. Here is a cabinet with some food. Some boxes of things. Look. I’m not sure what these are, but they look good.”
They opened a box of crackers, chocolate cookies, and potato chips.
“Look!” Ernesto said. He pulled out bottles of water.
Dolores knew the food wasn’t the best for them, but they were too hungry and needed something.
They sat on the counter, out of the murky water, and ate the crackers and drank the bottled water. As they sat inside, they looked down the street.
“Oh, no,” Dolores whispered.
Ernesto scooted beside Dolores and looked.
A few houses further and across the street, five men, who looked similar to the cartel members they had seen in Matamoros, were taking things out of a house.
“What should we do?” he whispered.
“Let’s see what they are doing.”
“It looks like they are stealing something,” Ernesto whispered.
“When they go inside the next house, we should leave and get far away.”
They waited for the opportunity and escaped.
“Let’s go over one more street.”
The water remained just above knee-level. They moved as quickly as they could, swiping debris out of their way as they walked. Most of the houses and buildings were completely destroyed or had only partial walls remaining. There were no roofs on the houses in that block, and there were no people inside any of the structures.
Dolores didn’t know how far they had walked. The day was ending. They had eaten, but they hadn’t made any progress searching for Emilio. She didn’t know how to find him or what to do next.
They turned down another street.
“It looks like people are going inside that building. It is guarded by soldiers. We’ll be safe. Let’s go there. Emilio might be there,” Ernesto said.
Dolores said a silent prayer for Emilio as they walked, and then she opened the door of the shelter.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
EVA WAS SICK TO HER stomach. She couldn’t sleep, and the wind howled so loud that it kept her awake. What had happened to Steven? There was no way to find out. She had no idea how to look for him or how the Mexican police or prison system worked. Steven had told her the police were crooked in most of Mexico. Perhaps this was a mistake, and the crooked police had arrested him; but he was innocent. Maybe he was framed by the cartel or the police?
For a brief moment, her mind wandered back to sitting in the cathedral and looking at Steven sitting there. He had to believe in God and have faith. He must be a good man. He wouldn’t purposely do something so wrong as work with the cartel. He couldn’t. Eva refused to believe Steven was evil.
Why? Why did God do this? Why did Eva keep having bad experiences with men? Why? Eva hung her head and cried. She sobbed. She longed for that feeling of serenity and peace she felt when she sat in those old churches in Mexico. She felt like she was in the pit of despair and wanted more than anything to feel the presence of God right now.
This experience made her question her faith. She felt weak. She wanted to be strengthened by God. She knew other people drew strength from Him, and she needed to feel that. She wanted to pray. She wasn’t sure she even knew how to do that. She was just so sad and empty inside.
In her sorrow, she was glad she didn’t have another class scheduled until Wednesday. She knew she couldn’t concentrate until she learned more about Steven. She couldn’t think of anything else. She was depressed. He was a good guy. He had to be. He believed in God. He was so nice and polite. She was pretty sure she was falling in love with him. Why, God? Why did this happen to her? Why did this happen to Steven? She couldn’t stop her thoughts of hurt and anger. Why? Her mind bounced all around between anger and sorrow. Then, the sorrow overtook her, and she cried herself to sleep.
The text message alert and light of her phone woke her in the middle of the night. She picked up her phone and read the text.
“Classes cancelled Tuesday and Wednesday due to weather. University closed until further notice.”
She sat straight up in her bed.
“What?” She read the text message again. She was so upset about Steven being arrested that the news of the storm hadn’t phased her. She got up and made her coffee. It was four in the morning. She felt like she hadn’t slept. She tossed and turned and was still sick to her stomach.
She sipped her coffee and turned on the TV.
“If you’re just waking up to this news today in the Rio Grande Valley, please be informed we are now under a hurricane warning. Hurricane León increased in speed and will now take a more western track. As you can see, the hurricane tracker put the paths here. Most of the models are now showing it will hit between the southern tip of Texas, in the Brownsville area and Corpus Christi. Be aware, the causeway to the island has already been closed. If you are on the island, you’ll have to ride this one out.
“Now, the Saffir-Simpson Scale shows this has been upgraded to a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. This will hover over warm water for a bit longer and could be upgraded to a Category 4 by midmorning. Category 3 and 4 are both considered major hurricanes. These winds can cause significant damage. We’ll likely lose power and water if it heads directly to Brownsville.
“We are already seeing the impact as the rain bands of tropical storm strength are pounding the Rio Grande Valley. These winds and rains have been with us for the last two hours, and we have measured five inches of rain in that amount of time. We are already measuring winds of fifty-five miles an hour here with the initial bands, which is why the causeway bridge had to be closed so early.
“Another alert here, the Texas Highway Department and Texas Department of Public Safety have issued a notice that Highway 77 and Highway 83 are already closed due to significant rainfall. These highways out of town are already flooding. Don’t attempt to get on the highway at this point.”
Eva switched the channel to the Spanish network. There was nothing but a snowy, gray picture on that channel. She turned it back to the local channel.
“Keep it right here on Channel 5, and we will keep you informed.”
She didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t able to travel out of harm’s way. She could hear the wind howling outside. The fronds of the palm trees were beating the windows. She peeked out the window and couldn’t see anything. It was still too dark.
She got a second cup of coffee and returned to the news.
“This just in. We’ve been informed that the levee near the University and the International Bridge is being watched. There remains concern about the cracks that were discovered recently. Texas state troopers and the Army National Guard are on standby and monitoring the levee situation. It is expected to hold, but they are keeping an eye on it.”
I’d better make sure my phone is charged and unplug my computer in case of a power outage or surge, she thought.
She unplugged her computer and grabbed her phone charger from upstairs. She would keep her phone plugged in as long as possible so she would have use of it during the storm if she needed it.
She returned to the TV.
“Take a look at the eye now, folks. We are seeing some better organization here,” he said as he outlined the area. “Which means that Hurricane León could very well be gaining strength. As we told you earlier, we expect this may go up to a Category 4 by mid-morning.”
Eva looked out her window again. Still dark. She wanted to know if the water was rising and if she needed to go upstairs. She couldn’t tell.
I better get dressed, she thought. “How do you dress for a hurricane?” she asked herself.
Her phone rang. She hoped it was Steven or perhaps Maria. She looked at the caller ID.
“Hi, Mom,” she said.
“Good grief! That hurricane is headed straight to you! Are you still home? Have you packed? Where are you going? You’re going to evacuate, aren’t you?”
“Calm down, Mom. They’re not sure if it is coming here or Corpus Christi. So far, we just have a little rain and some wind.”
“Now, you listen here, missy, I am sitting in front of the TV, and I can see the storm heading your way. You get out of there. You hear me?”
There was the sound of sheer panic in her mother’s voice. Eva knew her mother was seriously worried.
“Okay, Mom. I’m sorry.” Eva attempted to hide her own sobbing. She held it in so her mother wouldn’t be alarmed.
“Eva? Are you there?”
She composed herself and replied calmly, “I’m trying to figure out how to get out of here. It may not be possible. The highway is closed due to flooding. If the water gets higher and comes into the apartment, I’ll go upstairs. I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll call you as soon as I know where I am going or more about the hurricane. Now, you take care, Mom. I gotta go.”
“Okay. Call me now. Promise.”
“Promise.”
The tears rolled down Eva’s face. She wasn’t sure what was more upsetting—Steven, the storm, or perhaps talking to her mother for the last time. She was shaking and unsure what to do next.
* * *
Eva looked out the apartment window. Right now there was sufficient light to see outside through the heavy rain. The palm trees were wildly moving in the wind.
She heard some banging noises and drilling. Across the complex, on the other side of the swimming pool, it looked like maintenance men were trying frantically to get hurricane shutters up. The wind was causing them difficulty. The thin plywood boards were hard to fight with and keep in place while were being secured to the frame of the window. Finally, the pair of workers gave up and ran for cover. Most of the apartment windows, including Eva’s, remained unprotected.
She began shaking with fear. Tears were streaming down her face.
Get yourself together, she told herself.
She watched out the window. The light allowed her to see the water completely covering most of the apartment’s landscaped beds, and the parking lot was overflowing. The water was covering most of the tires of the cars in the lot. The street in the front of the apartment flowed like a river. There were no cars driving by. The wind blew the palm trees into an almost-permanent sideways position. Other tropical plants were beaten down completely. She could see a corner of the swimming pool past the flower beds. The pool was overflowing out onto the lawn and the parking lot.
Eva turned on the news again, thankful she still had power.
“Please take caution if you go outside. You shouldn’t try to drive at this point. The roads are flooding on the major highways and residential streets. Also, remember, do not call 911. They can’t help you now. They’re not able to negotiate the streets at this point in time. I am receiving reports that the 911 calls are jamming up the remaining phone lines. So again, you’re on your own. Don’t call 911.
“If you are just now tuning in, we’ll show you the track again. Hurricane León, now a Category 4, has taken a direct aim toward Brownsville. It has slowed in speed just a little. Right now, it is churning out about ten miles off the coast. Unfortunately, this slow-down means it will be producing even more rain. It means even more flooding. Please take precautions. We are receiving some reports of power outages and expect that to continue. We also want our viewers to be aware that there may be a loss of cell phone service if the wind damages the towers. If you have not already drawn up plenty of water, do so now. Fill your bathtubs as well. You’ll want that for cleaning purposes. The water may not be drinkable for several days.”
Eva ran into her kitchen. She pulled out every jar, jug, and container she could. She filled them all. She filled every glass in her cabinet. She poured out the milk in her refrigerator, rinsed out the jug, and filled that, too. She filled both of her bathtubs.
I won’t let this storm do me in. I can get through this.
Back in front of the TV, she switched to the Spanish station to see if it was working again. It was. The news showed the streets of Matamoros and then Reynosa. Matamoros had extreme flooding. She could interpret the reporter talking about problems with water drainage off the street. The news then switched to the border fence. The fence was being blown at an angle. The Border Patrol and the National Guard were attempting to reinforce it, but they looked unsuccessful. The report scanned down to the river. The river water was out of its banks. The water was swiftly rolling down the river.
Eva switched back to the local channel.
“And we remind you to stay away from windows in case flying debris should break through the glass.
“Okay, here’s the latest data from the reconnaissance plane. It’s not good news for those of us in the Rio Grande Valley. The sustained wind is now measured to be 146 miles per hour. This means this storm has the potential for catastrophic damage when it makes landfall. We are expecting this track to hold so that the eye will move just south of Brownsville. This means we will receive the brunt of the wind and the rain. Power outages are being widely reported. Please, if you are still receiving power and are watching us, take cover and do not go outside. If the water begins to rise, get to a higher spot. We expect landfall to be within the hour or two.”
