Wall of Water

by Kristin F. Johnson

  Up the road, more people waited to be found. The truck stopped. The tailgate dropped open. People climbed aboard, and the benches filled up. Everyone seemed to be missing someone. The only good thing was that Alex and Drew and Sienna were not alone.

  Soon, people pressed shoulder-to-shoulder and knee-to-knee in the truck. But even though she was feeling less alone, Alex just wanted to see her mom and dad.

  10

  As they drove up to the stadium, Alex wondered whether it was even safe. The earthquake had shaken the stadium’s cement foundation, and cracks like jagged lightning bolts marred the exterior. A mob of people waited at the stadium doors. Were Mom and Dad in that mob? Or already inside? Or somewhere else altogether?

  They poured out of the back of the pickup. When Alex stood up, her leg peeled away from the sweaty, hairy leg of the man pressed in next to her.

  Inside the open stadium, a Red Cross volunteer handed out sunblock and umbrellas for shade at the stadium’s entrance. The University of Hawaii Warriors had played a game last weekend, but now beds covered the yard lines, turning the turf into an enormous hospital ward.

  Alex, Sienna, and Drew followed signs to the fifty-yard line, where they were supposed to check in.

  “Maybe Mom and Dad are here,” Drew said.

  “Maybe,” Alex said, looking around the huge stadium grounds. So many people milled about that she had already lost track of the couple from the truck, Joseph’s parents.

  “Your cut,” Drew said, limping on his leg. “It’s getting worse.”

  Alex looked at her arm. Blood still oozed from the wound, and it looked hot and swollen. She glanced at Sienna’s gashed shin and said, “We all need to get checked out.”

  An intake worker wearing blue scrubs said, “Over here.” She had a clipboard and a form for new arrivals.

  “You go first,” Alex told Sienna. “We’ll find you when you’re done.”

  “Sienna Anderson,” Sienna told the intake worker, who escorted her behind a privacy curtain.

  A few minutes later, the woman returned. “Name?”

  “Alexandra Reyes. And this is my brother, Drew Reyes. Can we stay together?”

  The woman nodded and wrote on her form as they went into a curtained space containing a bed on wheels and a tiny table. “Okay. Sit here on the bed, and Jack’ll check out that cut.”

  Alex cradled her arm and climbed up on top of a white sheet. Drew stood by her patiently.

  Soon a male nurse called, “Knock knock,” and ducked around the curtain, carrying a folding chair. “Let’s see what we can do for you.”

  “She cut her arm,” Drew said.

  “Did you now?” The nurse sounded Australian. “Let’s have a look-see.” Alex held her arm out, and the nurse looked it over. “Not just a surface cut, is it now? Right then. Stitches it is. Not to worry. Be right back.”

  Alex glanced at Drew. He had gotten stitches once above his eye after roughhousing during a kickball game at school. Alex hadn’t ever had stitches, but it didn’t sound appealing.

  The nurse returned with a needle and thread. Stitches meant real stitching.

  “This is dissolvable thread, so it will disappear on its own, like a magic trick.”

  “Are there painkillers? Anything to not feel the needle?”

  “No. Sorry. They’re preserving that for people with worse wounds than this cut. Right then. We’ve got to irrigate the wound first. That way we hope it won’t get infected.”

  The nurse cleaned the cut, which stung something fierce, but Alex bit back the pain.

  “We need to check to make sure all the glass is out,” the nurse said. He held a special light over the cut and examined it. “Looks pretty good. You’re lucky.”

  When the stitching began, Alex turned her head away and tried to think of something else. Watching made her want to vomit. She thought of hanging out with her friends at the beach. She was glad that her friends were okay, but what about all of the other people who had been hurt or killed by the tsunami? That just made her feel sick again. The rock was an uncomfortable lump in her pocket. She focused on the woman across the aisle holding a newborn baby. The woman was alone, except for a doctor and nurse. No husband.

  “I will name him Keanu, after his papa.” Tears ran down the woman’s cheeks.

  The nurse squeezed her shoulder. “Keanu it is.”

  After a few minutes, the nurse stitching Alex’s wound said, “All done.”

  She looked at it. The stitches were in a straight line like stitches on a football, but thinner.

  “Who’s here with you?” the nurse said. “Is anyone waiting? Your parents?”

  Drew piped up, “We’re looking for our parents.”

  The nurse glanced down and then back up again before saying, “Check the boards at the end zone.”

  “The critical ward?” Drew asked, his lip quivering.

  “No. The other end zone. They have boards for people looking for each other. Anyone who has gone through intake is on that list. We update the lists hourly.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said. “Come on,” she said to Drew.

  “Dad! Mom!” Drew yelled out as they walked, looking all around, as if by some dumb luck they would fall right over Mom and Dad.

  In the end zone, five huge bulletin boards were plastered with papers push-pinned to the cork. Each board had a title: Intake. Critical. Have you seen? Missing. Deceased.

  A girl who looked near Alex’s age ran a finger down the names. Her finger stopped. She stared. Disbelief washed over her face. Then the corners of her mouth turned downward and her mouth opened. No sound came out at first. Then the word “No” escaped and turned into a wail.

  Alex looked away quickly. She couldn’t go there, not yet. They would check that board last. She steered Drew to the Intake board and told him, “You read this column and look for Mom and Dad. I’ll start with this one.” The Critical one. She wasn’t sure what to hope for now.

  Drew hobbled closer to his list, and they searched side by side. “Look closely at every name. We want to make sure and check every list carefully.”

  Alex found other people named Reyes listed, but not her parents’ names: Michael and Anne.

  “Anything?” Alex asked.

  “No. Not yet. Wait!” Drew stopped his finger on the last name Chu. “I found Mrs. Chu! I found Mrs. Chu!”

  Alex and Drew jumped up and down. Alex felt her cheeks and mouth turn upward. Finally, some happy news. She didn’t ask about Mr. Chu. Drew would say if Mr. Chu were also listed.

  “That’s good. That’s great. Keep looking.” Privately, Alex wondered if they were now orphans.

  11

  “Alexandra!” The familiar voice came just as Alex started scanning the last page on the Critical list. She turned around, and right there on the Warriors end zone was Mom. Alex and Drew ran over and sandwiched her in a tight hug.

  “We thought we would never see you again!” Drew said.

  “My family!” Mom said, hugging them tightly.

  Alex let go first. “Where’s Dad?”

  Mom paused. She laid a hand on each of their cheeks. “Your dad’s in rough shape. They’re prepping him for surgery.”

  “What?” Alex said. “I thought he would be okay. Wasn’t he at the university when the tsunami struck?”

  Mom put a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Your dad was on an excursion. The boat capsized, but he was wearing a life jacket. He was lucky.”

  Again with the luck, Alex thought.

  She and Drew told Mom what had happened to them as Mom walked them over to Dad’s curtained waiting room in the Critical end zone. Dad grinned and tried to sit up when they arrived, but then winced and stayed in his bed.

  “Does it hurt a lot?” Alex asked.

  Dad looked down at his shoulder, where the hunk of metal stuck out from his torn white shirt and blazer. “Yeah. It hurts. A lot.”

  “We thought you had missed the tsunami. What happened?” Alex asked.


  Mom brushed a strand of Alex’s hair behind her ear. “Dad’s team at the university was heading out on the research vessel when the report of the earthquake came in. They tried to make it back, but then the tsunami hit.” Mom pointed at Dad’s arm.

  “It could have been much worse,” Dad said. “I wanted to try and pull it out myself, but your mom over there wouldn’t let me try.”

  “Michael, you know if a sliver of metal breaks off, you could have a serious infection. You were just lucky your tetanus shot was up to date.”

  Alex examined her stitches. Glass didn’t cause tetanus. In time the stitches would dissolve and the cut would heal. They were all really lucky.

  “Are you going to keep the metal once they take it out?” Drew asked.

  Dad laughed. “Ow!” A pained look crossed his face, and he pointed at Drew with a semi-serious grimace. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m not sure, Drew. I think I’ll just be happy to be rid of it.”

  “He’ll be all right,” Mom said.

  “How could this have happened?” Alex said.

  “Things happen for a reason, honey,” Dad said. “This happened because there was an earthquake.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Alex said. “It was bad luck.” She wrung her hands. She needed to talk to someone, but she didn’t want her whole family to be mad at her, especially when Dad was about to go into surgery.

  Dad’s eyes fluttered, and he leaned back on the gurney. The anesthetic was taking effect. Mom bent over, kissed him, and squeezed his hand.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he mumbled. “Kids, wait with your mother while I’m in surgery.”

  “Just rest, dear.” She touched his cheek. “We’ll be here when you get out. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Dad’s voice slurred, and he closed his eyes and laid back on the gurney.

  A doctor pushed the curtain aside. “We’re ready for him now.”

  Four people came in and rolled Dad out and down the field.

  12

  Alex waited with Mom and Drew on hard plastic stadium seats near the surgery area. They each downed a bottle of water and a couple of granola bars flown in from the mainland. Drew found some scrap paper and penciled a picture of their family standing in front of their old house in Minnesota. Alex knew it was the old house because they didn’t have pine trees like that in Hawaii.

  Drew glanced at Alex.

  “I miss home too,” she said, meeting his eyes.

  Alex felt restless. The surgery seemed to be taking forever. It was all so unreal.

  “How long is this going to take?” Alex asked her mom.

  “Honey, he’s only been in there for a ten minutes.”

  “I’m going to walk around,” Alex said.

  “Can I come?” Drew asked.

  Alex looked over at Mom. She glanced down at the ground and rubbed her forehead. She was worried.

  “No. I want to be alone for a while. You stay here with Mom.”

  “Awww,” Drew whined. Then the corners of his mouth turned downward. “Please can I come with you?” he asked again.

  “No.” Alex shot him a look to shut up and motioned toward Mom. Drew’s shoulders slumped. “I’ll be back in a little while.” She headed for the perimeter of the stadium.

  Near the fifty-yard line, about a dozen kids made pictures with construction paper and pencils. They probably did that to keep them calm. Drawing always seemed to relax Drew. One really little kid caught Alex’s eye. He had the curliest brown hair, and when she got closer she saw he was coloring a picture of a red balloon.

  “Joseph?” she yelled.

  The little boy turned and looked at her.

  Alex ran over to him and knelt down. “Are you Joseph?”

  He pointed at himself. “I’m free.”

  She realized he meant to say I’m three. He looked just like the boy in the couple’s picture. In fact, she was sure it was him.

  “Joseph, where are your mommy and daddy?”

  He glanced at the sky. “Mommy and Daddy went bye-bye.” Tears filled his eyes.

  Oh no, Alex thought. I made him cry.

  A nurse came over. “May I help you?”

  “I think I know this little boy’s parents. If they’re the right people, they’re here!”

  The nurse’s eyes widened. Alex explained about riding in the truck and meeting the couple with the photo of the little boy holding the red balloon. Then she suddenly realized something: “I never got their names.” Her shoulders felt heavy. She had told the couple her parents’ names, but she didn’t ask what their names were.

  The nurse said, “Do you think you could recognize them?”

  “I’ll look for them,” Alex said, feeling more determined. “I’ll find them! Can you make sure he stays here?”

  “Yes, of course.” The nurse gestured upward. “Where else would he go?”

  Alex ran back to Drew and her mom.

  “Drew! Drew! I found Joseph, the boy in the photo. I found him!”

  “Wow.” Drew smiled. His eyes widened as the enormity of the discovery set in.

  “I mean, wow.” He set down his pencil. “Now can I come with you?”

  Before she could answer, someone else called her name. It was Sienna, her leg all bandaged up, accompanied by a uniformed man.

  Alex gasped. “I forgot to come find you. I’m sorry. But we found Mom and Dad!”

  “It’s okay,” Sienna said, grinning. “Look who I found!” Her dad waved and introduced himself to everyone. He had to get back to work, but he made sure they had enough water, food, and sunblock before he left.

  After Sienna had hugged him one last time, Alex waved her over for a huddle.

  “We have a mission,” Alex said. “We need to find Joseph’s parents.”

  “Why?” Sienna asked.

  “Because they’re here at the stadium, and Joseph’s here too.”

  “No way!”

  “Yes way,” Drew said.

  “If we can reunite them, that will be something,” Alex said. Inside, she was feeling like that might alleviate some of her guilt over the lava rock.

  “Okay,” Sienna said. “Where should we start?”

  “Well, first, I think one of us needs to get something up on the ‘Have you seen?’ board, telling his parents that Joseph is here and alive.”

  “I’m on it!” Drew said. Alex fist-bumped him, and Drew jogged down toward the bulletin boards.

  “Okay,” Alex continued. “Now we need to search for Joseph’s parents. What are your ideas?”

  Sienna paused a moment before asking, “Is there a sound system? Maybe we could just have an announcer say their names.”

  “We never got their names, remember?” Alex said.

  “Oh, right,” Sienna said.

  “But they’re here somewhere,” Alex said. “We just have to find them.”

  “Were they injured?” Sienna asked.

  “Hmmm. No, I don’t think so,” Alex said.

  “Okay, so we may be able to rule out critical care.”

  They looked around the rest of the stadium. “It’s a lot of ground to cover,” Alex said.

  “I know,” Sienna said. “Hey, let’s look at each seating section in order, so we don’t duplicate our search. Maybe we’ll be lucky.”

  “Great idea,” Alex said. “Let’s go!”

  13

  Alex and Sienna walked up and down the seating sections, looking for familiar faces. People had scattered over the sections like the few die-hard football fans on a rainy day.

  Alex spotted a woman with dark hair sitting two rows up, facing away from them and speaking to someone seated. Was it Joseph’s mom?

  “Excuse me? Ma’am?” Alex said.

  The woman turned around. It wasn’t her.

  “Oh, sorry,” Alex said. “We’re looking for someone.” The woman was crying. She held a tissue up to her face. “I’m sorry,” Alex said again.

  The other person rose and hugged the wo
man as Alex and Sienna hurried away.

  “This is impossible,” Sienna said.

  “We can’t give up,” Alex said. “We know they came in here.”

  “But it’s like trying to find—”

  “A needle in a haystack?” Alex said.

  “A pebble in an ocean.”

  Alex remembered the rock in her pocket. She still needed to return it. Maybe that’s why they were having such bad luck in finding Joseph’s parents.

  “Why are you acting weird?” Sienna said.

  “What?”

  “You seem off. Is it because you’re worried about your dad?”

  “Yeah. Yes,” Alex lied. “I’m just worried.” There, it wasn’t a total lie.

  They worked their way slowly through the stadium. As they searched sections 103 and 104, Sienna said, “Only half the stadium to go. But my leg hurts. I won’t be able to make it too much farther.”

  Alex sighed. “I know. Let’s look through one more section, okay?”

  Alex couldn’t bear to see one more person crying or banged up or looking hopeless either, but she felt like she had to go on. People wandered around, dazed and disoriented. Hawaii did not deserve this much bad luck. Paradise had turned into pandemonium.

  “There they are!” Sienna said, jarring Alex from her thoughts.

  “What?”

  “There!” Sienna grabbed Alex’s arm, and they hop-shuffled over to a couple sitting about twenty yards away.

  “We found Joseph!” Sienna yelled.

  The woman looked up at the name Joseph. She stared at them for a moment, and then recognition overtook her face. Her hands flew to her cheeks, and her eyes grew wide.

  “We found Joseph!” Sienna said again.

  “My baby! Where?” the woman said. “Where is he?”

  They led the couple to the play area, where Joseph was still drawing pictures with crayons.

  “Mommy! Daddy!” he shouted when he caught sight of them. He jumped up from his chair, knocking it over, and ran to his parents, and his mom lifted him up like a quarterback at the Super Bowl.

  “We were so worried,” Joseph’s mom said.

  “Thank goodness,” his dad said. He glanced over at Alex and Sienna and smiled, mouthing “Thank you.” Then he sandwiched his wife and child in a hug.