by S. B. Niccum
“Him who? Who sent you, Luz?”
Frustrated she started to leave, but then thought better of it and sat back down. “The light that shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not,” she said soberly. “Him … who came to his own, and they knew him not.”
Dumbfounded I stared at her, while warmth filled my chest and my eyes started stinging. “You want me to trust in Jesus? Is that what you wanted to tell me?”
“Follow your instincts and trust Him,” she smiled tenderly, like a sister, and brushed her hand tenderly against my cheek. I threw my arms around her and she seemed to be taken aback for a moment, but then reciprocated and hugged me so tight that I felt breathless for a moment. Hastily, she released me and skipped off to bed without another word.
Having lost all hope for sleep, I slipped out of bed, grabbed a throw, went out to the back deck, and looked out to the ocean. The night was chilly, so I wrapped the handmade throw tighter around my shoulders. The moon was almost full and gave a beautiful muted light over the waves. There was little shore, because the tide had come in, but I managed to sit down on a dry spot and let my mind go blank.
For some reason, it was easy to let my mind find rest near the ocean; I couldn’t explain it. It might be a combination of the soothing sound of the waves crashing and the crinkly noise the sand made as the water retreated. Or maybe it was the spray, or the wind, or the constancy of it all … like a heartbeat, earth’s heartbeat.
After a few deep breaths I allowed myself to ponder what Luz had said. Charlotte had taken us to church with her on Sundays, so I knew that Luz had quoted scriptures from the Bible; but why those specifically? Was it coincidence, or did she know something?
Luz usually sounded like a child when she spoke, but tonight…while she spoke, she sounded like an adult. I groaned in frustration, rubbing my face with my hands. “I still don’t know what to do! Trust my instincts! What instincts? Oh! Lord, if you are out there … and I know that you are … help me! Help Alex and the soldiers with him! They are dying or going to die soon, I know they are! Please don’t let him die! Give us time together; let us enjoy life together, please! Is that so much to ask?” I fell on my knees and pleaded. Then I remembered what that voice had said while he gave Alex water, “help is on its way … ”
“You were both given a gift. Gifts are from me, given for the benefit of others … ” the thought was dropped down as it were a rain drop from above. Along with it came the memory of a story that I was taught at church. The story of the talents; to one were given five, to the other two, and one to the third. The first two increased their talents by investing them; the last one buried it—and in so doing, lost it!
Is that what I have been doing? Could it be possible that the dreams that I’ve always had of Alex, have been a gift? Am I burying the gift? “How?” I thought. “How am I burying this gift? I use it as often as I can, if it was up to me, I would dream of him every night!”
“Follow your instincts, and I will send Angels to aid you,” the foreign thought responded. And along with those words came an overwhelming feeling of love, warmth and strength.
“The wall … ” I thought, and I immediately got up and started walking along the thin strip of beach toward town.
Part of me was sure that the wall held some special clue to this mysterious puzzle, and I was determined to find out why once and for all. As I walked I made plans of how to get inside. To climb the wall like Spiderman was impossible; I would have to find an entrance. I would walk the perimeter of the wall until I saw a gate or something that I could climb over. Maybe by then the sun might be coming up, so I would not need a flashlight. Once inside, I would look around for any clues that might shed some light on these mysterious messages.
“Luz, levántate! Wake up, hija,” her father nudged. No longer affected by time, Max looked as handsome as ever, and exactly as he looked in his twenties.
“Vamos muñeca, levántate.” Max tried to shake her leg instinctively, and was disappointed anew when the two matters were not compatible, and his hand went through the leg and the mattress in one swoop.
“Let me!” Celeste said, “ Luz, querida, it’s your mother! Wake up! You need to help us again,” Celeste whispered in her ear, and this seemed to do the trick. Luz opened her eyes suddenly and without blinking looked directly into her mother’s face.
“Mami!” Luz exclaimed with a thrill.
“Listen Luzita, you need to help us again. Go wake Dorian up and walk to the village along the beach. Tess needs your assistance.” Luz frowned and pouted like a stubborn child that is asked to do a chore.
“We’ll be right there with you, so don’t worry.”
“But you never talk when you’re around her! I never know what you mean!” Luz complained.
“Don’t worry about that now Luz. Go do as you’re told,” Max said in a commanding voice.
Reluctantly, Luz obeyed, and started out the door. “You might get chilly, grab a blanket,” Celeste suggested, her mothering instincts still intact. Luz made a face, but obeyed.
Getting Dorian up was no problem; he was waiting for her and greeted her with his usual smile. Since coming to Mexico, and particularly to this house, Dorian finally felt that he had found his home. Luz was the dearest person to him, and he never wanted to leave her sight.
Hand in hand, the two slipped out into the night, and followed Tess at a safe distance. No explanation of what was going on ever passed between them. Whether they knew what was happening or the role they would have to play, was anyone’s guess. They were simply obeying their angelic call of duty.
Why did I ever think that I could make it into town by myself? I would have gotten hopelessly lost by daylight, so it stood to reason that I would get even more lost by moonlight. Leaving the beach behind, I turned onto one of the streets that looked like it would lead to town. I hoped that it led to the plaza, and that from there I might find the street that led to the wall.
My hopes were dashed, though, when I walked and walked and the street I was on didn’t take me where I had hoped it would. Instead it turned steeply uphill and followed the ocean. Frustrated and scared, I started to shiver and cry. “My instincts are all wrong! What am I doing?” I groaned within and fell on my knees on the cobble stone road. Pretty little white adobe homes lined the empty street, with black wrought iron balconies filled with cascading red and pink bougainvillea.
A warm hand pressed against my back and I jumped to my feet, ready to defend myself. But to my complete relief, the innocent smiling faces of Dorian and Luz greeted me instead. Neither one of them spoke, but I knew why they were here. They had been sent. They were my Angels. The words “the least of these” came to mind as I looked at them, and though not exactly what I had in mind when I thought of angelic help, they stood before me glowing with a strange light that radiated from within. I threw myself in their arms and felt secure there. My brother and my sister… an odd family we made, but that’s what they were to me in this life.
“I’m looking for the mission,” I told Luz.
“I know where it is,” she said in her singsong girlish way.
In no time, we reached a side of the wall and skirted it all the way around, until we found an entrance. The gate was solid wood and about ten feet high. It was locked with a thick padlock that looked relatively new. This I noted with interest, but made no comment. Instead we looked for a way to climb the gate and jump to the other side.
Dorian looked like he was trying to find a foothold somewhere, but even if he did, Luz would not be able to climb the gate.
“Need help?” a male voice said from the shadows, then slowly started moving toward a spot where a ray of moonlight was shining like a spotlight.
It was the hobo, and in his hand, instead of the blankets and bags he had the other day, he held an ax.
Chapter 23
All three of us stared dumbfounded at the hobo, trying to decide if he was friend or foe. With a smile the man moved away f
rom his moonlit spotlight and came closer to us. “I can break the lock with this,” he offered.
We stepped back to keep some distance between us, still unsure of the man’s intentions, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by our distrust. He simply went to the gate, took his filthy poncho off and started whacking at the chain. After a few purposeful blows, he loosened one of the links and wiggled it out, making the rest of the chain clang to the ground. With his free arm he made a sweeping gesture, inviting us inside the mission. “There you go.”
“Why did you help us?”
“I was here, I had the tools. We are all tools,” he looked at me significantly.
I nodded, acknowledging my thanks to him, and led the way inside, followed by Dorian and Luz who were holding hands.
Inside there was a courtyard with burned down dilapidated structures near the outer walls. None of the ruined buildings reached the outer wall, they were all detached from it and a cobble stone pathway encircled the structures, separating them from the wall. All but one of the small clusters of buildings still had a roof, and at one point they would have all been connected in a horseshoe shape.
“Let’s see what’s inside that one,” I nudged. Luz and Dorian showed no sign of fear; their expressions were as they always were, peaceful, almost angelic as the full moon shone down on them.
There was an actual door that led to the only standing structure and it looked oddly new, like someone had recently put it there. This, Dorian knocked opened with his foot because it was locked as well. Before stepping inside, I looked around the courtyard one more time. The man with the axe was gone; Dorian, Luz, and I were alone. I swallowed the lump in my throat, hoping that the hobo wouldn’t change his mind and try to trap us in here, or call the police on us, or something. But I couldn’t worry about that now.
Dorian led the way and cautiously walked down a narrow corridor that looked like it would have, at one time, lead to several small sleeping chambers. Presently only five of these still stood, two on one side, and three on the other. One of the chamber doors was off its hinges; we peered inside and found nothing but a small narrow cot and an upturned table with a few rats that scurried away when they saw us.
The other doors were closed and thick, reinforced with cast iron hinges. Only one of the doors had a small window, which allowed us to peer inside; this I was about to do while Dorian tried his best to open the other solid doors with his shoulder.
My heart lodged itself in my throat, and all the blood drained from my head. On the other side of the small window was a scene that I had seen before—not too long ago in fact. It was the exact replica of Dorian’s last picture, complete with the surprised and angry look from Alex, who was leaning against the damp wall. On the floor there was the woman and standing against the back wall, was the other soldier whose face was shadowed by the light of the moon streaming in from behind him.
“Alex?” I faltered. My mouth was dry and my throat felt hoarse.
Alex’s eyes grew large, but he didn’t respond. I knew what he was thinking; he thought I was a vision. I was the ghost!
With two strides the other soldier stepped up to the little window, and stuck his hand through the two bars, touching my cold face.
“She’s real!” he gasped.
“Amor! Maria de Amor! For heaven’s sake, wake up!” Paz shook her sister, rousing her from her peaceful slumber.
The other opened her eyes and tried to focus them on the figure before her. “Que pasa hermana?”
“I’ve had a dream! And it’s come true! They’re gone and I know just where they went! Oh Amor, it was beautiful. They look young again and happy!”
“What are you talking about? Are you going senile on me?”
“Of course not! I’m telling you, I had a dream! But we have no time to waste. Hurry, put something decent on and grab that shotgun of yours!” the nun ordered, then left the room in search of a flashlight and something solid.
“But, Luz and the kids!” Amor complained.
“Exactly who we need to go get! They are gone, but I know where they are! Will you just hurry? I’ll explain everything on the way.”
The two women jumped into the convent’s minivan and drove hastily into town.
Fixed to the spot, I started shaking. It was the oddest thing, my teeth were chattering and my whole frame felt unsteady. My mind was even a jumble and unable to make heads or tails of what was happening.
“I am real,” was all I could think of to say, “Alex?”
Dorian stuck his head in front of mine and peeked inside as well.
“Brother, help us!” the big soldier pleaded with Dorian, whose only claim to brotherhood was race. Nonetheless, Dorian nodded, then turned his attention to his surroundings looking for something that would aid us in opening the door. From inside, I heard a scuffling and a groan as Alex tried to get on his feet.
The soldier moved to let Alex have a look. “Tess?” Alex peered through the tiny window. His face looked haunted, bloody and bruised. With effort, he stuck his hand through the bars of the small opening and I reached for it as well. We held hands uncomfortably through the bars, verifying that we were both real. Then a surge of urgency rose within me and I wanted to knock that door down, with my own fists if necessary.
“Dorian, please!”
“You’re here with Dorian? There’s no police or…” Alex asked, panicked.
“Whatever you have planned, miss, you need to do it fast, it’s almost dawn and the guy comes at dawn,” the other soldier warned from behind Alex, whose knees were buckling.
“But—but, we have no plan. We had no idea you were here,” I told them lamely.
“So … how? What brought you here?”
“I don’t know … my aunts live just out of town, and since I first saw this place I felt like—like I wanted to come inside.”
Alex reached his hand and touched my face again, and a small tear slid down his cheek. “For the first time in my life, I’m very grateful for your terrible lack of judgment.”
“I hate to break up the reunion, but I really want to be out of here,” the other soldier said impatiently while the female soldier who was lying on the ground groaned and whimpered. Alex turned to look at her, then turned back to me. “She might not make it, we have to hurry. Do you see anything that we can use to take the hinges off?”
“The ax,” I breathed out, then Dorian rushed out in search for it, or something else, while Luz just stood there with a pleasant smile as she watched the scene before her unfold.
“You brought nothing with you?” the impatient soldier scolded. Right then, Dorian dashed back in, quick as lightning, with the ax that the hobo had brought with him and apparently had left behind.
Without being told what to do, Dorian started whacking at the impossibly thick door.
“This is going to take forever!” I scanned our surroundings with urgency, trying to find anything that might have an impact on the massive door.
“Try to find a nail or something that might help us push the hinges off!” Alex said with great effort. The act of standing seemed to be hard enough for him.
Dorian had stopped his useless whacking and was studying the hinges, when we heard footsteps outside. We all froze in place and held our breath.
“Luz? Dorian, Tess?” someone whispered outside.
Dorian and I exchanged glances and Luz’s face brightened immediately. “In here!” Luz shouted, unconcerned.
“Shh!” the soldier, Alex, and I hissed together.
Seconds later, hurried footsteps and the ruffling of a nun’s habit were heard coming into the building. Armed with a shotgun, a sledgehammer, a flashlight, and a rosary, the two women walked down the hallway, wide-eyed and cautious.
Amor was bringing up the rear with a colorful scarf around her forehead, holding the shotgun and the flashlight like an experienced GI-Jane. Paz walked in front holding the sledge hammer over her right shoulder like a bat, the long string of beads that held her
Rosary was pulled taut by her left hand, dangling in front of her to ward off any evil.
Immediately, Luz started unburdening herself of the whole story and brought her sisters up to speed on the night’s proceedings. Then, after the other two ladies confirmed visually for themselves of our findings, they began to devise a plan.
“What a find! And to think they’ve been here all along!” Paz exclaimed after looking into the cell.
“We can now add international espionage to our obituaries!” Amor said, with a smirk. Paz nodded and studied the door. She determined that between the ax and the hammer, we might be able to break the lock. But right as she said that, the light of her flashlight reflected off something shiny.
“Let me see that.” I reached for the flashlight and shone it back on the spot.
There, right next to the door, was a single key, placed there as if by providence itself. It reminded me of the night that I broke into Agatha’s room. I lifted it up, and shone the light on it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” the soldier exclaimed.
After unlocking the door, we swiftly evacuated the building. But our escape wasn’t as quick as we would have liked. The wounded soldier had to be carried and the only one who could help with that was Dorian.
“I’m assuming that you will all want asylum from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart until your Embassy or military people retrieve you?”
“Yes ma’am,” Alex tried to smile, but an inner pain quickly turned his face into a grimace. Paz nodded, then put the van into gear.
The sun was now peeking through the horizon, promising another sunny day, and in my mind I uttered a “thank you,” heavenward. No one spoke while we drove, not even Alex who was leaning on me. I was sure that similar supplications were making their way up to heaven at this very moment.