by Kim Hornsby
The next morning, although they’d planned to leave for Mexico City, the trip was temporarily postponed, this new turn of events was too important for them to go off on a wild goose chase now. They had to find the parade.
Luckily Tina had noticed more detail. The horses, the market square at the end of the block, the architecture, a church spire. And Tina was a better artist than Jamey. While Jamey spooned cereal into Kai, she went downstairs to the store below their building and bought some paper and colored pencils to draw what she remembered of the scene. The pastel-colored buildings, the white pillars in front of a hotel, the parade float advertising beer, the high-stepping horses shaking their heads, manes dancing. There’d been a stage set up near a group of trees, and young women wearing bikini tops, jeans, and cowboy hats did a dance that resembled a cross between belly dancing, hula, and line dancing. This wasn’t Hawaii though. It definitely looked like Mexico with mariachi music, trumpets blaring in tinny staccato sounds.
As she drew the scene, Tina remembered more details. After they’d woken, Jamey had only told her that Wyatt was killed, but hadn’t added the details. And she hadn’t asked. He was busy on the internet, trying to find out about local celebrations and parades.
Tina made them tortillas with rice and beans sprinkled with queso while Jamey watched Kai roll from his tummy to his back on a floor blanket. When she set breakfast down on the blanket, Jamey looked up appreciatively. “We have to try to jump again when Kai goes down for his morning nap. We need more details.”
She agreed and smiled at her adorable son who was content watching the ceiling fan go around and around, his little arms flung out in front of him as if he could catch the ceiling’s toy.
Jamey took a deep breath and stared off into space. “Here’s what I saw. One of the horses, a white one with grey speckles and a long mane, was high stepping to the music and had just stepped down on his own hoof. Wyatt stood with Kevin watching the horses. But when the horse got alongside them, a firecracker went off close by and a dark horse on the far side got spooked and started to take off, making the white one try to get out of the way. Kevin had turned away and didn’t see any of this until the horse tripped on the curb and fell on Wyatt. Only Wyatt’s legs hung out. He was crushed.” He choked on his sob, took a minute to collect himself and then continued. “And when the horse got up, Wyatt’s head had been smashed under the weight of the horse’s hind end. There was blood everywhere.” Jamey squeezed the bridge of his nose and tried to get past the moment of recall.
By now Tina was watching him with horror.
“He was dead, along with an old lady.” Jamey bit his lips. “I don’t think it’s happened yet but we have to get to them before it does.”
“What town was this? That’s what we need to find out. We have to get there before this actually happens.”
“That’s the thing. I’m not sure it’s even Mexico.”
***
Tina was resourceful. When the moment called for it, she had ideas on how to find this place. Once they’d eaten, she’d go downstairs to ask around about parades, wandering the marina while Jamey tried searching the internet. She went in and out of shops asking about horse parades and if there was one this month anywhere nearby. One lady told her that Mexico City had hipicas, horse parades. Tina called Jamey’s phone to tell him that he might want to try researching the word hipica.
She continued on to the real estate office next door where a woman, whose name badge said Florencia, looked interested in her question about a horse parade this month.
“I don’t know,” she said with an accent that didn’t sound Spanish. “But I have a friend who breeds horses. Come in. I’ll make a few calls, see what she knows.”
Tina told Florencia that they were searching for a child who was abducted, and had reason to believe they were headed to a hipica. The woman didn’t ask any more questions. She made a few calls and finally Tina had what she believed was the answer. It made sense. This was August, and soon the town of Granada, in the Central American country of Nicaragua, would celebrate their patron saint, La Virgen de La Asuncion, with a festival and hipica. Tina thanked the woman profusely and hurried back to the condo.
“I think the parade is in Nicaragua,” she said, running through the living room to the balcony where Jamey sat with his laptop. “They’re headed to Granada.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“There’s a hipica this Sunday, and I feel something. Like we’re moving closer to the answer.” She gestured to the laptop. “Look it up. It’s the only hipica near here this week, this horse lover said.”
***
Once Jamey stopped concentrating on Mexico City, the clues fell into place. Nicaragua was famous for Andalusian horses, high-stepping animals known for their fancy footwork. Seeing photos of Hotel Plaza Colón on the internet made Tina’s skin prickle in recognition, she said. “Look at my arm. Chicken skin. This is it.” Even a church spire fit the one in the dream.
Probably a good sign. He hadn’t noted much in the dream besides Wyatt’s death but Tina had an eye for detail. The scene in their dream was in Granada. “No doubt about it,” she said. And the beer logo they’d seen on the parade float—˜—was Nicaraguan beer.
They had to get to Nicaragua as soon as possible. There wasn’t time to drive through Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and into Nicaragua. Flying was the only option. The horse parade was in four days.
They phoned the airlines, booked tickets on the next flight to Managua for that night. Having a concrete plan gave them hope. The relief in the room swirled around them that afternoon, even Kai seemed happier.
“We’ll get on the six o’clock flight, land at nine, catch a cab to Granada, an hour away, and check in to the hotel.” Jamey sounded focused. “We probably won’t get anything tonight, but tomorrow we can verify the location and see if we pick up on anything.”
“Walk around, find the accident site, try to summon something,” Tina added.
“I’m not going to leave it until parade day,” he said. “If I have to hire someone to stand in front of those shops all week to keep Wyatt from falling under that horse, I will.”
For Wyatt, Jamey would try to change the course of the future one more time, if he could.
***
Kai slept the whole flight to Managua and woke when they landed. He was such a great little traveler, considering that back on Maui they had him in a definite routine that never swayed. Tina had to wonder how much easier it would be to not have Kai on this journey, but how could they give him to someone to take care of during all this? Where would he go while they ran around Central America looking for Wyatt? Not her mother’s house who loved her little grandson but wasn’t young enough to handle a baby’s schedule or carry around a sixteen pound baby all day. Babies were a lot of work and hard on the arms, not to mention how a baby disrupted one’s sleep schedule and good mood. Carrie had offered to take Kai to free them up to search for her child, and Tina had considered the possibility, but Carrie had a baby too. Little Harley was only eight months old and colicky, according to Jamey. And Carrie had three other children to manage. She didn’t want Carrie trying to add Kai to her daily schedule.
So far, traveling with Kai had been doable. He was just starting to show the beginning signs of wanting to crawl and she hoped he held off for another month. He’d been getting up on his hands and knees, rocking back and forth as though he was warming up to take off. Soon he’d figure out that if he moved his knee and then his hand, he could travel around. Knowing her baby like she did, she had to believe that once he started moving, it would be difficult to contain him.
At the Managua Airport, they avoided baggage claim with only a small duffel bag that fit in the overhead compartment. Kai had more stuff on this trip than the two adults. Both she and Jamey wore backpacks as well. When they stepped out into the steamy air of the Central American city from their immigration checkpoint a throng of taxi drivers offered to help with their bags. Jam
ey waved over a young guy to take the duffle bag and Kai’s diaper bag. He spoke what sounded like fluent Spanish to the taxi driver and added “Por favor.” Tina was always impressed when she learned something new about her husband. He seemed to pull rabbits out of his hat on a daily basis. She hadn’t known until this month that he spoke Spanish. She’d heard him speak the local dialect in Afghanistan and had been impressed then, as well.
“Granada?” Jamey asked.
The young man nodded. “Si.”
Tina locked eyes with her husband. “Here we go, Jamey.”
Chapter 8
On the plane, Jamey had broached the unthinkable. He wasn’t as confident as he let on. He’d admitted that it might be remotely possible the day, the vision, were wrong, and Wyatt was already dead. “What if?” he’d worried. But Tina assured him that he’d seen Wyatt in the truck only a week ago, and there hadn’t been a hipica in Granada for months. And, that the dream they’d shared of the horse parade was a premonition with the telltale look of the future, not a dream of the past. “It was a glimpse, Honey.” Her husband fell asleep shortly after that with his mouth pulled taut, his forehead furrowed. Rarely did she take on the role of reassuring him, and rarely did he show weakness or doubt with her. Not since she’d taught him to dive ten years ago had she’d been in charge like this, with him leaning on her confidence. But sitting in those close seats, with her voice at his shoulder, he’d needed her reassurance. “We’ll get Wyatt this week. I feel it,” she said.
Once out of the airport, Jamey lifted Kai from Tina’s arms, kissed Tina’s cheek, and carried the wide-eyed baby along the sidewalk to the yellow cab. Like her son, Tina was wide awake and very aware that they were in unfamiliar territory. It seemed unreal and not just because it was late at night, and they were tired. Had she ever thought about going to Central America before? She doubted it. Up until yesterday, she wasn’t even sure where Nicaragua was on the map, except possibly south of Mexico, a few countries away. She was exhausted, but tried to pick up on a feeling that Kevin and Rose had been here recently. Nothing yet.
The air was hotter than Maui in August, drenched with humidity, even different from Puerto Vallarta. They were much closer to the equator now.
Kai fussed to be put in the car seat, but Tina distracted him by pretending to sneeze and the little baby soon was belly laughing at his Mama. That sound was the most precious thing she’d ever heard, the rumbly jumble of pleasure that came from deep in his little belly.
Jamey spoke with the taxi driver most of the way out of Managua, chatting presumably about the country.
Even at this hour of night, traffic was thick to get out of the capital city. “I wonder what Wyatt thought of all the traffic,” she said.
“Probably not impressed,” Jamey turned around. “I’m imagining Wyatt covering his ears but that could be just because he does it so much.”
Wyatt did not like loud noises, heavy traffic and crowds, and that was the reason Carrie left him home if they went to the Science Center, or Space Needle in Seattle. He wasn’t a fan of loud music and often clapped his hands over his ears if his sisters turned the car radio up. Wyatt never went to the state fair or even his sister’s piano recitals. Soccer games were tolerable because they were outside, but not the Seattle Sounders soccer games because the crowd noise was intolerable to the little guy.
Tina amused Kai with his toys and caught glimpses of Managua out the window. The route out of town ran through poverty-stricken neighborhoods with tin shacks and dirt yards, past Coca Cola signs, along a four-lane road with a grassy center median that periodically had a cow or pig grazing. If there was a super highway to Granada, they weren’t taking it. At this hour, there were very few people out and about. “Ask the driver about the hipica,” she said, leaning forward touching her husband’s shoulder. “See if we can get some information.”
Jamey spoke in Spanish, quite fluently, and nodded casually like the information—date, time down to the minute—wasn’t of the utmost importance. The driver nodded in return, apparently verifying the festival was on Sunday. Today was Wednesday. “Ask him if there’s a rehearsal with the horses.” She’d been worrying they might have the day wrong.
“I did. How’s our boy?” Jamey swiveled and touched Kai’s head over the top of the car seat. When the baby looked up at his father and smiled, Jamey smiled back. “Hola, Kai.” He looked at her. “No hipica rehearsal. Looks like we have four days to find Wyatt.” He shifted in his seat to see Tina better. “There’s an American ex-pat community in Granada that might have seen them.” Jamey nodded at the driver. “He gave me a couple of restaurants where the local Americans hang out. We’ll check on those tomorrow, ask around, show Wyatt’s photo, and check out a playground that’s popular. The town isn’t huge, the driver says, and it would be hard for a family to hide in the American community. The bad news is that we don’t have a lot of time to wait for them to surface. We have to dig.”
Tina nodded. “I’m ready to dig.” Jamey looked more confident that this was going to work than he had on the plane. This was the closest they’d felt to finding Wyatt since this nightmare began. “And with a little luck, I’ll dream tonight,” she added.
The plan they’d made on the flight included combing the town for the next three days, asking everyone they met, visiting the grocery store, toy store, and the surf shop if there was one. Kevin loved surfing and might be thinking of surfers’ paradise down south near Costa Rica. It was a small town called San Juan del Sur. Jamey said Kevin wouldn’t be in this country without wanting to ride some of the world famous waves off the Pacific Coast. Kevin loved extreme sports, lived for extreme sports, and was probably in this country because of the surfing. Was their plan to leave inland Granada for the coast eventually? “Did we check if San Juan del Sur has Hipicas?” She worried that somehow they might have the wrong day and Wyatt’s life would end sooner than they could get to him.
“They don’t.” Jamey said. “Just Granada and Managua, and we’ll know soon if the church and hotel are from the dream.”
Within a half hour, the church spires on the cathedral came into view and soon after that they drove past the white pillars of the church, the exact ones from the dream. As the taxi swung in to a parking space in front of the hotel, Tina made a positive verification. “This is it. Thank God.”
Granada was quiet at this hour of the late night. Only two horse-drawn carriages remained on the street. Recently, she’d seen photos of the carriages lined up around the park square. How picturesque the town was with its colonial architecture, colored buildings, tree-filled market square, and spired buildings. Very Spanish. Her mother might like it here as long as the hotel had decent amenities. Come to think of it, this might have been the town from her dream about having coffee with her father. Hadn’t she taken a brief ride in one of these carriages? The thought that her father might have actually entered the dream to lead them to Nicaragua left her feeling both happy to have contact with him, and sad that she hadn’t picked up on the hint. Had she been in touch in her dreams?
After they got out of the taxi and stretched, she and Jamey exchanged a look that meant they both thought the town was pretty, but neither wanted to treat this visit like a vacation. A stray dog skulked away from the taxi when the driver lunged and made a hissing noise. Tina recalled her sweet dog, Obi, back on Maui, in the care of Katie. Jamey’s niece had been happy to move into a 3,000 square foot house while her uncle, aunt, and new baby cousin took off after Wyatt. And Obi loved Katie. He’d spent many months in the dive shop with her so they were used to each other. He probably loved her more these days. On a recent business phone call, Katie told Tina that she’d been taking Obie to Airport Beach on days off and remarked how much he loved to watch the water for turtles.
Jamey lifted Kai out of the car seat, and Tina transformed the stroller/car seat that was turning out to be the handiest thing they had on this journey. They didn’t have much with them, only a few essentials for themselves
, but a baby seemed to need a lot of paraphernalia. Traveling light wasn’t possible with diapers, a car seat, stroller attachment, and enough baby clothes to avoid doing laundry every day. For a moment, standing on the steps of the Hotel Plaza Colón, Tina could almost imagine they were on vacation, but quickly tamped down any enthusiasm for that. Ahead of them were four full days of searching. The backup plan to be in front of the juice bar on Sunday, all day, if they hadn’t found him by then, was still in place. She hoped it didn’t come to that.
Jamey called Carrie from their palatial hotel room. “We’re in Granada,” he said, while Tina changed Kai’s diaper on the bed.
“Did you get any feeling yet?” Her voice was heavy with anxiety.
“No feelings, but we saw the church from the dream, the hotel, the park across from the hotel.” Of course Jamey hadn’t told her that Wyatt would be killed on Sunday, only that he’d seen Wyatt clearly at the parade. Carrie didn’t need to know the ugly particulars especially because he intended to prevent the horse from falling.
“Alright. Thanks. I might even get a good night’s sleep.”
“You try to do that. Both of you.” Jamey included Chris, knowing his life was in the same turmoil.
A young man arrived at the door with a crib for Kai. After wheeling it in, Jamey thanked him and gave him an American dollar, even though they’d been told that a dollar was too much for a tip here. The room was white-walled with dark wood trim and hardwood floors, very large with a king size bed and a lovely balcony overlooking what they called the Parque Central. Tina took off her running shoes, wanting to feel the floor on her tired, warm feet, then asked Jamey if he thought it was safe to go without shoes.
“This place looks spotless, but let’s not take any chances. If a scorpion bites one of us, we’re screwed. Even flip flops in the shower, Darlin’.” He was right. They had to take every precaution in the next few days to stay on top of things and healthy.