Carrying My Brother's Child

CHAPTER 5

Elena left Huron in the morning. Nobody made a big deal about it. That is how things were done in her family. Her mother, Grace packed some chin-chin in a bag and handed it to Elena without saying much.

Elenas father, Thomas was sitting up in bed. Watching her from his room. He did not get up. His legs were not strong enough for that anymore.. He watched her. Elena stopped in the hallway. Looked back at him. They just looked at each other for a moment.

"Go well " he said. His voice was weak.. It was steady. Elena nodded. She did not trust herself to say anything back. So she just. Walked out of the house.

Leo was waiting for her at the corner of their road. He had gotten up early to be. He was wearing his shirt. Elena did not ask him why he dressed up. She knew. He wanted her to remember him looking his best.

They did not hug for long. The bus was coming soon. Elena still had to get her suitcase to the main road. Leo carried the suitcase without being asked. He walked beside her without talking.

When they got to the spot where the bus would stop he put the suitcase down. Held her hands. "Every day " he said. "Every day " Elena said back. That was all. He let go of her hands. She picked up her bag. The bus. She got on.

The bus ride out of Huron was quiet at first. Elena sat near the window. Her small bag was on her lap. She looked out the window as the bus pulled away slowly. Huron moved past her like a place. She knew every part of it. The red dirt roads. The market stalls. The old barber shop.

She saw the orange tree near Mr. Adeolas compound. The one the children climbed every August. She and Leo used to steal oranges from that tree when they were kids. They would. Eat them behind the school wall laughing and getting juice all over their hands.

The bus kept moving. Elena watched these things go by. Then they were behind her. Then they were gone. Huron was gone. Elena pressed her hand flat against the glass for a moment. Then she took it away.

In front of her was a grey highway. There were bushes on both sides and some trees. In the distance there were small hills. The sky above was pale blue. Clean. Wide. Elena sat back in her seat. Breathed slowly.

She did not feel happy. She felt something. Like a door had closed behind her. Another one was somewhere far ahead. She was in the middle moving. The bus was half full. Elena looked at the passengers.

There was a man who had fallen asleep. A young woman with a baby sat across the aisle. A teenage boy near the back had earphones in. Elena watched these people. Thought about where they were all going. She thought about the reasons people have for being on a bus.

Elena took out her notebook. She wrote down some names. Leos name. Her mothers name. Her fathers name. Then she wrote the address of the Julian estate in San Francisco. She looked at what she had written. These were the things she was holding onto.

The bus stopped at a rest area after three hours. Everyone got out slowly. Elena got off. Bought some water and a meat pie. She stood beside the bus eating and watching the road. A woman came to stand near her. She was carrying a baby on her back.

The womans name was Sarah. She was going to visit her sister. They stood together. Talked easily. Sarah asked about Elena in a way. Elena told her she was going to San Francisco for work. Sarah nodded.

"San Francisco is not easy " Sarah said. ". It is not impossible either. Just keep your head down. Your eyes open." Elena smiled. She liked Sarah.

When the driver announced they were leaving they got back on the bus. The journey continued. Outside the landscape shifted. The bushes became farmland. Elena saw rows of crops she did not recognize. A small village passed.

Elena dozed off slowly. She dreamed of her fathers house. She dreamed of Leo sitting in the yard. When she woke up the sun was high. The bus was moving fast. She looked out the window. Road. Sky. Farmland. She was on her way to San Francisco.

Elena thought about her salary. She thought about what she would send first. Medicine for her father. Then something for her mother. The bus was moving at a speed. Elena was looking out the window. Then the driver hit the brakes hard. The whole bus lurched forward.

People grabbed the seats in front of them. The baby, across the aisle woke up. Started crying. Elena looked through the windscreen. Two cars were parked across the road blocking both lanes. They were not police cars. Three men came out of the bushes. They moved quickly. With purpose.

One man stood in front of the bus and looked straight at the driver. The mans face was really hard. He did not say a word. He did not need to say anything. The bus driver opened the door.

Elenas heart fell into her stomach.

The men got on the bus. They were not making any noise. That was actually worse than if they had been loud. They went through the bus row by row. First they took peoples phones. Then they took their bags. Then they took their wallets.

One of the men had something in his hand that he was holding low and close to his body. Nobody looked directly at it. Everyone knew what it meant.

Elena held her bag tight against herself. It was a thing to do.

She knew it was silly even as she was doing it. The man who was going through her row looked at her once and she let go of her bag. He took it without saying a word. He took her phone. He took the bit of money she had in her pocket.

Then the men were gone.

They got off the bus. Walked back to their cars and drove away really fast. The whole thing happened quickly. It could not have taken than five minutes. Maybe even less.

The bus just sat there on the road. Nobody said a word. The baby had stopped crying. The silence was really thick and heavy.

Elena stared at her hands.

Her bag was gone. Her phone was gone. Her money was gone. Everything Caleb had told her to keep safe. The little packet of chin-chin her mother had packed for her that morning. The notebook with Leos name in it. Everything was gone.

She felt the space where her bag had been on her lap. She kept her eyes down.

Then she saw something on the floor near her feet.

A small piece of paper that was folded up. It must have fallen out of her bag when the man grabbed it.. Maybe it had slipped out of her pocket.

She stared at it for a moment before she understood what it was.

She reached down carefully. Picked it up. She unfolded it.

It was the piece of paper Caleb had given her a weeks ago. The one with the address of the Julian estate written on it in Calebs handwriting. She had carried it separately from everything because she wanted to be sure she had it even if something happened to her bag.

She looked at it. The address was still there. It was clear and easy to read. Every word was still there.

She folded it up again. Slowly. Carefully. She pressed it between her palms. Held it there.

Around her people were starting to talk. A man at the back of the bus said something. A woman was crying softly. The driver was standing outside on the road talking to someone on his phone.

Sarah had moved from across the aisle. Was now sitting in the empty seat beside Elena. Her baby was awake and looking around with calm eyes. The baby was not bothered by what had happened.

"Are you hurt?" Sarah asked quietly.

Elena shook her head. "No." She paused. "They took everything I had."

Sarah nodded. She looked like someone who was not surprised but was still sorry. "They took everything I had too " she said.

They sat quietly for a moment.

"I do not have a phone " Elena said. Her voice was flat. She was not panicking. She was just flat. "I had Calebs phone number on a card in my bag. I never memorized it."

She stopped. Then she thought about it. She had looked at that card times. She had stared at it on the edge of her bed. She had held it when she made her decision to call Caleb. She had dialled the number before to tell Caleb she was coming.

The numbers were still in her mind. She tried to remember them

She saw the numbers. All of them. In the order.

She looked at Sarah. "Can I use your phone?" she asked.

Sarah did not hesitate. She reached into the fold of her wrapper. Pulled out a phone. She held it out to Elena with both hands. Elena took the phone the way.

She dialled the numbers slowly. Each number felt important. She pressed call. Put the phone to her ear.

It rang once. Twice. Three times.

Then Calebs voice came through. "Hello?"

Elena closed her eyes for a second. Then she opened them. Said, "Caleb. It's Elena. Something happened on the road. I need your help."

There was a silence on his end.

Then his voice changed. It became steady and serious. He sounded like someone who handled problems for a living.

"Tell me where you are " he said.

Elena looked out the window. She looked at the road signs she could see from her seat. She read them out to him one by one. Her voice was calm. Her hands were not shaking. She held the paper with the address pressed against her knee.

She still had the address of where she was going.

Everything else could be replaced.. The address was the thing that mattered right now. It was the connection, to the part of her life.. She had held onto it without even planning to.

Outside the bus the road was empty. The men were long gone. The sky was still blue. The world had not stopped.

Elena kept talking. Caleb kept listening.. The bus just sat there on the highway waiting for whatever came next.