
click here to save 20% on the print edition of When the Darkness Breaks
Sarah and Terry enjoyed the superb lunch. Whatever else Ramón could do, he could certainly do justice to his mother’s secret dish. And although they talked about their recent adventures, the subject of the angel never came up. All three of them seemed to carefully avoid mentioning him. I wonder why.
But all too soon they were back in the SUV and heading towards the area where the mud-slide had buried several houses. The weather may have cleared, temporarily, but the forecast was for a lot more rain, and no one wanted to take any chances. Ramón pulled up next to a building with several other cars parked outside, including a police car. It looked like the local gathering point or disaster centre. A short Latino looking man came towards their car. “Hey, Ramón. It’s good to see you, man.” The man had a wide smile under a wide cowboy hat. And he had an even wider girth. But he was also a man under pressure. His smile had a definite tinge of sadness around its edges. No one here could escape from the raw emotions that come with so many people losing their homes. “You too, José,” Ramón responded from inside the car. “Can you talk or are you really busy right now?” “Sure, my friend. For you I can spare a minute.” Ramón opened the door and signalled Sarah and Terry to join him. “José,” he said, “these are the people all the way from New Zealand that I spoke to you about earlier. Sarah and Terry.” The short, wide man gave Sarah a beaming smile and, if only for a moment, the sadness left him. “A pleasure, Señorita. I just wish it had been under more pleasant conditions.” He bowed slightly and shook her hand. Then he met Terry’s craggy gaze. And with a smile that was almost as warm, he extended his hand again. “Señor,” he said, “welcome to our little corner of the world.” Sarah responded first. “Thank you, José. So far your hospitality has been great, especially when you are so busy right now.” José took off his hat to wipe the sweat and grime from a wide brow that transitioned into his almost non-existent hairline. “Ramón told me you are from a television channel in your country?” he asked. “Yes. It’s a long story, José. We’ve come here to find a man we have been looking for. But while we’re here, would you mind if we took some pictures?” José smiled again, although it lacked some of the lumens of his earlier effort. The harsh reality of the situation had dulled the natural lustre of his deep brown eyes. “Señorita, you are most welcome. We have become something of a magnet for media people because of this tragedy. But you are also here as friends, no? Thank you for your courtesy in asking. It may be a small thing for you, but such things do not often happen in this country.” Terry took the hint and flicked the on switch of his new camera. It was a lot less imposing than his normal equipment, but it would do the job, and it doubled as a voice recorder. With a bit of luck, people would forget about it being there, making the situation more natural. “Please, come this way,” José urged them. They walked to the end of the short street and José pointed towards the hills. “You can see for yourself what has happened,” he said. “We had a big slide here earlier this morning. It closed the freeway along the coast, but no one was hurt. That is not unusual when the weather is really bad, so no one was too worried. But then this…” His voice faded as he pointed towards a mountain of earth covering what she suspected were several houses. Sarah glanced over her shoulder. Terry was recording. Good. Dan will get something for his money. Terry quietly moved so José was in the foreground of the shot, explaining to Sarah what was being done. “There are emergency workers trying to find if anyone is trapped in those houses.” He pointed. “We still don’t know how many people might be there. And, of course, there is always the danger of more slides.” “What about the ones who have already been rescued?” she asked. José continued. “We are evacuating the whole area now. We’ve already sent about 20 people through to Ventura. If we find any others, they will be moved through to Ventura too. But if it is safe, they can stay with people they know locally.” They heard the sound of rotor blades. They all looked up to see a news channel helicopter, presumably out of Los Angeles, circling the area. Not a good day for filming with the doors open today, Terry thought. Another unmarked helicopter appeared some distance behind the first one. José’s expression said it all. “It looks like more crews have arrived,” he said. “Things will become quite congested soon. I’d better get back.” He cast a look across to where Ramón stood staring at the devastation. “I’m sure Ramón will look after you.” With a slight bow, he said, “Senor, Señorita.” As they walked back to the SUV, Sarah said, “Thank you, José. You’ve been extremely helpful. But if I could ask just one more thing? Have you heard of any strangers in the area, apart from us, I mean?” “No, Señorita, I haven’t heard of anyone. But if I do, I will talk to Ramón.” Not wanting to distract him further from his work, she thanked him again and watched him walk briskly back to the disaster centre. The three of them stood there beside Ramón’s dark green SUV, not knowing what to do next. Each of them was waiting for one of the others to suggest it. Then Ramón spotted a woman and a young boy walking slowly down the road. “Rosita,” he called out. The woman barely seemed to notice him. He called again, “Rosita! Rosita, it’s me, Ramón. Are you alright?” The Latino woman was a tall and in her late 20’s. Sarah looked quickly across to Terry. Sure enough, he was recording, although not in an obvious way. Good man. He never misses a trick. The distraught woman suddenly recognised Ramón and broke into rapid Spanish, punctuated with wild gestures from face and hands. Ramón responded to her, also in Spanish. He pointed across to where Sarah and Terry were and then he draped one arm comfortingly around her shoulder and walked her towards them. The boy with her seemed happy to tag along. “Rosita, meet Sarah and Terry,” he said. “Sarah, Terry—my cousin Rosita and Douglas.” “Hi, Rosita.” Sarah could see the woman was feeling the strain of what had happened and needed a shoulder to cry on. Sarah silently offered one and Rosita accepted. Neither woman knew how long it would be needed for and neither really cared. Ramón was happy to leave his cousin in Sarah’s charge and turned to see Terry walking across towards a lost and lonely looking Douglas. “Gidday, Douglas; I’m Terry.” Terry held out his hand. “How are ya, mate?” Douglas looked about nine or ten and clearly not Latino. Not at all sure about the tall, strange looking man, Douglas looked across to where Rosita was crying quietly on Sarah’s shoulder. Then Ramón began to walk towards him, making Douglas more comfortable. “I’m alright,” Douglas answered carefully. “Have you been down to look at the mud slide?” Terry asked. “No, we were under it. It came down on our house.” “Is everyone out safely now?” Terry asked. “Yeah. Rosita and me. My mom and dad left for Chicago yesterday. Rosita is looking after me until they get back. I’m glad he came, or we’d still be stuck in there with the mud coming in.” “Who was that, Douglas? One of the firemen?” Terry wasn’t looking for anything specific. He just wanted to get the boy to respond. “Yeah,” the lad responded slowly as if he was reminding himself of what had happened. “But they came later and dug us out. It was the other guy who helped most.” “So who was this other guy, mate?” “You’re not from around here, are you? You talk funny.” “You’re right, Douglas. I come from a long way away.” Terry pointed out towards the sea. “Go straight out there, swim for about seven or eight thousand miles, then turn right, and you would arrive at my home. If you did that, you’d meet my boy, Steve. He’s about your age.” “How old is he?” Douglas asked. “He’ll be nine in about three weeks.” “I’m older than he is,” Douglas said with some sense of pride. “I’m nearly ten.” Terry and Ramón both smiled at that. Seeing that Douglas had relaxed around Terry, Ramón wandered back to check on Rosita. “Well good for you!” Terry liked the kid. He seemed quite normal, a lot like Steve really. He took a moment to wonder how long it would be before he’d see Steve again. Douglas looked at Terry for a moment. “You go away and leave him too?” he asked with some considerable feeling. “Yes, I’m afraid so, Douglas. It’s my job, you see. Sometimes, that means I have to go away for a while. But I miss him heaps and can’t wait to see him when I get back home.” “My mom and dad won’t be back for another two days. I wish they were here now.” The boy stopped and turned back to look down the street to where his house was buried under tons of mud. “They’ll be pretty unhappy when they do get back.” After allowing the boy some time to reflect on the scene, Terry led him across the street to join the others. Ramón took charge of the situation. “How about I tell José that you and Douglas are coming to my house,” he said. “We can call Douglas’ parents. They must be worried sick. And then you can decide what to do next.” Rosita looked tearfully up from where she was resting her head on Sarah’s shoulder. “That would be good,” she said. “Thank you, Ramón. And thank you, Señorita.” Sarah led Rosita gently towards the rear door of the SUV and helped her to climb into the back seat. Terry took Douglas around to the other side and popped him in beside her, allowing Sarah to fill the remaining seat. As he climbed into the front seat, Ramón emerged from the disaster centre and said, “José says that will be fine.” Terry got the impression José may have said more than that, but Ramón made no mention of it. Instead, he turned the key, the engine started, and they drove quietly away. Half an hour and a police checkpoint later, they arrived back at Ramón’s house. Rosita looked more relaxed, and Douglas became a normal 10-year-old. Terry had adopted the role of stand-in father, and the two of them were getting along like a house on fire. Terry had decided it would be a good time to ring young Steve. “It’s still quite early in the morning back home. Steve might still be in bed.” “What’s the time there?” Douglas asked. “Well, it’s nearly what, four o’clock here. That means it will be 10 in the morning back home.” “What’s he doing in bed still at 10 in the morning?” “He’s on holiday. It’s summer back at our place.” “He’s lucky. We haven’t had summer here for ages.” “Let’s see if he’s home.” Terry took out his cell phone and dialled his home. Within a couple of minutes, he’d said all he had to say and let Douglas have a talk to someone who not only had summer at a strange time, but was already in tomorrow! Meanwhile, Ramón and Sarah had calmed Rosita down, and they had decided to ring Douglas’ parents. Sarah smiled at the contrast between the two calls. One was all gloom and doom—the destruction of a family home and the fortunate rescue of a son and his babysitter. The other was two boys, half the world apart, comparing notes on the relative merits of X Box versus Play Station 2. It said much about the resilience of the young. “Douglas,” Rosita called, “your mother and father want to speak to you.” “Sure, coming. Later, Steve. Good time, man.” He handed the phone to Terry and without a word, switched into the dutiful son reassuring his anxious parents. Another contrast. Terry spoke to his wife, Linda, for a few minutes and then hung up and listened as Douglas described what had happened. “It was amazing, Mom. No, I don’t know where he came from; he was just there. He pushed up the wall and gave us room to move around. We didn’t know what to do, but he just talked to us and we felt okay. No, Ma. I don’t know how long. No, I don’t know where he went. He said something about a way out, but we should stay put. When we saw the daylight, we climbed out. Yes, a fireman helped us out. No, Mom. I’m fine. I was just talking to Steve. He’s in tomorrow, and he’s on holiday. See you, Mom. Love you.” He handed the phone back to Ramón who then walked into the kitchen to carry on the conversation with a little more privacy. Sarah smiled a knowing smile. All sorts of alarm bells sounded inside her head. She knew who had rescued Rosita and the boy. On its own, the boy’s side of the conversation didn’t make much sense. But she knew the angel had saved them. And she and Terry had just missed him. Now she needed to calm down and take this one step at a time. “Can you tell us about the man in your house, Douglas?” she asked. “Like I told Mom, he was just there. That’s all.” “I tell you what. Why not get a Coke and we can all sit down, and you can tell us all about your adventure?” she suggested. Ramón must have heard her because he appeared at the door with a can of Coke in one hand. “Someone here order a Coke?” he asked. “Me,” Dougals said with joy in his voice. Then he saw Rosita’s warning look. “I mean yes, please,” he continued in a more restrained fashion. With bribery safely delivered, Sarah asked, “Perhaps you could start from the beginning and tell us what happened?” “Like I told Mom, we were at home. They closed our school because of the storm. I’d just had lunch and was watching TV. Rosita was reading a book. Then I heard this awesome noise. Rosita told me to get under the doorway, like for an earthquake. Next thing, we started to move, and the whole house started to tip over. I was really scared.” “But you’re okay now, right?” Sarah asked. The boy nodded, but he wasn’t exactly convincing in his response. “What happened then, Douglas?” “Everything went black. We were moving, but I couldn’t see where we were going.” Sarah nodded her encouragement for him to carry on. The boy took another drink before doing so. “It went on for ages. I could hear parts of the house breaking. Then this guy arrived. He had a big light in one hand.” “Do you know who he was, Douglas?” “No. I’ve never seen him before. I thought he had to be someone coming to rescue us.” “Do you remember anything about him at all? What did he look like?” “It was pretty dark in there, you know. Kinda hard to see.” “Was he tall? Say as tall as Terry is?” Sarah had switched into professional mode. The boy thought for a moment or two. “No, shorter than Terry, but taller than you. About half way between you and Terry.” The boy paused again. “And he talked funny, a bit like you do.” “What did he say?” “He just told us everything was okay, and we would be out soon.” Rosita, who sat quietly listening to Douglas, joined in. “He just sat and talked to us. He had some candy and he gave it to you, didn’t he? He had a lovely gentle voice. I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. He was just like an angel. I really felt at peace.” Rosita crossed herself as she said that. “Do you remember anything about him at all, Rosita?” Sarah asked. “He wasn’t a young man,” Rosita replied. “I remember thinking that. I didn’t see much of him either. I just thought he sounded like an older man.” “Older than Terry?” “Yes. Forgive me, Terry. I don’t know how old you are. This man would have been older than you by, I don’t know, perhaps ten years, maybe more. And Douglas is right; he had an accent. A bit like yours.” “And he did talk like you,” Douglas interrupted. “He called me ‘mate’, like you did, Terry.” “And then what happened?” Sarah probed a little deeper. Rosita remained silent, trying to recall what had happened. Then she said, “He sat with us, and we just talked,” she said. “It seemed like a long time, but it also seemed to be only a short time. I was happy to sit there with him and Douglas.” “Yes,” the boy added. “He asked me about school, and my friends, and what we did for Christmas, and what I want to be when I grow up.” Rosita continued. “And then he stood up as if he had heard something. He said something about them coming now to get us out. He left his light with us when he stood up and went out of the room we were in. A few minutes later, we saw the light from outside. He called down and said it was okay to come up now. We climbed out this long tunnel and came out on top of the mud. A fireman saw us and came up to help us down.” “And where was the stranger?” Rosita looked Sarah directly in the eye and said quietly, “I don’t know, Señorita. He had gone. Disappeared. Perhaps he’d gone to help people in another house? I wish I knew. I wanted to say thank you to him. He was an angel for Douglas and me. When I saw how much mud there was on the house, I knew it was a miracle we were alive.” She turned away and raised her eyes heavenwards and crossed herself again, whispering a silent prayer. “We climbed down with the fireman, and then Douglas and I walked down the road. We met you and Ramón and now we’re here.” Silence descended on the room as they all took time to think about what had been said. Ramón looked squarely at Sarah and said. “This is the man you are looking for, isn’t it?” Sarah was taken aback by the directness and bluntness of his question. What can I say? Then she nodded and answered him, just as directly. “It’s the sort of thing he does. But I can’t be sure.” Ramón also nodded. “The one who helped the people in Asia—the big waves?” “Yes, I think so. But again, I cannot be sure,” Sarah admitted. The room went very quiet as Ramón spoke. “Can I ask you this? How did you know he would come here? Did you know what would happen?” He had a real edge to his voice now. It pulsated through the absolute silence that had surrounded and imprisoned the rest of them. They were not unreasonable questions. They, perhaps more than anyone, were entitled to ask them. She swallowed hard. “No, Ramón. We didn’t know what would happen here. But yes, I did believe he would come here. So we came too, hoping to find him. “Forgive my rudeness, Señorita, but you still haven’t told me how you knew to come here today.” “I didn’t know for sure. When we flew to Thailand, I had a very powerful dream about the flooding here. I felt the dream was telling me he would come here. I knew that if I wanted to meet him, I had to come here too—even though we didn’t know where to go or what to look for. I couldn’t tell anyone, except Terry. They would think I was crazy. But we did find you, Ramón, and we did end up here. That’s how it works. All we can do is take one step at a time into the unknown.” Rosita stared intensely at Sarah. “Madre de Dios,” she called out. “Señorita, can’t you see? God has chosen you for some special purpose. You would not receive such a dream if it were not true.” She crossed herself again as if trying to protect herself from whatever Sarah might be carrying. Sarah didn’t know how to respond. “Honestly,” she said, grasping for words, “Rosita, Ramón, I’m nobody special. I’m just a reporter doing her job. Then I started getting these dreams and visions that I can’t explain. I wish I could. I came here to find out if one of my dreams was real. It was. But I’m still no closer to the man we want to meet. And I have to say I have no idea what to do next.” “I know a man,” said Ramón quietly. “He may be able to help with such things. He is a priest who works at the university. Would you be willing to speak with him?” What’s he trying to do? Is he testing me in some way, daring me to tell my story to someone who might be better able to explain it? Sarah could feel herself bordering on tears. So much for the hard-bitten professional journalist. She thought a long time before answering. Finally, she concluded that she had nothing to lose and the possibility of something to gain. She said, “Yes, Ramón. I would like to speak to anyone who can explain what is happening.” Ramón looked satisfied with her answer. “Then why don’t I take you back to your hotel. You will probably want to rest after everything that has happened. I will talk to the Father, and he may be able to visit with you there. Would that be satisfactory for you?” “Yes, it would. Thank you, Ramón,” she replied. Then she surprised herself by adding, “Who knows, it may be our next step into the unknown.”
Recent Comments