“Ok, don’t panic.” David said out loud.

  Robbie furrowed his brow, not quite understanding.

  “I’m not panicking,” he protested.

  David couldn’t help but smile at his response. It was true that his brother worried less than him. But on the other hand, Robbie didn’t always think ahead as much as David did, and he assumed that David would know how to get them out of trouble.

  Robbie had had a lot of challenges as long as David could remember. It had taken him a really long time to learn how to speak - he hadn’t said his first words until he was almost five. And although he could speak now, he still struggled with learning in general. He attended special classes at their school to get extra help with all of his learning difficulties. Learning to talk, read, and think ahead, especially about complicated things, had come much harder to Robbie than to David. So Robbie still relied on David a lot to help him understand the world. What Robbie didn’t realize was that David didn’t always know what to do either – and he had to figure it out as he went.

  “Good, because there’s no reason to panic,” David finally responded with a semi-true sense of confidence. “But Mom and Dad might be freaking out, when they figure out we’re not on the train. Let’s find a place that will let us use their phone - and the bathroom”. Robbie joined him as they walked around the station and entered the main street. The smallness of the town became even more evident. Two streets met in a corner at the station and both were empty of almost any people, with several storefronts boarded up. However, one block down, there was a pharmacy.

  “Let’s go there,” said Robbie pointing to it. As they left the station, they noticed a sign at the end of the platform that said ‘Welcome to Desert Station’ – which David muttered out loud.

  “Huh?” said Robbie.

  “This town is named Desert Station. I remember the man on the train saying the name too.”

  They walked into the pharmacy and an older man stood at the counter, seeming surprised to see them, but friendly enough.

  “Well, hey there fellas.” He cocked his eye in curiosity. “You new in town?”

  David did his best to explain to the man what had just happened and the man listened attentively, widening his eyes with surprise here and there, as David recounted everything that had happened from seeing the girl to their being stranded.

  “You kids got cell phones? Or did you leave ‘em on the train.?”

  David and Robbie looked at each other as if thinking the same thought.

  “Our parents won’t let us have phones yet – they said we’re too young,” Robbie said. “Would have been really nice to have them right now.” He said sarcastically.

  “Well, we need to get your parent on the phone ASAP. Do you know their number?” The boys nodded yes and he turned around to get his phone from the back of the store.

  David wished he had his own phone right then. Some of his friends had cell phones already. But his parents thought the boys were still too young to have their own. They worried about what all the screen time was doing to kids’ attention spans. David felt frustrated by this. But, on the other hand, their parents gave them a lot more freedom than some of their friends’ parents. He and Robbie had been walking to school by themselves since they were eight. Some of their friends still weren’t allowed to walk to school by themselves. Mom and Dad trusted them, though. They had always taught the boys to be street smart, how to ask for help and, of course, they made sure the boys memorized their phone numbers in case of an emergency.

  Robbie tugged on David’s sleeve to ask him something and whispered: “ ‘Hey a Say’… what”

  “Huh?”, David didn’t understand.

  The man said “ ‘Hey a say’ something…”

  David was confused until finally it hit him: “Oh. A…S…A…P.” He repeated. “It means, ‘as, soon, as, possible’.” He used the sign language gestures to emphasize each letter to Robbie. Robbie’s family had learned sign language in order to communicate with him before he had learned how to speak. But Robbie and David still occasionally used signs when they didn’t want to be understood by other people. It was like a secret language between the two of them, and they sometimes used it to get out of sticky situations.

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  The man came back with his phone and unlocked it before handing it to David.

  David dialed his mom’s phone number nervously, worried about how his parents would react. Did they even know the boys were gone yet? His mother picked up immediately.

  “Hello? Who’s this?” She sounded very alarmed. She must already have noticed they were gone.

  “Mom, it’s me, David.”

  “Where are you? Are you ok? Where’s Robbie? Is he with you?”

  “Yeah, I’m ok. Robbie’s with me. We’re ok. We’re in Desert Station”.

  “What happened? Why did you guys get off the train? We were worried sick!”

  At this point, David stumbled over himself trying to explain everything, and the order in which it happened. But eventually, he was able to get it all out. At the end of the story, he knew what his mom wanted to hear, so he reminded her one more time.

  “But we’re ok, Mom. Robbie is with me, and we’re ok. We’re calling from a pharmacy near the train station. The man who works here let us use his phone.”

  His mom asked David to put the man on the phone. Turns out his name was Bob Willis and he owned the pharmacy, and his demeanor reassured the boys’ mother. They discussed some details, like his name and number, and the location of his pharmacy, and what the closest highway was. It turned out the town was very isolated and their parents’ best hope for getting back would be taking a return train trip back to Desert Station once they reached the next stop. But their train wouldn’t come back until evening.

  Bob assured the boys’ parents that he would have the local sheriff pick them up and make sure they could wait somewhere comfortable and safe until they could be reunited. Then he gave the phone back to David. Dad was on the line.

  “David, Mr. Willis is gonna call the sheriff, and he’ll take you and Robbie somewhere safe to wait for us. It’s gonna be a long day but the sheriff will take care of you, so you just let him know if you’re thirsty or hungry or need anything, ok?”

  “Ok, but what about the girl from the train? I think she’s really in trouble Dad. Who’s gonna help her?”

  “Well, when the sheriff comes to pick you up, you can tell him all about it, and see what he thinks. He’ll know what to do. This is a big person’s job now. You guys did great.” He paused for a moment. “I really wish you hadn’t left the train like that, but I understand you wanted to help, and that’s an honorable thing. I’m proud of you for doing that. But remember, you’re in charge now, and you have to look out for yourself and your brother first. So don’t get into more trouble, alright?”.

  “Yeah.” David felt glad his parents weren’t too upset with him, but he also felt sad thinking about the girl and what might have happened to her. He wasn’t sure if the sheriff would take him seriously. “Thanks.”

  “OK. Do me a favor. Call us again once you’re with Sheriff Norton so we know you’re still ok. Talk to you soon. Love you kids!” And then David heard a chorus of ‘Love you guys’ from Mom, Gigi, and Chief in the background.

  David handed the phone back to Mr. Willis, who then used it to call the sheriff and give him the rundown of what had happened. David asked Mr. Willis if he and Robbie could use the bathroom and he pointed them to a room in the back of the pharmacy. When they came back, he was talking with a middle-aged lady who looked at them curiously and said to them that it was nice to see some new faces in town and she heard that they were on an adventure.

  “Can I buy you boys a soda, or a snack?”

  “Oh, no thank you”, David said. “I have my own money.”

  Mr. Willis shut him down.

  “Your money’s no good here. You’re our guests now. We’re gonna take care of you boys.” Then he turned to the lady, who had taken out her purse, and waved her away. “That’s ok Linda. It’s on the house.” Then he looked at the boys again. “Anything you want. Soda, candy, chips, sandwiches, it’s on me. It’s my special, ‘welcome to Desert Station’, 100% off discount, one-time deal”, he finished with a smile and a wink. The boys thanked him and looked around the store for a bit while Linda finished up with Mr. Willis.

  “Well, this thing with the girl is really bothering me Bob.” Linda frowned to herself. We get unsavory types around town now and then, and usually Sheriff Morton handles any trouble-makers. But… I don’t like this business with a girl who might be kidnapped. That worries me more. I’m gonna keep an eye out and let everyone know so they can too.”

  “That’s a good idea Linda.”

  She left and the boys asked Mr. Willis if they could have a Slurpee each. He walked over to the machine and poured them out.

  “So I heard your name was David, from talking to your Mom and Dad,” he said as he hand each of them the Slurpee. “But what’s your name?”

  Robbie - who had just taken a Slurpee from Mr. Willis’ hand - seemed to freeze in place and his eyes began to close, as if he were about to fall asleep. David had noticed what was happening and immediately ran behind him, catching him just as his body collapsed.

  ? 2025 Gil Pedro Bento. All Rights Reserved.