Fifteen minutes had passed on the boys’ wrist-watches and Carlos hadn’t returned. Thankfully, the truck’s air conditioning had kept them cool - they hadn’t needed to sip much water. But the total silence coming from the gully, broken only by the cry of the occasional vulture flying overhead, had begun to give David the creeps. He looked at his brother to see how he was doing. Robbie was looking out the window with a scrunched forehead and his lower lip jutting out slightly - a classic sign that he was fretting about something. David chose not to pry. Sometimes his brother took a while to share what was on his mind and he didn’t like being forced to talk when he wasn’t ready.

  David had been thinking that, unless the roadway down into the gully was really long, it shouldn’t have taken this long for Carlos to come back. How long, could it take to determine if there were people down there? And if there were, and it was the girl with those men, David assumed Carlos would probably come back to the boys and say something. He hoped Carlos had not decided to intervene on his own. He would have been outnumbered and… What if the men had a gun or something? They could be dangerous. If there weren’t any men there, why was Carlos taking so long?

  He drummed his fingers impatiently on the seat and, eager to set aside his anxiety Carlos, tried probing his brother’s thoughts.

  “What are you thinking about,” he tried matter-of-factly.

  Robbie seemed like he might ignore him at first – he didn’t answer for almost a minute. But then he found his words.

  “I don’t like everybody trying to help me all the time,” he said with frustration.

  “What?” His brother’s comment had taken David by surprise. "What do you mean?”

  “Yes, you do. I don’t want everybody helping me all the time.” He paused and kept looking ahead into the distance, wanting to be heard but unwilling to fully make contact with his brother. “It makes me feel stupid.”

  Robbie was right – David had known what he meant, even though he hadn’t wanted to say it out loud. He didn’t think his brother was stupid at all, just because he had trouble learning certain things that came easily to David. Everybody’s different, like Mom and Dad always said, with their own strengths and weaknesses. You don’t need to compare yourself against anybody except yourself. But that was easy for them to say, thought David.

  It was hard for Robbie to make friends, and he didn’t like being seen as the kid who went to Special Ed classes. Luckily the kids at their school had learned not to make fun of Robbie – that had happened one time too many and he had given a couple of boys fat lips for their trouble. Robbie was a gentle boy but he didn’t take kindly to bullying, whether it was him or some other kid who was the victim. Robbie didn’t just stand up for himself but also for other kids who were being given a hard time. It was something David really admired about his brother. It made him feel sad that Robbie felt bad about himself for needing help sometimes.

  “I don’t think you’re stupid.” David wasn’t sure where he was going with his statement, only that he desperately wanted his brother not to feel bad about himself. He didn’t know the right words to say, but he kept going, hoping it would help somehow.

  “I think Dad was worried about the guy on the train because he was yelling at you and he was bigger. I don’t think Dad thought you were stupid.”

  Robbie didn’t say anything, but David felt that his brother was listening, so he kept going.

  “And when you had that seizure… well, did you not want me to help you? Am I supposed to let you crack your head on the floor?” His tone got playful, as if he were offended that Robbie didn’t want his help. “You just had a seizure – it’s something your brain did. Are you stupid now, because you had a seizure? How is that your fault?”

  Robbie smiled involuntarily as he reflected on his brother’s words. He hated having seizures – it made him feel like he had no control over his body. But David was right – how could he blame himself? And if it wasn’t his fault, how could that somehow mean that he was stupid? The absurdity of trying to blame himself for these unfortunate events suddenly hit him. He chuckled, and David amped up the friendly teasing.

  “Don’t worry. Next time some dumb person is yelling at you for no reason in front of everybody, I’ll tell Dad not to get involved. I’ll tell him ‘Robbie doesn’t want help. Stay out of it’,” he concluded, now giggling too.

  Robbie pushed him on the shoulder in a mock attack, to get him back for his sarcasm. His sullen mood had receded and David felt more relieved too. He remembered that he had almost gotten stuck in Desert Station by himself and felt newly grateful that Robbie had jumped off to help him.

  Robbie glanced at his wristwatch, prompting David to do the same. Seventeen minutes had elapsed since Carlos had left. It was very tempting to short-cut Carlos’ instructions and call for help immediately. But then he thought that it would be a shame if Carlos came back just as they were calling for help, and that it might confuse matters if they gave someone the wrong information. He would stick to the original plan and follow Carlos’ instructions to the letter. It would be twenty minutes soon enough.

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  Three minutes later, Sally’s sandwich had fallen prey to the boys’ nervous appetite, the phone was already in David’s hands, and he had already rehearsed entering Carlos’ in the phone’s access code into the phone multiple times to ensure he did not forget it. Now - feeling free to finally act - he found Sally’s number in the phone’s contact list and nervously pushed the Call button.

  Nothing. No ringing, and no answer. That’s when he looked at the phone’s home screen and saw the indicator showing that there was no reception. He felt a pit forming in his stomach: they must be out of range of a cell phone tower. How could this have happened? He turned to Robbie in surprised frustration. “There’s no reception.”

  “Can you call someone else?”

  “No. I mean, yeah. But it shouldn’t matter. It’s not them, it’s us. I guess we’re too far away from town and there’s no signal here.” He did try calling another number just to be sure. But, as he expected, he got the same result.

  “Should we go up on the hill?” Robbie suggested. David frowned, not following Robbie’s logic. “To use the phone”, Robbie insisted. “We do that at home sometimes.”

  David suddenly grasped what he meant. Their home in Glendale was located in a steep valley and sometimes they struggled to get a good cell phone signal in their house because of the signal being blocked by the surrounding mountains. Sometimes their parents had to go up on the second floor of the house, in order to get to be able to make calls.

  “Robbie, you’re a genius!” David said excitedly. “Let’s go up. Maybe we’ll get lucky.” David pulled the keys out of the ignition and pocketed them. The boys left the truck and walked into a sea of heat that shocked their lungs as they breathed. It was clear now why Carlos kept talking about the temperature. It was much hotter already than even when they had hopped into Carlos’ truck back at Desert Station. After some deliberation they decided to leave the vehicle unlocked, remembering that the truck’s cabin was the only shade they had and, if they lost the keys, they’d have no place to hide from the sun.

  They climbed nimbly to the top of the nearest hill which was steep but rocky and irregular enough that they had many footholds. They had grown up hiking the many trails all around Los Angeles, so the climb posed no problem for either of them.

  As they neared the top, they began to see a view of the gully open up below them. Although they were still many hundreds of yards away, they could see the entirety of the gravel road winding down into the gully. The road ended in a large flat area at the bottom of the gully and several buildings and other abandoned structures littered the space. Robbie pointed down to the buildings and David responded. “Yes, I see it. But do you see anyone down there?”

  Both of them shielded their eyes from the sun and squinted hard to try to make the image clearer. Robbie was the one who spotted the first bit of movement. He grunted and tugged at David.

  “There,” he signed. “Next to that building, on the left. Is that the girl?”

  David looked down and his heart jumped. He was right. There was a little girl, no question. It was hard to see, and the figures were mostly dark outlines against the sunny landscape. But the size of the figure, coupled with the fact that just then a much bigger figure walked next to her, confirmed it for him. He couldn’t see well enough to determine if it was the same people they’d been looking for, but it was too much of a coincidence for it to be anyone else. The fact that Carlos hadn’t returned yet heightened his concern for him. Robbie had the same thought.

  “Where is he?” Robbie asked himself.

  David looked at his brother fretfully, not knowing what to say. They both knew something had to have gone wrong. There was no way Carlos had left them, discovered the people they had been looking for, and then decided not to come back and let them know what was happening. He must be hurt… Or, something. Who knew? And he and his brother were the only ones who could do anything.

  He looked at his phone again, suddenly remembering why they had climbed to the hill in the first place, and was dismayed to find that there was still no signal. His stomach turned with anxiety. Still, he tried calling Sally and Sheriff Morton just in case but, nothing…

  Robbie had been watching David and remembered something: "What if you try texting?"

  “That’s right.” David said with a sudden pang of excitement. “Dad said sometimes texting works, even if calling doesn’t. Let me try that.”

  He quickly went to the messaging app and entered what he thought was a useful but concise message to Sally.

  He had been about to hit Send, but suddenly thought to add Sheriff Morton to the message thread. Then he finally hit Send. The phone’s message indicator showed that the phone was trying to send the message but could not confirm that it was successful.

  “C’mon, c’mon.” David vented in frustration.

  The boys waited for another minute or so, but the phone eventually confirmed that the message failed to send. Grunting with annoyance, David tried to resend the message but the phone’s messaging app hung again without confirming that it had been successful. He stuck the phone back in his pocket with impatience.

  Robbie looked at David with those doleful eyes he sometimes made when he was worried. “We have to go help them,” he said with determination.

  “I know,” David responded. There was a churning tension in his stomach as his anxiety rose with the awareness of their situation. But he also felt that the facts were clear and there was nothing else to think about. They had to do something, and the only thing they could do was find Carlos, and quickly. “Let’s go drink some water and lock up the truck, and then we’ll see if we can get closer. Maybe we can find Carlos.”

  Robbie nodded, with a concerned look on his face – like David, he felt the weight of the risk they were taking in his belly. They were going into danger. But, as was his nature, he hated waiting for things to happen. It was exciting to finally be taking action.

  ? 2025 Gil Pedro Bento. All Rights Reserved