Love Speaks Through: Chapter 2
Adam wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he arrived at the children’s home, but it wasn’t to be greeted by more than twenty little kids, all just as excited to see him as they were to see everyone else who arrived.
They spoke Spanish so fast that only Allison caught all of what they said, and talked to them right away, squatting to be closer to eye-level with them.
“¿Como te llamas?” a little boy asked, pulling on Adam’s hand.
“Hey, Alli,” he called. “A little help?”
“¿Que?” she asked, before remembering to switch. “What’s up?”
“He’s asking me something, and I have no idea what.”
“¿Como te llamas?” the boy repeated.
“He’s asking what your name is. Just say ‘Me llamo Adam.”
“¿Por qué tiene el pelo rosa?” a girl named Savanna asked.
Kris, who she had all but forgotten existed, got down at Savanna’s five-year-old height and explained, “Porque rosa es su color favorito. ¿Cuál es tu favorito?”
“No lo sé,” Savanna answered, suddenly growing shy.
Laughing, Allison sidled up to Adam, whispering, “The little girl right there just asked me why I had pink hair, and Kris told her it was because pink is my favorite color.”
“Isn’t it?” Adam teased.
The kids were called away then, and the founders of the home, Patrick and Sandy, finished greeting them, and telling them about the property before taking them on a tour.
Sandy and Patrick’s house was very modern, with tile floors and mahogany doors. Allison learned she would be sleeping in the spare room, with fifteen-year-old McKenna and her mom, Joan, who were a part of the bigger team who came to help that week also.
Joan and McKenna were Southern but not like Kris. Allison could hear them whispering about her and Kris and Adam the whole bus ride. Speculating about why the three of them were there, and what the cameras were for. Though neither watched the show, they somehow recognized the three of them from it, and disapproved instantly. They were the kind of Christians that Allison didn’t want to get to know. They talked like they were better than Allison and her friends, just because they came with a group from their church.
The rest of the group was guys, and Allison guessed that was a good thing, because it looked like there was a lot of work that needed to be done outside. Digging and building, which Allison would totally volunteer for. She would leave the baby-sitting to Joan and McKenna.
--
“And this is where you’ll sleep,” Patrick explained, opening a door to the unfinished guest house. It was dimly lit and had cement walls and floors. A bathroom in the same condition.
There were mismatched curtains in the windows, but that was as far as the homey touches went. The yard was littered with cardboard and building detritus. A toilet stood awkwardly in the mess, like a bad lawn decoration. Inside, there were exposed wires and bare light bulbs that made Adam feel even more uneasy.
Half a dozen guys and Kris, walked in and set their bags down, claiming bunks in one room or the room next door. Adam stood in the doorway, his mouth agape. He figured Kris was probably used to this, with all the trips he had taken, but Adam had never slept anywhere more adventurous than camping in a blanket-fort with Neil as a kid. And that was in his parents’ living room.
Finally, Adam joined the rest of the guys, claiming the top bunk, over Kris’ bottom one. He realized belatedly that the camera had caught his reaction, and that was frustrating. He wasn’t used to being followed around 24-7 getting his reactions recorded. Setting his stuff down, Adam followed the tour, winding down a huge sidewalk and observing kids playing everywhere, between the two houses where they lived.
--
Kris couldn’t quell the nauseous feeling in his stomach. He was so overwrought at this point, Kris thought it was better just to shut everything down. He walked along, feeling numb and disconnected in the oppressive heat, barely noticing the mango trees or tin roofs or the beautiful language being spoken around him.
Truth be told, he never traveled well. He loved it, but it was notoriously hard on his body. For some reason, he was always sapped of energy from the start, and this time he was at an early disadvantage, pushing three days without sleep. His body didn’t adjust well to different foods, though he wanted to try everything there was to try.
Emilio was a sweet toddler in a blue tee shirt with a truck on the front, who was literally hanging on Kris’ belt loop as they walked along. Absently, he lifted the child in his arms to carry him before his own reality slammed into him like a ton of bricks.
Kaleb, back home and sick. Katy, still not recovered.
And suddenly, the nausea he felt meant more than just rebellious digestion. It was how his body coped with being somewhere else. Not where he needed to be. Closing his eyes, he prayed, and tried to put one foot in front of the other.
--
“I want to see the baby,” Katy said, raising the head of her bed just a little.
She might as well have been talking to nobody. Her dad was watching a football game, without sound, but intently focused on the screen and her mom was determined, knitting a tiny hat and booties for Kaleb.
“Honey, I don’t think now is the right time,” her mom said. “You’re still in a lot of pain. I don’t think that’s any state to be traveling anywhere. Come on now, and lie back. Do you need anything for the pain?”
Katy gritted her teeth. She did need something for the pain, and she needed her lame husband to come back from Guatemala or wherever he went and be with her. If he was here, at least one of them would have been able to stay with Kaleb and look after him. This way, she had no way of knowing how he was unless Kim or Neil came and gave an update.
More often than not, though, they spoke in hushed tones to her own parents, not to Katy herself. She may have only been a mother for three days, but her love for her son was fiercely strong, and had been growing steadily since the day she found out she was pregnant. Katy set her jaw. Nothing and no one was going to keep her from seeing her baby.
Wincing, she reached between the railing and the bed for the call button, and pressed it. Her mother would think she needed morphine, and that was fine with Katy. She would like to see her mother say no to a nurse, and she hoped to God it was the same one who made Katy sit up in the most uncomfortable chair ever yesterday before Kris left.
Katy knew they were going to be in eventually to have her sit up anyway. She figured they couldn’t object to a wheelchair ride to the NICU.
Her mom moved to her side, holding her hand without speaking. She was learning that her voice had a crazy ability to get on Katy’s last possible nerve and sit there.
“What can I get for you, hon’?” a nurse asked minutes later.
Katy stared at her, determined. “A wheelchair. I need to see my baby.”
Her mom spoke up, and the nurse hesitated, but in time, Katy got what she wanted. She was wheeled carefully down endless hallways and took a trip in an elevator. The pain was so bad now, being moved around, she felt like passing out. But Katy breathed, determined to make it. This was her son. Nothing and no one was going to keep her from him.
The minute she was wheeled inside nursery, Katy craned her neck to search for little Kaleb in his isolette. In their gowns and masks, everyone looked the same, but two gowned people came over and greeted Katy with kisses through their paper barriers. She sighed, relieved that Neil and Kim were still there, keeping watch.
“How is he?” she asked.
Kim pursed her lips under her mask. Katy didn’t look well enough to be up and about yet. She was pale and looked exhausted just from the short ride upstairs from her own hospital room. “He’s had a rough day, but he’s hanging in there.”
Taking the chair gently from the nurse, Kim steered Katy over to a tiny plastic box that held Kaleb.
Her breath caught, but Katy was unwavering. She was going to see him and she was going to talk to him. He was going to know his mother’s voice.
“Hi, Kaleb. It’s Mama,” she bit her lip as his monitors beeped and the ventilator hissed ominously. “I love you so much.” She glanced over her shoulder at Kim. “Can I touch him?”
When Kim shook her head, Katy felt sure her heart would break. “I love you, Kaleb. And I’m so sorry you have to be in there, and hurt like this. You be brave and strong, okay? Me and Daddy love you so much, okay?”
Katy would have liked to move in there, become a permanent fixture beside her son, but soon after her conversation, Katy was wheeled back to her room. On the way she wept, sure she wouldn’t be whole until her son and her husband were both home and safe.
--
Allison sat on the picnic table on the patio. Supper was simple. Cold-cut sandwiches and lemonade. She had also heard that cake was for dessert. One of the guys on the other team had a birthday. He was a teenager, and she had yet to learn his name. But he was cute.
Everybody was exhausted, so no one talked much. Allison just marveled at how it got dark by 6 PM, and after that it was pitch black, and seriously impossible to even see your hand in front of your face. She hadn’t been back to El Salvador in several years, but she recalled that the seasons were switched around when you passed the equator or something. So for Central and South America, it was winter, and the days were short, while in the States, the days got longer.
“Oh, hell, no,” Adam muttered under his breath as a huge June bug landed on his arm.
All around him, Adam heard people gasp, as if he’d cursed in front of the kids. His eyes were huge and focused on the bug.
Casually, Kris reached over and killed it with his bare hand.
“Thanks,” Adam said, shuddering.
“No problem,” Kris shrugged.
Unfortunately, bugs the size of small animals wasn’t the only thing Adam had to worry about. Later, when everyone else had gathered in the living room for devotions and the camera crew had a break, he went into the room Allison shared with the mother and daughter.
“So, where are you guys staying?” Allison asked. She had thought about joining Kris in the devotions, but decided not to when she heard them being asked what they wanted to get out of the trip. She thought she’d look pretty dumb if she said she just wanted to make it through in one piece.
“This place is like the Hilton compared to what we’ve got,” he whispered, not wanting to offend anyone outside the closed door.
“What can I say? Allison stretched out on the bottom bunk. “I like it high-class…”
Allison was nearly asleep when she felt herself being jostled as Adam stepped on her in his frenzy to climb to the top bunk.
“Oh, my God!” he exclaimed.
“What the hell, Adam? You stepped on my hand!” she shouted before she remembered people were doing God stuff just outside the door.
“It’s a lizard…there in the corner, by Southern Comfort’s bags,” his voice was panicked and breathy as he pointed.
Allison smirked. Adam would start calling the most annoying ladies on the planet by a cute nickname. And he would do it just to piss her off, too.
Allison swung her feet off the side of the bed, and walked, fearlessly barefoot, over to the luggage. “Should I give them a surprise?” she asked, looking from the lizard to the bag.
“You do that, and we might be screwed. Just kill it!” Adam encouraged, using a flowered pillow as a barrier.
Shrugging in what seemed to be her trademark fashion, Alli turned her hat backward grabbed her tennis shoe from the floor, and threw it forcefully at the creature in the corner.
Satisfied, Adam hopped down and went over to investigate.
“Sick. You’re not gonna sleep with that thing in here, are you?”
“No way,” she shook her head, gingerly bending down and picking up the limp lizard by the tail.
“Excuse me,” she apologized sticking her head out into the living room. “What do you want me to do with this?”
“Here, let me take it,” Patrick said, standing up and taking the dead creature in a paper towel.
“You think you guys can keep it down to a dull roar in there?” Sandy asked.
Allison noticed that her smile looked tight at the edges, like she had to force herself to be polite. “I’m really sorry. We’ll be quiet.”
“They should join us,” McKenna suggested in a way that wasn’t a suggestion at all. “What are they doing in there anyway?”
“Killing a lizard from the sounds of things,” Kris interjected, making everyone laugh.
Behind the door, with her back to Adam, Allison prayed that her bag would be found soon. The last thing she needed in addition to dirty clothes was to stay in a room infested with lizards. And now she had its guts on her shoe. She grimaced, backing away from the matching luggage.
“Are you sure you don’t want the top bunk?” Adam asked, perched up there again, his back against the wall. He smiled, patting the empty space beside him, and waited while Alli climbed up to join him.