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Oh, sweet baby Jesus,Jake thought numbly, listening to the exchange in disbelief and horror.I’m going to die. I’m actually going to die today.
“I need him in the clinic! Ortega is dying.”
Pendergrass was clutching his hand, muttering something, and Jake closed his eyes in resignation. He was going to suffocate, and there would be zero to miss him; no one would mourn, and he wished he’d taken the time to try to reach out to his parents back in Honduras when they’d been deported. He’d been so scared to be deported, too, that he’d kept his mouth shut and head down, and now it was too late.
This was it.
“Oh, Jesus save us…” Pendergrass was whimpering, holding his hand still. “Ortega! Ortega! Hey buddy… man… you gotta hang on…”
Jake slipped into that blackness, imagining himself falling into that abyss where he had once teetered, giving up.
2
LENA
Sweet Bloom, Texas
Opening her eyes, Lena stared at the brightly colored lights and heard the muffled voices around her. This was all so surreal and so weird. Where was she? Where did Davy and Mike go? Were they still lying in the grass of the park nearby? Suddenly seeing the bars nearby, turning her head toward the light and expecting to see the sun.
There were ceiling tiles above her.
She was in a room that smelled like vomit – and felt her stomach lurch painfully.
“Are you going to make it in the toilet this round, Lena?” came the garbled voice that sounded so far away and echoed. Man, what did they give her this time – and why was she stupid enough to take it?
“Huh…” she whispered, putting a hand on her forehead as she tried to sit up and felt everything roll around her. “I gotta go home.”
“You needhelp, Lena. We can’t keep doing this whole song-and-dance number every few months. If you had drugs on you, I could charge you with possession, or if you even made a scene or spectacle of yourself, then we could get you for disorderly conduct. But you are about the nicest druggie I’ve ever met – and I feel bad for you,” the officer said openly, and she couldn’t even look him in the face.
“Can I call someone to come and get you? Do you have someone nearby?”
“I should call my sister,” she whispered instinctively. “Not Mom, oh gosh, you didn’t call my mother – did you? Oh please, no…”
“We haven’t called anyone and weren’t quite sure what to do with you. What happened, Lena? Why were you sleeping in the park? It’s cold outside, and you could have died from hypothermia, you know?”
“I was alone?”
“Were you with someone?” the officer countered.
“I need to call my sister… please.”
“All right,” the officer said gently, opening the jail cell door and helping her to her feet. Lena felt such shame washing over her as she had to drag her feet through the pool of vomit on the floor, knowing it was hers, and could barely stagger into the room that held only a telephone. “Call from here – or do you need me to dial her number?”
“No,” she whispered, closing her eyes once more. “I’ll get it.”
Plopping down in a seat, she held onto the table to keep from flopping over onto the ground and stared at the telephone in confusion. What was Shelby’s phone number?
Picking up the receiver, she held it to her head and waited, hoping the number would come to her in a moment of clarity – and it didn’t. Instead, she pressed zero.
“I need to make a collect call to Doctor Shelby Bow in Tyler, Texas.”
“Miss, we don’t really handle collect calls anymore. Just dial the number and…”
“Please,” Lena uttered and felt her stomach lurch again. “Please, just dial the number and connect me. I need to make this call, and I don’t know if I can do it again.”
“Popcorn guns?”
“Huh?” Lena whispered in confusion.
