CHAPTER 9: "A Brave Boy"
One morning, Felipe woke up. Silence pervaded the barn and the surrounding region; the shelling had stopped. What was going on? His mother was frying some tortillas on her comal; the sizzling and the good smell filled the stall. Felipe's father was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Papá?" Felipe asked.
"I don't know." Consuela flipped one of the tortillas over. "He didn't tell me where he was goin'."
Felipe yawned. "Is it over? Can we go home now?"
Consuela smiled ruefully. "No, hijo mio. Not till the alcalde says we can. Perhaps the siege is over. I hope so."
Me, too, Felipe thought.
He donned his white cotton shirt and matching cotton trousers, and wrapped his wool sash around his waist. As it typically did, the bottom of his shirt hung down below the encircling sash, since he never tucked his shirt in. His mother dropped another tortilla onto the comal. It sizzled as it started to turn brown.
When Juan returned, the tortillas were ready. After Consuela asked the blessing, the family silently ate breakfast.
"It's goin' to start up again," Juan said, when breakfast was over. "This afternoon." He glanced down at his white, homespun cotton shirt as he spoke.
Consuela sighed. "I'll go to the plaza and get some water, then." She shook her head. "It feels like we've been cooped up in this barn forever."
Juan nodded agreement. "It's been two weeks since this fightin' started; a month since we came here. Si, feels like forever." He glared at the entrance. "They're not goin' to give up. Just because some of us became rebels, they think we all are."
Consuela rose to her feet and picked up the water bucket. "I'll be back." She kissed her husband, then her son. Felipe watched her go.
A moment later, Juan threw his folded serape over his shoulder, put on his straw sombrero, and left the stall. Suddenly, Felipe felt lonely. I want Mommy, he thought. I'll go find her.
He raced out of the barn and rushed toward the plaza. As he reached the edge, he saw his mother dip the bucket into the fountain, and raise it up, dripping.
Suddenly, a crowd of people entered the plaza. As they ambled through, a gunshot startled Felipe. What was that?! he thought, jumping.
The crowd of men and women halted, then raced through the middle of the plaza. Dropping the bucket, Consuela threw her arms over her face and screamed. Several men slammed against her, knocking her to the ground.
"Mommy!" Felipe screamed. "Mommy!"
The little boy pushed and shoved his way through the throng. He threw his body over his mother's face. "Don't you hurt my mommy!" he screamed.
Startled again, the crowd froze and stared down in silence at the outraged boy and his terror-stricken mother. In that instant, before anyone had a chance to react, the priest who conducted Mass in the barn for the refugees shoved his way through the crowd and bent over the two. "Are you all right?" he asked Consuela. Concern etched his face.
Without waiting for an answer, he straightened up and ordered, "All right, give these two some room! Move along; move along!"
The crowd dispersed, and the padre turned back to Consuela and Felipe. "Are you all right?" he asked again, as he helped Consuela to her feet.
"Si." Consuela took a deep breath. "I thought I was goin' to be run over by that crowd."
The priest ruffled Felipe's brown hair. "If it hadn't been for your son, señora, you might well have been." He smiled down at Felipe. "What's your name, amigo?"
"Felipe Cortez, Padre." Smiling shyly, the little boy scratched his nose.
"Well, Felipe, you're a brave boy to defend your mother like that. You may have saved her life."
Felipe smiled again, bashfully. "Gracias, señor." He leaned against his mother, who put an arm around him. "Mi mamá's brave, too."
"I'm sure she is." The priest nodded, then turned to Consuela. "I remember you, señora; you're staying at the barn, aren't you? You and your husband and son?"
"Si. Mi llamo Consuela Cortez. My husband is Juan." Consuela gazed down at the bucket; it had landed near the plaza fountain. "I was just gettin' us some water."
The priest glanced into the bucket, then picked it up. Water sloshed over the edges. "Even though there's no fighting at the moment, it's not safe to be out here. It's going to start up again, later. You'd better stay in the barn, señora. You, too, Felipe. I'll see you there, to make sure you reach the barn safely."
Carrying the bucket, he escorted Consuela and Felipe to the barn. Once inside the stall, he set the bucket down on the hay-covered ground. "I will bring you some water tonight, so you won't have to leave this barn again."
He made the sign of the cross over Consuela's forehead, then patted Felipe's shoulder. Felipe watched him go.
Consuela sighed. "God bless that good priest," she said. "And my brave, good boy, who saved me from gettin' run over." She hugged Felipe and kissed his cheek.
Felipe's heart felt light. For the first time in weeks, he did not feel guilty. The priest and his mother had called him brave. If he was brave enough to save his mother, then his father was wrong in calling him a coward.
For the rest of the day, the two of them obeyed the padre and stayed inside the barn. Juan joined them that afternoon, shortly after the shelling resumed. All that time, Felipe did his best to occupy himself. Silently, he prayed that they wouldn't have to stay in that stupid barn much longer.
That night, the shelling ceased, as it did every night. There had not been a single songfest since the siege had started, nor was there one that evening. After supper, Consuela and Felipe prayed with her rosary, as they always did, then Felipe knelt on his sleeping mat to say his bedtime prayers. Consuela kissed him goodnight.
Boom!
Felipe shot up. To his horror, he was no longer in the barn; he was in that old cart again! "Noo!!" he screamed. "Mommy!!!" In that instant, the cart flew in the air, and he was thrown out.
"Felipe!" His mother's hand shook his shoulder violently. "Wake up, my son!"
Felipe shot up and stared at his mother as she bent over him. "Mommy, I had that bad dream again," he sobbed.
"Hijo, you're goin' to have to be very brave." Consuela knelt beside him on his reed mat. "The government soldiers are comin' to town, and we got to get ready to run. There's goin' to be fightin' right here in town. Get up now, and roll up your mat!"
END OF CHAPTER 9