I woke up super early on Saturday. It was the day my family and I were going to the information session and tour at the Eleanor School. I was looking forward to seeing the school and learning all about the classes and activities. Also, I hoped to get some pointers about what it would take to get a full scholarship. By the time my parents and sisters woke up, I was already dressed.
After breakfast, the telephone rang and Mami answered it. I could tell it was bad news, especially when she said the words I hated: “Don’t worry, we’ll be right over.” She turned to Gracie when she hung up. “Doña Paula’s granddaughter is in a panic. Her wedding is this afternoon and the dog ripped off a piece of her dress. Let’s go see what we can do to fix it.”
“But . . . what about the Eleanor School?” I asked.
“Ay, mamita, I’m so sorry, but this is important. Besides, as long as you see the school and learn about it, that’s all that matters, right?” Mami said.
“Don’t worry, Ana María,” Papi said. “There will be plenty of opportunities for your mother to see your new school when you’re a student there.”
I liked that Papi was talking as if I was definitely going to Eleanor, so I smiled and relaxed. “Sure, go fix the wedding dress.”
Mami and Gracie left, and Papi went to put on a tie while I waited by the door with Connie and Rosie. I had told him he absolutely needed to wear a tie, which is why what happened next was all my fault. And what happened was that the telephone rang again.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hi, is this Gracie?”
“No.”
“Anamay?”
“Yes?”
“This is Sarita.”
“Oh, hi, Sarita.” Why would Sarita call here? Did she have a piano question for me?
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I think my sister’s having her baby soon, and my dad’s at work, and I don’t know what to do.”
I looked at the clock on the wall. We had to leave right away to get to the information session on time. Besides, Papi wasn’t a doctor. There was nothing he could do about this. “You should call 9-1-1,” I said to Sarita. “They’ll tell you what to do.”
“Oh, okay . . .” Sarita’s voice faded away. “Well, thank you,” she said softly. Then she hung up.
I smiled as I put the phone down. I thought that went pretty well. In fact, I should probably always answer the phone from now on. I could figure out a way to get rid of each and every caller. My parents didn’t understand that people could get by without them. They didn’t need to stop what they were doing and get involved all the time. They just didn’t realize that yet.
“Who was on the phone?” Papi reached for the door.
“Oh, it was just Sarita,” I said in my breeziest voice. “She asked what to do if her sister was having the baby, so I told her to call 9-1-1.” I started to walk out the door, like I knew no one would ever disagree with my advice.
“What?” Papi said. “Lucy’s in labor?”
“Well, Sarita’s not sure,” I said. “That’s why I told her to call 9-1-1. They could explain it to her, right?”
“Is her father home?” Papi asked.
I sighed. “No.” I could feel my control of the situation slipping away. It was happening slowly, like the sand under your toes when you stand at the edge of the beach. You barely feel it, but it slides away from you a little at a time. Before you know it, you’ve lost your balance.
“What about her brothers?”
“What about them?” I asked.
“If Sarita goes to the hospital with Lucy, someone has to take care of her brothers,” Papi said.
“Well, she has neighbors,” I said. “Can’t Doña Dulce watch them?”
Papi frowned. “I think we should go help them.”
“But what about the information session?”
Papi put his hands on his hips and crinkled his eyebrows together. “I’ll call the school on Monday and ask for a private tour.”
I could not believe this. I blinked and blinked, and my breathing became heavy. “It won’t be the same,” I said. “There won’t be presentations and I won’t meet the other kids who would start with me.”
Papi looked at me and sighed. “Ana María, I’m sorry, but our friends need us. I promise we’ll figure out a way to see Eleanor soon.” He yanked off the tie and walked out the door holding my sisters’ hands.
I stood in the doorway for a few seconds, wondering if I should stay and work on my scholarship application. But what if we finished quickly with Lucy and Sarita? Or maybe they were already on their way to the hospital, and their brothers were safe and sound at a neighbor’s house. The information session was scheduled to take a few hours, so maybe we could still catch most of it. I reached for Papi’s tie, stuffed it in my pocket, and followed after him.
***
A screeching ambulance was inching its way down Sarita’s street when we arrived. “This is ridiculous,” Papi said. “It has no place to stop with all those double-parked cars in the way.”
When we got in the building, Papi pressed the elevator button. “That never works,” I said.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot.”
We started toward the stairs. Then a miracle happened: the elevator door opened. Rosie jumped inside and the rest of us followed. The door creaked as it closed slowly, and the elevator started to move just as slowly as the door. Rosie pushed the number 6 button over and over. “Does it know where to go?” she asked. The chunky wooden knobs were different from the buttons in the elevators in our building. Our buttons lit up when you pressed them.
“Yes,” Papi said. “We’ll get there eventually.” But I could see that he was nervous. He held on to Connie tightly. When the elevator’s hammering noises got extra loud, he told Rosie and me to grab the walls. Finally, the clanging stopped and the door creaked open. “Go ring their bell,” Papi said to me. “I’ll hold the elevator here so they can ride down.”
Sarita was in tears when she answered the door. “The ambulance isn’t here yet, and I don’t know how Lucy’s going to make it down the stairs.”
“The elevator’s working,” I said. “My dad’s holding the door for us.”
Sarita squealed like she had just won the lottery. “Come on, Lucy, the elevator’s working!”
Lucy hobbled over. She grabbed Sarita and groaned. Sweat ran down her face.
“Let’s go, boys!” Sarita called. Her brothers zoomed out the door and almost knocked Lucy over.
Lucy moaned a lot in the elevator. This upset Connie, so soon she was sobbing. Papi held her in his arms and flinched every time Lucy cried out. He was probably thinking the same thing I was: It sure would be good if Mami were here. She would know how to help Lucy feel better.
When we got outside, the ambulance had stopped in front of the building, right in the middle of the street. A bunch of cars tried to get by, but there wasn’t enough room. The drivers leaned out the windows, waved their arms, and yelled. But all we could hear were their horns, which they honked and honked without taking a break. Papi had to shout when he told Sarita to go with her sister to the hospital, and said we would take the boys to our house. She hugged him and thanked him over and over. Then she reached over and hugged me too. “Thank you so much!” she said to me with tears in her eyes.
I wondered what Lucy and Sarita would have done if we hadn’t come over. What if something really bad had happened? If it had been up to me, we wouldn’t have helped them, so I didn’t think I deserved that hug. I looked away and said, “Okay, well, good luck. We’ll take good care of your brothers.” Sarita nodded and hugged me again before climbing into the ambulance.
Sarita’s brothers ran like wild people down the street. Papi called them over and grabbed each one by the hand. He tried to chat with them the way grown-ups do sometimes, asking them their ages, if they were excited about becoming uncles, what their favorite subjects were in school. I walked behind them with my sisters.
“What’s the matter?” Rosie asked me. “Are you sad?”
I looked at Rosie and thought about her question. Of course I was sad. I had wanted to go see the Eleanor School and find out what I could do to increase my chances of getting a scholarship. And now that wasn’t happening. The information session was halfway over by now, and Papi wouldn’t want to bring those fidgety boys anyway. My eyes started to water again. But Rosie was just a little kid. She wouldn’t understand.
I blinked and shook my head. “No, Sarita and Lucy needed us, and I’m glad we helped them.” A part of me just said that so she wouldn’t worry. But another part of me really meant it.