The sticky night air of Costa Rica greeted us the instant we popped back into the lobby of La Posada Encantada. So did Grandpa Jack. He stared at us in a wide-eyed stupor. I flew straight into his arms.
“Sunshine! I’ve been waiting for you!”
“When did you get here?” I asked.
“’Bout twenty minutes ago, but I came the old fashioned way. On a plane and a taxi—not a crazy contraption like that. I’m glad Rosalie Claire put me in charge of keepin’ an eye on the TV while she checked on Florida. It was a heck of a thing watchin’ you pop outta there. Better than any show on TV.”
Leroy nudged Grandpa until he reached down and scratched his fuzzy ears. Grandpa Jack said hello to Violet, who he’d met a year and a half ago at my mom’s funeral. He stared for a split second at Noah as if he knew him, and then he shrugged.
“I don’t believe we’ve met, son.” He shook Noah’s hand.
I wondered if there was ever a time that Grandpa Jack had remembered seeing us in his living room twenty years ago. If he had, it appeared that the memory had faded into thin air.
Grandpa told us that Rosalie Claire had called him before we’d left for the Amazon when Florida had taken a turn for the worse. He’d flown here as quickly as he could.
“It was bad enough she up and left Truth or Consequences without a word. I swear your grandmother is gonna be the death of me.” He sighed and shook his head.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“With Rosalie Claire, back in the little yellow house. That fine woman is a livin’, breathin’ saint. She’ll be pleased as a pumpkin to see you. Let’s hope that fanny pack is working. Otherwise, Rosalie Claire’s gettin’ ready to send your grandma to the hospital.”
No way did I want Florida going to a hospital. The magic had to work.
I grabbed the fanny pack from my backpack and we all hurried to the bungalow.
My grandmother slept beneath a paper-thin sheet, sweaty with a burning fever. She flailed from side-to-side, probably thrashing away bad dreams.
“Praise be, you’re back and not a moment too soon!” Rosalie Claire stood up on her crutches and gave me a bear-sized hug. I gave her the fanny pack and she clipped it around her waist, took a deep breath, and slid open the zipper.
When she peered inside, a huge smile spread across her face.
“Hallelujah!” she cried.
The magic was back!
She pulled out a half-dozen glass dropper bottles filled with herbal potions. Each had a tiny typed label with instructions. She uncapped one and sniffed. Her face screwed up in disgust.
“I’m going to need a cup of warm water and lots of honey or I’ll never get Florida to drink this.”
I raced to the kitchen and returned with the water, honey, and a spoon.
Rosalie Claire added drops of the murky brown potions to the warm water, naming them one-by-one. Katuki, nibima, sweet wormwood, clove, and Ghana quinine. Then she poured in inky black goop from a sixth mysterious vial with no label. The only instruction was to use every single drop.
The bitter smell of the dark liquids swirling together tingled my nostrils and I plugged my nose.
Before stirring the tea, Rosalie Claire dumped in scads of honey. Then she woke up Florida, who was only half-conscious.
“Poison. You’re poisoning me,” my grandmother moaned as Rosalie Claire forced her to sip the foul potion.
“Drink it up, cupcake. It’ll make you feel better.” Grandpa Jack took Florida’s hand.
Violet, Noah, and I watched my grandmother swallow the remedy until every last drop was gone.
“Now what?” Noah asked.
“Now we wait.” Rosalie Claire crossed her fingers.
My friends and I looked at each other and we didn’t have to say a word. We all crossed our fingers, too.
Grandpa Jack offered to sit by Florida’s side, and Rosalie Claire took him up on it.
“Now that my pack is working again, it’s high time I go treat this swollen ankle of mine.”
She hobbled out of the room on her bamboo crutches, followed by Violet and Noah, but I stayed behind with my grandparents.
“Grandpa Jack, she’s going to be OK, right?”
“I sure hope so, sweetie. You and I know better than anybody what a tough old bird your grandma can be. I’m thinkin’ maybe that toughness will work in her favor.”
Even though I was twelve, I climbed into Grandpa’s lap and leaned my head against his whiskery cheek.
“I love you, Grandpa.”
“I love you too, Sunshine.”
We snuggled for a long time until Grandpa insisted that I go hang out with my friends. Leroy followed me to the lobby where they were waiting with Rosalie Claire. As she pulled out healing salves from her fanny pack and rubbed them on her ankle, we took turns telling her everything that had happened in Truth or Consequences, twenty years in the past.