This is so cool! I really like it here. With all these cots about, it’s almost like camping. There are more people who snore here than at home. That doesn’t bother me ‘cause we were all given earplugs.
The soldiers led us through thousands and thousands of quiet-as-mice refugees and into our room. It’s wall-to-wall people in here, like a big sleepover that never ends. They asked us if we were okay just sleeping in our clothes for the night, that we could have showers and breakfast tomorrow after we got our kits back. At least that’s what their voices said, but their eyes were saying something different. They were just being polite. They weren’t really planning on doing anything but dumping us here for the night. Maybe it’s past their bedtime.
It must be past a lot of people’s bedtimes ‘cause the grownups are so tired they fall asleep right away. Even my mom is sleeping, and I’ve never seen her fall asleep this fast or stay asleep for so long. When we were at home, she would be the last to bed and then she would wake up at every little noise she heard and look out the window. This made her look worn-out and sad all the time. It also made her doze off at lot whenever she sat down, which we liked because we could sneak away from our schoolwork and watch SpongeBob.
Now she’s sleeping so deep that none of my squirming or turning wakes her. Actually, Houston and KC are the same way. Maybe it’s because we’re totally safe now. We don’t have to look after each other anymore ‘cause the soldiers will do that for us. Cool. Maybe I’ll get the old mom back. Actually, that’s a stupid thought because I won’t get the old mom back until dad comes back. Still, it’s nice to see her relaxed for once.
I look around and I see not everyone’s sleeping. Ghost’s not sleeping. He’s looking up at the ceiling like he’s studying something real hard. He turns his head to look at me and then his serious expression turns to a smile. He nods over to my other side like he wants me to see something.
I do see something. There’s another girl like me, and she’s awake too! She’s staring right back and she’s mouthing something to me. I take my earplugs out to hear her, but she’s still just mouthing the words, she’s not making any sound.
“I don’t think anyone can hear you,” I whisper. “All the grownups are sleeping and they’re wearing earplugs too.”
“Oh yeah!” she says brightly. “So was that your dog and cat that the guards took away?”
“The cat isn’t ours. He’s Martin’s…well, I guess he’s ours now.” I don’t want to think about Martin. It makes me unhappy. “His name is ‘Killer,’” I add.
“Is that because he’s a mean kitty?”
“No, he’s real nice to everyone, but if you think he has a funny name, you should hear our dog’s…it’s ‘Naked.’”
“You think dogs should wear clothes?”
“No! Well, sometimes if it makes them look cuter, but she’s Naked because that’s her name.”
She starts to giggle. “So does that mean you used to walk Naked down the street?”
“That’s right, we used to walk Naked all around our neighborhood! We also got Naked in the shower when she was dirty and sometimes we even got Naked in the car because she likes to go for rides.”
More giggles. I’m really enjoying this; it’s why I tell everyone my dog’s name.
“So what’s your name? Is that your whole family that you came in with?”
“I’m Jessica or Jesse or Jess or sometimes Messy-Jesse and I’m nine. My dad is working overseas. He’s working hard so we can get in one of those compound apartments. You know, the ones with swimming pools and tennis courts and glass ceilings so we can go and play outside again. That’s my mom and my brother and my sister and the one that’s still awake is our new neighbor, Ghost. Well, he was our new neighbor when we had a house. Maybe he’ll be part of our family now!”
“Is Ghost really his name? If it is, that’s the coolest name I’ve heard.”
I look over at Ghost to see if he’ll tell us his real name, but he’s pretending to be asleep. He may look like he’s sleeping to other people, but he can’t fool me. I know what it’s like to pretend to be asleep. I do it all the time. I turn back to my new friend. “What’s your name? Is your family here with you?”
“I’m Sara and I’m ten. I don’t know where my parents are. Our house burned down, and we ran out and joined our neighbors in the street. Those things were all around us. My mom and dad yelled at me to run as fast as I can, run fast and don’t look back and they would catch up with me and meet me at the refugee center. I was so scared that I ran faster than I ever did in my whole life and I didn’t slow down till I saw all them people. I asked where they were going and they said, ‘To the Refugee Center; come with us.’ It got slippery when it started to rain, but I didn’t let myself slip; not even once, though I almost tripped on my raincoat because it’s so long. It’s long because it once belonged to my big sister, but she never came home on the Lost Day, so now it’s mine. My parents cried all the time over that, but I think my big sister probably went home with one of her friends and her phone battery is always dying so she can’t call us yet and not everyone has a computer right?”
“Everyone has a computer!” I say in my head but I keep that thought to myself because my new friend already looks sad and I don’t want to make her feel worse. I learned not to do that from those times I asked Mom when Dad was coming home. I wonder where her parents could be. If they’re not here and all the houses in the neighborhood are getting burned down then where are they? I have all these questions buzzing around in my head like those gnats that get all up in your face in the summer, and just like those nasty bugs you can’t get rid of them. But I don’t ask her those questions; instead I ask, “Do you know anyone here?”
“I know one person, but I wasn’t sure I knew him right away. He looks way different. He’s Mr. Cromwell, my big sister’s teacher. Normally he’s all neat and tidy and he didn’t have a beard before and when he’s not at school you always see him with his family. I didn’t see any of his kids or his wife. He’s also covered in mud like he fell down lots of times. He looked right at me while we were in the hallway, but it was like he was looking through me. He acted like he didn’t know where he was. He’s over there.”
She points over at a scraggly looking man with cocoa skin who doesn’t seem to be sleeping either. He’s like Ghost was earlier, looking up at the ceiling like he could see straight up to the skies. He looks homeless. He looks lost.
I don’t know why but I start to cry. I just realized that we’re homeless too. I mean, I’m glad to be here with most of my family. I’m excited to make new friends and have new things to look at and do, but I also feel lost. I’ve lost my home and my toys, and I’m afraid we may lose Naked. It’s been so long since I’ve seen my dad or talked to him that I’m scared I might lose him like Sara lost her mom and dad. Now we can’t ever go back to the Life Before because we don’t have anything left from it. Well, except for our split kits, and what if we don’t get those back? There’s a picture of my dad in there! And I’ve got the best collection of Littlest Pet Shop, so maybe the guards won’t want to give those back either.
Sara’s crying too. We look at each other, but we’ve run out of stuff to talk about for now. We just nod and turn over in our cots and cry ourselves to sleep.