Read Online Tree Girl by Ben Mikaelsen - Free Book Online Page B

blades whipping up a storm of dust and dried grass that blinded me.
    We ran, tripping and stumbling and holding on to each other. Alicia screamed and Antonio cried out in pain, but we didn’t stop. All around us the air shook with explosions and the helicopter’s deafening thumps. Chunks of dirt stung my skin, but I kept on my feet, fighting toward the trees now only a few feet away. The boiling dust churned about us, choking us,but also hiding our movements.
    And then we were safe under the trees. In the gathering darkness, the gunner fired into the upper branches, but I knew that he couldn’t see us. Once again the forest had saved me. I listened as the helicopter circled twice and then abandoned its mission. The pulsing of its blades faded away down the valley.
    Antonio collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. I knelt beside him and lifted his blood-soaked shirt. A hole the size of my thumb showed where a bullet had pierced his side.
    “This isn’t too bad,” I said calmly so that Antonio wouldn’t be afraid. I looked around. Nearby, a narrow stream of water flowed, and I spotted herbs that might help treat his wound. Antonio turned as I lifted his shirt still farther, and my heart stopped. The bullet’s exit had left a ragged and ugly opening the size of my fist.
    “Lie down,” I said, my voice shaking.
    I couldn’t rip my tightly woven corte or huipil, so I tore away the bottom of Antonio’s shirt and soaked it in the stream. Gently I cleaned his wound, but I knewhe needed help I couldn’t provide. I rolled some
epazote
in my fingers. The small plant was known to heal cuts, and I hoped it would help Antonio’s wound. I placed the epazote into the wound before smearing it over with trementina, the same white pine resin that Papí had burned when he gave his thanks at the caves. At the caves, trementina had helped to heal the soul. Here it covered Antonio’s wound, and I prayed it would help protect and heal the body.
    Even when covered with trementina, the wound kept oozing blood. I dipped part of my corte into the stream to wipe Antonio’s forehead and squeeze water into his mouth. All the while, Alicia watched us, her eyes wide with fear. When Antonio fell into a troubled sleep, I turned to Alicia. “How are you, Ali?” I asked.
    Silently she glanced at Antonio and back toward the cantón.
    “Did you see Antonio get hurt?” I asked.
    Alicia only stared at me.
    It was nearly dark, and I knew Antonio couldn’t continue, so I forced a smile. “How would you like to stay here tonight, Ali?” I asked.
    Still Alicia stared quietly.
    I left Alicia beside Antonio and climbed a nearby
cereza
tree to gather large black cherries. It had been a long time since I ate, and maybe even longer for my brother and sister. I kept calling to Alicia so she would know I hadn’t abandoned her. By the time I finished collecting cherries, Antonio had woken up. It was completely dark, with only a small moon for light. Antonio refused to eat and fell back into another heavy slumber. Alicia ate greedily, but after she finished, she sat and stared at the ground.
    “Were the berries good?” I asked her.
    Alicia didn’t answer. I realized then that she hadn’t spoken a single word since I found her naked beneath the bush. Her eyes were distant and preoccupied. I took the hairbrush from my huipil and sat behind Alicia and began to gently brush the mud from her matted and tangled hair. She sat rigid at first, but then slowly she closed her eyes and leaned back against me. I kept stroking the brush through her thick hair.
    After Alicia fell asleep, I sat and watched Antonio groaning and shifting in labored sleep. He breathedfast, and when I touched his chest, his heart beat like a drum. I wished desperately that Mamí or Papí could have been there to tell me what to do. Antonio needed help as never before, and I could do nothing. We were too far from any cantón with a curandero to help us, and I wasn’t even sure a curandero