Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight, Andrews, C. [classic books for 10 year olds .TXT] 📗

any information. The lizards and the snakes wereafraid of him. He didn't belong there so they did not trust him enough to wait to hear his questions.

"Night came and he didn't like where he had to sleep. Something crawled over him and made him jump and he was awake so long, he barely had any rest before the sun came up. He scurried up a small hill and looked around. As far as he could see, there were no trees, no streams, no place to gather food and no one he knew.

"He walked on, desperate now. He tried to keep himself in one direction, but every once in a while he leaned too far to one side or another, and soon he realized he had been walking in a great circle. Everything looked the same. Very thirsty, very weak, he finally stopped and fell to the dry earth. His eyes closed and opened, closed and opened, and then closed.

"And lo and behold, the same vulture appeared and strutted up to him. He opened his eyes and looked at the vulture, who seemed to be smiling.

" 'I thought you said you weren't dead,' the vulture said.

"The squirrel tried to move, but couldn't and did die. The vulture picked him up and carried him off again.

“The vulture knows. He or she who doesn't belong out there will soon belong to him. Patience rewards him. He will wait, and to those who scream back at him, 'I am not dead,' he will say, 'You are dead. You just don't know it yet.' ”

Natani turned back to pour some feed in the trough.

“But people cross the desert. You do, I bet, or did, didn't you?” I insisted.

“People who know how to speak with the desert can live with it, but there is little forgiveness there. A mistake, a misunderstanding, and soon, the patient vulture, the desert's undertaker, appears.”

“If we had food and water...”

“You cannot carry enough. You must know how to get the desert to give it to you.”

“You could show someone how to do that, couldn't you, Natani?”

He didn't reply.

“You could show someone enough to help her get across the desert to where people live, couldn't you?”

“When it comes time, I will teach you what I know.”

“When is that?”

“When it comes time. It's not for me to decide. It's the doctor who decides.”

“What do you mean? She lets us try to escape?”

“It's her way. I do not understand all her ways, but it's her way. She is a very wise woman.”

What was he talking about? How did he know how wise she was and wasn't? Where did she find him? Was he just here when she arrived as he said? He couldn't like what he saw happening to the girls. He must despise the buddies. I saw the way he just looked at them when they spoke to us or even to him. It was as if he could look through them or put himself in a different place when he wanted to, but why did he bother? Why did he stay here? Surely there was another farm, another place unlike this where he could be happy.

None of it made any sense to me. I felt like I was spinning in a nightmare.

“Why are you here? Why don't you work on a happier place without all this?” I asked, waving my arms. “Are you really part owner or something?”

He smiled and shook his head. “No, nothing but what I have made myself belongs to me.”

'Then why are you here? Of all places, Natani, why Dr. Foreman's School?"

He looked like he wasn't going to answer anymore, and I thought I was probably wasting my breath, but suddenly, he looked at the hacienda and then at me.

“The doctor helped my daughter's daughter, and I have made her promises that are as strong as the sun. I do not understand all her ways, but she does not understand mine. The birds do not understand the lizards but they live side by side. Each has its own way. This is how it is,” he added, and returned to his work.

I left the barn and returned to the barracks. Teal still had her back to Gia and Mindy and me.

Gia looked up. “You shouldn't have let her sleep.”

“She's exhausted. We're both exhausted.”

“You've got to start your work, show Dr. Foreman you're making an effort.”

“I don't understand that math. I couldn't even begin to do it.”

“You can do it,” Gia insisted. “Let me see what she gave you as your first math assignment.”

I brought the book and the assignment sheet to her and she nodded. “It's the same one we had to do. Okay, sit.” She patted her cot.

I sat and she started to read and explain it to me. Mindy glanced at us every once in a while, but said nothing. Before we were summoned to dinner, I did understand the first lesson.

“Thanks,” I said.

“You can show Teal how to do it now,” Gia told me.

I woke Teal up but she was too groggy and cranky to listen to anything. She still mumbled about running off as soon as it was dark enough to escape. Dr. Foreman's words returned to me. I'd be responsible if Teal went off and died out there, and Dr. Foreman would be displeased with me. Who knew what that meant?

M'Lady Two came to our door and summoned us to dinner. I was hoping we would find Robin at the house when we got there, but she was nowhere in sight. We took off our shoes, washed our hands, and went in to have our dinner. Just a simple thing like having our own bowl and plate had now become a wonderful thing. We went through our ritual of thanking each other and begging each other for forgiveness, then ate what seemed to be a more tasty food that Mindy described as polenta, a mush of cornmeal, black beans, and a beef in some sort of sweet sauce.

Dr. Foreman arrived and declared she was