Holaweeno by Cole Kraus

HOLAWEENO

By Cole Kraus

Chapter Two

The Theft

The next few minutes after I came out with the truth to my parents were extremely silent and awkward. I finally broke the deafening quiet, actually unintentionally, when I walked over and sat on a bench near them. I had just been sitting on a plane for hours, so my reaction time was quite slow. Before I could even react, I had already crashed through the rotted wood of the bench I had attempted to be comforted by.

I was slow to get up, so my mom scurried over and helped me to my feet. Even though I had disappointed her, she was still my mom. Dad, on the other hand, was not about to forgive me just yet.

               “You all right?” my mom asked.

               “Yah,” I said, coughing after I spoke from the lack of talking for a while.

               After the first awkward silence, another one fell on us before we knew it. Well, we can’t stay speechless forever I thought.

               “Are we going to go through with my plan?” I asked.

               I was hoping my parents would see the good side of me because I didn’t want the lie I had told them about why we had come to this island to prevent me from doing something in the name of my grandfather. I could imagine the brains in my parents’ heads working feverishly to come up with a decision, especially my dad’s, because from the start he had seemed the most hesitant about this whole idea. I could somehow sense my mom had come up with her verdict. However, she seemed as though she was waiting for my father to speak first. I had my fingers crossed mentally, hoping to get their approval, because this whole expedition thing was actually seeming more and more exciting. Then, I could see my dad’s lips starting to move ever so slightly, almost in slow motion.

               Just as he was about to speak, a stranger burst in between us and shoved my dad to the side while grabbing my mom’s purse. Everything suddenly turned into fast forward. By pure instinct, I immediately sprinted after the thief, brushing passed a few hefty pedestrians.     

               The purse snatcher made sure not to run through the hordes of people on the main roads, since that would bring us too much attention. It was difficult to see his body features, because he was covered up with dark clothing, which was odd, considering the strong heat and humidity of the day. The thief wove through back roads and alleyways, until he escaped my field of vision. My mind knew it was no use running, but my legs said otherwise. I briefly thought about calling the police, but it was too late now. Plus, everything was so foreign to me. I’m not sure if I would have even been able to accomplish that task.

               I had slowed my pace at a four-way intersection to decide which way to go when I heard someone running up from behind me. It was my dad, and he motioned for me to stop. Even though I had built strong stamina over the years by running track, once I had stopped moving, I keeled over like a sailboat in a storm.

               My dad tried to say something, but it came out more like a heavy groan.

               I brushed my hair off my face.

               “Why—didn’t—you—let—me—chase—him?” I asked, gasping for air like a dying seal in between my words.

               “Wow!” my dad exclaimed after he had caught his breath. “If you ran like that in your track meets you would have taken home the gold.”

                But I replied as if he had asked a question.

               “Because in competition, there isn’t a thief running in front of you with your plane tickets and passports!” I said loudly still panting.

               The shock my dad must have felt would have been enough to make an electric eel shiver. After I said that, he gave me a look as if he was a caveman, and I just showed him how a cellphone worked. The reality of life finally set into his head, as he stood there dumbfounded. Just then, he started sprinting randomly in one of the four directions in front of us. I halted him in his tracks before he went too far, just like he had stopped me.

               “It’s too late now,” I said disappointedly.

               After we had settled down from the whole excursion, we both thought we should probably find Mom. When we finally spotted her, she was wearily running up and down streets with our big bag of luggage dragging behind her. Luckily, that hadn’t been stolen. Because if it had been, we would have looked like a pretty sad bunch. She explained she wasn’t looking for the thief, but for us.

               It was then that she said, “It could have been worse. The passports are in this,” as she clutched our tattered luggage.

                I should have felt relief, but I was too preoccupied with the impact of the theft.

               After the purse ordeal, we staggered back over to where it all started. Since that particular spot was right in front of Saj’s condo, it reminded me that my parents had never given me their decision.

               We sat on the sidewalk with our backs against the stucco of his building and made sure we avoided sitting on the other bench that stood next to the broken one. Even though our luggage wasn’t stolen, we still managed to end up looking pathetic. Someone actually even offered us a few bucks and a loaf of bread. My dad took the bread, but not the money. All that running had made us work up a tremendous appetite. Plus, we hadn’t eaten anything since the tasteless matter the airline called food.

               While we were eating, I told my parents about Saj, how he knew Grandpa and that he might be able to help us find the Valinium. I began to think my parents had forgotten all about me lying to them, but thanks to my big mouth, I brought it up again. However, they seemed more excited about going on this trip, although they hadn’t said so yet.

               The hot sun, all that went with it, started to give way to the moon. We all agreed we probably should call it a night and introduce ourselves to Saj. We hoped he would let us stay with him, if he still lived here.