and tried to pull them open. They were locked.
“Damn it. This place is killing me.”
I pointed my flashlight into the office and poked the light around. I was right about to turn around and get Carlos when I saw a flash of green pant leg and a brown boot below it.
Whoever it was had seated themselves behind a desk, but I couldn’t see anything besides the leg and the boot.
I kept the beam on the leg, waiting.
Suddenly, a Hispanic man with straight black hair and very brown skin peeked around the corner of the desk. He smiled at me, and in the bright white light of the flashlight beam I saw his teeth sparkling like veiled diamonds.
Chapter 6
“Hey Carlos, there are people inside here.”
He made a weak, strangled noise, and I turned the flashlight on him. He had pulled himself up against the wall and he was holding his side, muffling his coughs with his shoulder. It seemed like he was trying to hide from the light.
He was slipping, and it worried me.
I tapped on the glass doors of the office with the butt of my flashlight. The man in the green pants didn’t want to stand up. I guess he thought he was safe as long as he stayed in his little hiding spot.
He probably figured if he waited there long enough, I would just go away.
“Come on,” I said as patiently as I could. “Come over here and unlock the door.”
He shook his head.
“Open the door,” I said, like I meant it.
I brought the flashlight back and made like I was going to break the glass with it.
That made him sit up and take notice.
He raised his hands as if to say okay, okay and came over to the door. Looking back at his hiding spot, he turned the key.
When I heard the bolt click, I pushed the door open.
“Thank you,” I said, and moved around him into the main reception area.
The place was a mess. Office equipment was everywhere. There were books and papers and notebooks strewn across the floor.
The school’s mascot must have been the cougar, because there was a large fake bronze statue of one laying on its side beneath a plaque that said, THIS IS A BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL.
I nudged a picture frame out of the way with the toe of my boot. “Where’s the nurse’s office?”
He didn’t answer.
“Where’s the nurse’s office?”
The look on his face wasn’t exactly a helpless one. It was more neutral than that, like he just wanted me to leave.
“No English.”
“That figures,” I said.
There was a hallway on either side of the wall behind the cougar. Both hallways disappeared into blackness and I knew I didn’t have the time to go exploring.
“ Médico ,” I said. “ ¿Dónde médico? ”
He gave me an uncertain shrug. I knew I wasn’t saying it right, and it frustrated me that he wouldn’t at least try to meet me halfway. He was going to make me fumble through it.
I pushed past him and went to the corner where I first saw his pant leg. Four more people sat there, tucked into a narrow aisle between the desks and the wall.
One of them was an older man, dressed in the same green landscaper’s uniform as the first man, and the other three were women dressed in gray housekeeping outfits.
I looked down at them and they looked back at me with completely neutral expressions on their faces.
I showed them the palms of my hands in a gesture I hoped they would take as friendly. I wanted to say something to put them at ease, but I didn’t know the words to say in Spanish. About the only thing I knew how to say was to ask for their license and insurance.
“Do any of you speak English?”
All I got was the same blank look.
There was no used dragging it out. I made my way down the hallway, glancing in all the offices until I found the one labeled NURSE.
Only a few of the cabinets had anything useful in them. There were some more latex gloves, some bandages, and some antibacterial soap, but very little else.
There was a phone on the wall and I tried that, but all I got was a strange electronic squelch that sounded like I
“Damn it. This place is killing me.”
I pointed my flashlight into the office and poked the light around. I was right about to turn around and get Carlos when I saw a flash of green pant leg and a brown boot below it.
Whoever it was had seated themselves behind a desk, but I couldn’t see anything besides the leg and the boot.
I kept the beam on the leg, waiting.
Suddenly, a Hispanic man with straight black hair and very brown skin peeked around the corner of the desk. He smiled at me, and in the bright white light of the flashlight beam I saw his teeth sparkling like veiled diamonds.
Chapter 6
“Hey Carlos, there are people inside here.”
He made a weak, strangled noise, and I turned the flashlight on him. He had pulled himself up against the wall and he was holding his side, muffling his coughs with his shoulder. It seemed like he was trying to hide from the light.
He was slipping, and it worried me.
I tapped on the glass doors of the office with the butt of my flashlight. The man in the green pants didn’t want to stand up. I guess he thought he was safe as long as he stayed in his little hiding spot.
He probably figured if he waited there long enough, I would just go away.
“Come on,” I said as patiently as I could. “Come over here and unlock the door.”
He shook his head.
“Open the door,” I said, like I meant it.
I brought the flashlight back and made like I was going to break the glass with it.
That made him sit up and take notice.
He raised his hands as if to say okay, okay and came over to the door. Looking back at his hiding spot, he turned the key.
When I heard the bolt click, I pushed the door open.
“Thank you,” I said, and moved around him into the main reception area.
The place was a mess. Office equipment was everywhere. There were books and papers and notebooks strewn across the floor.
The school’s mascot must have been the cougar, because there was a large fake bronze statue of one laying on its side beneath a plaque that said, THIS IS A BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL.
I nudged a picture frame out of the way with the toe of my boot. “Where’s the nurse’s office?”
He didn’t answer.
“Where’s the nurse’s office?”
The look on his face wasn’t exactly a helpless one. It was more neutral than that, like he just wanted me to leave.
“No English.”
“That figures,” I said.
There was a hallway on either side of the wall behind the cougar. Both hallways disappeared into blackness and I knew I didn’t have the time to go exploring.
“ Médico ,” I said. “ ¿Dónde médico? ”
He gave me an uncertain shrug. I knew I wasn’t saying it right, and it frustrated me that he wouldn’t at least try to meet me halfway. He was going to make me fumble through it.
I pushed past him and went to the corner where I first saw his pant leg. Four more people sat there, tucked into a narrow aisle between the desks and the wall.
One of them was an older man, dressed in the same green landscaper’s uniform as the first man, and the other three were women dressed in gray housekeeping outfits.
I looked down at them and they looked back at me with completely neutral expressions on their faces.
I showed them the palms of my hands in a gesture I hoped they would take as friendly. I wanted to say something to put them at ease, but I didn’t know the words to say in Spanish. About the only thing I knew how to say was to ask for their license and insurance.
“Do any of you speak English?”
All I got was the same blank look.
There was no used dragging it out. I made my way down the hallway, glancing in all the offices until I found the one labeled NURSE.
Only a few of the cabinets had anything useful in them. There were some more latex gloves, some bandages, and some antibacterial soap, but very little else.
There was a phone on the wall and I tried that, but all I got was a strange electronic squelch that sounded like I
Similar Books
