پارک لیبرتی

CHAPTER 6 Liberty Park

Silvia didn’t like walking. She usually caught a bus or took a taxi.

She was tired, and her back hurt.

But she didn’t think about her back, or about the cuts on her feet. She was with a lot of other people.

They all had the same idea. They wanted to leave the town and go into the country, away from the dangerous high buildings.

A friendly woman talked to Silvia.

‘Isn’t anybody with you, dear?’ she said. ‘Where’s your family?’

‘There’s only my mother,’ said Silvia. ‘I think she’s at Liberty Park. I’m going to look for her.’

‘Don’t worry, you’ll find her,’ the woman said kindly. Silvia felt better.

‘Did you see t h e Grand Hotel?’ said a man. ‘It’s a ruin.

Hundreds of people were inside it.’

‘It’s terrible, terrible,’ his wife said. ‘I saw a baby . . .’ She stopped.

‘And the shopping centre,’ another woman said. ‘The shoe shop is all right, but the supermarket is a ruin.’

‘The centre’s bad,’ said a man,’but it’s worse east of here. I was out there when the earthquake happened.’

‘Near the station?’ the kind woman asked.

‘No, near the Oasis Restaurant,’ the man said.

Silvia started to listen more carefully.

‘The Oasis is a lovely place,’ somebody said. ‘Is it all right?’

‘No,’ the man said. ‘It’s a ruin. A lot of people are dead. But the manager was all right. He was at the back of the restaurant. It was better there. He’ll be all right. I wanted to help the other people, but I was worried about my family. So I came back into town.

We’re all safe. But our home —’ He stopped talking.

Silvia turned to him.

‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘There was a man in the restaurant - the manager was with him when - when . . . the earthquake . . . Do you know - is he all right?’

‘Yes,’ said the man. ‘He’s all right. I pulled him out. A tall, dark man. Is that him?’

‘Yes,’ said Silvia.

The man laughed.

‘Don’t worry about him,’ he said. ‘He’s fine. My friend and I worked hard. We pulled him from the rubble, but did he say, “Thank you”? No, he didn’t! He was only worried about his car.

He didn’t help the other people under the rubble. He only had small cuts on his face and hands, but he wanted to see a doctor.

Other people were dead or nearly dead, but he wasn’t interested in them. I’m sorry . . . Is he your friend? But really —’

Silvia didn’t answer him. She wanted to think.

Marco wasn’t dead! She was very happy about that, of course.

But she understood now. She was stupid. A stupid, stupid girl. She didn’t low Marco. She didn’t like him. She loved Gabriel. And now, perhaps, it was too late.

At midnight, there was another small earthquake. The people in the road screamed. They wanted to run - but where could they go? Behind them, in the town, more buildings fell.

‘Oh, no,’ thought Silvia. ‘When will this end?’

At 12:30 a.m. Silvia arrived at Liberty Park. She looked round.

There were thousands of people on the ground. Other people stood and talked. She couldn’t see very well in the thick smoke.

‘I’ll never find Mother here,’ thought Silvia. She began to walk up and down the park.

‘Mother!’ she called. ‘Mother, it’s me, Silvia! Where are you?’

‘Silvia, my dear, you’re safe,’ she said, and took Silvia’s hand. ‘I’m happy now, I’m very happy —’

Silvia took her mother’s medicines out of the bag, and gave her some. Mrs Delgado smiled.

‘Thank you, dear,’ she said.

Silvia sat and watched her. Mrs Delgado shut her eyes and slept.