The Guadeloupe Squadeloupe

Chapter XV: Guad

"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love."- Come Thou Font of Every Blessing, Robert Robinson

Bob and I are pressed up against the window of this car, right? And all I can think of is how Diana's dealing with the shooting of her parents. Bob told me about it soon after we got our ride.

Sympathy for Diana, Perry too, won't leave my mind. I know exactly how they feel. My parents died in a freak accident, just like the Whites did. I really want to talk to Diana about it, you know, tell her my story in case it helps, but I'm not sure that it'd be welcomed. And even if she did, I'd be too awkward and afraid to make any sense. It sucks when you have thoughts but no words.

None of this is very happy, of course, so I get an idea to take my mind off depressing thoughts (you know, like death).

It's been a while since I've done anything insanely crazy, or at least since the plane crash.

"Hey, Bob," I whisper to my friend, noticing that the whole squad is asleep.

"What?" he asks groggily.

"Want to do something stupid?" I suggest.

Suddenly, his eyes light up, and he's no longer tired. "Ah, I knew there was hope for you yet."

I can't help but thinking, what's that supposed to mean?, as I explain to Bob what we're going to do.

Getting out of the car undetected isn't hard. There's a weird curtain divider between us and the two drivers, so all we have to do is lower the van window and crawl out. After being in a plane crash, climbing onto the outside of a moving car is hardly daunting, to be honest.

Once we're out, we heave ourselves onto the roof of the van and hold on tight to those bars that people attach stuff to.

The wind is ripping through our hair as the jungle roars past us.

"This is even better than riding in Londo's trailer!" Bob yells, reminding me of hitching a ride on the back of our friend's lumber carrier.

I nod and turn to look at the jungle. I can't deny the anxiety that I feel, but I also can't deny the freedom. Nor the fun.

"I wonder what the squad would think if they weren't sleeping!" Bob adds.

I smile and wonder about that myself. Janis would laugh and call us insane, while Alice would make a sarcastic comment with Perry agreeing. As for Diana... she'd probably try to keep her distance from me after I did something like this.

Beside me, I can see Bob gazing around at the jungle, and I take his lead, noticing all the colors. It's mostly green, but there's the red and blue of a bird here and there. A helicopter flies overhead. I think it's all amazing.

We stay up on the roof of the van and simply observe for a while until I here the seemingly distant voice of one of the drivers say, "¿Dónde están Guadalupe y Bob?"

I hang my head over the open window. The other driver moves the curtain to see me. "Encima del carro," I say, telling him that I'm on top of the car.

This startles the man driving to the point where he slams on the breaks, nearly throwing Bob and me overboard.

The one who was driving gets out and starts yelling at us in angry Spanish. He throws his arms around, making me notice the bracelet on his left arm.

Bob and I sheepishly climb into our spots at the front, scooting even farther away from the drivers.

Glancing to the back, I see that Perry's woken up and is staring at us.

I don't try to explain what we were up to (what would I say) and try to fall asleep.