Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs Read Free Book Online

alongside, fast as my legs could go. If I tripped, or if I slipped, I would fall under the wheels. The moment of truth arrived. I timed my leap and grabbed hold of a rung with both hands. I swung my feet up and reached for a higher rung, pulling, kicking, and scratching until my feetfound the bottom rung. I was standing on the ladder.
    My chest was heaving, as much with fright as anything. I hadn’t realized how difficult it was going to be. I’d never done anything so dangerous, not nearly.
    Before long the train was up to full speed. It rocked and swayed, enough to throw me off if I loosened my grip even for a second. The miles went by, and so did the time. I hadn’t slept since leaving home. I began to imagine I was lying in my bed. Stop that, I told myself. Relax, and you will die. I was so exhausted I had forgotten about the shirt tied around my waist, and what it was for. Remembering, I managed to tie myself to the ladder.
    Whether the shirt would hold me, I didn’t want to find out. I fought the weariness by imagining I was already in El Norte, working in the fields, sending the first money home to my mother. I had many conversations in my mind. Some of them were with my family, but mostly they were with Rico. When I told him I had jumped onto a moving train, he laughed at me. He didn’t believe it. He said I was making it up. “Turtle, you would never do a thing like that, not in a million years.”
    By now Rico and the four men from the village had met their coyote. They had already given over the big money and were crossing the wire. At this very minute, Rico was walking across the desert. Before long, he would be in the swimming pool at his brother’s house in Tucson.
    I don’t know how much time had gone by. It was the middle of the night when I was startled awake. The train was slowing. I hadfallen asleep standing up. And now someone was yelling at me, someone from on top of the boxcar. I looked up and saw the silhouette of a head and elbows. “Hey, you,” the man yelled. “Heads up!”
    â€œWhat’s going on?” I called back.
    â€œPolice, and lots of them.”
    I looked around. The train was pulling into the yards. What city this was, I had no idea. “I don’t see any police!” I said.
    â€œThey’re hiding, what do you think?”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œThat’s the word from the front. Get ready to jump, fool. I’m coming down right behind you.”
    Suddenly, the whistle blasted twice. Growling and hissing, the iron beast was braking some more. I looked ahead along the track and saw police and soldiers lurking in the shadows. The man was right. I was going to have to jump off.
    When, that was the question. The ground was flying by. The train was still going too fast.
    â€œGet ready!” yelled the man from above. He was starting down the ladder.
    Forget him. I wasn’t going to jump until I saw other people jumping.
    I leaned away from the boxcar to get a better look ahead and discovered I was tied on. Suddenly I was boiling in panic. I managed to undo the knot. The shirt dropped and disappeared under the wheels of the train.
    â€œMove it!” yelled the man from above. His feet were on the rung just above my hands.
    â€œShut up!” I hollered back. It was all a blur—train wheels spinning, voices shouting, the ground speeding below, the shadowy shapes of riders up ahead beginning to jump from the train, police running out to grab them.
    â€œJump! Jump now!” the man above screamed, and I did. I tried to run in the air, knowing I had to tumble away from the wheels as I landed, but the train yard was too dark and everything was moving too fast. The ground seemed to fly up. It hit me hard, and I blacked out.

8
Julio
    T HE SIREN OF THE AMBULANCE was the next thing I heard. High on the side of my head, it felt like my scalp had been opened up with a shovel. In the hospital, they shaved