The Only Road

The cousins wait for El Gordo in a state of high anxiety. Padre Kevin gives them all water, and his nervousness tells Jaime that whatever awaits them is “not going to be fun” (84). Jaime briefly wonders why Padre Kevin works with El Gordo before deciding maybe Padre Kevin, like Jaime, “didn’t feel he had a choice” (87).

When El Gordo’s assistant arrives, the waiting refugees are bundled into a van and driven away into the darkness. After a harrowing ride they arrive at a train station and are led through the phalanx of guards to an empty boxcar. They are shoved inside, and for a moment Jaime is terrified he has been separated from Ángela before he finds her. Just as he is beginning to relax in the safety in her presence, the doors are closed, and Jaime realizes they are “locked in a pitch-black train car with no way of getting out, prisoners in their escape for freedom” (90).

The train ride is an agony. There is little ventilation, and dozens of people are crammed in together, including a woman with two young children. At first they are just uncomfortable, but as the sun comes up they begin to roast in the hot metal car.