Chapter Twelve S: The Names on the Board
The following morning, Nadia called Emily from the temporary residence with a small piece of good news.
The buses had waited until every family received a destination and a contact number.
No one had been required to board before the information was available.
“Lucia checked the signs herself,” Nadia said.
“She made the driver read the address twice.”
Emily smiled.
“That sounds like Lucia.”
“She also made sure the little boy beside her knew where he was going,” Nadia added.
“He was too young to read the sign.”
Emily looked at the notes scattered across her kitchen table.
There were phone numbers, appointment times, and questions she had promised to pass along.
“Did Maribel move?” she asked.
“Yes,” Nadia answered.
“Tomas and Alma are with her now.
”
“And Edwin?”
“He got to his appointment,” Nadia said.
“He complained about the traffic for twenty minutes afterward.”
Emily laughed.
She had not realized how much she needed to hear an ordinary complaint.
After the call, she visited the library to return the notebook she had borrowed from Samuel.
He was standing beside a bulletin board covered with temporary housing notices.
His injured arm was supported in a sling.
“The doctor finally convinced you to rest it,” Emily said.
Samuel looked down at the sling.
“She threatened to take my cane away if I kept lifting boxes,” he replied.
Emily handed him the notebook.
“I wrote down the questions that still need answers,” she said.
Samuel opened it and read the first page.
“You left spaces beneath each question,” he observed.
“For the answers,” Emily said.
“And for the name of the person who gave them.”
Samuel nodded slowly.
“That will make it harder for people to pass responsibility around.”
“That’s the idea,” Emily answered.
A woman approached the bulletin board carrying a folded sheet of paper.
She searched the notices for several seconds before asking where she could find information about school transport.
Samuel pointed toward a table near the entrance.
“Nadia is helping with that today,” he said.
The woman thanked him and walked away.
Emily watched her go.
“You don’t have to know every answer,” she said.
“You just have to know who can help.”
Samuel looked at her with a familiar expression of amusement.
“I believe somebody said something similar to me when I was trying to stand up in your diner,” he replied.
Emily shook her head.
“I told you to eat your soup before it got cold.”
“That too,” Samuel said.
They stood beside the bulletin board while the library filled with people arriving for the afternoon meeting.
Emily checked the time and picked up her bag.
“I have to go,” she said.
“Helen asked me to bring my references later this week.”
Samuel smiled.
“Then you should make sure they’re ready.”
Emily headed toward the doors, leaving him with the notebook and the unfinished questions.
She knew the work would continue without her for an afternoon.
That knowledge made it easier to leave.
