Pedrito’s Diary, Day 22
February 12, 2025
We were all smiles on our way to the busses. Gabriel never let go of my hand, and Jesu was holding on to Diego’s hand. All 6 of us got into the bus a guard pointed out for us. Mr. Matias was the last person to get into our bus. He sat in the seat behind the driver, looked at us, and gave us a smile. The bus started to move right away.
It was getting dark outside. There were no lights inside the bus. It felt like our nighttime routine. Gabriel had his head on my lap, and fell asleep first. I could barely keep my eyes open. We were told earlier that the ride would be long. So, I settled a bit more in my seat. I thought that it wasn’t going to be difficult for me to fall asleep this time. The next thing I know, the bus had stopped, and it was light outside.
I then heard the guard in the back speak: “We are there. Back row, start moving toward the front of the bus 1 of you at a time! Get out and form a line behind the guard on the side of the road. Everyone in the front of the bus will leave last.”
We did exactly like we were told. There was a long line of us now on the side of the road. Mr. Matias and the guard who made the announcement came out last. They and the guard outside started walking toward a large building nearby. “Follow us,” said Mr. Matias, and we did.
It was a short walk to the building that looked like an airplane hangar just like the other one. Many more guards were waiting in front of it by a sliding gate. The gate was open, and we were instructed to go in without losing our lines. Once we were in, I saw that this hangar had windows close to the very high ceiling. I got excited to see beds. I wondered if the children who stayed behind were also going to get beds.
“ATTENTION EVERYONE! Find a cot bed and put your blankets down.” We did exactly like we were told. We took 3 beds against the wall and 3 right next to them. Our blankets were now on top of our beds. “Pedrito, I need to pee,” said Gabriel. Jesu was just telling Diego the same thing. “Let’s see what we must do,” said Diego. There were many guards all around. Diego and I held the little ones’ hands and walked toward one of them. “Sir, our little brothers need to pee. What do we do?” The guard pointed to the back of the building, and said, “There are 2 bathrooms inside, 1 on the far left, and one on the far right. Get in line in front of any one of them. Many of you wanted to pee. Wait for your turn.”
We were close to the one on the left. It didn’t take long to have our turn. “Diego, I really really need to pee,” begged Jesu. So, Diego rushed him to the other bathroom while I stayed with Gabriel where we were. After he was done, I went in just to see what the bathroom looked like. There was a strong pee smell, but this toilet was much much much better than the boulder we had to use for our #1 and #2 in the other hangar. Also, we all had beds now!
© hülya n. yılmaz, February 23, 2025
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