The Impossible Adventures: Book #1 - Mountain of Ash

Problematic Prairie

        I wake up with a jolt and rub my eyes. The sun is baking my face. I sit up and look around.
        I'm on a clay bank, with Claudia awake next to me. Where are we? This doesn't look like Mexico...
        "I think we're in the prairie, Carlos." Claudia tells me. I squint and look off into the distance. The clay that we're on blends with sand as it gets further out, and then it's a desert. Tumbleweeds blow across the sand. I notice a couple figures in the distance, slowly walking towards us.
        "Claudia!" I whisper urgently. "Look- who are they?" I point to the figures.
        Claudia shields her eyes from the sun. "I- I don't know..." she replies. I gulp and we sit stock still. My stomach feels like someone hit it. I'm so terribly hungry, but the coconut and fig we brought from the jungle must have fallen off the raft.
        The figures are close enough for us to make them out. They are two girls, both in dresses. Their hair is in braids and their aprons are dusty. "Ma!" shouts the smaller one. She yells something else in a strange language.
        A tall woman runs over and scoops the girl up. She narrows her eyes at us and talks in the same language the girl was speaking in.
        Claudia and I wildly shake our heads. "We come from Mexico," I say, although the woman doesn't seem to understand. She heads toward us and squints. After a while, she puts the girl down and helps us up. In a daze, we follow her off into the prairie until we come to a village. The buildings are made of logs and clay, and more people in dresses come out. They talk in the weird language some more. Finally, the woman drags us into a house and throws us into a cramped room. She locks the door.
        "Now what are we going to do?" Claudia sniffles. I look around the room. A metal washbasin is in one corner, with a pail of lukewarm water sitting next to it. A rag is hanging on the wall. I climb into the basin and pour the water on myself. I wash myself with the rag. Claudia looks at me in disgust.
        "How can you wash yourself in the tub of a stranger?" Claudia asks. I take my dirty rags from the floor and dry myself off. I shrug. Claudia sighs and washes herself in the basin, also.
        When we're both clean, the door opens and the woman sticks her head in. She sees our hair dripping with water and nods approvingly. With a sweep of her hand, she beckons us out into the main room in the house.
        There is a corn husk rug on the floor, and some worn couches in a corner. A rough table covered in a cloth sits in the center. Oil lamps light it. Plates of beans, rice, soup, and potatoes sit on the table. The woman hands us some plates and we eagerly dig in. When we finish eating, the woman tucks us under a soft quilt and leaves us to sleep.