A Mummy in Her Backpack / Una momia en su mochila (5 page)

“What's wrong,
mija
?” her mom asked. “Do you feel sick?”

Flor shook her head. “It's just that . . . What happened to that box that was in the garage? The one with my broken skates and old dolls?”

“Oh, that box,” Flor's mom said. “I told your father to take it to the dump today on his way to work. That box needed to go a long time ago.”

Flor got up and ran outside to see if her dad had left. His truck was gone! Her shoulders slumped, and she went back inside.

Her mom looked puzzled. “What's the problem?” Then she smiled, “Oh! Don't worry. Your dad took out your skates. Why were they in the box? They weren't broken.”

Flor looked at her mom. She was pointing to Flor's skates on the living room floor.

Flor didn't want to argue with her mom, but she was sure that one of the front wheels on the left foot was off. Her mom served Flor a plate of eggs, but Flor kept her head down.

“Are you sure that you're not sick?” she asked.

Flor just shook her head. Her mom sighed. Adrian came in, sat down and started eating.

“Flor!” he called. Flor didn't answer. “Flor!” he said again, and when she didn't answer, he asked, “Why did you put your backpack by my door?”

Flor looked up.

Adrian repeated, “Why did you put your backpack by my door?”

Flor said, “I didn't . . . ”

Her mom interrupted, “Oh! That's where your dad put it. I thought he put it by your skates. I guess he was in a rush and just put it down by Adrian's door instead of yours.”

Flor rushed to Adrian's room. There, leaning against the wall was her backpack. She picked it up, ran to her room, closed the door and opened the backpack.

“
Buenos días
,” Rafa said, peeking out.

Flor sighed. “Good morning,” she answered. “I was worried about you.”

Rafa stood up. “Oh, I'm fine. That room is huge. And so many tools! Those boots with wheels are very interesting. I hope you don't mind, I put the fourth wheel on. I think I got it right.”

“That's what happened to my skates,” Flor said. Then she smiled at Rafa. “Thank you for fixing them.”

“
De nada
,” he answered. “Are we going back to your school today?”

“Yes,” Flor said, then her stomach growled. “But I'm going to get breakfast first.” She paused, and then added, “Can I get you anything?”

Rafa smiled. “No. I'm fine. I haven't been hungry in about a hundred years.”

Flor laughed, and returned to the table to eat her breakfast.

She felt confident as she walked to school. On her way, she saw Sandra, but Sandra was too sore from falling and too scared to bother her. Rafa stayed still in her backpack. As soon as she got to school, she found Lupita, and together, they went up to Mr. García as he was emptying the breakfast trash in the dumpster, some soggy French toast.

“Could we please have an empty box?” Flor asked.

“Sure,” he said. “How big?”

Flor held up her backpack, “This big?”

“No problem,” he answered. “Do you want it now or after school?”

“Well,” Flor said, “we kind of need more help.”

“Does this have something to do with Rafa?” he asked.

Flor looked down. Her shoulders fell. “Rafa needs to get home.”

“Home?” Mr. García said.

“In time for
El Día de los Muertos
,” Lupita added.

“Wow!” Mr. García said, talking to the backpack. “You don't have much time. Isn't that in about . . . Hey! How are you going to . . . ?“

Then he understood. He looked at Flor.

“So that's what you want the box for.”

“Yes,” Flor said. “But we need more help. We need you to mail him to Guanajuato today.”

“What?” he said.

“Will you mail him for us?” Flor pleaded.

“You kids don't even know how much it costs to mail something . . . I mean, someone that far,” he argued.

“Yes, we do,” Lupita interrupted. “We found out online last night.”

“Here,” she continued, pulling out a sheet of paper from her backpack. “According to the Postal Service website, we can mail Rafa to Mexico using Global Express Guaranteed Non-Documenting Service for sixty-seven dollars and twenty cents without insurance. Sorry, Rafa.”

“Don't worry,” Rafa said. “I'm just excited to be going home.”

“Sixty-seven dollars!” Mr. García exclaimed. “I don't have that kind of money.”

“And twenty cents,” Rafa added, smiling.

“You better get back in my backpack, Rafa,” Flor said. “Someone's going to see you.”

Rafa smiled at Flor and obediently stuffed himself into her backpack. Then Flor turned to Mr. García.

“Lupita and I have forty dollars, twenty each that we both saved from our birthdays. We can pay you the other twenty-seven dollars soon.”

“And twenty cents,” Mr. García added.

“Oh, we have the twenty cents,” Lupita said, holding out two dimes in her hand.

“Great,” he told her. “So what do you want me to do?”

Just then the bell rang. Lupita ran to class.

“We have to go,” Flor said. “We'll look for you at recess.”

As soon as all the kids were seated, Miss King went around the room collecting homework. Flor, as usual, had hers out ready to hand in. When Miss King got to Sandra's desk, she asked, “What's wrong, Sandra?”

Sandra, who had her head down, answered, “I tried to do my homework. But it was so hard, and my head hurt from yesterday. I tried, Miss King. I tried.” And she cried even louder than before.

Miss King sighed, “Don't worry, Sandra. I'll see what I can do.”

Sandra looked up at her teacher. ”Can Flor help me during recess? She was so helpful yesterday when I got hurt. And she's so good at math.”

“That's a good idea, Sandra,” Miss King said. Then she turned to Flor. “Flor, I'd like you to help Sandra with her math.”

What could Flor do? She couldn't say
Sorry, Miss King, I have to help a mummy get back to Mexico
. “Okay,” she mumbled, staring at her desktop.

After the bell rang for recess, Miss King said, “I have yard duty again. Sandra, you have enough time to finish the first ten problems. Thank you for helping, Flor. Lupita, please come outside.”

Once the door was closed, Flor said, “Okay, Sandra, get your book.”

Sandra got up and sat next to Flor. “I guess you can't go see the custodian, huh? Too bad.”

Something inside Flor tightened. What a trick! She tried to keep her temper.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Flor said. “We better hurry, or you won't get your work done.”

Sandra took out a pencil and dropped it. As she picked it up, she knocked down Flor's backpack.

“Ow!” Rafa said.

Sandra jumped. “You
do
have something in there!” she yelled, standing up and backing away from the desk.

Flor quickly picked up her backpack and hung it on the back of her chair. “I already told you about the
momia
!” she said, glaring at Sandra. “Leave my backpack alone, or I'll . . . ” She calmed down and realized how to get back at Sandra. “You better finish your work or I'll tell Miss King you were goofing around, and you know that she'll believe me.”

Sandra sat back down, but two desks away from Flor. “Fine, then. What are the answers?” she demanded.

Flor looked at the problems. “Number one is forty-seven. Number two is fifteen, remainder two.”

Sandra wrote down the answers. The bell rang just as she was finishing.

Miss King walked into class and asked, “Are you all done, Sandra?”

Sandra handed Miss King her paper. The teacher frowned. Flor tapped her arm.

“She didn't want to listen,” Flor said. “She just wanted the answers. So I gave her the wrong ones.”

“But Miss King!” Sandra cried. “Flor has a mummy in her backpack!”

For a second Flor froze. What could she say? How would Miss King react? Then the class resounded in laughter.

“Yeah, right,” Matt said.

“A mummy!” Jason added. “I have a zombie in mine. Want to see?” He held up his backpack.

The boys started walking around the room like zombies. Soon the whole class except for Flor and Sandra were walking like zombies. Even Lupita got into the act.

“Everyone sit down this second, or you zombies will all have lunch detention!” Miss King ordered.

Everyone sat down. Miss King glared at Sandra, shook her head and said, “You have lunch detention. You'll have to stay and do your own work and get it right. And please don't disrupt the class again with your crazy stories.”

Relieved, Flor sat down. Lupita nudged Flor with an elbow, and Flor shrugged.

Later, Mr. García called from the office and got permission for the girls to stay after lunch and help him “clean up” the cafeteria.

What they really did was find a box for Rafa. They used an empty copy paper box and with some tape and white butcher paper, they wrapped it up. Flor then wrote a letter to the museum in Spanish. It read:

I found this mummy, Rafael Rigoberto Pérez Hernández, in my backpack when I got home from the museum, and I am returning him. He hasn't been harmed in any way. I hope you will put him back in his place so he can enjoy El Día de los Muertos. I liked your museum a lot and I hope to see it again some time
.

Sincerely,
Flor Moreno

When everything was ready, Mr. García turned to Rafa, “Time to get in,
hombre
.”

“
Muchas gracias por todo
,” Rafa said, shaking his hand. Mr. García didn't smile, but he shook Rafa's hand just the same.

“Bye, Rafa,” Lupita said.

“
Gracias
,” Rafa said. He put out his hand.

Lupita kept her hands behind her back; she didn't want to shake a mummy's hand, even a kind one like Rafa. Then he turned to Flor. “
Ay
,
mija
,” he said. “You are so
maravillosa
. I'm glad I got a chance to meet you. Thank you for showing me some of
los Estados Unidos
, but I thank you especially for having such a kind heart.”

“Take care,” Flor said, hugging the little mummy. “My mom says we might go back to Guanajuato next year. Maybe I'll see you then.”

“I hope so,” he said, smiling.

Then Flor pinned the letter to his shirt. The little guy climbed into the box and Mr. García closed it, sealed it and wrapped it following the instructions the girls had printed. He explained to the girls that the Post Office didn't close until 5:00 and he got off at 3:30. It would be easy for him to get Rafa mailed off. Lupita and Flor gave him forty dollars and twenty cents. He didn't want to take it, but he sure didn't have sixty-seven dollars. He did have twenty cents though, so he let the girls keep their dimes.

For the next few nights, Flor didn't sleep well. She wondered if Rafa was okay, and if he'd get to Guanajuato on time. Every morning, when Lupita and Flor said good morning to Mr. García, he'd ask, “Have you heard anything yet?”

“Not yet,” Flor answered.

The three of them were nervous about Rafa. They wanted to be sure that he got there safely.

Flor and her family spent their afternoons decorating their house for the Day of the Dead
. They cleared a shelf in the house, covered it with red cloth, and placed pictures of Flor's great-grandparents there. Next to the pictures they placed vases with flowers and white candles.

Flor and Lupita decided to tell their moms what had happened right after Rafa was mailed. It was very strange, but their mothers weren't very angry. In fact, Flor's mother called her brother in Guanajuato the next morning so he could go to the museum and check to see if Rafa had arrived safely.

Rafa had arrived with a day to spare! Everyone was relieved and happy for him.

When the Day of the Dead came, Flor brought Mr. García some
pan de muerto
, fresh from the bakery. And Lupita brought him some candy skulls that her aunt had made.

That day, when Flor got home, her mom was sitting in front of the altar they had made. She was looking through an old photo album. She showed Flor all the pictures of her father and mother, her grandfather, who was Flor's great-grandfather, and her great-grandmother.

Flor noticed how serious everybody in the photographs was; everybody except a little guy standing to the side. He had a mischievous smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes.

“Who's that?” she asked her mom.

“That,” Flor's mom said, “is your Great-Great-Uncle Rafael. My grandmother said he was a trickster.”

Immediately, Flor recognized the face.

Flor's mom held her daughter's hand. “I guess he still is,” she said, smiling.

Flor brought the picture to Mr. García at school. He nearly fainted! Who would have thought such a thing possible? But it really had happened.