Free Glory Girl by Betsy Byars Page B

brothers are over here, hon. Come on.”
    “Where are we?” she asked, looking around in confusion as the flashlight lit up the eerie scene.
    Uncle Newt tugged her arm. “Come on. I got your mom to shore. She spoke. She said, ‘Angel.’ I reckon she—Here, give me a hand. Can you sit up, son?”
    Joshua moaned, “No.”
    “Put your arm around me.”
    “I can’t … I hurt.”
    Anna crawled toward them. She remembered now. She said, “We all hurt, Joshua, but we’ve got to get out or we’re going to drown.”
    “Drown?”
    “The water’s rising, son.” Uncle Newt slipped his arm under Joshua’s shoulder. “The bus is braced against some rocks, and it’s holding, but if the water gets higher …” His voice trailed off as he lifted Joshua. “Well, we’re liable to wash on down to Columbia.”
    In the pale beam from the flashlight, Anna could see Matthew on the other side of Joshua. “I’ll get him,” she said, even though she was not sure she could. She grabbed Matthew’s arm and began to drag him toward the door.
    Matthew moaned. “He’s alive,” Anna told Uncle Newt.
    “Here, I’ll get them both at once. You just hold them while I get outside.”
    As Uncle Newt climbed back into the water, he said, “You take the light and see where the others are at.”
    “I know where they are.”
    “I’m ready,” Uncle Newt called, and Anna thrust Joshua through the doorway.
    “And here’s Matthew.” Anna shoved his limp body into Uncle Newt’s arms. Then she picked up the light and shone it around the bus.
    Angel lay where she had fallen, and Mr. Glory still hung upside down in the driver’s seat. The water had risen to cover his hands now.
    Anna crawled toward Angel, pushing objects aside as she moved. “Angel!” She knelt beside her. “Angel, wake up. We’ve got to get out of here. Angel, the bus is upside down in a river. We’re going to drown if we don’t get out!”
    “Anna?” Angel whispered.
    “Yes, it’s me.”
    “I’m hurt.”
    “Everybody is.”
    “But I can’t move. I’m—”
    “I’ll get her.” It was Uncle Newt again. Anna shone the light on her sister. Her wet hair swung in a wide arc as Uncle Newt picked her up. Angel cried as he struggled to the door with her.
    At the door Uncle Newt called, “Come on, Anna, you too.”
    “I have to help Dad.”
    “I’ll help him. I want you out of here.”
    “I can’t leave him!”
    “Come on!”
    In a daze Anna struggled to the door. Lightning flashed as she got there, and in the burst of light she climbed out and dropped into the cold water. She clung to the bus, gasping for breath, too weak to fight the current alone.
    The lightning flashed again, and in the white world Anna saw Uncle Newt coming toward her. The water swirled around his chest now, and his round face was twisted with the effort. Overhead, the angry clouds rumbled. Then, just as Anna felt her hands slipping from the icy metal, Uncle Newt was there. He put his arm around her and carried her to the bank.
    Anna felt herself being laid on the ground. Raindrops as big as marbles were falling on her face. She tried to lift her head.
    Beside her, she could hear her sister crying and one of her brothers moaning. “I’m dying,” he blubbered.
    “Nobody’s dy-dying,” she stuttered.
    “That’s what it feels like.”
    Anna called, “Uncle Newt?”
    Uncle Newt had gone back into the bus. The flashlight had died, and Uncle Newt was now searching in total darkness for his brother. He felt his way to the driver’s seat, calling, “Bubba, Bubba,” the name he had used when they were boys.
    Suddenly the bus shifted, and Uncle Newt felt the water rise. He waited in a crouch until he was sure the bus was steady again. “Bubba!”
    “I’m here.”
    Uncle Newt waded toward the weak sound of his brother’s voice. “I’m stuck … trapped.” Uncle Newt brushed against his brother’s hand, which was trailing in the water. He reached out and held it. It was