One Grave Less

about his arm being eaten. She wished she had learned more Spanish. Any Mississippian archaeologist worth her salt should learn Spanish, she thought. Why the heck had she learned German?
    She eased past the dead bandit, past the driver’s door toward the rear of the truck. The problem of getting the snake out of the bed of the truck was solved. The anaconda was on the ground, wrapping its gigantic slithering body in a tightening coil around the fallen second bandit.
    The strike of the anaconda is lightning fast. They aren’t poisonous, but they have teeth curved back so that when they bite it is like fishhooks locking on and digging into the flesh. The snake’s mouth now held the man’s bare forearm in what could fairly be called a death grip. He no longer held the gun, and his hand was useless.
    “ Mi brazo ,” he mewled over and over again.
    Maria looked at him a moment, remembering his expression as he leered at her and Rosetta.
    “ Ayúdame, por favor, ayúdame ,” he cried.
    She closed the tailgate of the truck and walked back to the driver’s side. She grabbed the first bandit’s gun off the ground, but she didn’t search him for items they could use. She didn’t have the stomach for it. She climbed in the truck and closed the door.
    “Are you all right?” she asked Rosetta, who was climbing into the seat.
    Rosetta nodded her head.
    “He must not have seen the snake when he jumped in the back of the truck,” said Rosetta. “You already made her mad. He just made her madder.”
    “Evidently,” said Maria. “He probably made the mistake of pointing his gun at her.”
    She started the truck and sped away as fast as the trail would allow. She didn’t look in the rearview mirror.
    “You feel bad?” said Rosetta.
    “How many people have I killed? Four?” muttered Maria.
    “One. Just that bad man back there. He was going to shoot me. The others were alive when we left them,” said Rosetta.
    Maria gave her a grim smile.
    She tried to empty her mind of the events. She was doing what had to be done. She was struggling to survive. She had to get Rosetta back to her mother.
    After five minutes of driving in silence, rounding a curve she came face-to-face with an abandoned truck not too different from theirs. The hood was up and the engine was steaming. Probably the bandits, she thought. Probably why they were on foot. She drove slowly through the brush around the truck, not stopping.
    The trail got better and worse at the same time. The road grew wider, the jungle got thicker. Fronds grew out over the road and brushed the top of the vehicle. Maria worried that it would become too thick and the trail would peter out and disappear and they would have to walk.
    She drove on.
    Rosetta reached over and touched her arm.
    “I did bad things. All I wanted to do was find Mama, so I sometimes did bad things.”
    Maria squeezed her hand. “I don’t imagine you did anything too bad,” she said.
    “At St. Anne’s when we did bad things we had to do penance. I think Mama is sometimes a Presbyterian. I don’t think they do penance. I hope she’s still a Presbyterian.”
    Maria smiled at her. “What kind of penance would you have to do? You were so young.”
    “Sister Alice or Father Joe made us work in the garden or help wash dishes. Sometimes Father Joe did penance with us. He said when we did bad things maybe it was his fault for not teaching us better. When Mama was there I never did penance. She just talked to me.”
    They had come to a narrow bridge over a creek. Maria slowed down and stopped. She got out of the truck and walked over to examine the bridge. The creek was only ten feet or so wide and it was shallow. The bridge, not large, was built of wood that was worn. It had been patched many times in haphazard ways. Maria got the feeling it had been fixed by whoever had to go over it at the time it was in disrepair.
    She walked across it, stamping on the boards. They creaked but appeared strong. There was no railing. The bridge was wide enough for the truck, but just. She turned to go back. Rosetta was watching her from the front window. Maria grinned and waved at her.
    “Is it strong enough?” asked Rosetta when Maria climbed in.
    “I believe so.” She patted the little girl on the leg. “Don’t worry. Tell me more about the mission where you stayed. It sounds like it was a good place.”
    “It was nice. There were always kids to play with. The sisters took care of a lot of people,”