The Years that the Locusts Have Eaten

Chapter 10

"Vicki, stop putting your seat up and down," Caridad scolded good-naturedly. True to his word, Officer Ortega and his team had found Victoria. Now, she was returning home on a flight from Houston to Pittsburgh. Jin had splurged for first-class tickets, which was nothing for him, but it was a completely novel experience for Caridad and Victoria.

When the snack cart came around, Victoria looked uncertainly at Jin. "You can have whatever you want, baby. Just go for it."

"Did I ever tell you that you're my favorite cancer person?" Vicki told him, throwing her arms around his neck. Obviously, the experience had been hard on Victoria, but with the resilience that only a child can have, she was bouncing back fairly quickly. It was just at night when she would show signs of trauma and would go to sleep in her mom's bed. Her quick rescue, however, had mitigated the trauma to a great extent. Andrés had been arrested on the spot and charged with kidnapping. So, for now, Victoria was safe.

When they arrived home, Victoria went to take a nap. Caridad was sitting with Jin on the couch when her phone rang.

"Hey, Sandy, girl, what's up?" she answered cheerfully.

---

"What? So quickly?" Caridad said. Jin looked at her with concern. He could see that the smile had faded from her lips.

---

"Okay, we'll be there," she said. "Thanks for telling me. Love you too," she told Sandy.

"What's going on?" Jin asked as soon as she got off the phone.

Caridad broke into tears. "While we were in Texas getting Vicki, Tyler passed," she informed him.

"No," Jin whispered. "I didn't know he was that bad," he confessed.

"Sometimes these things can go quickly," Caridad answered. "The funeral is tomorrow. I know it's going to be hard for Vicki, but it's hardly the first funeral she's attended. Death has always been a part of her life, but still, Tyler's different. He was so young."

"God, I feel gutted," Jin said, holding his stomach and bending at the waist.

"I know, but we've got to normalize this for Victoria. She needs to know that we're going to get through this."

"But what if it happens to me too," Jin whispered.

"No! I forbid you from dying!" Caridad told him with determination. "I simply won't allow it," she added.

"You and I both know that's not how it works," Jin replied.

"Just don't say it right now. I just can't deal with all of this at once," Caridad admitted.

"Fair enough," Jin answered.

The next day, they stood in front of the local Catholic church. Caridad and Victoria stood in their black dresses. They already knew the drill. The walked into the church and crossed themselves. When they arrived at the pew, they did a half-kneel and crossed themselves again. Jin followed their lead, copying all their movements. It had been quite some time since he had been in a church of any kind. There really weren't days of rest in K-pop.

The priest walked behind the small casket, waving a silver censer from which the fragrant smoke of incense was floating out. Vicki wondered silently if Tyler was in the smoke now. She wasn't sure exactly what Heaven was like. Her mom didn't know, for sure, either, but she said it was a place with no pain or tears and that we would be with God. Vicki tried to picture Tyler without his IV port. It was hard because she had never seen him that way before, but it was better than picturing him in the black box where his body was now. She turned to Jin and saw that he was sobbing softly. She crawled onto his lap and parroted her mother, "Death isn't the worst thing that can happen to you."