The day began normally for Gabriela and her friends in their little town up in the highlands of the desert. They went to school, they went home and helped with chores, and then they ran and played on the slopes just beyond the edges of town until it was dinnertime.
Only today, before it was time to go home, a siren wailed through the air. Gabriela and her friends stopped and stared at each other, one word racing through their minds.
Earthquake!
The thought barely had time to register before the ground started to tremble. Many of the youth were thrown to the ground. They clambered to their feet and stumbled in various directions. Fear for their families drove them to race toward town even though the buildings could fall on them.
Gabriela ran along a path that paralleled the edge of town. A roar reached her ears from the left, up the slope. The earth was shifting and sliding toward her from higher on the mountain. Gabriela screamed and put on a burst of speed to try to get out of the way. Just as she passed a hut that sat facing the path, tons of dirt and rock rammed into the back of the dwelling. Timbers and walls fell forward and came down onto Gabriela. She flung her hands up, but it was no use—it was all too much for her, and as everything came down, she was driven into blackness.
* * * *
When Gabriela came to, she groaned. She thought she was half lying down on her left side. Something large and hard pressed into her back. Her weight was on her left leg, and her right leg was turned and pinned at an uncomfortable angle. Gabriela opened her eyes as wide as they would go—but everything was dark. She smelled dirt and wood.
Pain flashed through her scalp as she pressed her hands against what she thought was the ground and pushed. The weight against her back kept her from getting up, and Gabriela stopped trying. It felt rough and rounded like a boulder. Gasping, Gabriela carefully touched her head, thinking she might be bleeding. But no, when she rubbed her fingers together, she just felt dust.
Suddenly she remembered the earthquake and the landslide. In her mind she saw the hut that was knocked over on top of her. Was it that same day? Was she buried alive?
Would anyone find her?
Gabriela thought of her family and hoped they were okay. The possibilities overwhelmed her, and she started to cry. The sound of her sobs echoed around her. She folded her arms and rested her head on them. Before long, she had cried herself to sleep.
* * * *
When she awoke, something was different. As Gabriela slowly opened her eyes, she realized this place was no longer dark.
She raised her head and squinted. Pale light peeked in through a hole in the rocks in front of her. It must have been night when she awoke before. Now it looked like it might be early morning. There would be people out there somewhere. Family. Friends.
Was the hole big enough for Gabriela to fit through?
It just might be.
Relief flooded through Gabriela, and she wept again. There was a way out.
When she could get control of herself, she looked around her. The collapsing hut had deflected enough of the landslide that it had not completely buried her and there was some space, almost like the little cave that she and her friends had discovered in the hills once. With a little delicate and painful testing, Gabriela found she could shift herself to the right to get out from under the boulder that had settled in place nearly on top of her. She managed to free her right leg from the pebbles that weighed it down. She gritted her teeth against the pain and pushed herself sideways. With a gasp, she was free—or at least had regained a bit of freedom.
With her eyes on the light, Gabriela crawled forward.
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The Weekly Parable 