When Johnny went to the mailbox that morning, there was an envelope addressed in a strange hand and there was no return address at all.-He slit open the envelope only to find another envelope inside that one.-On the outside of the second envelope was a message.-“If Ramon Mendez is still there, please give him this letter and please give it to no one else.-Urgent.”
Johnny took it immediately to Ramon and suggested that he take it into his room and read it since it said it was urgent.-Ramon did as Johnny suggested and the letter said:
Dear Ramon,
---I hope this finds you well, Son, but we are much worried for you.-Today is the twenty-fifth of February and yesterday a man who did not look like a nice man came here and asked if we know where you are.-Of course, we told him we did not know.-He even tried telling us you had some money coming to you if he was able to find you, but we still told him nothing.-He said you and he had both worked for a man named Jorge something and that he needed to find you very badly.-Son, I do so hope you are not in any trouble but as I said the man who inquired for you did not look trustworthy.-I wanted you to be warned, Ramon.-Be careful and come back to us safely.-We love you,------------------------Mamacita
Tears swam in Ramon’s eyes as he finished reading the letter.-If Jorge was asking his parents about him, then Ramon had probably already seen his Mamacita for the last time.-Ramon had hoped that Jorge and the rest of his thugs were looking elsewhere but if he was determined to find him, he probably would.-What was he to do?-The O’Reillys had surely been good to him and he hated to leave them.-However, he had been there close to a year, now, so he had probably stayed in one place too long already.-He knew they needed his help, but he felt the urgency to move on and not stick around until Jorge did find him.-He was still in deep thought as to what he should tell Ed and Johnny when he came back out the door.-He put on his sombrero as he came out and headed across the yard.-When he came in sight of the work area, there they were—two of the gang that worked for Jorge:-Garcia and Norton.-He ducked back inside the shell of the house and picked up a hammer and began to pound nails.-He wasn’t sure if they had seen him or not but now he knew they were in the area and they were looking for him; of that he was positive.
He simply didn't know what to do.-If he left there, he had no idea where he could go.-If he stayed, he was not only in danger himself, but he would be endangering the lives of the only people who had ever been really kind to him.-He was convinced, the only course of action left to him was to take off at once and head for points unknown.