Timothy McAllister
Kirt has been working hard to take care of all of us since Sergio left. The only fault I find in him is that he doesn't stand up for himself. I am not saying that he is a coward. When it's for a group or his friends, he stands up for them, but when he gets attacked, he doesn't respond at all.
That day (six days since Sergio disappeared), Kirt went to Zachary and Bill and politely told them, "Hey guys, I just have a small favor to ask of you. Brian counted the number of resources that we have, and it turns out that if we stop using the air conditioners we could extend the life of our fuel."
"The [explicit] do I care," Bill said as he held him by his neck.
"[Explict] idiot. Do you think you're someone so great, like a leader to tell us what to do?" joined Zachary.
They shoved him onto a capsule until Jackson King stood up for Kirt. Jackson King wasn't the best of all the students, but he sure was grateful to Kirt for helping him with his studies, when he needed help the most. And Jackson was one person who couldn't stand seeing Good Old Kirt getting walked over.
If I was in Kirt's spot, I would have just asked Bill and Zach to leave if they couldn't follow the rules we put for everyone's benefit. But Kirt, being long-suffering, just allowed them to stay. Kirt didn't fight back, he just walked away and continued to help everybody else.
I think Kirt must learn how to stand for himself.
It began raining that night. We thought that the storm had cleared, but we were wrong. The storm came back to the rainforest.
Shifaly Udawatte
Avanthi and I didn't speak that day. We both were regretting the words that we told each other. When I saw Avanthi during lunch, she just walked away and began hanging around with Radeesha and the other girls. When we went outside to play some badminton (since the storm completely cleared in our area), Avanthi just avoided me.
Avanthi didn't understand that I was friends with Basura because I forgave him.
She thought that Basura and I liked each other. We didn't like each other more than how friends like each other.
I couldn't believe how a simple exchange of words could affect such a strong friendship. I regretted the way I argued with her. The sad thing of arguments is that we never feel regret or remorse until it is too late.
What was the use of me feeling sad after I lost such a great friendship?
Felipe Alvarez Altamirano Espadachín
I fixed an appointment with Mr. Guerrero that afternoon. It was the seventh day since the day when the storm had begun. The floods have subsided in many parts of the city. Police reports confirmed that the sewage system was fully restored and that it began sucking in all the floodwater. Power was still not supplied, because some areas were still flooded.
I had two more days before my postponed date of transfer. A lot happened during the week when I was waiting for my transfer. As I stood by my desk, I reflected on my entire week right from the rescue of Basilio, to Basilio's death, to the Interrogations and finally to the capture of Scapoli.
Alejandro told me that he would take care of the Basilio Armada's death case and the interrogation of Scapoli because he thought that it was better if I focussed on preparing myself for my duty in the rainforests. Weather reports said that after clearing in the morning and afternoon, the storms returned to the rainforests in Eastern and South-Eastern Bolivia.
At 16:30 that day, I went to Guerrero's house.
"Hello, Teniente, Do come in," he said, inviting me to his house.
After I took a seat, I looked at the maps on the shelves and the huge portrait of Simon Aristizábal Bolivar on the wall.
We had a general conversation for a while about the weather, the Police and the city. As we were talking, Guerrero brought a mug and poured out some coffee for me.
"What brings you here, Teniente?" asked Guerrero, after offering me some coffee.
"I want you to help me understand how Princesa Irene will be behaving after the dam collapse? I'm going to be posted in the rainforest, and I need your help with understanding how this river would behave. This understanding will help me with my duty," I said.
He thought for a while. He then answered: "Princesa Irene? She's a tricky one"
"Follow me," said Guerrero as he got up and took me into a room filled with maps in the Gutiérrez' family house.
I put my mug of coffee on the table and followed him as he took to the room.
When I entered that room, I saw that all sorts of maps of Bolivia were inside that huge room. Guerrero was looking for a particular map. After a long search, Guerrero found the map that he was looking for and put it on the table.
Pointing to some spots on the map, he began explaining the system to me.
He first showed me the entire course of the river Princesa Irene from the point where La Madre was located. The river continued south, down the rainforest until it journeys south-westwards outside the rainforest towards the dam near Machareti. However, at one point, a distributary flows out eastwards from Princesa Irene and feeds the river Muchachita (whose source was in one of the springs in the rainforest).
Pointing to La Muchachita, he told me that he was sure that after the dam's collapse, the water must be raging in La Muchachita. He told me that the entire river would have swollen after the collapse of the dam: from its source till the point where it joins the river La Reina just near the border with Brazil. La Reina flowed from Paraguay, through Bolivia to Brazil. La Muchachita was a tiny tributary of La Reina.
He told me that any boat that is on Princesa Irene would never be controllable as the river would have a very strong current after the dam's collapse. He told me that since La Muchachita receives a lot of water from the distributary that flows from Princesa Irene, even La Muchachita would not be navigable. As for the part of the river Princesa Irene, after the distributary, it would flood its banks until the dam near Machareti. Probably even the other dams would collapse because if one of the dams fail in La Familia De Princesa Irene, all dams downstream would collapse.
I then asked him what would happen if La Abuela collapsed. He thought for a while. He then told me that it would be disastrous. The region that would be the most affected, he told me, would be Bosque De La Muerte. The area used to be submerged in the former course of Princesa Irene before La Familia was built. He told me that Bosque De La Muerte would become part of the river bed, just like how it used to be before La Familia was constructed. It would be total chaos, he told me, if Abuela collapsed. He told me that the river would flow through its old and new course simultaneously. He also told me that if La Abuela collapsed, the river Muchachita would entirely flow into the part of the Princesa Irene river that would be flowing through its old course. La Muchachita would never reach La Reina if La Abuela collapsed. It would just flow into Princesa Irene.
However, he also told me that if Abuela collapsed, there were still some dams on La Princesa Irene's old course, which were not demolished even though they were dilapidated, that would hold back the flash flood for about a day's time before giving away and flooding the regions it is supposed to flood. But many cities would be flooded. It won't be only the rainforests that would be affected.
"La Familia De Princesa Irene has surely changed the course of a natural river. If it collapses, it will be a disaster. Absolute disaster" said a concerned Guerrero.
We spoke for a while about the entire La Familia De Princesa Irene system until it was 18:30. I did notice once that when he sneezed into his white handkerchief, it was stained by droplets of blood.
Three hours after I left Guerrero's house for the station, after listening to his explanations, I received news that he was admitted to the hospital.
An hour later he died.
The Post Mortem revealed that his son Scapoli had hit him when he kidnapped him and those beatings had damaged Guerrero's internal organs. Guerrero succumbed to those internal injuries
With his and Armada's deaths, Bolivia had no more people who studied under the genius engineering-geologist, Simon Aristizábal Bolivar. With Guerrero's death, I lost a very important contact that I could have referred to whenever I needed to during my time in the rainforest.