I had just moved to San Antonio, Texas. I had gotten a job working for the tour bus service that would take tourists on a short tour of the city's historic¹ places and would end up at the Alamo.

 

It was near closing time and I was driving back from my last tour of the day. It was a cool February day, and there wasn't anyone on my bus, I was on my way back from the San Fernando Catholic² church. I was about to keep driving by when I saw a man dressed up in an old buckskin jacket and a large worn out hat. I was thinking to myself, that this person must be a re-enactor or something walking around. I stopped and opened the door and asked the man, "Need a ride?" He looked up at me and I finally saw how young he was. He was a teenager if not a teen or he had to be in his early twenties. Without saying anything he just walked on board and sat down in a seat behind me. I made sure that there wasn't any other people needing a ride somewhere and closed the door.

 

"Where you heading?" I asked him he looked up into the mirror at me and replied.

 

"I've got to get to the fort³ and report to Col. Travis that the Mexicans are here!" I laughed to myself thinking that this man was a serious re-enactor.

 

"I'm guessing you mean the Alamo?" I said back to him. I looked up at him in the mirror and saw that he wasn't smiling nor laughing. I just put my foot on the gas and started to drive away.

　

All throughout the ride I looked back at him in the mirror above my head and saw that he was staring in amazement⁴ at all the towering skyscrapers⁵ and the buildings along the street.

 

"I remember when this town was nothing more than a little trading village!" He finally said to me.

 

"Yeah that's what I've heard that this city used be nothing more than a little pueblo⁶." He nodded his head up at me.

 

"It was." He said in return.

 

"So what's your name?" I asked him.

 

"Daniel Cloud, yours?"

 

"David Zime." I replied as I turned the corner of the street and laid eyes upon the Alamo.

 

I pulled up to the sidewalk and opened the door. Cloud got out of his seat and came up to me.

 

"Thanks for the ride." He said extending his hand. I took his palm and it was freezing cold like he just stepped out of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory's freezer.

 

"Not a problem Mr. Cloud, and don't worry about the fee. it's on the house." He nodded his head in gratitude⁷ like all us Texans do and walked out the door.

 

 It wasn't until then that I noticed that he was soaked to the bone in dripping water and we had not a single drop of rain in a month or more. I just shook my head and closed the door behind him. I looked ahead for a spilt second to see if any other tourists were waiting to be picked up on the corner. I turned back and I discovered that Cloud was gone!! I looked behind the bus and saw no one, I was amazed at how fast he had went away. I just shrugged⁸ my shoulders and took off done for the day.

 

A few days later I was reading a book about the Battle of the Alamo when I discovered the most shocking thing I had ever discovered in my life. One of the pages of the book had a list of the names of the 183 defenders⁹ of the Alamo, and in the "C" section was the name, Daniel Cloud! When I read this my eyes went wide and I looked across the page and saw that he was only 19 years old when he was killed in the Alamo. He was the one who spotted¹⁰ the Mexicans before they took over the streets of San Antonio in February of 1836, and his post on top of the San Frenando Church where I had picked him up!

 

From then on I still look for Cloud when I'm passing by the San Frenando Church on my way back to the Alamo, and hopefully I'll pick him up again someday and take him to the Alamo.....

 

不久前我搬家去了德克萨斯州的圣安东尼奥，我在那找了份观光旅游车司机的工作，职责是开车载着游客去城里的名胜古迹参观，全程的终点在阿拉莫。

 

那天已经是快下班的时间了，我正跑着最后一趟车，因为那是在二月的一天，很冷，所以车上一个人都没有，我们刚刚离开了圣费尔南多大教堂返回阿拉莫。我正打算一路开下去，这时见到路边有个人穿着件旧鹿皮夹克，头上戴着顶破帽子。我心想，这肯定是个喜剧演员或者类似的什么人。我停下车，开了门问他，“要搭车吗？”他抬头看看我，这时我才发现原来他是个年轻的小伙子，也就是十几岁，或者顶多二十岁出头。他没说话，上了车坐在我后面的一个座位上。我看不会再有别人要搭车了，就关门开走了。

 

“你要去哪？”我问他。

 

他抬起头，从后视镜里看着我，回答道，“我要去堡垒向特拉维斯上校报告，墨西哥人冲过来了。”#p#分页标题#e#

 

我暗暗发笑，这还真是个认真的演员。“你是要去阿拉莫吧？”我一边说一边也通过后视镜看看他，不过他可没笑，甚至是一脸的严肃。我把油门一踩到底，车子飞驰下去。

 

一路上我不断地通过头上的后视镜看着他，就见他目不转睛地看着路两旁的高楼大厦，直看得目瞪口呆。

 

“我记得这里只不过是个有几个人做生意的小村子。”过了很长时间后他才对我说。

 

“对我也听说以前这就是一个很小的印第安人村子。”

 

他朝我点点头，“确实是。”

 

“请问您怎么称呼？”我问他。

 

“丹尼尔·克劳德，你呢？”

 

“大卫·吉梅。”车子转了个弯，阿拉莫就在前面了。

 

我把车停在路边，开了门。克劳德站起身朝我走过来。

 

“谢谢你载我这一程。”说着他向我伸过手来。我握着他的手，感到一阵冰凉，就仿佛他刚从兰贝冰淇淋厂的冷冻机里出来一样。

 

“小意思，克劳德先生。而且别担心，我不收你车费。”就像多数德克萨斯人的习惯一样，他冲我点头表示谢意，然后下车了。

 

这时我才发现他已经是浑身湿透了，可是，我们可能有一个多月没见过一滴雨了。我向他摇摇头表示不用谢，然后关了车门朝前面望了一眼，看看是不是还有人在拐角那等车准备回去。当我再回过头，却发现克劳德已经不见了。车上空无一人，我很纳闷他怎么走得这么快。我也只是耸耸肩，把最后一班车开回去了。

 

几天以后我读到本介绍阿拉莫战役的书，发现一件有生以来最让我震惊的事情。书里有一页是守卫阿拉莫的183名士兵的名单，“C”字头的名录下有一个名字居然是丹尼尔克·劳德！我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛，仔细地读了那一段以后，我这才知道他那年牺牲在阿拉莫的时候才19岁。他所在的部队1836年2月阻击了墨西哥人，那时墨西哥人还没有攻陷圣安东尼奥。他们当时的阵地是圣费尔南多大教堂，我就是从那里接他上的车。

 

从那以后，每当我回阿拉莫经过圣费尔南多大教堂的时候都要找找克劳德是不是在那，我想有一天能再接他上车，带他去阿拉莫。

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