Thirteen Senses by Victor Villaseñor
“Yes, and American doctors are mad at me, too,” said the big Chinese doctor, drinking down another shot of tequila. “That’s why I couldn’t get legally into country. I want to meet your mother,” he added. “Maybe we can teach each other.”
“Sure,” said Salvador. “My mother loves talking yerbitas. You know, she ended up saving the lives of hundreds of Americans, too. Oh, were the American doctors mad!”
By the time they pulled up in front of the restaurant in Chinatown in Hanford, California, Salvador and the big doctor were best friends, and they were singing Mexican songs together. Salvador went inside to get the owner. The man was thrilled to see Salvador and came racing outside with three other people to see the doctor.
Seeing the big, tall man, the restaurant owner got so excited that he began shouting at the doctor. The other people explained to Salvador that this man was a famous doctor in China, and that they were so proud that he’d finally agreed to come to be with them here in the United States.
And now, of course, they were also eternally grateful to Salvador, for once more he’d been able to miraculously get someone across that treacherous border for them.
The owner of the restaurant had a big feast prepared in honor of Salvador and the doctor.
“One thing,” the doctor said to Salvador, “we want no lettuce, please!”
Salvador laughed con carcajadas. “Yes, driving up here,” he said to the restaurant owner, “we ate lettuce until it was coming out of our ears!”
For dessert, the owners paid Salvador the remainder of the five hundred dollars that they’d agreed upon, then presented him with this little, hand-carved wooden box.
Inside was something Salvador had never seen before. It was a huge mother-of-pearl, but so shiny, so polished that it looked almost translucent. Salvador thanked the man over and over again. Why, the stone was almost hypnotic if you looked at it too long.
Leaving Hanford that night, Salvador felt so happy that he continued singing. After so many years of bloodshed and suffering, it truly seemed like the Heavens had finally opened up for him.
Why, he had money in his pocket, and he was on his way to see his esposa, his wife, his truelove, the most beautiful woman in all the world; the woman who had moontalked to him in his hour of need.
And here was the Mother Moon, la Luna Madre, lighting his way once again as he sped homeward in his grand automobile.
RIGHT AFTER SALVADOR HAD LEFT, Lupe found the pint bottle of whiskey under the pillows that Hans and Helen had given them when she’d started straightening up the house.
She looked at the bottle hidden underneath the pillow for several moments before picking it up. What did this mean, a bottle of whiskey here and a gun that he’d hit a man across the head with? Lupe suddenly remembered the man that she’d seen in Corona at Salvador’s sister Luisa’s house, before she’d met Salvador, and how this young man had stood there so calmly with his back to her and he’d had a gun handle sticking out of the back pocket of his pants.
The thought now sent chills up and down Lupe’s spine—that young man had reeked of violence!
“Oh, my God,” she said aloud, “could it be that I, I, I have married that man, and I don’t know it?”
Terror gripped Lupe’s heart with such power, that she suddenly felt ill!
Quickly, she picked up the bottle with her fingertips and took it outside and threw it in the trash. But, then, she suddenly remembered that roll of money, too, and how she’d felt like she’d seen a rattlesnake when she’d first seen that money lying there on their kitchen table alongside the apple pie.
She ran back inside, got the can with the money from under the sink, and ran back out the front door and threw the money into the trash, too.
And it felt good! She’d cleaned house!
She’d cleaned house, and the Devil be warned, for she was going to protect her nest just as she’d seen her mother do time and again all through the Revolution, and then here in this country, too!
Lupe breathed and glanced around, looking at the trees, the grass, the flowers, the sky. They seemed very different to her now that she’d cleaned her nest!
She decided to take a little walk and visit this property on which they lived, and as she walked, she breathed deeply, beginning to calm.
At the back end of the property, Lupe found an old eucalyptus tree. The huge trunk of the tree was knotted up with bulging twists of white and brown bark. The bark was coarse and rough with smooth places here and there. This was a tree that had seen a lot of life; many wet and dry seasons. High above the leaves danced in the breeze, each leaf looking like a small angel of light against the sky.
Lupe reached out with her right hand, placing it on one of the smooth places on the trunk of the great tree, and instantly she felt a warmth, a power coming to her from the tree.
Tears came to her eyes and she began to pray as she’d seen her mother do thousands of times back home in their canyon, and little by little, she got to feeling much better. After all, every woman needed her own Crying Tree. This her mother had told her ever since she could remember, that women came from the Tree of Knowledge just as men came from the Rock of Fire.
Trees spoke to women.
Rocks and Fire spoke to men.
Suddenly, Lupe felt very tired. All this worry had really gotten to her. She decided to lie down by the trunk of this huge, old tree. Lying down, Lupe looked up through the branches of the great eucalyptus and she watched the leaves dancing against the background of the sky and clouds.
Lupe must’ve fallen asleep, for the next thing she knew she was dreaming of being up in Heaven with Papito Dios and Papito was now talking to her, singing to her, chanting to her with the sound of the leaves making love with the sea breeze.
Time passed.
And more time passed and when Lupe awoke, she now felt a confidence and clarity of mind that she hadn’t felt before. Now she could see very clearly what it was that she needed to do.
Simply, she had to bring everything to the Light.
She would now go to the trash and retrieve the money and yes, even the bottle. Then she’d put the bottle under the sink along with his money. They were going to have to talk.
Yes, this was exactly what she’d do. Then when Salvador returned, she was going to talk to him about this bottle, then she’d talk to him about how she felt about the money. After all, they hadn’t been able to talk the other night after they’d come back from eating at the Montana Café, but they were certainly going to talk now.
Fear of the darkness wasn’t going to rule her life.
She was her mother’s daughter, after all, and so she wasn’t going to hide money or bottles from her husband. No, she was going to keep everything out in the open, and demand to know what this was all about. This was her home, su casa, her piece of Sacred Earth.
She would not be moved!
Feeling so much better, Lupe sat up and she breathed deeply. She could now see that the Tree was smiling to her with a thousand little happy faces hidden here and there all over its coarse, rough bark. The whole Tree was glowing with Love, just as her mother had always said that her own Crying Tree had been glowing with Amor for her back in Mexico.
Tears came to Lupe’s eyes and she was so happy that she was her mother’s daughter, and so she wasn’t going to continue in a marriage with a man who’d lied to her about his drinking and that he was—oh, she could hardly say the word—a bootlegger, an outlaw, a man who sold liquor to men who should be using that money for their familias!
The tears continued flowing from Lupe’s eyes. She knelt up, hugging the Tree in a big abrazo, embracing the Tree with both of her hands, giving Love to the Tree with all her Heart.
Her sister Carlota had warned her of all these rumors going around about Salvador, but she’d refused to listen, because she’d believed Salvador with all her heart and soul.
She’d trusted him!
She’d trusted Salvador!
She’d put he
Lupe continued crying and hugging the great old Tree, feeling its rough, tough bark against the soft, inner side of her arms. She and Salvador had been so happy, so much in love, so how could this awful situation have come to be?
Wasn’t Papito Dios supposed to be helping people in love?
Wasn’t love, itself, supposed to be able to keep the Devil at bay?
Suddenly, Lupe felt like somehow it had been her very own love that had kept her blind and allowed the Diablo to enter their home.
Lupe shivered all over, and suddenly she just knew that Salvador was in danger once again, but this time a large part of her just didn’t care what happened to him.
But he was really in bad trouble! She could feel it here inside of her stomach! Quickly, she pushed past her resentments and began to pray for her husband with all her God-Gifted Powers once again.
“No!” she yelled at the Devil who’d come near, trying to tempt her mind into that Hell of doubt and confusion. “I will not be tempted! I will not be taken down into that world of hating my husband. Be gone, Diablo! I love my husband, and we are with God’s Holy Light, and we will talk and work things out when he gets home. Please, dear Lord, help me!”
And Lupe made the sign of the cross over herself, here at the side of her Crying Tree and suddenly, once again, she just knew that she’d helped Salvador through his hour of danger. He was safe now. He was good once again. And he would be coming home. Of this, Lupe was sure down deep in her alma y corazón!
IN THE COOL, EARLY HOURS of the night, Salvador pulled into Carlsbad, California. He was dropping, he was so tired. He’d been up for three days and nights and he was ready to die.
But, also, he figured that he couldn’t just take his grand automobile home looking like this. No, he had to stop by to see old man White, so Kenny could clean up the car, fix the bullet holes, and check over the entire vehicle before taking it home.
Pulling in to Kenny’s garage, Salvador couldn’t see straight. His eyes just kept closing up on him. His Chinese connections in Mexicali had given him six little envelopes of ground-up white crystal to help him stay awake, but still he was dead tired.
Back in those days, coca and marijuana were legal on both sides of the border, but also Salvador knew that once the coca substance wore off, he’d be more tired than he’d ever been before, so he’d had to be very careful and not be tempted to use any more of the substance for a few months. The human body could very quickly become enslaved to these little, innocent-looking, white crystals.
Parking in front of the garage, Salvador walked around to the back and was just going to knock on Kenny’s door, when the door suddenly flew open. And here stood old man White with his 30/30 Winchester in hand.
“Oh, it’s you!” said Kenny, lowering his rifle. “Damn, you look terrible, Salvador.”
“And I feel worse,” said Salvador. “Sorry to wake you up, Kenny, but I wore that car out, and I need to get home. I told Lupe I’d only be gone a few hours, and it’s been, well, three days, I think.”
“Three days, Jesus Christ!” said Kenny, grabbing Salvador under his left armpit and helping him inside. “You better come on inside and sit while I check your car, and then I’ll drive you home.”
“Good,” said Salvador, letting Kenny lead him across the room, “and by the way, I’ve got three hundred of the four hundred dollars you loaned me, Kenny.”
“Great,” said Kenny, helping Salvador to sit down, then he went to get his pants and shoes. He was only in his nightshirt. “I could use it, that Eisner needs a little more help for his grocery store, but we’ll talk about that money in the morning, after you’ve slept. Hell, you might not be able to pay me that much after you speak with Lupe. Remember, you’re a married man now, Salvador, and a married man needs to first check things over with his wife, or all Hell can break loose.”
“Bull!” said Salvador. “You loaned me that money before I got married, man-to-man, and so I pay you, man-to-man, what I can, when I say I can, and I say now! Here, take three hundred off my roll. I’ll still have over a hundred to take home to Lupe. Always remember, Kenny, lettuce is only lettuce, even by the boxcar, but amigos who’ll walk on fire with you are worth more than gold!”
Kenny had loaned Salvador that money when everyone else had turned him down.
“Hey, I like that, money is only lettuce, but friends are gold,” said Kenny, figuring that this was what Salvador had been trying to say. “Okay, if you’re expecting a boxcar of this kind of lettuce, then I’ll take my three hundred now,” he added.
Kenny counted out three hundred dollars, then gave the roll of money back to Salvador. “You better recount your money and make sure I didn’t cheat you, Salvador,” said Kenny.
“Hell, no!” said Salvador. “Do I check my car when you say you fixed my brakes? No, I trust you, man-to-man, a lo macho. And ‘trust,’ Kenny, is a big, big word! In fact, it’s the big, biggest, most important word, next to ‘love’!”
“I’ll buy that,” said Kenny. “Trust really is a big one, and so is love. And Hell, I’ve failed miserably at both of those many a’time!”
“Bullshit! A man like you never fails!” said Salvador, trying to get up to embrace Kenny, but he fell back in his chair. “Maybe gets knocked on his ass, but a good man always gets up again. And women, they are even tougher, my mother always told me.”
“Is that where you’ve been? To see your mother?” asked Kenny, having met Salvador’s mother several times.
“Yeah,” said Salvador, lying.
“Fine woman,” said Kenny, as he went across the room to his bed, and got Salvador a blanket to wrap himself. The sea was only a few blocks away, and—different than Mexicali—the weather was cool along the coast.
Going up front, Kenny saw that Salvador’s Moon was all covered with mud, and so he figured that something pretty bad must have happened, because Salvador always kept his Moon so nice and clean. The keys were still in it, so Kenny tried the motor and it started right up. He opened up his garage door and put the roadster inside.
Coming back to his place in back, Kenny found Salvador washing his face in the sink. “I need to wake up and get home,” said Salvador. “Hell, I told Lupe that I’d only be gone a few hours.” He was half out of his mind, he looked so tired and worried.
“All right, come on, you crazy newlywed, I’ll drive you home,” said Kenny, laughing.
“Good,” said Salvador. “You’re a real amigo, Kenny, the best! Even if you are a damn gringo!”
Kenny laughed. “Well, you’re pretty good, too, Salvador, even if you are a damn Mexican!”
Kenny and Salvador walked out of his house and got into his Ford truck. Kenny lived behind his garage, and the house that Salvador and Lupe were renting was three blocks away, over on the north side of Elm Street—which years later would be renamed Carlsbad Village Drive.
Salvador was sound asleep before Kenny had driven a block.
AS SOON AS LUPE HEARD a vehicle coming down their long driveway, echoing between the trees, she jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Salvador had been gone for three days and nights, and she’d been scared half out of her mind.
And yes, of course, she realized that they didn’t have a phone, but still he could have called the Eisner market down the way and had them come and tell her what was going on. She’d been praying day and night, hoping to God that Salvador was all right. They’d been so close, so happy, so why hadn’t he come home? Could it be . . . oh, no, not another woman? My God, she hoped not.
But, then, Lupe saw that it wasn’t their Moon automobile that was coming down the driveway through the orchard. No, it was a big truck.
“Oh, my God!” said Lupe. “Salvador has been killed, and someone is coming to tell m
Quickly, she put on her robe and rushed to the front door. Then she thought that she recognized the truck. It was Kenny White’s big truck, and it looked like he was alone.
But then, Kenny parked his truck, and she saw him get out and go around to the passenger side. The blood came back to Lupe’s face when she saw that Kenny was helping Salvador out of the truck. Her truelove had come home to her, and he was alive!
“Is he hurt?” she asked Kenny as he brought Salvador inside.
“No, I don’t think so. He’s just at the end of his rope. He told me he hasn’t slept for three days.”
“When did he get to your place?” she asked. All her life Lupe had been very shy, but she wasn’t shy now.
“Just a little while ago. He had car trouble and dropped the Moon off at my garage.”
“I see. Was he in a wreck?”
“No, I don’t think so,” said Kenny, taking Salvador down the hallway to the bedroom. “Just tired.”
Lupe was trying her best to keep calm, but, oh, she’d been sick with worry, and she’d had no one to talk to.
Kenny lay Salvador down on the bed and pulled off his boots.
“Am I home?” asked Salvador, waking up. “I need to get home to Lupe!”
“You’re home,” said Lupe.
“Lupe! Lupe!” said Salvador, quickly reaching out for her. “I love you so much, and I’ve been driving and driving and . . . and the Moon followed me, bringing me home. Did you see the Mother Moon tonight? She’s beautiful, Lupe, and she spoke to me,” he said. “She told me that you were praying for me. And I could feel your love come to me here in my heart, this time,” he added, then he was fast asleep again, and snoring quietly.
Kenny laughed. “Well, I guess he had quite a trip, with the Moon and all. I think he was at his mother’s place over in Corona.”
“I don’t know,” said Lupe. “Three days ago, he said he was just going out for a few hours on business.”
Lupe walked the older man to the front door. She was so upset that she could scream.