Thirteen Senses by Victor Villaseñor
“But how can it be morning? Didn’t I come home in this afternoon?” he asked.
“Well, yes, but you fell asleep, so I covered you with a blanket and you slept the whole night through.”
“Oh, my God!” he said. “I got to get to Escondido quick, Lupe! The stove could’ve blown up!”
“What stove?”
“In my distillery.”
“You cook liquor?”
“Yes, that’s how it’s made,” he said, putting on his clothes.
“I’m coming with you, Salvador,” she said.
“No, you’re sick! You need to stay home!”
“Salvador, I’m not sick, except for a little while each day, then I’m fine. And I’m your wife, and if this is what we do for a living, then I’m going to help you. I will not let you work yourself to death!” she added. “My God, I thought you’d died the way you passed out asleep!”
“Okay,” he said, “but hurry! We got to go right now. And what about Carlota?”
“She can wait here for us.”
“I can wait for who?” asked Carlota, walking in the front door.
“We’re going to Escondido,” said Lupe. “You can wait here for us until we come back.”
“Will you be back tonight?”
“Maybe not,” said Salvador. “It all depends on a few things.”
“Then I’m going, too,” said Carlota. “I’m not going to be left here all alone in this house in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t brought up to be ranch people, you know.”
Salvador cringed. He was sick and tired of this reference to “ranch people” that Carlota always seemed to make, but he said nothing. They got a few things together and were out the door in a matter of minutes.
Getting to el Valle de Escondido, meaning the Hidden Valley, a town just twenty-some miles inland from Oceanside, Salvador drove up to a large, two-story house on the south side of town.
“Who lives here?” asked Carlota.
“I do,” said Salvador.
“Oh, so you have a whole other hidden family, eh?” she said, her eyes suddenly lighting up with joy.
Salvador didn’t even bother answering her, and got out of the car and went into the house.
“Carlota,” said Lupe, “when will you ever learn to hold your tongue and think before you speak?”
“Well, he’s the one who said this was his house. I didn’t.”
“Yes, but he never said anything about another family.”
“No, because he’s hiding it,” she said excitedly.
“Carlota, if he was hiding it, then why would he bring us here?”
“Because he’s scared that we’d find out,” she said. “I told you that he was a no-good, cheating coward ever since the beginning!”
“Carlota, please, just shut up!” said Lupe. She’d had enough. And she was just too tired to argue with her sister.
“There you go again, siding with him against your very own blood!” snapped Carlota.
Lupe didn’t bother to answer her sister anymore.
Salvador came back, after going in to check the stove. “We’re all right,” he said. “By some miracle of God, the fire went out or—boom, the whole house would’ve gone!”
“What are you talking about?” asked Carlota.
“Just please keep quiet and watch,” said Lupe. “And you can learn a great many things, Carlota, by just watching. Please, I’m tired, I don’t want to hear you talking or asking any questions for a while.”
Carlota made a face at Lupe, then pursed her lips together. She was sick and tired of her sister always acting so superior.
Going inside, Carlota and Lupe immediately saw that the house had no furniture. The whole place was completely empty. They also saw that there were a dozen big barrels in one room, but they were up against the walls; there were no barrels in the center of the room.
“It stinks in here worse than a pig pen!” snapped Carlota.
Lupe turned and gave her such an eye.
“I know! I know!” said Carlota. “I’m supposed to shut up! To think before I talk. But who needs to think when you can smell? It does stink. It stinks awful! Okay, I’ll shut up. Not another word,” she said, and put her hand over her mouth.
“Why are the barrels all against the wall?” asked Lupe.
“Good question,” said Salvador. “You see, they’re really heavy, so if I put all those barrels in the middle, the floor might give out.”
“Has that ever happened?”
“Yes, once in an old house up in Watts; the floor caved in on me.”
“I’ll be,” said Lupe. “And what is that smell?”
“That’s the fermentation process. You see, those barrels are full of water and sugar and yeast, so the yeast—”
“Oh, like when yeast makes the bread rise and gets that little sour smell?”
“Yes, exactly.”
They walked down the hallway to another room and, in this room there was a big tank on a stove in the middle of the room, and the tank had a pipe coming out of the top, spiraling in large curls to a small barrel.
“You see,” said Salvador, “once the barrels have fermented in that other room, which takes about two or three weeks, then I pour that fermentation into this tank and bring it to a boil. And the steam that comes out through that coiled tube on top is straight alcohol; and as it cools off, it drips into that smaller barrel.
“Then, over in that other room, I have the finished alcohol which I then age with a big special needle that was made in France, and this way, I can have twelve-year-old whiskey in about, oh, I’d say six hours, and very smooth-tasting.”
“I see,” said Lupe. “Then it must take hours and hours to just make one barrel of whiskey?”
“Yes,” said Salvador, loving how Lupe’s mind worked. She was really quick and smart and knew how to get to the point.
“Whiskey?” said Carlota. “You mean you make whiskey here?” she yelled. “Oh, my God! Let me out of here before we all go to jail!” And saying this, she ran out of the room. “Why did you bring me? Why didn’t you just leave me in Carlsbad?”
“We tried to leave you,” said Lupe, going into the next room also, “but you insisted on coming.”
“I wouldn’t have if you’d told me that you were bootleggers!” said Carlota.
“And if we’d told you that, you would’ve told everyone in all the barrio by the time we got home,” said Lupe.
“Oh, you’re just DIRTY!” yelled Carlota. “Ever since you met Salvador, you’ve become dirty, Lupe! Why can’t you be like other law-abiding, decent people, like Archie! No, you had to go and marry a bootlegger, when I told you he was no good from the start!
“Do you realize that, Lupe? Your husband is a—oh, my God!” She couldn’t even talk anymore, she was so upset! Quickly, she now headed for the front door. “I’m getting out of here right now! I don’t want to die and go to jail!”
Lupe almost laughed on hearing this, but she didn’t. Salvador watched his young wife now cross the room in quick, well-measured steps and grab hold of Carlota before she got to the front door, saying, “The expression isn’t ‘to die and go to jail,’ but ‘to die and go to hell!’ And you will not go out that door, screaming like a fool! Do you hear me, Carlota, you will stay put and get hold of yourself. You will not endanger us!”
“Yes, but Lupe—he’s an outlaw,” she whispered.
“Stop it, Carlota,” said Lupe. “Salvador and I went to a priest, and the priest told us that liquor making is against the law of this country, but not against the law of God. That Jesus, Himself, turned water into wine. And who do you think sells most of his liquor, Carlota? It’s Archie, that’s who!”
“Archie?” said Carlota, her eyes getting huge.
“Yes, Archie, and let’s not play the fool. You knew it. At every dance he puts on, there’s always liquor being sold in the back.”
“Well, then,” said Carlota, eyes wide with disbelief, “Salvador tricked Archie, to
Hearing this, Salvador had had enough and so he stepped forward, blocking the front door with his body. “Do you still want that red dress?” he simply asked.
Suddenly, Carlota’s eyes stopped jumping all about. “Well, yes, of course,” she said.
“Well, then, you keep still like Lupe said, so I can finish my work here and then I can buy you that dress.”
“And the shoes, too,” said Carlota. “Remember, you promised me red shoes, too.”
“Red shoes, too,” said Salvador. “Now help me move a couple of barrels, Carlota, so I can get the stove going again, then we’ll go out for dinner.”
“To a restaurant?” said Carlota.
“Yes, to a restaurant,” said Salvador.
“Oh, good. But no fish this time.”
“But you loved that lobster,” said Lupe.
“Well, yes, but lobster isn’t fish,” said Carlota.
“Well, maybe it isn’t, but it does come from the sea.”
“Don’t talk to me like that, Lupe, you’re just trying to trick me.”
Lupe started laughing, there was just nothing else to do. Then Salvador started laughing, too.
“You two are crazy!” snapped Carlota. “Here we are, in hell itself, and you two think it’s funny! Come, let’s move these barrels, so we can get out of here!”
IT WAS MIDMORNING, and Lupe and Carlota were alone at the house in Escondido. Salvador was out on a delivery. The three of them had been working around the clock for weeks now. And this morning, Lupe was sweeping the kitchen floor and humming to herself. Carlota was doing the morning dishes and singing happily. They’d become like a little factory of dedicated, hard workers.
But then, Carlota suddenly looked up, and through the kitchen window, she saw that the sheriff’s car had turned into their driveway. Her eyes exploded with terror! And she tried to talk, to warn Lupe, but she couldn’t speak.
“L-L-Lupe!” she finally said, crouching down to hide in terrible fear. “It’s el shed-ifife!” And saying this, her legs gave out from under her, and she fell to the floor like a wet rag.
Instantly, Lupe rushed across the room, glanced out, saw the sheriff’s car, then ran to the front door to make sure that it was locked. She hurried back, just as Carlota was regaining consciousness.
“Lupe!” cried Carlota. “I don’t want to die and go to jail!”
“They don’t take dead people to jail,” said Lupe, as she got hold of her sister, pulled her to her feet, and escorted her past the stove and counters to the back of the house. “And I’ve told you a dozen times already, Carlota, that Salvador and I talked to the priest who married us, and he told us that making liquor isn’t a sin against God!”
“But it’s not God that I’m WORRIED ABOUT!” screamed Carlota. “I don’t want to go to jail and die a virgin!”
“But you’re twenty-four, Carlota, and you and Archie sometimes stay out half the night,” said Lupe.
“Yes, but I don’t let him put it—you know, Lupe, in! Oh, if I die now, I’ll never know amor!” And Carlota was crying and crying.
Lupe almost burst out laughing, but didn’t. “Quiet!” she said. “I don’t want you here when I open the door.”
“Open the door!” screamed Carlota. “Don’t do it, Lupe! Please, for the love of God, don’t open the door!”
Just then, the lawman started knocking on the front door. Carlota went to scream again, but Lupe covered her mouth with her apron, muffling most of the sound.
“Carlota!” said Lupe, feeling her own heart starting to go wild! “You’ve got to get hold of yourself, or you’ll get us caught for sure!”
“But it’s not our liquor!” said Carlota, pulling the apron out of her mouth. “We’ll just tell him that Salvador forced us to stay here. That he’s the bootlegger! And the sheriff will only take him to jail, and let us go!”
“Carlota,” said Lupe evenly, “Salvador is my husband! Now shut up!”
And with this, Lupe suddenly gripped her older, stronger sister with such power and determination that she was able to drag her down the long hallway and throw her into a closet.
“No, let me out!” yelled Carlota.
“For the love of God,” said Lupe, “keep quiet! Or I swear, you won’t have to worry about jail, because I’ll strangle you to death myself!”
Carlota saw her sister’s eyes, and she believed her, and bit her lip to keep still. She began to pray as she’d never prayed before, asking God to please make her invisible.
Lupe closed the closet door, straightened up, fixed her dress and hair as best she could, then made the sign of the cross over herself, and started back down the long hallway. She could hear her sister praying behind her in the closet and the sheriff knocking on the front door ahead of her.
Entering the kitchen, Lupe saw that the water faucet was still on and the sink had overflowed. Quickly, she crossed the room, turned off the faucet, and then continued to the front door. The knocking had become so loud that it reminded Lupe of the soldiers back in their village of la Lluvia de Oro on their days of rape and plunder.
“Yes!” she said, suddenly opening the door.
Taken by surprise, the lawman stepped back. “Oh, hello! I was beginning to think no one was home, but I thought I saw movement when I first drove up.” He tried to glance behind her, but she closed the door halfway.
“That was my sister,” said Lupe. “She went to get me. She’s just visiting for a few days.”
“Oh, I see,” said the lawman. And he now took a closer look at Lupe and saw her incredible beauty and natural elegance. He immediately took off his hat, as so many men automatically did when they saw Lupe’s extraordinary beauty. “Well, ma’am,” he now said respectfully, “you see, I’ve come by to collect the rent.”
“The rent?” said Lupe. “A sheriff collects the rent?” She was trying to sound calm, but inside her heart was pounding so hard that she was afraid she’d burst. Carlota’s fear had truly taken the nerve out of her.
“Well,” he said, straightening up, “you see, my wife and me, we own this house, so I happened to be in the neighborhood and I thought that I’d just stop by to collect our money.”
Lupe almost fainted. She couldn’t believe that all this just had to do with the rent. Suddenly, she wasn’t frightened anymore; no, she was angry!
“Officer!” she said, straightening up, “my husband took our rent money to your home this morning, which, I might add, isn’t due for three days!” And saying this, she almost slammed the door in his face but thought better of it and said, “Now excuse me, but I’m with child, as you can see, and I was lying down when you came. I’m not feeling well.”
And she closed the door, locking it, then went to the kitchen and stood there for a full two minutes, leaning against the counter and shaking like a leaf.
“My God!” said Carlota, coming out of the closet after the sheriff was gone. “I heard the whole thing, Lupe, and I never could have done that! Dios mio,” she said in awe, “why, you behaved just like mama the day she saved our brother Victoriano from the hanging!”
But Lupe said nothing, then she suddenly rushed to the bathroom, where she began to puke. She’d been scared to death!
SALVADOR DIDN’T GET BACK to their house in Escondido until late that afternoon. He was very happy. He’d just sold five barrels and gotten cash up front on three. Everybody and his sister wanted whiskey. He was making so much money that he and Lupe were going to be able to go home soon.
Walking into the house, Carlota came screaming at him with such raging anger that he didn’t know what was going on.
“You tricked us, you son-of-a-bitch!” she yelled, trying to scratch his face. “You knew the sheriff was coming, so you ran off like the coward I always knew you were and left Lupe and I to pay for your crimes!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!” shouted Salvador, shoving her away.
“You know damn well what I’m talking about!” yelled Carlota, pic
Hearing this, Salvador’s whole heart was filled with fear and he almost slapped Carlota’s across the face. But he didn’t. No, he just shoved her away again, avoiding the scissors, and rushed down the hallway to the bedroom. He found Lupe trying to get out of the little secondhand immigrant cot that he’d brought in for her.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said, cringing with pain. “It was just a terrible mistake. The sheriff came by to collect his rent money.”
“The sheriff?” said Salvador, still not understanding.
“Yes, he and his wife own this house,” said Lupe.
“Oh, my God!” said Salvador, looking up to the ceiling. “What are you doing to us, Dios mio? Sending the Devil and all his evil forces to test us?
“Come on,” he said to Lupe, helping her sit up in bed. “Let me get you and Carlota out of here. Right now!”
“But we haven’t finished with the distilling yet,” she said.
“Forget that!” he said. “Let’s just get you out of here!”
“But I got to make up for that barrel that Carlota let burn.” Her sister had ruined a barrel of whiskey the week before.
“No,” he said, helping her sit up. “That’s not important. I need to get you home. Good God, I rented this house from a realtor! How in the hell was I to know who owned it? Jesus!”
“But Salvador, you also loaned money to my brother,” said Lupe, tears of frustration coming to her eyes. “Let me do my part and finish the distilling for you. Please, understand, the sheriff only wanted his rent; he won’t be back, Salvador.” Then she added, “You did pay the rent for this house this morning, didn’t you?”
He looked into her eyes, and he could see that she was in terrible pain, but still she had the presence of mind to push all that aside and ask him about the rent money.
“Oh, Lupe, Lupe, Lupe,” he said, taking her in his arms. “Here, you just went through Hell, itself, and you still remembered the rent. I love you, I adore you, I respect you! You are a woman among women! Jesus, I’m so proud to be your husband!” he added. “You are made of iron! The way you stood up to your sister the first day we came here, grabbing her and speaking to her with such common sense—oh, I love you more today than the first day I saw you—and then I thought that you were an Angel straight from Heaven! You are una mujer de poder who knows the Power of God!”