Thirteen Senses by Victor Villaseñor
And he started to kiss her, but she held him away. And out in the hallway, Carlota was sneaking toward their room with that pair of scissors in hand, clenched in her fist like a knife.
“The rent,” Lupe said again. “You did pay it, right?”
He laughed. “Of course. First thing this morning. That damn sheriff is just a greedy bastard, coming by so early. What is he going to want next? That people start paying their rent a whole month ahead of time?”
“Probably,” said Lupe, and she now let him kiss her.
“We’re going to go home,” he said to Lupe between kisses and hugs. “You and your sister don’t need to be here with me anymore. You’ve helped me enough to pay off Kenny the last of the money that he’d loaned me, and a few other debts that I had, too. Now, I can do it alone. Look, I even brought some money home. I sold five barrels today. Everybody wants whiskey. Ever since those bank problems started, people are drinking more.”
Saying this, he took out a roll of money from his pocket, handing it to Lupe. She sat up on the little migrant worker’s cot and began to count the money, putting the ones in one pile, the fives in another pile and the tens and twenties in their own piles, too.
“But I thought you got sixty to eighty dollars for each barrel,” she said, after counting the money.
“I do,” he said.
In the hallway, Carlota was holding her breath and hearing their every word as she held, back up against the wall.
“Well, there’s only enough here for three barrels at sixty dollars each.”
“Two I gave on credit. I get eighty dollars for those.”
Hearing this, Lupe puckered her lips together, making a face of pure disappointment. Salvador burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Your face! You look so upset, because I didn’t bring home all the money!”
“Well, I am,” she said. “We worked so hard making those barrels. Don’t laugh at me! It’s not funny!”
“But it is,” he said con gusto. “You, who hated my liquor money, are now fighting to get all the money!”
“Well, the priest said that even Christ made wine, and—well, what if they don’t pay you for our two barrels, Salvador?”
“They will,” he said. “And we make an extra twenty dollars with each barrel that we sell on credit.”
“But what about that fool who hit you with a piece of wood ’cause he didn’t want to pay you? Will that happen again?”
“Oh, no, that was my mistake. I’ll never try to collect money from a man in bed with his woman ever again. He apologized afterward, Lupe. He’s a good man.”
“But he could’ve killed you! And then my child would have no father. You have to take better care of yourself, Salvador. Please, we both have to live, so we can build our home together and be una familia de—”
“Stop it!” screamed Carlota, leaping into the room with the scissors in hand! “I’ve been listening to you two, and you’re sick! What do you think Salvador is, a saint? He’s a no-good bootlegger! He’s a liar! He’s the Devil! He married you on falsehoods, Lupe!”
Lupe was staring at the pair of scissors in her sister’s hand.
“Carlota,” said Lupe very calmly, “but what are you doing with those scissors?”
“I’m going to kill him, Lupe. He hit me! And he had no right!”
“I didn’t hit you. You were trying to scratch my eyes out and I pushed you away!” said Salvador. “You want to see a real hit? I’ll show you! You big-mouth fool, calling me a coward and saying that I’m whoring around when I’m out working!”
“I saw you two counting all that money!” yelled Carlota. “Don’t think I’m stupid! Lupe and I do all the work and you’re out having a good time like all men do, and now you’re rich and we’re poor!”
“You’re crazy-loca, Carlota! I’m not rich, you whoring little bitch, going out with Archie, who’s a married man, and all those other men, too! This is just my working capital!”
“You lying bastard!” screamed Carlota. “You’re just trying to get out of buying me my red dress and shoes!”
“Stop it! Stop it! Both of you!” shouted Lupe.
But they wouldn’t stop. Carlota now stepped in slashing at Salvador with the scissors, and they continued yelling at each other like two enraged carnivores!
Lupe gripped her stomach and was going to faint. “Oh, my God, my God, please, stop it! With all your yelling, the sheriff will be sure to come back!”
Instantly, Carlota lowered her scissors and was by her sister’s side. “Look what you did!” she yelled to Salvador.
“Me? It was you who came in with those scissors!” he yelled back at her.
“For the love of God, stop it! Both of you!” said Lupe. “Just stop it!”
“Me?” asked Carlota. “But what did I do?”
“Well, first of all, you went crazy when the sheriff came,” said Lupe. “He wasn’t my problem! It was you, Carlota!”
“Oh, my God,” said Carlota, eyes going wide with disbelief. “Look,
she’s gone crazy, Salvador. She doesn’t know what she says, and it’s all your fault. I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done to my beloved sister.” And Carlota dropped her scissors and began to cry. She cried the whole way back to Carlsbad.
Salvador took the back road through San Marcos in case the sheriff was out looking for them. He buried two barrels in the brush at the entrance of the Leo Carrillo rancho.
Getting to their house in Carlsbad, Lupe immediately went to bed. She was in great pain, and every few minutes she felt like she needed to throw up again, but nothing was coming up anymore.
“My poor child,” said Lupe, body twisting with pain, “what’s the poor thing feeling? This is just terrible! I so much wanted a quiet, loving home so that my child could—oh, my God!” she said, cringing once again.
“You see what you’ve done?” said Carlota to Salvador as she fixed the pillows behind her sister’s head. “You’ve ruined my sister, and I’ll never forgive you for this!”
Salvador turned and walked out of the room. He just didn’t know what else to do. He wanted to kill this woman. Ever since Carlota had come to live with them, it seemed like the Devil had put a curse upon their home.
He went into the kitchen and got down the big quart bottle of whiskey, serving himself a full water glass. He could hear Carlota talking to Lupe in muffled tones.
“Lupe, you have to come home with me right now. He’s no good—I told you that the first day I saw him.”
“No,” said Lupe. “Please, understand, he’s the father of my child, and this is my home now.”
“Oh, no, Lupe!” said Carlota. “You can’t possibly mean that! He’s no good! He lied to you! He’s a monster! You should leave him right now and come home and have the baby with mama, who knows how to care for you. There is no other way. Believe me, he’s evil!”
“Yes, there is,” said Lupe to Carlota. “For you to leave, Carlota, and let me and Salvador work things out for ourselves.”
Salvador couldn’t believe these last words.
“But, Lupe, I’m your sister! We’re of the same blood!”
“Carlota, you’re going to need to go home,” said Lupe, softly but firmly. “It was a mistake to have ever brought you, knowing how you’ve always felt about Salvador.”
Carlota SCREAMED!
And hearing this scream was truly the most beautiful sound that Salvador had ever heard. He poured the glass of whiskey back into the bottle, tears coming to his eyes—he was so moved. His young bride was going to stick by him, after all. She really did consider this place the House of her Heart.
High above the Angels sang and the Heavens rejoiced; once more a married couple had planted their roots deep into the rich soil of Mother Earth’s Soul!
ALL NIGHT Salvador drove back and forth from Escondido getting everything out of their rented house and hiding it at the entrance of the Leo Carrillo rancho and also over
“I’ll get you,” said Carlota as they came into Santa Ana. “Don’t think you can get away with this! You’re no-good! You’ve just tricked my poor sister, but I’ll get you! I’m going to tell my parents all about your bootlegging!
“Sure, go ahead,” said Salvador, “and I’ll tell them about your whoring around with Archie and Juan and all those other guys.”
“You desgraciado!” she screamed. “That’s not true!”
“What’s not true?” he said. “That you’re too stupid to get paid for it, or that I didn’t mention enough men?”
The shout, the bellowing scream that erupted from Carlota, was so loud that it even took Salvador by surprise, and he swerved, almost going off the road. If she’d had those scissors, he was sure that he’d be dead. “I’LL GET YOU IF IT’S THE LAST THING I EVER DO!” she bellowed, mouth open wide with such force that her neck muscles stood up like cords.
Coming into the barrio of Santa Ana, Salvador was feeling pretty bad. Even though he hated Carlota, he really shouldn’t have said that last remark to her. After all, she and Lupe truly had been through a pretty big scare in Escondido and, also, it wasn’t going to help his life with Lupe for him and her sister to be at each other’s throat.
“Look, Carlota,” he said, “I’m sorry about what I said, because, well, we’re going to be together for a long time, and for Lupe’s sake, I think that we should try—”
“You should be sorry, you lying coward!” she screamed into his face. “You made a damned fool of my entire family, lying to all of us! But oh,
don’t worry, you and Lupe won’t be together for long, once I finish telling my mother and father the truth about you!”
“Carlota, please,” said Salvador, taking her arm, “can’t we just drop the insults and try to get along, you and me?”
“Oh, now you want me and you to get along, do you?” she yelled, jerking her arm away in pure repulsion. “Do you really think I’d have anything to do with you, you ugly fool? You’re nothing, but a dirty-smelling old man!”
“Hey, just wait; now what are you saying?” asked Salvador. “Do you think for a minute that I’m trying to have something to do with you? Oh, my God, you are crazy!”
“Yes, so crazy that I knew from the beginning that you really wanted me, but I knew you were no good, and I was right, so you then went after Lupe! You are a bootlegger, you are a liar, and you are no good! But you couldn’t trick me so you tricked my innocent sister like you tricked Archie!”
“Oh, sweet Lord Jesus,” said Salvador, shaking his head. He dropped Carlota off at her parents’ home and kept going. He didn’t even go inside to see his in-laws. My God, he just couldn’t figure out what was going on. Everything was becoming so crazy-loco.
He decided to immediately drive over to Corona to see his mother, the wisest, most practical person in the whole world.
13
The Devil himself had now come Full Circle and he, too, was anxiously awaiting with Flowers in Hand for the SECOND COMING of the LORD!
THE FIRST THING Lupe did when Salvador drove off with Carlota, taking her home to Santa Ana, was to go for a walk. Here, they only lived a couple of blocks from the ocean and yet she’d never taken a walk down to the sea. She had a lot to think about. My God, she’d sent her sister home. How could she have done this? No one in all of her family had ever ordered a relative to leave their home.
Walking down the long driveway between the avocado trees, Lupe turned left, and went half a block to the corner, then turned right. She went by the main part of downtown Carlsbad, crossed the railroad tracks, and continued up the small slope to the highway. There she watched the traffic for several minutes, wondering where all these people were going, then she walked by the big, beautiful Carlsbad Hotel, and down toward the beach.
Climbing down the steep bluff to the sand, Lupe saw some well-dressed people whom she assumed were guests of the grand hotel. They were sitting under large umbrellas. Looking more closely, Lupe could swear that she’d seen one of the young women in the movies.
Lupe tried hard not to stare at the woman’s beautiful clothes and just keep walking, but it was difficult. She could feel the people were now looking at her, too. Lupe put her head down and kept walking, wondering why such fine, well-dressed people would bother to even look at her. She hoped that they weren’t making fun of her. After all, she wasn’t dressed up like they were. She was wearing a simple white dress that her sister Sophia had made for her. The dress had two red roses embroidered over her heart.
Before she realized it, Lupe had walked all the way north into Ocean-side. And she hadn’t meant to go that far. But she’d enjoyed watching the waves and the little, quick-legged seabirds so much, that she hadn’t been paying attention.
She sat down. She was tired and needed to decide what to do. After all, not only had she sent her sister home, but her sister was also so mad at Salvador that Lupe was sure that Carlota was probably right now, at this very moment, telling their parents about Salvador’s illegal business. Lupe just didn’t know how she’d ever be able to look at her parents in the eye again. All their lives her family had been such law-abiding people.
Feeling overwhelmed with anguish, tears welled up in Lupe’s eyes and she looked out at the sea and she saw that the Oceanside pier wasn’t very far away. She wondered if she had the strength to walk to it and then all the way back to Carlsbad, but then she realized that she was hungry and that she hadn’t brought her purse or any money, either.
Lupe continued sitting on the sand by the edge of the concrete road that ran along the beach to the pier. She looked out at the waves, and the waves began talking to her, singing to her as they rolled in like tall, smooth, blue-green hills; slowly, gracefully, but then suddenly they’d speed up, and flip forward in a roar of thundering power, turning white and full of foam as they climbed up on the seashore. Lupe sat there on the sand and watched the waves as they came to the shore again and again.
Time passed and more time passed, and the sound of the waves massaged Lupe’s mind. She yawned and lay down by the side of the cement road on the soft, warm sand. She began to relax and soon she was thinking nada, nada, nothing as the waves kept coming to the shore with sound and fury. A few yards behind Lupe, a car would pass, and people would look out of their car windows and see Lupe sleeping in the sunshine on the sand, looking so beautiful.
When Lupe awoke, she could hardly remember where she was. She sat up, glancing around. She felt so refreshed and wonderful, and yet, well, kind of confused, too. She truly felt as if she’d traveled out of herself and had gone back to her childhood.
Lupe sat for a full five minutes, breathing easy.
They’d always been so happy back in la Lluvia de Oro—no matter how poor they’d been—but here in a land of peace and abundance, the whole world had turned black and awful . . . she’d ordered her sister to go home.
She’d broken the Sacred Circle of la familia. But what else could she have done? She, too, had been terrified when the sheriff had knocked on their door, but she hadn’t panicked. And later she’d also come to understand that it hadn’t been Salvador’s fault. How could he have known that the sheriff and his wife owned the house when he’d rented it from a real estate office?
A group of tiny birds came flying up in front of Lupe. Quickly, they landed on their fast-moving little legs and began looking through the sand as each wave receded, trying to find something to eat. No, there was just nothing else that she could’ve done. She was with child and this child’s father was Salvador and so she had to make her home with him ... for better or for worse, for rich or for poor to death did they part.
Watching the quick-footed little birds working so hard to make a living, tears flowed from Lupe’s eyes and she thought of how her mother’s family must’ve felt when her mother had followed her husb
Lupe breathed, watching the sea and the little birds and how the tiny birds just seemed to barely get away with their lives every time a new wave came crashing into the shore. Little by little, Lupe began to see that if she just opened her eyes, then here, in the present, was also a very wonderful place. The soft, warm sand felt so good under her legs and her hips, and the ocean smelled so clean and glorious. And the waves were dancing, singing as they came to the shore, offering a feast to the little, quick birds.
Lupe sat, breathing easy, remembering how her mother-in-love had told her—the day of Salvador’s fight with Epitacio—how she and the great avocado tree by her outhouse helped each other every morning; she by giving the tree substances when taking her daily calling and the tree by giving her the biggest, juiciest fruit in all the area.
Smiling, Lupe took off her shoes, wiggling her toes in the sand. The sand was so warm and itchy good feeling that little by little she began to feel all back together again. Then, feeling complete and whole, she got up, and began to hum to herself as she walked back south toward Carlsbad. And as she went, she felt like she was going in a soft glow, in a special place of warm dream-like knowingness. The smooth, wet sand under her feet and the breeze on her naked legs truly felt of Heaven, itself.
Listening to the waves as she went, Lupe also remembered what her mother-in-love had wisely said to her, that same day at the outhouse when she’d asked her if she hadn’t heard the fight between Salvador and Luisa and Epitacio, “Of course, I heard it, but mi hijita, when it’s all said and done, these disturbances are no more than a pedo-fart in the wind. You are with child, so don’t let these ups and downs of life, la vida, disturb you from your task at hand. What you are doing here, inside of your body, is a blessing straight from Papito Dios and not to be disturbed.”