Thirteen Senses by Victor Villaseñor
EARTHTALKING
14
GOD was Happy! PAPITO was Smiling! Singing “through” every Stone, Tree, Raindrop, Blade of Grass—HE was SO MOVED!
SALVADOR AWOKE WITH A START. His heart was pounding, but he wasn’t scared. He was happy. Wildly happy! But he didn’t quite know why.
“What is it?” asked Lupe.
“Mi mama!” said Salvador, excitedly.
“What about her?”
“I think she did it. I think she really did it! She brought God and the Devil back together once again!”
“Salvador!” snapped Lupe.
He laughed. “Put your hand over your heart,” he said, putting his right hand over his own corazón. “Don’t you just feel it—like we’ve come full circle,” he said. “Look, it’s sprinkling outside, and yet there’s bright sunlight coming through the clouds.”
“So then there’s bound to be a rainbow,” said Lupe.
“Yes,” he said, smiling with gusto. He felt of Heaven. “Come on, let’s go see.”
Slipping on clothes, they hurried outside and yes, there was a big, beautiful rainbow to the north of them. They hadn’t even bothered to put on shoes—they’d gone out so quickly. Standing in his bare feet, Salvador itched his toes back and forth in the wet soil as he held Lupe in his arms. The whole land was alive with color and light. Birds were chirping in the trees above them. Then they heard a SCREECH and a huge Redtail Hawk came swooping down by them, giving sound to all the world. The Red Eagle landed in an avocado tree right in front of them.
“Lupe!” said Salvador with tears bursting from his eyes. “This is mi mama and she’s telling us, that yes, we now have a whole New World!”
“I’m glad to hear this,” said Lupe, “because yesterday, when you took Carlota home to my parents, I took a long walk on the beach by myself, Salvador, and I was able to think.” She took a big breath. “Carlota is going to tell my parents, Salvador.”
He nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “she told me she was.”
“Yes,” said Lupe, “and I’ve been thinking of how mis padres are going to take it. We must prepare ourselves,” she added.
Turning Lupe about so he could see her face, Salvador had a twinkle in his eyes. This young bride of his was just never going to stop surprising him. Here she was taking hold of the bull of life by the horns in the middle of a storm. She wasn’t complaining or getting hysterical. No, she was thinking calmly with the same iron that she’d used when the sheriff had come knocking on their house in Escondido.
“Lupe,” said Salvador, “mi mama told me yesterday to come home to be with you. That she didn’t need me to go to the church with her this morning, even though Luisa was going crazy with fear, because mi mama said that the real proof of her bringing God and the Devil back together again wouldn’t be inside that church, but here with us, me and you, two married people in the thick of living life, and you’ve just done it, mi amor. You are telling me of this situation that we now have with your parents with such fearlessness. You are the best, Lupe! You are the woman of my dreams! I adore you, mi amor! The Devil has no hold on you!”
He went to kiss her, but she held him away. “No,” she said, “none of that right now. I need to talk to you. I did a lot of thinking yesterday on the beach.”
He smiled. “Talk, Lupe. I’m listening.”
“Good,” she said.
And so they went back inside to talk and the Red Eagle watched over them, giving yet another cry.
AND YES, the night before Carlota had, indeed, told her father and mother about Salvador’s being a bootlegger and how he was a coward who’d deliberately endangered Lupe and her. Doña Guadalupe and Don Victor listened very carefully and Carlota told them the story about Escondido and how they’d barely escaped with their lives.
“If it hadn’t been for my bravery,” Carlota told her parents with tears streaming down her face, “we would have all been caught and sent to prison!”
Hearing the whole story, Doña Guadalupe and Don Victor were very upset. But Don Victor said nothing and simply excused himself and went outside. He sat down in his rocking chair on the porch, and he tried to light a cigarrito, but couldn’t. His hands were shaking too much. Ever since he’d come home from the hospital, his hands had been shaking.
Finally, after several attempts, Don Victor was able to light his smoke. Rocking and smoking, he began to calm down. Something just sounded a little fishy about this whole story. But, still, had he, Don Victor, ever asked his wife to climb down into the mine when he’d gone down into the depths of hell to do his carpenter work? Did a ranchero involve his wife when he was chasing wild cattle through the chaparral? There was no excuse for what Salvador had done! A man’s work, was a man’s work!
Don Victor was still rocking and smoking, when his son Victoriano drove up. For the last month Victoriano had been working with Mr. Whitehead once again. Don Victor looked at the truck that his son was driving. If Salvador hadn’t loaned Victoriano those two hundred dollars, he wouldn’t even be working right now. The times were hard and getting worse. The date was late January 1930, and the holidays had come and gone without anyone noticing. And yet, there was one thing that Don Victor couldn’t get out of his mind; it just didn’t sound like Salvador’s style to get his two daughters involved in a man’s business.
That night Don Victor and Doña Guadalupe had a big fight. Don Victor was determined to confront his son-in-law and tell him in no uncertain terms how dare he put their baby daughter, Lupe, in such a terrible situation. But Doña Guadalupe thought differently of the situation and she told her husband that he was going to have to hold his tongue.
“We can’t interfere,” she said, lips trembling, “we must not even say one single thing unless Lupe asks us. It will embarrass her and cause her great shame. We must act,” continued the wise old woman, smoothing out the apron on her lap, “like we don’t even know. Besides, remember, our daughter Carlota has always exaggerated, so who knows what the truth really is? We must keep calm, mi esposo, and be reassuring. After all, these are hard times and Salvador is bringing home the money.”
Don Victor turned his eye on his wife. “Are you saying this because of my gambling?” he snapped. “At least I never endangered your life by having you go down into the mine with me! HE WAS IRRESPONSIBLE!”
yelled the old man, red-faced with rage. “Oh, I just don’t know if I can hold my tongue—I’M SO MAD!”
“Me, too,” said the old woman. “But, well, what can we do, she’s with child and every young couple must find their own way. Let us pray,” she added. “Come on, viejo, let us go and pray that con el favor de Dios this, too, will come to pass.”
“I don’t feel like praying!” shouted Don Victor. “You pray! I’m going for a walk!”
He went out the door in a huff. Doña Guadalupe remained inside. She lit a candle, put a shawl over her head, and began to pray for God’s guidance. She well-knew that the world was often not what one thought, so only with God’s help could we humans comprehend that good really did, in fact, come from evil if we just remained open of corazón.
AND SO THAT YEAR, the spring came in with a torrent of rain and thunder and lightning. Lupe was now in her seventh month, and she was still looking pretty skinny, but their doctor in Santa Ana said that she was in fine health. Doña Guadalupe, on the other hand, didn’t like seeing her baby daughter that thin, so one day she shrewdly asked Salvador if Lupe could come and stay with them so she could attend to her personally for the next few months.
Salvador looked at Lupe. They’d just been to see the doctor, and he could see it in her eyes, she loved him, she was committed to him, but still she really wanted to be with her mama. And also, it was now time for him to start making liquor again, so he was going to be gone a lot of the time.
“Of course, Doña Guadalupe,” said Salvador to his mother-in-love, “no daughter should be away from her mama when she’s getting ready to give birth to her first child.”
&
“Thank you, huh!” said Don Victor, mumbling to himself as he went out of the room.
Watching the old man go out in a quick rush, Salvador damn well knew that Lupe’s family knew all about his bootlegging. Carlota had definitely told them. But Lupe’s parents hadn’t brought up the subject, so he sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up, either.
Salvador and Lupe drove back down to Carlsbad that day, then Lupe packed up all her personal belongings, including the canary, and the following morning, Salvador took her back up to Santa Ana and dropped her off at her parents’.
“Salvador,” said Lupe, “we don’t have to do this. I’m your wife, remember.”
“I know,” he said, loving her for saying this, “but I really think this is for the best right now. I also have a lot of work to do and I don’t want you alone in Carlsbad without your family. Helen is right, a woman with child needs her familia.”
“Okay, Salvador,” said Lupe, “thank you.”
“Thank you, Lupe,” he said, taking a deep breath.
They kissed and the canary began to sing. After seeing Lupe inside, Salvador was immediately on his way over to Archie’s. The big lawman had long ago separated from his family and was staying by himself in a house across town in Tustin. He and Carlota were now openly dating.
Getting there, Salvador found the front door wide open. He could hear Archie singing to himself somewhere in the back of the house.
“Archie!” shouted Salvador.
“Come right in!” yelled Archie. “I might be a cabrón son-of-a-bitch, but I live with my front door wide open!”
Salvador came in. “Open for who?” he asked.
“The whole damn world!” said Archie. “A lot of people think I’m a rotten son-of-a-bitch because I moved out of my home, but hell, I still pay the rent for my wife and kids, and see them all the time!
“Now, tell me,” he said, “what can I do you out of this fine morning?” Archie was in a good mood. He was in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror as he lathered his face with a bar of shaving soap. He had his pistol and holster on the back of the toilet for easy reach and a half-empty bottle of whiskey, too.
“Well,” said Salvador, “it’s time for me to start up the distillery again, and so, well, I was wondering where the best place to set up would be.”
“Well, Escondido sure as hell is out,” said Archie, strapping the straight razor. “Man, you really screwed up, Sal.” He began shaving. “I told you to be careful or that Sheriff Georgie-boy would get suspicious. Then he came back a few days later, found the place a mess, and he was pissed when he realized that he’d rented his house to a damn bootlegger and hadn’t got his cut.” Archie laughed, washing the shaving soap off the razor.
“Sal,” he said, continuing his shave, “you’re going to have to set up here in Tustin, where I can keep an eye on you. Things are getting pretty hot all over the country.” He washed off the razor again, then strapped it a few more quickies before continuing. It was really very interesting for Salvador to watch a man shave himself with a straight razor. The hot water, the soap bar, the razor-sharp knife, the smell. It was the only good memory that Salvador had of his own father.
“Personally, I think that it’s because of all these damn cheap gangster movies that don’t know shit about real life, so they make it look like the bootleggers and the law gotta be shooting at each other like crazy fools, instead of getting along hand in hand and working things out together. You know what I mean,” added Archie as he twisted his face this way and that way, shaving the last of the lather off of his face and continually rinsing off the razor, “it’s that damn cowboys and Indians mentality all over again, that shoot ’em up, stupid ignorance of don’t live and let live.”
Salvador just nodded, not saying a word, and he watched Archie finish shaving, wash his face, look in the mirror, then grin this great big shit-eating grin.
“Man, Archie,” Archie said to his reflection in the mirror, “why weren’t you born rich, instead of so damn good looking!” And he threw himself a kiss with his big, loose-moving, puckered lips, making a low, rolling, gut-sound like a studhorse. “Aaaah, what a man!”
Salvador had to laugh. In his estimation, Archie had to be one of the homeliest-looking men he’d ever met, but this was what Archie said to himself in the mirror every morning.
Archie reached for the bottle of whiskey on the back of the toilet, took a good pull, then poured some in his left hand and slapped it on his face. “Best damn shaving lotion in town!” he said, still admiring himself in the mirror. “Ah, to feel as good as I look—damn, I’m lucky! So, do we got a deal, Salvador?”
Salvador nodded. “Yeah, I guess we do. But what’s it going to cost me, Archie?”
Archie turned and looked at Salvador for the first time. “Not much, Sal,” he said, grinning ear to ear, “just a leg and arm! And for chrissakes, make it a farmhouse this time,” he added as he put on his shirt, lowered his trousers, tucked in the tail, hitched up his belt, and slipped into his shoulder holster. “And rent it from the farmer himself, too, damnit!” He put on his Stetson, took one last good look at himself in the mirror. “Man-o-man, and to realize that before the Sun sets today, some lucky woman gets to have this real stud of a man with gun and all!” He pointed his index finger at himself like it was a gun. “Pow! Pow! Pow! Man, I love me! Okay, now take me out for breakfast, Sal,” he added. “Man, I’m hungry enough to eat a steer!”
It took Salvador a week to set up his new distillery in a good-sized farmhouse just a little southeast of downtown Tustin. And after setting up, he told Lupe where he was in case she ever needed him. But, of course, he and Lupe didn’t tell her family where his new plant was located.
Salvador now went to work like a madman once again, working around the clock day and night. He, also, made a deal with Kenny White and had the old man make some of his deliveries for him. Kenny wasn’t getting much work in his garage anymore, so he was happy to drive for Salvador. Everywhere, people were out of work. They didn’t have the money to get their vehicles worked on, but they did have the money to drink whiskey.
LUPE WAS ONLY HOME with her parents for a few days, when she came to realize just how much the whole world was changing all around them. In Santa Ana, entire Mexican families were packing up their belongings and going back to Mexico. All the banks had closed down. There was no money anywhere. Now, hardly any ranchers had the means to pay people to do their picking and packing. Shipping from California back to the East Coast by rail had almost come to a standstill.
Wages dropped to nothing. People fought to get the few jobs that were left. Blacks and Whites now came in, competing for the jobs that the Mexican people had always done.
Fights broke out, and big, strong white men—called Okies—were brought in with clubs by the truckload, and they beat workers, so that they’d quit their jobs, and then their own people could get the work.
One day Sophia’s husband, Julian, got so beat up that he was hardly able to walk home. He’d asked for his wages, and the farmer had him beaten up by two big men instead of paying him.
The next day Lupe and her family went to the surrounding hillsides to trap rabbits and look for wild cactus and other edible things. Julian tried to get out of bed to do his part, but he couldn’t move—he’d been beaten so badly. Lupe’s sister Sophia cried that day up in the hills as they searched for food as she hadn’t cried since they’d left their ragged, war-destroyed homeland. How could God have allowed this to happen to her beloved Julian, a good-hearted, little, tiny man who’d never lifted a finger to hurt anyone in all his life.
The following weekend when Salvador came to visit, Lupe asked him if he had any money so that they could go shopping for groceries for her family. All of her people were hungry. Victoriano had also been beaten. Salvador said, sure, he had money. Lupe thanked her lucky stars.
Then that Sunday, when Lupe went to
Mexican communities all over the Southland were returning to Mexico. But back to what? Mexico was still a land of ragged misery, trying to heal from its terrible Revolution. The word repatriando now began to be used in almost every conversation—meaning that people were returning to their native land.
That week, the farmer who’d had Julian beaten came with his hat in hand bearing gifts and paid Julian the wages that he owed to him, and he apologized over and over again for the terrible misunderstanding, saying that this situation would never happen again, and that Julian had a job if he wanted it, and Victoriano, too, of course.
“It was like a miracle,” said Lupe to Salvador, the following weekend when he came by to see her and take her shopping for groceries for her familia. “That farmer just couldn’t stop apologizing. Isn’t it wonderful, Salvador, how life can change so quickly and so much good can come from a bad situation?”
Salvador nodded. “Yes, I agree. Life is really full of surprises.”
And he, the man who’d long ago befriended the Devil as well as God, said nothing more as he listened to his wife go on about this miracle that had come to pass. For he, too, believed in miracles here on Earth, but he also well-knew that now and then, they needed a little help. And that farmer, who’d come hat in hand, would never again ever even dream of having one of his workers beaten up. He was a changed man. He, too, had seen the Devil and the Devil’s name was Juan Salvador Villaseñor.
This week, Salvador and Lupe found out that even having money wasn’t much help. The grocery store that they normally went to hardly had any merchandise.
“Don’t worry,” said Salvador, “I know a big grocery store across town where the owner has lots of everything!”
But then, getting to the store in the Anglo part of town, they went inside and found that shelves were mostly empty. And there was a hollow-looking old gringo at the cash register.