Thirteen Senses (35 page)

Nearing Long Beach, Victoriano spotted Whitehead's truck parked in front of a little hotel.

Salvador and Victoriano came bursting in on Whitehead, just as the tall, handsome man in his early forties, was putting the long, black barrel of the .38 Special to his mouth.

Victoriano screamed, and the .38 Special EXPLODED!

Hundreds of birds took flight from the inlet of water behind the little hotel that came in with the tide from the beautiful green sea!

9

The Devil was tired, really exhausted, but still be was a long way from giving up. One way or another, be was determined to slip fast that old she-Fox ... but then be beard the Singing of the Stones!

I
T WAS DARK
by the time Salvador and Lupe got to Corona, but Salvador's mother wasn't at her house, so they could tell her about the baby. Luisa told them that she was probably still at church, but when Salvador and Lupe drove over to the church, made of river rocks, they found the place already closed up. Then they spotted one of Doña Margarita's old church friends and the old woman told them that she'd gone off with the young priest a few hours ago.

“Do you know where they went?” asked Salvador.

“No,” said the old lady, “but I did hear that your mother found a purse full of money inside the church.”

“Really,” said Salvador.

“Yes, a lot of money!” said the old woman.

Salvador thanked the old lady and he and Lupe drove back to Luisa's house. Inside, Luisa was feeding her boys.

“Weren't you able to find her?” asked Luisa.

“No,” said Salvador. “They told us that she drove off with a young priest hours ago. That she found a purse with lots of money inside the church.”

Salvador was all upset. He really wanted to tell his
mama
about the baby, before Lupe and he had to go back to Carlsbad.

“But why in God's name are you worried, Salvador,” said Luisa to her brother in her loud, happy, vociferous way, “our mother is too old to get pregnant, so what harm can it be that she's out late with a priest, having fun with all that money she found.”

Saying this, Luisa burst out laughing and laughing, truly enjoying herself. But Lupe wasn't laughing, she was shocked for a woman to talk like this, and especially in front of her own children.

Seeing Lupe's shocked look, Salvador yelled at his sister. “Luisa, damnit, do you always have to talk so wild?”

“Wild, how? That I'm realistic enough to admit that priests are human and have fun, or that our mother is capable of—”

“Luisa, shut up!”

“No! Not in my house! Now, sit down and eat and have a drink so you'll calm down! Our mother is fine. She'll be back in no time.”

“Luisa!” said Salvador, turning his eyes at Lupe.

“Ah, bullshit!” said Luisa. “Stop hiding from Lupe. She's no fool! She knows that—well, you and I have a drink now and then. Don't you, Lupe?”

“Yes,” said Lupe. “Especially since I found that bottle, Salvador,” she added.

“See!” said Luisa. “I told you so!”

And so Luisa poured herself and Salvador a drink from a bottle that she kept under the sink and she offered Lupe a drink, too. Lupe declined, saying no, thank you, and she watched Salvador and his sister have their drink. Also, Lupe was beginning to notice that every few minutes a different man would come by with an empty jar and Luisa would take the jar to the back of the house, then meet the man outside. Lupe wondered if maybe Salvador's sister Luisa, like Domingo, was in the bootlegging business, too, and she was selling jars of whiskey out of her home.

But no, Lupe didn't dare ask this question. Besides, it was no business of hers what people did in the privacy of their own home.

It was nearly midnight when the young priest drove up with Doña Margarita in a Model T. Lupe had long ago gone to bed in the living room where Salvador's two older nephews, Jose and Pedro, normally slept. Benjamin, the baby, slept in Luisa's bed.

Ever since Lupe had lain down, Luisa and Salvador had begun drinking and talking wild. And now it was Luisa who was worried about their mother's whereabouts and Salvador was the one trying to calm her down. All her life Lupe had seen how alcohol changed people so much. She prayed to God that this type of behavior wasn't Salvador's normal way of life. Luisa was acting like a crazy woman.

“Mama”
yelled Luisa, running to the front door when the priest drove away, “where have you been? It's almost MIDNIGHT!”
“Calmate, mi hijita,”
said the old Indian woman coming into the house, “I've been out doing God's work. And look what I brought you. The rich don't live like you and me. No, they have the softest, smoothest, best-feeling ass-wiping paper I have ever felt! And their toilets are so comfortable that any king would feel honored to make his daily calling!”

“You and that priest bought toilet paper with all that money you found in church?” asked Luisa, looking at her mother suspiciously. “Oh, my God, I'm scared to even ask what you and the young priest were doing all this time.”

“Then don't ask,” said Doña Margarita, laughing happily.

“But
mama?”
said Salvador, “where have you been? Lupe and I have been waiting for you so we can—”

“Are you HUNGRY,
mama?”
yelled Luisa, cutting in. “I saved you some dinner!”

“Of course, I'm hungry! Doing God's work while He sits on His behind up in Heaven, relaxing like the lazy male He is, is tough some days! You know,” continued Doña Margarita, sitting down to eat, “after wiping myself with this fine paper, I got to thinking why so many of us
Mejicanos
don't know how to read so well. Hell, we've been putting the printed word to the wrong end of our body for so long, that the words now all look backward to us when we put them to our eyes to read!”

Saying this, the old lady burst out laughing with
such gusto
that Lupe— in the next room, lying down—now knew where this whole family got their loud voices and blasphemous attitude. Why, if Lupe didn't know better, she'd think that Salvador's mother was a wild Indian. How could any sane person accuse God of sitting on His lazy—oh, she couldn't even have the thought inside of her head, it was so awful!

Now they were all talking at the same time, Salvador, Luisa, and Doña Margarita—when Salvador finally yelled the loudest of all! “WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!”

The whole room suddenly went silent. Not another sound. Then Doña Margarita was the first to speak.

“A baby?” she asked, oh, so softly.

“Yes, a baby,” said Salvador full of excitement.

“A baby from my baby,” said the old woman. “Oh, Lord God, thank You!
Gracias!
My prayers have been answered! And where is Lupe? Where is this wonderful woman full of the Holy Grace of God!”

“In the next room sleeping,” said Luisa.

“Let's go and peek in on her. Ssssssh!” added Doña Margarita.

Lupe could now hear them sneaking into the room, trying to be quiet. But Salvador and Luisa were drunk and bumping into things, snapping at each other, and making so much noise that Lupe was having a hard time not laughing.

She closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. They came into the room smelling of whiskey—just as her father had smelled when he'd come home drunk.

“Just look at her, Salvador,” said his mother in a soft voice, “she's an angel! My God, no prettier woman has ever lived!”

“Well, yeah, sure,” said Luisa, “and we, too, would all be better looking if it wasn't for you,
mama.”

“Well, I did the best I could,” said their mother. “I married a very hand-some man.”

“Sssssh,” said Salvador. “You two will wake her!”

“Wake her, HELL!” said Luisa. “She's out like a fart amid the sounds of thunder!”

“Sssssh! Both of you shut up!
Callense!”
said Doña Margarita.

They were now all tiptoeing back out of the room, bumping into things. Salvador hit the wall, face first, almost fell, and his sister, Luisa, had to help him out.

With one eye open, Lupe watched and Doña Margarita stopped at the door before closing it, and she watched the old lady make the sign of the cross over herself. “Dear Lord God,” Lupe heard her mother-in-love say softly, “Holy Be Your Name, please give this young mother peace of mind so her heart can then keep calm, feeding this child in her Sacred Womb the Holy Rhythms of Your Eternal Love!”

Lupe now watched the old woman make the sign of the cross once again, touching the center of her forehead this time, then kiss her fingertips and blow Lupe a kiss. “From our family to Your Most Holy
Familia,”
she said, “as it is in Heaven, it is Here on Earth, too.

“And don't worry,
Papito,
I might be getting a little deaf and ill-mannered in my old age, but
mi familia
and I are still strong, and so You and Your Loved Ones can continue depending on Us to Do Your Earthly Work.

“And about Your lazy behind, God, well, I was just a little tired and hungry, so don't You get too upset. We're doing Good, You and I, God, We're doing Good. So Good Night,
Maria, Papito, y Todos los Santos!
And help Lupe sleep the sleep of an angel so that then her milk will be as sweet as honey!”

And saying this, the old woman made the sign of the cross over herself even once again, then closed the door softly.

And Lupe watched.

Lupe watched, and she could now see that this old woman truly spoke to God as if they were best friends.

Lupe wiped the tears from her eyes. This, too, she wanted for herself— God as her best friend, especially now with a child growing inside her womb. Suddenly she felt like she could feel a little movement inside of herself. But it was so faint that she thought that maybe she was just imagining it. Or maybe not. A miracle was growing inside her.

EARLIER THAT AFTERNOON
, Doña Margarita had been praying at the little stone church when two well-dressed Anglo women walked in. But Doña Margarita had given them no importance for she well knew that her struggles with
el Diablo
were a long ways from over and so she continued to pray aloud with all her heart and soul.

“. . . yes,
Maria,”
she was saying, “I fully realize Your Most Holy Husband God came through for me with Ten Thousand Angels to save the immortal soul of my son Domingo who's in prison, and You, Yourself, assisted me so I could be at the hospital to get hold of
el Diablo
by his long weasel tail, but You and I both know that
nuestra
struggle is far from over here upon this
Tierra Madre.
For now my son Salvador—even while he's on his journey of milk and honey—is still being pursued by
el Diablo.

“And this, I will not tolerate! Do you hear
me, Maria!”
she said, standing up. “Because You and I both know that marriage is difficult enough without the Devil coming to us on our honeymoon when our hearts are open and we are most vulnerable. So You and I, woman-to-woman, have to come up with an even greater plan than last time and turn this whole situation around!”

Then Doña Margarita stopped her praying, figuring that she was maybe getting a little too heavy-handed with Heaven, especially since They kept coming through for her, and so she decided to ease off and tell Our Great Lady,
Madre de Jesus,
a joke, because she well knew how
Maria
always liked getting the latest jokes to take up to Heaven to share with Her Two Husbands, Saint Joseph and God.

“And this one, My Dear Lady,” began Doña Margarita, speaking a little more calmly, “is about Don Cacahuate, Mr. Peanuts, and how he came home after being gone for a year. And upon entering his house, he threw down a
peso
on the table.”

“One
peso
?!?” yelled his wife, Doña Cacahuate. “After being gone for a year?!?”

“And if I'd been gone a million years,” shouted Don Cacahuate, standing up as tall as the little man could, “it would be a million
pesos?'

Saying this, Doña Margarita burst out laughing and laughing. That's when she noticed that the two Anglo women, who were across the aisle from her on the right side of the church—the side the Anglos used—gave her a dirty look and got up, going out the side door.

Doña Margarita shrugged and just kept talking to the Virgin Mary.

“Don't You get it, my Lady,” asked Doña Margarita to the statue of the Mother of God who wasn't laughing, “we,
los Mejicanos
have so much faith in the eternal goodness of life, that we now all think that we're on our way to being millionaires; see, it's only a matter of time!”

“Oh,” said
Maria,
and now She was laughing, too.

“I tell You, my Lady, every day
we, Mejicanos,
awake and we're breathing, we think we're in the great danger of getting rich because—down deep inside, we are either
crazy-locos,
or You and Your two Husbands have, indeed, Blessed us with an indestructible faith!