Thirteen Senses (54 page)

“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, picking up a pair of scissors. “The sheriff came to the house while you were off whoring around and now Lupe is so sick she's going to lose the baby, and it's all your fault!”

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!”

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.