Part Three (3)

In the back of the church, the old Indian woman squeezes her granddaughter’s little hand. She looks at her husband and the little girl with tears streaming down her face and whispers: "It has happened." The little girl gives her grandfather a confused look and he smiles, telling her: "Those are happy tears." Carlos takes a deep breath and the two men carry Cecilia into a guest room in the rectory where Thomas gently nurses her back to health. Since she was a little girl, no-one ever showed her this much kindness. Staying a few extra days...he endured himself to her, Carlos watched this unlikely pair evolve into a couple.

Another year passed, Thomas would come help Father Carlos every month, he would date Cecilia who now worked at a bakery...the time just flew by. Thomas’ ‘Spanglish’ was getting better, Cecilia was studying English and finally, one day, there was a solemn knock on the rectory door and Carlos answered: "Thomas, I am glad to see you, as always, but I wasn’t expecting you my friend!" With a bowed head and humble voice…the American whispered: "I need to talk with you Father." "Father"; Carlos asked...it was a title Thomas hadn’t used in years with his friend.

"Well, I, um, I, er, I..."; his friend was stuttering and stumbling so Carlos brought him inside and had him sit down and asked: "What is it my friend, you sound like..." And then the priest stopped, and stuttered and stumbled: "You sound, you, it sounds like..." The two men looked up at each-other and just burst out in laughter together! "Ha ha, you..."; the priest shouted! "Me!"; the American belted out in a joyous shout! "Well, this calls for a drink"; the good padre offers as he moves towards a liquor cabinet. "Wait"; Thomas says boldly, stopping the priest in his tracks: “I, we, um yeah, we...well, we’d like you to perform the ceremony." "You dog"; Carlos jokes, turning serious he gently bows and says: "I would indeed be honored to marry you and Cecilia, except for one thing." A little surprised, a little hurt…Thomas seriously asked what, what could be the one thing to stop this union? Turning into a darkened shadow, the priest answered: "Now who will bring me empanadas every week?" Again the men burst into laughter, Thomas teasing: "You’ve gained at least ten pounds since last year!" "Ten"; the priest asked mockingly: "Has to be more like twenty, you are too kind!"

The music played, the wedding was incredible, Father Carlos was magnificent, Cecilia was beautiful and Thomas was handsome...the conchas, empanadas, ojaldras, orejas and piedras supplied by the local bakery were delicious! The old Indian couple and their granddaughter thought it was the most beautiful wedding they ever saw. The old woman cried, the little girl sqeezed her hand knowing they were happy tears.

Okay, the wait at the consulate in Ciudad Juarez wasn’t great and it took three days to get the medical, the vaccinations and all the Immigration paperwork done. Just on the corner near the hotel, Thomas passes an old Indian woman with a leathery, well-worn face and long gray, braided hair sitting up against a wall with a two or three year old child. The little one is very dirty; her clothes are worn and ripped here and there. He sees them and pauses; reaching into his pocket he pulls out a twenty dollar bill. He bends and puts the twenty in the grateful woman’s outstretched hand without a second thought. "Everything is finished"; he says gleefully when he gets in the hotel room: "We’re going home!" Cecilia can hardly believe it as they drive across the border from Juarez into Texas and on through New Mexico, finally into Arizona.

The newlyweds drive past a church, "Saint Mary Magdeline’s"; Thomas explains: "It’ll be our church here." Unknowingly, they drive past the home of a man named Ryan and his children Carolyn and Michael. Thomas turns left and then right, another turn here and yet another because of some detour. "Taking the scenic route"; her husband teases as Cecilia looks out at a green, lush, well-maintained Catholic cemetery where Maria lays, her corpse eaten by bugs and worms and rotting in the ground beneath a tombstone that bears the name of a woman called ‘Priscilla.’ For a second, maybe a fraction of a second, she thinks about Maria…then Thomas grabs her hand and in that instant, in the fullness of the love she feels, Maria is forgotten forever.

Another year passes...but this month, Thomas doesn’t visit his friend in Nogales. This month, he has to stay closer to home" and so he grabs the Saturday morning newspaper off his porch and walks inside. He gently puts the paper on a wooden table in his kitchen, after-all, Cecilia hasn’t been feeling well...he wants to let her rest. Trying not to make too much noise, he walks over to the counter and pours a himself a rich, steamy, fragrant cup of imported Columbian coffee. From the refrigerator, he takes a white, opaque plastic pint and pours the heavy, thick cream into the black coffee, stirring in a spoonful of Hawaiian sugar. Sipping from his cup…the American walks back to his table, pulls out a chair, sits down and reads his paper.

In section A, on page twenty-six there’s a small story about a man named Juan in Nogales, Mexico...a smuggler or ‘coyote’ who was found dead in the desert. There were no drugs, there were no people (pollos), there was no proof that the man was really a coyote, only his ‘reputation’ as one of the best. "No-one he smuggled across ever came back"; a local woman named Antonia was quoted as saying. The writer spent most of his expense account and most of his time in a place called ‘La Booom Booom,’ so the story wasn’t very detailed. His wife wouldn’t have understood and his editor wouldn’t have wanted to waste the valuable space on an insignificant smuggler anyway…

Thomas was interrupted before getting to page twenty-six anyway. "Honey, I think it’s time"; Cecilia said calmly. "Yeah, sure"; her husband answered, sure his wife would never react that calmly to having a baby. "No, really...I had some blood..." Thomas jumped to his feet and ran to his wife urgently asking: "Oh my God honey, are you okay?" The couple called the doctor who was sure it wasn’t time, they drove calmly to the hospital and went through the admitting and initial exam" by now, both sure this was a false alarm.

A nurse wearing a surgical mask and gloves checked Cecilia and said: "Well congratulations, you are fully dialated and the baby should be joining us soon!" The doctor rides up in an elevator with an old Indian couple. He doesn’t mean to be rude, but there is something about this couple dressed all in white, almost ‘glowing.’ They are silent and polite, when he sees that they are also going to the maternity ward, the doctor politely asks: "Are you visiting?" "Our daughter"; the old man says happily. "...And our granddaughter"; the old woman adds blissfully.

The doors open and trying to be polite the doctor points them towards the nursery. "Oh, that’s okay"; the man says. His wife answers: "She’s not here yet." The doctor smiles and rushes off, then he realizes how strange an answer that was and turns back, but the old Indian couple is gone. For a second he pauses and asks himself: "Were they talking about the mother or the daughter?" It was just odd, very odd he thought as he rushed to Cecilia’s side.

The baby was crowned, the mother fully dialated...and even though the hospital was very modern and the room had every device that could come into play, there was still something ancient about giving birth. The doctor told the father to help bend and push one leg, a nurse helped with the other and everyone took turns telling Cecilia to breath, to push, to push harder. Everyone’s attention was on the new mother and the baby being born! The intensity and anticipation filled the room as a scared girl pushed and breathed and yelled and screamed and called the man she loved name after name. In the minutes it took, Cecilia thought she saw God and the devil on the ceiling and her mother and father looking in the room from a window in the door.

"Mami"; she yelled out, then in a voice that could curdle blood she called out to her: "Papi!" "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" "You have a beautiful baby girl"; the doctor announced. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh"; the baby cried out to the heavens: "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" "...And apparently, she’s very healthy too"; the doctor said and everyone laughed...including a very proud grandmother and grandfather in the hall who faded from view with the baby’s cries as Cecilia breast fed her and both fell asleep. In a dream, the new mommy was visited by her mami and papi and they told their little girl how proud they were indeed of their own baby. Her father told how they held back this baby until the time was right, until there could be a family. Holding her daughter in her arms the mother told how indeed they would always be near to watch over this family, for every new life is bound to old spirits and in the struggle between good and evil, good will always triumph…for there is indeed a God who watches over all of us.

Roughly two hundred miles to the south, on the other side of the border or ‘la linea (the line)’; the fence dividing the Mexican state of Sonora from the American state of Arizona. Antonia, Nina and Rosa finish their shift at a strip club called ‘La Booom Booom’ next to ‘Fernando’s on the Calle (street) Elias where they work as stripper-prostitutes.

Antonia and Nina walk down the stairs through a small hallway and out onto the street. Parked in front of the club, in an old car with the engine running and Mexican ‘banda’ music playing on his radio, a man with dirty, uncombed hair watches the women with his hungry eyes. "Rosa’s boyfriend"; Nina whispers with a disapproving gesture. Antonia says goodbye, Nina nods her head and they go their separate ways.

Nina walks up the street to the Avenida Ruiz Cortinez running parallel to the screen-like fence or La Linea dividing what seems like one city, Nogales into two. A small gate for the Americans or people with papers to walk across is open, but guarded by Mexican and American Immigration officers. The fence is made of thick, hardened steel, screen material. "Like what they use in jails and prisons"; Nina laments with a wishful thought: "Maybe someday, maybe I can cross the border..."

Created: October 1, 2000r.
Last Updated: May 23, 2005r.