Rain of Gold

by Victor Villaseñor

  “That’s not right!” said Lupe.

  “Let her go,” said Manuelita, getting the pot to heat water. “If you stop her, it will only be worse.”

  Looking inside through the open doorway, Carlota could see that Archie was behind the bar. She knew that women weren’t allowed inside the pool hall, so she waved at him from the doorway, trying to get his attention. Seeing her, Archie wiped his mouth with his wide tie, excused himself from the two men he was speaking with, and came around the bar.

  “Hi, baby!” he said, grinning as he came up to the doorway. “What can I do to you that hasn’t been done before, you sweet little dumpling?”

  “Archie, I need to ask you something,” said Carlota.

  “Sure, ask away, but that don’t mean you get. Not here in public, anyway.”

  “Do you know a man named Salvador?”

  “No, can’t say I do.”

  “He said his full name is Juan Salvador Villaseñor.”

  Archie’s whole face flushed with anger. “You seen him?”

  “Yeah, sure. He was in the fields today, working with us. Then tonight he came by in a big car to see my . . . ”

  “That son-of-a-bitch!” said Archie.

  “Then he’s no good, right?” asked Carlota excitedly.

  “For you, no way, baby. You stay away from him,” he said, putting his huge hand on top of Carlota’s head, stroking her like a man would a lap dog. “But for someone else, he’s A-1 okay. The best damned deputy I’ve ever had.”

  “He’s your deputy?” she asked, completely taken aback.

  “Yeah,” he said, still stroking the top of her head. “Man, you got lovely hair, baby.”

  And he bent down to kiss the top of her head but Carlota whirled away, running back up the dirt street.

  Lupe and Manuelita were just getting ready to take the tea inside when Carlota came rushing up.

  “Well, what did you find out?” asked Manuelita.

  “Nothing,” said Carlota.

  “Nothing?” said Manuelita, laughing. “Then it must’ve been good or you’d be talking a mile a minute.”

  “No, smartie, it wasn’t good!” snapped Carlota. “The rumors all over the barrio are that he’s a bootlegger on the run; that’s why he bought those work clothes—to hide in the fields.”

  “But Archie, what did he have to say?”

  “Nothing; he said that he hardly knows him.”

  Not believing her, Manuelita turned to Lupe. “Come, let’s take in the tea. Rumors mean nothing, Lupe. My mother always says that no home can survive if a woman listens to rumors.”

  “No, Señora, I don’t drink or gamble; I’m a businessman,” said Salvador.

  “Well, we’re very glad to hear that,” said Doña Guadalupe, as the girls came in with the tea.

  Seeing Lupe, Salvador leaped to his feet, but he hit the hanging lantern with his head, almost knocking himself back down.

  Putting down the teapot, Lupe rushed to his side. “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said. He then got an idea and gripped Lupe’s arm. “I’m pretty dizzy. Maybe you better get me a wet towel. Here, I’ll go with you.”

  Salvador quickly started toward the rear of the tent with Lupe before anyone could say anything. Doña Guadalupe and Doña Manza glanced at each other.

  “Well, he is quick,” said Doña Manza.

  “Yes, I noticed,” said Doña Guadalupe. “And don’t take too long!” she shouted after Lupe and Salvador.

  “My God,” said Salvador, once they were outside, “I thought I’d never get to see you.”

  Lupe laughed. “I just don’t know why my mother is behaving like this.” She took a clean rag, wringing it out. “Does it hurt?”

  “Yes,” he said, “but standing here with you, I can never feel pain again.”

  Their eyes met, the world stopped again, just as it had out in the fields, and it was paradise. Lupe blushed, becoming self-conscious, and put the wet rag to Salvador’s head.

  “There,” she said, “I hope it will help.”

  “How can it not,” he said, “coming from you?”

  And he wanted to say more, much more, all he had locked up inside his heart and soul, but he couldn’t. It was just too much. He now knew why it felt so good being with this woman. It was as if he’d known her from another lifetime; as if every move, every expression she made, reminded him of another great love that he’d had before. Oh, he was swimming with good feelings, bursting with love!

  “Well,” said Lupe, “I think we better go back inside before the tea gets cold.”

  “Of course,” he said.

  It was almost midnight when Salvador got back to Kenny’s garage. He cut the motor and was just getting out of the Moon when suddenly a huge man leaped out of the darkness, shoving a pistol against his temple.

  “Don’t even think of it,” said the huge man. “One move and you’re a dead son-of-a-bitch!” He reached in and took the gun out of Salvador’s coat. “Now get inside.”

  Salvador did as he was told. He’d been caught cold. His mind had been a million miles away, thinking about Lupe and how much he’d have to tell his own mother when he saw her.

  Inside the garage, Kenny was waiting for them. He was also armed. He had a 30/30 in his hands. Salvador turned and saw that the huge man was none other than Archie Freeman, himself. Instantly, he knew that it had been a setup from the start. Why, he’d been a fool to trust the old gringo. Now they knew where his liquor was and everything.

  “Sit down,” said Archie, pointing to the chair that had been placed in the middle of the empty garage. “And shut up! Not one word!”

  Salvador didn’t move. Not one muscle. He’d never seen Archie like this. The guy was absolutely crazy.

  “Did you kill ’em?” asked Archie, staring at Salvador in the eyes.

  “Kill who?” asked Salvador, his heart ready to explode, remembering the two federal agents.

  “Damn it!” screamed Archie, grabbing Salvador by the neck and yanking him out of the chair, his feet dangling in space. “Don’t fuck with me!” he roared. “Or you’ll see why old Archie is called the king of four counties! Nobody fucks with me!”

  But still, Salvador gave him nothing.

  “Talk! Did you kill ’em?” bellowed Archie, slamming him back into the chair so hard that it shattered, dropping Salvador in the oily dirt of the garage.

  “Look, Archie,” said Salvador, staying down so he didn’t rile up the lawman any more than he already was, “I’ve been beat by the best, I’ve seen my brothers killed left and right; this won’t work with me. So tell me what’s going on.”

  Archie stared at Salvador a long time. “All right,” he said, “I’ve been notified that your partner and his wife were murdered.”

  “What?” said Salvador. “Julio’s dead?”

  “Yeah,” nodded Archie, studying Salvador’s eyes.

  “When?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “Jesus Christ!” said Salvador. “How did it happen?”

  “They were in your car when it blew up like a bomb.”

  “My Dodge?”

  “Yeah,” said Archie, the whole time watching Salvador’s eyes like a hawk.

  “Jesus Christ!” said Salvador again.

  “And,” said Archie, “the word is out that they were stealing your liquor and you wanted ’em dead.”

  Salvador stared at Archie. “Yeah, they were, and I did want them dead, but I didn’t do it. My God, Julio was a good man. And my friend.”

  “Man,” said Archie, “you’re either innocent or the best actor I ever seen.”

  “You mean, you thought I did it?” asked Salvador.

  “Why not? Kill ’em, take all the whiskey and let people think it was you in the Dodge so you can start a whole new life.”

  “But I’ve been here all this time,” said Salvador. “Ask Kenny, he’ll tell you.”

  “He already did,” said Archie. “Defe
nded you ‘til I thought maybe he was in cahoots with you, too.”

  Salvador turned to Kenny, feeling badly that he’d misjudged the old man a second time.

  “You looked damned suspicious,” said Archie, “changing your name and giving a man twenty dollars for his dirty clothes so you can hide in the fields.

  “Give me a drink,” said Archie, turning to Kenny. “Shit, ever since that big bust up in San Bernardino, they’ve been pushing Big John up in Orange County and Whitey down here in San Diego to clean up their counties, too, and I ain’t been able to get a decent drink of whiskey.

  “Hell, I don’t trust those Fed bastards any farther than I can throw ’em. They don’t live here. They just come in quick-like and make a big name for themselves, then mosey on back home and drink whiskey with their own local bad boys in Washington, D.C.” He downed the whiskey Kenny gave him. “Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ain’t the ones who killed Julio and his wife.”

  “The Feds?” asked Salvador.

  “Sure, why not? They gave disease-infested blankets to my people and pushed an honest live-and-let-live lawman like Big John to the edge. But you tell me this: Why’d you come into town, sneaking around old Archie, and change your name if you’re innocent?”

  “Well, I almost did come to see you as soon as I got here, Archie,” said Salvador, “but then I got scared, not knowing what was going on.”

  “Don’t you ever do that again unless you want trouble, goddammit! Especially if there ain’t no whiskey to be had!”

  “I won’t!” said Salvador. “I promise. But with the FBI involved, well, naturally, I thought they’d put pressure on you and you’d be after me, too.”

  “Because of the Feds?” bellowed Archie. “Shit, no one puts pressure on Archie Freeman! I’m a free man! Do you hear me? Free, goddammit!”

  Salvador said nothing. The huge lawman was ready to kill once again.

  “That goddammed bust was nothing but publicity! You don’t see the Feds going after the real big boys, do you? Of course not, ‘cause they’d come out looking bad and they don’t want that! Take Bill Wesseley who ran that sting. Hell, I’ve locked horns with him several times and he’s an A-1 asshole! Same kind who’s always sold out my people!”

  “Then you’re really after me only because of Julio and Geneva?” asked Salvador.

  Archie nodded. “Damned right, I can’t stand a son-of-a-bitch who’d kill his own,” he added.

  “Well, I didn’t do it,” said Salvador.

  “And I’m half inclined to believe you,” said Archie, “but the Feds ain’t buying it, so you and me gotta work out a little deal.”

  Saying this, Archie put his huge right arm around Salvador’s shoulders and walked him over to a corner.

  “You want to start a whole new life, Salvador?” asked Archie, using Juan Salvador’s new name for the first time. “You wanna be in love and start a family, eh?”

  Salvador took a good look at the lawman.

  “Well, do you?” asked Archie. “I hear you’re in love and I can understand that, ‘cause that’s happened to the best of us, sorry to say.”

  Salvador took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that. A lot.”

  “Good,” said Archie, “and I think I can arrange it. But it will cost you and you got to lay low ‘til I pull it off. No more buying men’s clothes off their back and leaving them half naked in the street. No more dressing up like a woman and going up to Wesseley’s territory. You catcheee my lingo?”

  “Yeah,” said Salvador, truly liking the idea, “but how much will it cost me?”

  “Ten barrels for starters.”

  “For starters?”

  “Sure, why not? Every man’s gotta pay his taxes!”

  “Five barrels,” said Salvador.

  “All right, five now and five every month after that.”

  “Five every month?”

  Archie laughed. “Look, you dumb bastard, you’re wanted for murder; you can’t argue with me!”

  Salvador took a big breath, thinking, figuring. This was a deal with the devil; this was like half-admitting that he’d committed the murders. But what else could he do? He couldn’t keep running all his life.

  “All right, you got it,” he said. “But you’re going to have to give me protection.”

  “Now you’re talking,” said Archie.

  And so the deal was made and Salvador would get to start a whole new life, but first he’d have to lay low for a while and not leave town. Except, of course, to go up and get some whiskey so he could pay Archie his first five barrels.

  The following morning, Salvador didn’t go to work in the fields with Lupe and her family. No, instead he borrowed Kenny’s truck and headed north to get the barrels of whiskey that he’d promised Archie.

  In Corona, Salvador decided to stop by the church to see if he could find his mother. He was dying to tell her about Lupe, and especially about her mother. But, driving up to the church and going inside, he didn’t find the grand lady.

  His heart fell. Oh, he’d truly wanted to see his mother and tell her about his true-love’s mother and how the old woman had torn into him. Why, he could just hear his mother laughing, telling him to be prepared for a tough marriage because the seed didn’t fall far from the plant.

  He got back in Kenny’s truck and took off, not noticing that the priest had seen him, the very same priest who’d seen him with his mother when he’d come to the church dressed as a woman.

  Driving out of the Anglo part of town, Salvador thought of going by the barrio to see his mother, but then he remembered that car full of cops hiding in the orchard. He realized he couldn’t go anywhere near his home. And he also remembered how his brother, José the great, had been ambushed and killed.

  His heart began to pound. Quickly, he headed for the mountains to dig up the whiskey and get back to Carlsbad. He wasn’t going to take any more chances, especially now that he had so much going for him.

  He began to pray, talking to God, realizing that this was the first time that he’d asked anything of the Almighty since he’d left God at the Rio Grande.

  “Oh, please, dear God,” he said, “help me to not get caught or die. I want to live now, I really do, and have a casa of my own. And, maybe, even reach the age of thirty-five so I can see my children grow.”

  He fully realized that not one of his brothers had ever lived past the age of twenty-five. For him, to hope to reach the age of thirty-five was an incredible thing to ask, even of God. Then he remembered his grandfather, Don Pío, who’d lived to an old age along with his wife, Silveria, and he wondered if that long of a life was possible for his people here in this country.

  He breathed deeply, and realized that something was happening inside himself; he’d spoken to God and he wanted a long life. Being in love was changing his whole outlook.

  Hell, ever since crossing the Rio Grande, he’d been dealing only with the devil. As Duel had said, “Men like us can’t believe in the puppet God of the churches, but in the devil, of course.” Salvador had agreed.

  But now, it felt different. Being in love truly made the idea of God not just seem possible, but most probable.

  Salvador pulled off the road and parked. He got out of the truck and started up the sandy creek bed to where he and Kenny had hidden the barrels. He thought of Julio and he felt badly that his friend and his wife had died. He also realized that their tragedy had become his salvation.

  After pulling the brush off the barrels, he went to work, feeling strong. He grabbed up a barrel as if it weighed nothing and rushed up the creek bed with power. It felt good to talk to his old Friend, God, and have love in his heart once again.

  The break of day was just beginning to paint the sky to the east as Lupe and her family walked down between the rows of flowers with their short-handled hoes.

  “Is that her?” Lupe heard one girl ask another.

  “Yes,” whispered the other girl, “she’s the one.”


  Lupe could feel both girls staring at her.

  By noon, Lupe was so aware of the fieldworkers’ attention that she felt awkward. It was as if they thought that she’d suddenly become special, and good things could happen to them, too, if they just got near her.

  “Excuse me,” said one girl to Lupe as they went into the brush to eat, “but, well, my friends and I were wondering if we couldn’t come to your tent tonight,” she said, turning to the two girls who were with her, “and get a ride with you and Salvador in his car?”

  Lupe stared at the girl, not knowing what to say.

  The girl took Lupe’s silence to mean “no,” and she became angry. “Well, then, forget it!” she snapped. “I didn’t really want a ride in his car anyway! My uncle in Mexico was a general, and he had a good car, too!” Saying this, she turned and walked away.

  “But, wait,” said Lupe, “I didn’t mean that you can’t come by. It’s just that, well, I hardly know Salvador.”

  “You’re engaged to him aren’t you?”

  “Engaged?” asked Lupe. “No, I’m not.”

  “Well, that’s what everyone is saying!”

  “Look,” said Lupe, “come by if you want, but the truth is I don’t even know if he’ll be by again.”

  “Well, then, excuse me!” said the girl, and she left, not believing Lupe, figuring that she just thought they weren’t good enough to meet her fiancé.

  Going back to her family, Lupe realized that she’d made an enemy. But there was nothing she could do about it. She sat back down to help with lunch.

  “Don’t pay attention to her,” said her mother. “She’s just excited. It’s not every day that people see the possibility of a girl getting out of the fields.”

  “Oh, Mama, please,” said Lupe.

  “Please what?” said her mother. “To not admit to myself that you’ve grown? That only yesterday you were running up and down the hillsides with your pet deer? And now you have two very serious suitors, mi hijita.”

  “Two? But, Mama,” said Lupe, “I don’t even know Salvador. And the way he looks at me, and his walk . . . sometimes he reminds me of a strutting rooster,” she laughed.