“I love you, too, Domingo,” said Salvador, bringing out another pint bottle.
“I’ll be damned!” said Domingo. “With this, I’ll have no problems! Five years, shit! I can do that hanging by my thumbs!”
Going out, Salvador handed the guard another ten so he’d let Domingo keep the bottle, and each step that Salvador took going down the long walkway between the barred cells echoed and re-echoed like a mighty drum . . . step-by-step away from his brother that he’d truly found at last.
It was the day before Lupe was to come over and meet Salvador’s mother, so Salvador hired Pedro and his gang of little pee wees to clean up the yard and wash down their two houses.
Pedro was in ecstasy, bossing his five friends around with his little pot belly hanging out. Salvador drove over to the distillery to check on José and Epitacio. Everything was going well.
“But we might have a problem,” said Epitacio. “You tell him, José. It was you that he spoke to.”
Salvador turned to his nephew.
“Archie came by,” said José.
“Archie!” yelled Salvador.
“Yes. He asked for you, said for me to tell you to stop avoiding him, that he needs to see you.”
“That son-of-a-bitch!” screamed Salvador. “Sure, now that I got money and liquor again. Tell him to kiss my ass if he ever comes by again! The chicken-shit bastard!”
“Just like that, Uncle? ‘Kiss my ass?’” said the boy nervously.
Salvador burst out laughing. “No, I didn’t mean for you to tell him that. I mean for me to tell him that.”
“Oh,” said José, looking relieved.
Salvador put his arm around his nephew. “You’re a good little man,” he said to him. “I’m proud of you. And you, too, Epitacio, I was wrong to bring my brother into our business. He’s too wild. From now on I only want good, honest, law-abiding people like you two working for me, especially if what we’re doing is illegal.”
José laughed.
“What’s so funny?” asked Salvador.
“What you said, wanting only good, honest, law-abiding people to do illegal stuff.”
“Well, that’s true. You never rob a bank with a bunch of thieves. The temptation will be too great for them to rob you, too. All illegal business, if it is to be done right and succeed, must be done with the most honest of all people. You need complete honesty to be outside of the law, mi hijito. That’s one of the rules that Duel taught me.”
José smiled. “That Duel, he was some man, eh?”
“Yes, he was the best, my teacher, my eyes, when it came to money, gambling and all the things of a real macho. Just as my mother has been my teacher, my eyes, in the matters of the heart, marriage and love.” Salvador breathed deeply. “I loved that man. Duel was more my father than my own father ever was.”
“Whatever became of him?” asked José, still smiling.
Salvador’s whole face exploded, and his eyes went wild. “DON’T!” he barked. “Don’t you ever ask me that again for as long as you live!”
José swallowed. “Okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Instinctively, José stepped back. My God, his uncle could be so happy one moment, then as crazy as the devil the next.
Lupe looked at herself in the mirror for the umpteenth time. Salvador was supposed to have come by over an hour ago to get her and Carlota. They were finally going over to Corona to meet his mother, the great woman herself.
But no matter how much Lupe tried to belt in her dress, this way or that way, she just didn’t think that she looked good enough.
Finally, she decided that what was really bothering her wasn’t the dress at all, but the fact that yesterday Don Manuel and his family had come by to see her diamond ring, which was the talk of the barrios. And after Rose-Mary had looked at it, she’d said, “Oh, Lupe, I just feel so terribly for you that Salvador is a bootlegger.”
Lupe had felt her whole face go hot, wanting to explode. But, still, she held herself calmly and said, “Oh, that’s all right, Rose-Mary. I, too, heard those rumors when I’d first met Salvador. But we found out that they’re not true, so you don’t have to feel sorry for me, my dear.”
“But they’re not rumors,” insisted Rose-Mary. “My father is the one who told me. How else do you think that one of our people could manage to buy such a huge diamond? Look at mine, Lupe. My fiancé is an Anglo teacher and he makes very good money, but still, he was only able to buy me this small, proper-looking stone,” she said.
Lupe had said nothing more, not wanting to dignify Rose-Mary’s words. But now, as she turned this way and that way, looking at herself in the mirror, she realized that Rose-Mary’s words had gotten to her. Especially when Carlota had gotten wind of what was going on and she’d begun haunting Lupe with ‘I told you so.’ Lupe was, indeed, wondering once again if Salvador was a bootlegger and he’d bought her diamond with illegal money. For, if he had, then of course she’d have to give it back to him and call off their wedding.
“Lupe!” called Carlota from the front room, “the no good is here!”
Lupe swallowed, checking herself in the mirror one last time before going into the front room.
“Now, Carlota,” said their mother, “you behave yourself. This is Lupe’s day, not yours.”
“Oh, Mama, stop worrying,” snapped Carlota, going across the room to open the door for Salvador, “I know it’s Lupe’s day.”
“No!” said Lupe. “Don’t you open the door! Sit down with me, Carlota, and let Papa open the door.”
“But why?” asked Carlota. “I don’t see what difference it makes.”
“It makes a difference to me,” said Lupe. “Please, get the door, Papa,” added Lupe softly to their father.
“Of course,” said the old man, shaking his head. All this fuss for a woman to allow a man to get into her underwear was just beyond him. But women were strange animals, as far as he was concerned.
Carlota sat down next to Lupe as their father went to the door. But then she jumped up.
“Carlota, sit down,” said Lupe.
“No, I’m going to the bathroom!” she said, leaving the room.
Lupe took a big breath, trying to keep her composure. Oh, how she wished that her sister wasn’t coming with her. She was worried enough as it was about meeting this great lady who’d been educated in Mexico City. She wondered if she and her sister would even know how to behave in front of such a fine lady. And then, of course, there was this thing about the bootlegging that would have to be addressed.
Walking both young ladies to his Moon, Salvador could see that Lupe was upset. He put Carlota in the back and Lupe up front.
Salvador started the motor and released the brake, and they went up the tree-lined street. “Are you all right?” he asked Lupe.
Lupe nodded. “Yes,” she said.
“Ha!” said Carlota in the back.
“Carlota!” said Lupe. “You promised!”
Salvador could feel the tension between the two sisters. It was a long, silent drive out of Santa Ana. Then, coming into Corona, into the Anglo part of town, a police car suddenly came up behind them with its siren screeching.
“Oh, my God!” screamed Carlota. “Rose-Mary was right! And we’re all going to go to jail!”
“Hey, calm down. Nobody’s going to jail,” said Salvador, trying to sound reassuring. “Maybe I was just speeding a little. Nothing more.”
But inside his soul, Salvador was climbing the walls. He pulled over. He was just opening his door to get out of his car to see what this was all about, when suddenly there was the cop at his side. He was a huge young man with a mammoth lower jaw. He grabbed Salvador and yanked him out of the Moon.
“Hey, easy, friend,” said Salvador. “I’m not fighting you.”
“Just keep your mouth shut, Me-chee-cain!” said the big cop, throwing Salvador up against the side of the Moon. “You were speeding, you son-of-a-bitch!”
Hearing the policeman’s words, Lupe was shocked. W
hy, if this man was, indeed, treating Salvador like this just for speeding, then he was crazy. She watched the policeman kick Salvador’s legs apart and search him thoroughly.
“All right, boy,” said the cop, not finding any weapon on Salvador, “whose car is this?”
“Mine,” said Salvador.
“Yours, hell!” yelled the policeman.
“Check my registration,” said Salvador.
“Don’t tell me how to do my job!” shouted the lawman, drawing his gun.
“We’re innocent!” screamed Carlota. “We didn’t have anything to do with it!”
“With what?” asked the cop.
“Shut up!” said Lupe, turning to her sister.
“You shut up!” shouted the big man. “Let her talk.”
“I will not!” commanded Lupe, getting out of the Moon.
“Get back in the car!” yelled Salvador, not wanting Lupe to get involved. “I’ll handle this!”
“But he has no right to treat you like this!” said Lupe, coming closer. “Officer!” she said, “I want the name of your superior.”
The cop stared at Lupe as if seeing her for the first time. Her English was excellent. Completely without an accent. And she was very well-dressed.
“But, ma’am, I’m stopping a speeder,” he said.
“Well, then, officer,” said Lupe, her face filled with indignation, “if that’s what you’re doing, then you do it with dignity. Just look at yourself. Those spots and stains on your uniform, that’s disgraceful,” she said.
“But, ma’am,” said the young cop, forgetting all about Salvador, “I got to buy my own gas and uniform. They don’t pay me nothing.”
“That’s no excuse!” said Lupe, heart pounding with rage, remembering the first day she’d seen her Colonel in his immaculate uniform, and that had been in the midst of battle. “A handsome young officer like you, representing the police department, should have more pride!”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, putting his gun away.
All this time, Carlota was looking from Lupe to the policeman and back to her sister in bewilderment. Never in her life had she ever seen any woman handle authority like this.
“Look,” said the cop, turning to Salvador, thinking that maybe he’d made a mistake and these weren’t Mexicans after all, “let’s just say we never met and you take these two ladies out of here.”
“Fine with me,” said Salvador.
“No!” said Lupe. “I want you to give me the name of your superior, right now!”
“Lupe,” said Salvador, “that’s enough! Let’s just get out of here!”
“But he . . . ”
“Lupe,” said Salvador, taking her by the arm, “people are waiting for us.”
“Well, all right,” said Lupe, still not wanting to give in. “But you best behave in the future!” she snapped at the young officer over her shoulder as Salvador put her back inside of the Moon.
“Yes, ma’am!” said the huge-jawed cop.
Salvador wanted to double over with laughter, but another part of him was angry that Lupe had come to his rescue. “My God,” he said, once they were driving away, “what got into you, Lupe?”
“Me?” she said. “You’re the one who looked like you were ready to try and fight him!”
“I could’ve whipped him,” he said. “Don’t you ever do that again! My God!”
“He’s right,” said Carlota. “Oh, I thought we were all going to jail.”
“Why jail?” asked Salvador. “And who’s Rose-Mary?”
Carlota clammed up.
“Well, who is she?” repeated Salvador. “You said she was right about something.”
“I’m not supposed to talk,” said Carlota. “If you want to know anything, you’ll have to ask Lupe.”
Lupe turned, giving her sister a deadly look. Then she turned back around, took a deep breath, and pulled herself together. Oh, she was going to kill Carlota with her bare hands once they were alone.
“Rose-Mary is a friend of ours,” said Lupe. “We’ve known her and her family since La Lluvia.”
“Oh, I see.”
“And she told Carlota and me that you’re a bootlegger.”
Salvador almost drove off the road.
“What?” he said.
“Salvador,” said Lupe, feeling her heart wanting to burst, “I’m sorry my sister brought this up. But now, since it’s out in the open, I’d like you to answer this question once and for all; are you a bootlegger or not?”
Salvador glanced at Lupe and a million thoughts went reeling through his mind. A part of him really did want to tell her the truth and explain to her that he was a bootlegger, but that la bootlegada wasn’t bad. It was good. It made him king of his own destiny! And what was bad was the way that Mexicans were treated like dogs in this country. But he also knew that if he told her the truth, now, before they were married and especially here in front of her sister, that he’d never get the chance to explain anything to her because she’d leave him instantly.
“No,” he said at last, “I’m not a bootlegger. I’m a hard-working businessman. You know that, Lupe. You saw how I worked with your father and brother, moving fertilizer. I’m surprised you’d even ask.”
“I didn’t,” said Lupe, feeling relieved. “It was my sister.” She gave Carlota another terrible stare. “I told her that she was wrong, that I’d heard those rumors when I’d first met you, too.”
Carlota returned Lupe’s evil look. She was so mad, she could scream. She just didn’t care what Salvador or anyone else said. Salvador was a no-good bootlegger in her opinion, and she just knew that she was right.
They were all still pretty shaky when they got to the barrios. That big young cop had truly looked crazy with rage. Driving down the rutted dirt street, Lupe realized that this was, indeed, the same street that she’d come down over the years to get eggs and goat’s milk on their way to Hemet to do the apricots.
The street was full of potholes and deep ruts and they lifted dust on the homes and clotheslines as they passed by in the long, sleek Moon. The children playing in the street immediately recognized Salvador and came running up alongside the car.
“The kids, I drive them up and down the street in my car,” said Salvador, explaining the children’s adoration.
Lupe took his arm, remembering how he’d let her drive, too. Then to Lupe’s surprise, they pulled up to the last two houses on the street, the very same place where they’d stopped for the goat’s milk so many times.
Her mind went reeling. She recalled the thick-chested young man that she’d seen the first time that they’d stopped by. His face had been bandaged, and he’d had a gun in his back pocket. Rose-Mary’s words came rushing back to her mind. She turned and looked at Salvador, wondering if he was, indeed, that same man.
But she couldn’t tell. He was all dressed up now in a beautiful suit with an elegant white shirt and gold cufflinks and a fine panama hat. Oh, she just wished that she could get Rose-Mary’s words out of her mind once and for all!
“Are you all right?” asked Salvador, parking the Moon in front of the two houses. “You look a little pale, Lupe.”
“I’m fine,” said Lupe. But inside, she was a ball of nerves. The devil of doubt was strangling her.
“It’s all right,” said Salvador, taking her hand. “The cop is gone; and don’t worry, you did wonderful,” he added. “I’m not upset with you anymore. I guess I was just frightened for you when you got out of the car.”
She saw his eyes and his beautiful smile. Lupe knew that she had to put the evil thoughts that she was having out of her mind or it was going to ruin everything.
“I was frightened for you, too,” she said, caressing his hand.
He took her hand in his. “We’re going to do good together,” he said. “Very good together.”
“All right! Enough!” said Carlota. “Let me out!”
Salvador and Lupe both laughed. They’d forgotten all about Carlota. He got out of
the Moon and came around to open the door for Lupe and her sister. There were chickens running every which way. The fenced-in garden on the side of the big house was green and lush and beautiful. A mother pig with her litter of seven piglets came rushing by.
“Oooooooh!” said Carlota, making a face of repulsion. “There’s chicken caca all over the place! Don’t you people ever clean it up?”
“Carlota!” said Lupe. “You promised!”
“Yes, but I never promised to ruin my new red shoes!” she said. “Oh, look! They have caca on them!”
Salvador didn’t know what to say. He felt so embarrassed. He’d asked José and Pedro to clean up the place. And, as far as he was concerned, the place looked pretty good. The animals were all fat and healthy and the garden was a paradise of luscious green. Oh, how he wished that they’d brought Victoriano instead of this big-mouthed, face-painted clown of a woman. He truly wondered if Carlota was even Lupe’s sister.
“Come this way,” he said as graciously as he could. “I think it will be better.”
“Ha!” said Carlota. “It’s dirty everywhere!”
Lupe grabbed Carlota by the arm and pinched her in the soft underarm. “Stop it!” she whispered under her breath.
But Carlota wasn’t about to be silenced. “Don’t pinch me!” she screamed.
And she would’ve gone right on talking if, at that moment, José and Pedro hadn’t come racing around the corner, chasing after the big male pig that they’d had tied up in back. The squealing pig ran between Carlota’s legs, lifting up her skirt and almost knocking her to the ground. She let out a screech of terror. Lupe couldn’t help but laugh. Salvador laughed, too.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me!” cried Carlota. “I came as a favor to you, Lupe, and now I got caca smeared all over me!”
Salvador tried to stop laughing. “I’ll buy you new shoes,” he said. “I’m sorry. Really. And you, José! Pedro! I thought I told you two to clean up the place.”
“We did!” said Pedro. “We worked all day yesterday with the boys from the neighborhood. That’s why everything looks so good!” he added proudly.
Salvador glanced around. “Then, this is clean?”
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