Junior knocked at her door. “Hi,” he said shyly standing in the doorway. “It’s time for dinner.”
“No Bible study tonight?” Merry said but it was more of a fleeting thought than a pointed question.
She had turned back to her things laid out on the bed when Junior came in. He folded his arms, leaning against the door frame. “Guess not. But it didn’t seem to help much anyway,” Junior answered. She looked up and smiled.
“What do you mean? You seldom came to any of the studies! So how would know, Goofy?” She retorted.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t know how to pray!” He said hotly and crossed himself as if to prove his point.
Merry lowered her eyes to the bluejeans she had been folding. How should I address this? she wondered. “You know Junior, a lot of the girls I know from the jail ended up there because they didn’t know the law,” Merry began.
“Yeah... I suppose. They’re not lawyers. So what?” he said lifting his chin.
“What I mean is... The girls might have blundered into a situation not realizing they would end up in jail and that might be kind of like you with your prayers,” she said. “You see God has rules and laws. You’ve heard of the Ten Commandments right?”
He nodded. “Sure,” he said and crossed himself again.
“Okay. Most people have heard of them. The Ten Commandments are God’s basic laws and if we break those, we sever our relationship with God. It’s kind of like this power outage we’ve had since... since the last week of March when Albuquerque got demolished. We haven’t been able to call each other and there is no electricity,” Merry explained. She came over to him and she saw Mac standing in the hallway. He was obviously listening. When he saw Merry he winked and drew back out of sight. Flustered only momentarily, Merry hesitated and Junior looked up at her.
“So, I want to ask you,” she continued. “Have you ever lied before? I mean that is one of the Ten Commandments. Have you lied?”
Junior appeared surprised. “Well, yeah! Of course!”
Merry nodded and said, “All right. Have you ever stolen? Commandment number eight says, ‘Don’t steal!’”
“You know I have but I haven’t stolen anything from any of you... That’s Mac’s rule number two!” he said earnestly.
“I’m glad to hear Mac and God have something in common but this is the point,” Merry said. “God says when we break His laws we sin against Him and the punishment or payment for sinning against God is death.” She ran her finger across her throat to give a visual.
“Not only that, but we read in the Bible that God doesn’t have to listen to the prayers of sinners - those who have broken His commandments. So Junior, when you say you pray but it hasn’t done any good, perhaps you haven’t made your relationship with God right. You told me yourself that you’ve broken at least two of the Ten Commandments! Well, no wonder you don’t think God is listening, He might not be - He doesn’t have to! Junior that is why you need a Savior. You have religion. Lots of people do but what people who sin need - is a Savior not religion.”
Junior’s face showed genuine understanding. “Yeah?” he said. “What do I do?”
Merry looked about for her Bible. She left it with Mac. She had forgotten about Mac. Was he listening still? Not wanting to let the moment pass, Merry went over the basics and asked Junior if he wanted to pray. He did and they did.
The hall was empty when Merry and Junior went to the kitchen for dinner. Only Lenny and Mac were missing. The kitchen was stacked with boxes and several suitcases.
Junior got a plate and sat down. “Guess what?” he said loudly. “Jesus is for real!” Merry looked over her shoulder from the counter and realized that Junior’s declaration was his prayer over his meal. She laughed and shook her head.
Kelsey said, “Yeah? Well, good for you kid.” Some of the others were agreeing with smiles, “Amen” along with simple nods. Patsy looked to Merry and they grinned at one another.
Lyric had baby Manny on her lap. His neck had firmed up so his head wasn’t wobbly as it had been upon his arrival at the Hacienda. His personality seemed to be developing too and the women took turns trying to get him to smile.
Merry sat next to Lyric.
“Hey you!” she said to the baby.
Lyric said, “Did you hear about Tino and Jack Lucero? They’re coming with us.” Merry looked around the table. Consuela and Kelsey bobbed their heads in agreement.
Junior said, “Oh yeah, I was going to tell you but we got to talking about more important things.”
This was really important news but Junior was right... Salvation being the most important when all else was said and done.
Patsy said, “Mac and Lenny made the decision today after talking with them. They left with them, back to the salvage yard.”
Lenny had been working on getting extra parts, gasoline and the actual extra vehicles from Jack who officially worked at the yard and was close friends with the brothers who managed it. When Tino voiced interest in leaving with the group to the Biggs’s ranch and Junior told him to come talk with Mac, Tino brought Jack along.
Merry went back to the nurses’ quarters thinking about the changes. She thought it odd that Mac was making long reaching plans for the group and the ranch when he wouldn’t be around to experience the results of his decisions. Mulling over the dinner discussions and the manifold changes that had arisen since the morning, Merry didn’t notice Junior’s return to his post at the door frame.
It was thoroughly dark now and she had come from the kitchen with Mrs. Ortiz’s glass kerosene lamp. “Junior! You scared me,” Merry yelped when it dawned on her someone had been standing there awhile. “What are you doing?”
“I’m praying,” he said. “I really need God to hear me about Angel.”
Oh... Merry wondered and worried about Angel too. Junior came in and plopped down on a pile of blankets that had been washed and dried and left on the floor at the foot of the bed. “Tino told me where she’s staying. I’m going over there to get her,” he told Merry.
Oh... She said, “Well, good idea to pray about it first, you know. Next, run it by Mac and ask his advice. He knows all about this sort of thing... He’s a genius when it comes to leading a raiding party and even rescuing people... Remember Manny’s mom.”
“He won’t listen. I already tried to talk to him about it and he is too busy rescuing everyone else. So, I prayed and I am going to go tonight,” Junior said. Merry looked down at him and he didn’t look at all like a young teenager. He looked like a little boy with his knees pulled up to his chin with his thin arms wrapped about his legs.
Oh... “That isn’t the way it works, Junior. We are to pray and then also get counsel and sometimes wait... Yes, wait for God’s direction. Rushing headlong into something as important as this could be disastrous,” Merry said. She sat down next to him on the pile of blankets.
They talked for a few more minutes and they decided that Junior would wait on God until tomorrow night.
Junior went off to take night watch.
Merry made plans to talk to Mac about Angel.
Chapter 17 Two Days
“Oo-la-la... oo-la-la,” sung Consuela, swinging a dishtowel and her hips to her words. “Oo-la-la! You go girl!” she sang again prancing between Luz, Sylvia and Tina who stood on one side of the counter and Tom Biggs and Emily Ortiz sitting on the other side at the table. The women behind the counter cheered and clapped.
Merry followed by Patsy, came in from the patio with a single untouched burrito on her plate. She laughed when she saw Consuela do her jingle one more time.
Tom called out, “Congratulate us Maid Merry and your robbing hoods. Emily and I are getting married and going up to the ranch to honeymoon!”
Merry and Patsy went to Mrs. Ortiz and gave her congratulatory hugs. They were discussing this possibility just minutes before over their breakfast. Merry had mentioned Mac’s offer to officiate but also, that he had stipulated his offer was good for
only a short time.
She told Patsy, “I should have put two and two together when he and Tom talked yesterday at breakfast... And that was before the military convoy was sighted skirting town.” From that point out on the patio, the discussion evolved into Tom and Emily getting married.
Patsy and Merry mulled the Junior and Angel problem over breakfast, as well. When Merry had told Patsy the information Junior had shared with her, Patsy said, “Weeeh coco, I know that place. Angel’s staying there? It’s been a drug house since I was a kid! That place didn’t get burnt down during the rioting? Figures!”
“I don’t want Junior taking off by himself; playing the hero. He’ll get himself killed,” Merry said, biting her lower lip.
Patsy said, “You gave him good advice. God got him saved not so he could die but so he can live, serving God and telling others the good news. Junior looks up to Mac. Mac will know what to do.”
Patsy’s words encouraged Merry but Mac and Lenny slept until three and were gone again before Merry could speak to either one. Tom told Merry, that Mac said they would be back for some grub after dark.
With the mist shrouded moon up, it was quite dark just after 10pm when Merry went over the wall in close pursuit of Junior. His outburst and decision to go after his sister happened so quickly that Merry had little time to think or to prepare. With less than 48 hours before they pulled away from the Hacienda permanently, the women and Tom Biggs had fine-tuned their packing, filling both cars, including Merry’s VW before returning the vehicles to the garage in the burned-out two-story.
Exhausted, everyone but a few had gone to bed. Junior and Lyric were replaced from the roof watch by Luz and Kelsey.
Mac and Lenny didn’t show up for dinner. Undoubtedly, they were in the middle of a project at the salvage yard. Merry wasn’t sure what was keeping them but regardless, Junior refused to hold off any longer. He bounded up and over the wall not bothering to use the ladder. She was talking to him one minute and he was over the wall the next.
Merry ran inside. She grabbed Lyric who was standing at the counter finishing the last biscuit from dinner. With flashlight bobbing, Merry pulled her along to the nurses’ quarters. “Come, come! I need you,” Merry insisted.
In the room, they could hear Sarah behind the closed bathroom door cleaning up before bed. Merry shone the light under her bed. As she pulled on her cowboy boots, she said, “Lyric, as soon as I am over the wall wake up Patsy and tell her that I went after Junior. She will know what to do.” Lyric muttered a retort but it was incoherent so Merry ignored her. Lyric’s mouth fell open when Merry opened the geometry book on the nightstand and withdrew the sleek looking .32 Beretta. Merry smiled at Lyric after she checked the safety and plunged the gun into her waistband. Pulling the extra clip from inside the gutted book, she shoved that into her hoody pocket.
“Tell Patsy! Love you,” Merry said and swished past her, trotting toward the patio. She heard Lyric screaming for Patsy even before she exited the sliding doors but by the time Patsy scrambled through the sunroom, all that was left was the ladder lying askew on the patio brick where Merry had kicked it behind her, before dropping to the other side.
Luz stood above her on the roof. “What’s up?” she asked Patsy.
“Merry just took off after Junior. You didn’t see them go?” Patsy wondered what kind of watch wouldn’t have seen two people in full moonlight leave the house.
“Well, yeah!” Luz started to curse but decided against it. She said, “Junior took off like a bat out of Hell. I didn’t see Merry. Where’d they go?”
Patsy, ignoring her question said, “Eeeh, as soon as Mac or even Lenny signals to come in, yell down through the skylight cuz I need to know!”
Patsy scuttled off to put some traveling clothes on. She knew where they went but she wouldn’t and couldn’t go on her own. Not ten minutes passed by when Mac came barging in on her as she was tying up her running shoes.
“What in Hades? What’s happened now? Where are they? I’m going to wring their scrawny little necks. Woman! Tell me!” In the hallway there was no light. Patsy had brought the kitchen lantern in with her but beyond its glowering arena everything was pitch black. Mac, with Lenny hovering behind looked like a phantom with his minion.
“I’ll tell you all about it but I think we had better go if you want to be of any help,” Patsy stammered. In the flickering light he looked murderous. She knew he was going to be mad and so Patsy prepared that one sentence as she heard him thundering through the house on his way to the nurses’ quarters.
Everyone was either in the hallway or standing in their doorways as Mac and Patsy passed by.
“Good night!” Mac roared.
Tom said, “Get out of the way. Go to bed. Emily, go on back to bed and don’t worry.”
Patsy knew Lyric would fill everyone in after she and the others went gone over the wall.
Once in the dim moonlit patio room, Mac halted. “Now, tell me,” he said turning Patsy gently toward him. “I cannot go out into this night if I do not know what I am doing... what awaits me.” Lenny and Tom stood behind them.
Patsy told Mac what she and Merry discussed at breakfast about Junior and Angel. “I don’t know what happened tonight but once Junior got off watch duty, I suppose he headed over the wall. Merry hadn’t planned to go after him... she planned to talk to you, Mac. I don’t know what went wrong but she went after Junior. Lyric said she took her gun. She’s a pretty good shot.”
Mac let out a cackle that sounded to Patsy slightly insane. “Great! She has a gun and she is a good shot! Lenny, we won’t have to worry only about the monsters hurting us but we have to keep our wits around Merry the marksman,” Mac said. “Get Auntie Patsy over the wall without hurting her, please. I will be right back.” His accent had grown so thick Patsy could not understand him but Lenny apparently did.
When Mac turned and disappeared into the shadows of the hallway, Lenny hustled her outside and with Tom’s help began assisting her up the wall.
“Eeeh,” she said as she straddled the top. Lenny pulled the ladder up and adjusted it down the other side. As Patsy was once again standing on solid ground, Mac was next to her with a small pack slung over his shoulder.
He took her by the elbow and said, “Come on now.”
They hurried off in a fast walk. Patsy hadn’t been doing any real walking in months. She prayed silently for God’s strength to not only find Merry and Junior in time but for a safe return to the Hacienda, also.
Some hours later, Patsy sat down in the dry sand of an arroyo just three houses from the drug house. The sky cleared and in the moonlight, the neighborhood didn’t look much different than it had when she was a child. Daylight would reveal the blatant destruction which roiled through the streets recently but not now, not under the quasi light of the moon.
The arroyo was well traveled tonight. Most people were fearfully out doing business, getting food or arranging some sort of necessity. The insane social upheaval had for the most part petered out compared to the week prior. Gangs and evil continued to prevail but not like previously.
Patsy was done in. She told Mac where the house was and what to expect. Patsy had been in that house and she knew this area well.
“The front will be watched. It always was watched but in the backyard there is a high adobe wall. When I was a teen I came in that way more than once and no one ever bothered me. It’s like a backdoor. Of course, things could have changed, but I doubt it. People are slow to change here in Santa Fe; Land of Manana... of Tomorrow,” she told Mac.
“The kitchen door is on the left if you’re coming from the back.”
Patsy warned Mac that these people would be armed and if Angel was inside, Junior might have gone right in as he probably knows all his sister’s homies. She said, “Merry... I hope Merry didn’t just follow Junior in. If she did, well it won’t be pretty...”
Patsy didn’t finish because Mac turned and disappeared over the embankment. Lenny held Mac’s
pack and he led Patsy into a concealed area. Whispering his intent to Patsy, he went after Mac and left her praying for their safe return.
The home behind the drug house was completely burned out. Only thick adobe walls stood now. Even the roof was gone. Lenny caught up to Mac as he stood at the corner of the ruins surveying the six foot wall that enclosed the drug house yard. The typically flat roof was easily seen from where they stood and no one was on the roof. Lenny told Mac he would take the roof and cover him if need be. They both checked their weapons and Mac reminded Lenny of the unpredictable factor of Merry with her handgun.
“She is expecting us but who knows?” Mac said as they approached the wall. There was a huge apricot tree that was a small sapling when Patsy was climbing the wall as a teen fifty years before. Now the tree was covered with Spring foliage towering above the right corner of the drug house yard. The leafy branches gave them effective cover as they topped the wall. Lenny went down first while Mac watched him sprint the yard and climb the house to the roof. Once again, Mac made a mental note to learn the wall running maneuver as it had come in handy at least a dozen times since the two men met in March. Lenny gave him a wave once he was situated up top.
Patsy was right. No one watched the “back door” or the back yard enclosed by the wall. There were no lights from the rear but there was the thumping bass of music pummeling the air even before they came over the wall.
Once Mac was pressed up against the left corner of the house, Lenny lying on his belly on the roof called down. “There are five people out front but they don’t look like serious trouble. Probably dopers. Nobody on either side of the house though,” Mac grunted his okay.
No Merry? He didn’t need to ask as Lenny would have disclosed that vital piece of information along with Junior’s whereabouts too.
Mac edged around the corner towards the kitchen door ducking under two windows, both broken, as he went. A muted glow came from the window in the kitchen door. Mac couldn’t see inside as an opaque material covered the opening. There was talk coming from out front and the music was vibrating the taunt window fabric. He was sure the kitchen door would be locked but he still he tried the handle.
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