“Come here.”
Diego ran to me and I pulled him in tight with my free arm. “How the hell did you find me?” I ask him.
He looked sheepish, but I encouraged him to be honest. “You saved my life.” I said again.
He told me everything, the poor kid. When Sarah had gone out, Diego had been flipping through channels when he came across the news, and saw a story about a local veteran who’d died after his girlfriend had “drowned” in the river.
Guilt boiled up from my stomach. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have found out that way. I should have told you.”
The kid said nothing. His eyes were being drawn to the woman on the ground.
“Is that….” He was a smart boy.
“Yes.”
“Are you going to kill her?” There was fear in the voice.
I shook my head. “Criminals go to prison.”
I saw relief flood his features. There’d been enough death.
“I want to go home, Uncle Dominic.”
And so I picked up the criminal, and then we went home.
Epilogue
One week later.
Rows of trees, a flag in the breeze, and two headstones side by side. This is where my brother and Lucia were laid to rest. This is where I, and their son, will visit them until our own time has passed.
Diego is beside me, pressed shirt tucked into his pants, and childlike confusion on his face. He knows that his mother and Ethan are gone, but he still doesn’t know what that means.
To the other side of him is Sarah. There are tears on her cheeks, and her hand holds Diego’s. She’s taking him back to Dallas. I offered her the money I’d taken from the tunnel house, but she wants to do things properly. Until I have a use for it, that cash will stay buried.
It’s Sarah who took Anna-Maria into custody. The FBI were eager to get their hands on the person known as Lopez. I was worried that sparing her life meant my own actions would become clear, but my mind was put to rest after Sarah had visited me with a man with no name. If my sins were known, they were forgiven, at least in their eyes.
Diego lets go of Sarah’s hand, and takes something from his pocket before placing it on Ethan’s headstone. It’s a Sugarman mask, the kid is convinced that Ethan’s spirit is the superhero the border needs. The stories have been spreading. Three kidnap victims made it out alive to tell anyone who’d listen about the person that had saved them. A lone wolf. A vigilante.
The Sugarman.
Sarah meets my look, and with a smile, she leads Diego back to the waiting truck and its new windows. As he walks away, I hear Diego singing the folk song that has crossed the border with the illegals, and spread through El Paso. I could hear some of the soft words he was singing...
El cielo me bendijo,
los rayos del sol me cobijan.
Ah llegado una esperanza,
aquel que cuida de nuestras vidas.
Nos protegé de los males,
nuestros pasos El mantiene,
dia y noche El nos vela,
a vengado a los carteles.
Chorus
Nuestros muertos an mandado,
a un espiritu nocturno,
a El que le llamamos Santo,
como El no ay ninguno.
Si un mal se nos acerca,
de pronto cai como sin vida,
Mi Santo 'El Sugarman'
a ti rezo por mi vida.
His words fade away. I look from Lucia’s headstone, to my brother’s. I look at the Sugarman mask. Think of the people who are singing his song.
Maybe violence isn’t the answer on the border, but it’s the only one I’ve got. Should I close my eyes? Turn my back?
Four letters make up my mind. Four letters that shaped my life. They look back at the from Ethan’s headstone like a commandment.
R. L. T. W.
Rangers Lead The Way.
All the fucking way.
I reach out, and pick up the mask.
The End
Corrido of The Sugarman
'El Sugarman'
By:Humberto Gloria
El cielo me bendijo,
los rayos del sol me cobijan.
Ah llegado una esperanza,
aquel que cuida de nuestras vidas.
Nos protegé de los males,
nuestros pasos El mantiene,
dia y noche El nos vela,
a vengado a los carteles.
Chorus
Nuestros muertos an mandado,
a un espiritu nocturno,
a El que le llamamos Santo,
como El no ay ninguno.
Si un mal se nos acerca,
de pronto cai como sin vida,
Mi Santo 'El Sugarman'
a ti rezo por mi vida.
'My Saint- El Sugarman' - English Translation
By: Humberto Gloria
The heavens have blessed me,
the suns rays blanket me,
a hope has arrived,
he who is the protector of our lives.
He watches over us from the evils,
he sustains our path,
day and night he is our watch-keeper
he has avenged us from Cartels.
Chorus
Our dead have sent a Saint,
a nocturnal spirit,
he whom we call Saint,
like him there is no other.
If evil approaches us,
swiftly they fall lifeless,
My Saint El Sugarman
to you I pray to keep my life.
Sugarman Page 9