Maria spoke. Miguel mumbled back. “He asks how would you know about such things?”
“Tell him I was an officer in the Coast Guard for twenty years, but I disgraced myself in the eyes of my superior officers because I refused to lie when asked to. Tell him that’s why I’m no longer wearing a coast guard uniform; I wanted to be able to salute the person I saw in the mirror each morning.”
Maria spoke to Miguel again and he answered to the darkness.
“He says that was a very noble thing to do.”
I laughed. So did Raven. Maria frowned. Miguel started to turn around, then caught himself. He spoke to Maria.
“Why do they laugh at my dishonor?”
“Not your dishonor, Señor. We laugh at my last name, which is Noble,” I said.
Miguel laughed before Maria could translate my words. Then he turned to me and said in halting English, “Maybe . . . had . . . no . . . choice.”
“Of course I had a choice,” I said. “Just like you do.” I patted the table. “Aquí, Señor Morales.”
Miguel looked between me and his wife and Eliana. Tears welled in his eyes. Tension mounted uncomfortably in the galley. Finally, he took a step in my direction, then another. Maria slid from the bench and Miguel took her place next to his daughter.
“Papa,” Eliana said.
He pulled her toward him, and kissed her on the forehead. The Morales family sobbed together.
Naida reached for a napkin and dabbed her eyes. She stretched across Eliana and patted her husband’s arm. Then she continued to speak. Maria took a seat beside Miguel on the crowded bench. She continued with her translation.
“We wanted more than what our poor village offered,” Naida said. “So we worked in the fields and nursed our dreams at night in our bed. Then this beautiful child came along. When she was thirteen, Miguel said to me, ‘We must do something with our lives so that Eliana and her children can have a better life.’ That’s when we decided to cross the border. We paid a coyote.”
Miguel broke into the conversation in Spanish. Maria also translated for him.
“But they weren’t as vicious in those days as they are now,” Miguel said. “We paid them to take us across the desert. They were sly and resourceful. They knew which border guards on both sides to bribe. They had water and food prepositioned in the desert. They helped us much like Robin Hood helped the poor people of his day. We made our way as far from Mexico as we could. That’s how we arrived in the Skagit valley. We heard there were jobs for crop pickers here.”
Naida sighed. “But the coyotes would not take children across the desert,” she said. “So we had to leave Eliana with other family members. We promised her we would send money for her to join us. We lived very simply so we could send money back to Mexico.”
Miguel joined the conversation through Maria. “But times changed,” he said. “And the coyotes joined forces with the narcotics traffickers. They wanted upwards of ten thousand U.S. dollars to bring Eliana across the border. We never dealt directly with the coyotes. Always with someone who knew someone who knew someone who knew the coyotes.”
“And they made us a deal,” Naida said. “They said we could pay them two thousand dollars as a down payment. When Eliana arrived she would work for their associates for a certain period of time to repay them for the service of bringing her out of Mexico.”
Miguel pounded the table. “We knew we were taking a risk,” he said. “They never told us they would treat Eliana like a slave. We tried to find out about her. But each time we asked, we were told to be silent because one word to the American immigration authorities would send us back to Mexico and we would never see our daughter again.”
Finally, Eliana spoke. “I made no money,” she said without Maria’s assistance. “All the money went to my clothes, my food, my—how to say it?—my lodge . . . ing.” She continued in Spanish. “No money went even to repay the debt my parents owed to the coyotes.”
“Can we back up?” I asked Eliana. “What happened once the coyotes picked you up in Mexico? How did they bring you here?”
Her head dropped and she started to cry. Eliana gazed at the table. Naida looked lovingly at her daughter. Miguel sighed, before setting his jaw and staring ahead with grim determination. Raven stood in the doorway to the stateroom, his eyes closed but his lips moving as if uttering a prayer. Maria awaited Eliana’s words with her lips poised half open.
I reached an arm out toward Eliana and gently tamped down the air. “Go as slowly as you need to,” I said. “But please don’t leave out any details, no matter how insignificant you think they are.”
Eliana began her story through Maria.
eighteen
“We met the coyote’s men at a bar. We had to leavet hat night, they said. All of us. About two dozen or so. We could not go home again. We could not contact our families. They took away cell phones, watches, radios. They stripped and searched us. The man searching me laughed at me as I stood before him naked. Then he touched me everywhere, poked his fingers everywhere. He claimed he needed to check for money or drugs.”
Miguel’s jaw flexed. Naida squeezed her eyes closed. She also squeezed Eliana’s arm.
“They split us up into two groups,” Eliana said. “The men told us that some of us will be vaqueros. Some will be marineros.”
I touched Maria’s arm. Eliana stopped.
“Sorry,” Maria said. “Vaqueros and marineros. Cowboys and sailors.”
Then Eliana continued.
“Some to travel by the desert. Others by the sea. We did not have a choice. They chose for us. I said to them, ‘I get seasick. I’m afraid to take such a long trip by boat.’ They laughed. ‘It’s a big boat,’ they said. ‘You won’t even feel like you’re on the sea.’
“Then we all got into vans depending on whether we were to travel by land or by sea. My van drove for eight hours or more through the night. Early the next morning, we saw the ocean. Off the coast a large freighter waited. We—”
“Eliana, do you know where on the coast you were?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “But we were on the ocean, not the Sea of Cortez. Maybe somewhere south of. . . . Sorry, Señor Noble, but I do not know exactly.”
“Were other ships around?” I asked.
“No. This was the only ship. Anchored off shore. Smaller boats awaited us. ‘Come quickly. You must hurry,’ the men in the smaller boats said. They pushed us into the boats and sped us toward the larger boat. I remember it was big and red, red like the color of the dying sun, red like blood. And I said to myself, ‘I will die at sea.’”
“Did you see the ship’s name?” I asked.
“Sorry, Señor, I looked to see what was the name of my tomb, but it appeared they had draped cloth over the front of the boat where I expected to see the name.”
Eliana began to sob. She shook her head. She said a few words to Maria. Naida gasped. Miguel bit his lip and shook his head as well. Maria hesitated to translate.
“I wish I would have died at sea, Señor Noble. Then I would not have brought this disgrace on my family and on myself.”
The subtle, polyrhythmic beat in the background came from Raven tapping his finger against the wall. His eyes remained closed. His lips continued to move.
“No, Eliana,” I said. “This is not your fault. Please, can you tell me what you saw on the boat. What kind of cargo did it carry?”
“Precious cargo,” she said. “I remember that down below, next to the room where they kept us, I saw many wooden crates marked “Handle With Care.” They treated their cargo better than they treated us. Twelve men and women, all of us in a room no bigger than this.” Eliana pointed around the galley. “There we must sleep and eat and use a small bucket as the toilet. No place to wash. Crammed like cattle into a stall. The smell of human waste and mildew always in the air.”
Eliana held her hand to her face, massaging her forehead with her fingertips.
“Do you know how long you were at sea?”
I asked.
Eliana shook her head. “No. We had no clocks. No windows to see outside. No light other than a small lightbulb that hung overhead. They fed us occasionally. Rice. A few beans. Two tortillas for everyone to share. A small pitcher of water for everyone to drink from.
“We took turns sleeping on the floor while the others stood. A man wheezed for several days. From asthma, he said. His breathing grew worse, and one day after he slept on the floor we could not awaken him. He had a weak pulse. We called for the ship’s men. They came and hauled him away. To get help, they said. A pregnant woman began bleeding from between her legs. They also carried her away. We never saw either of them again.
“Then one day the ship’s men knocked on the door and announced that we could take showers. I was to be first, they said. I was so happy to bathe. Then the men said that they must watch as I bathed. When I refused, one man hit me. Two other men grabbed me by the arms. I knew what they wanted. I said, ‘Why would you want to have sex with an unclean woman?’ They laughed. They stuffed a cloth in my mouth and pulled me into a washroom, where they ripped off my clothes and threw me under a shower. They took turns rubbing me everywhere with soap.”
Miguel hit the table with his fist. Naida sobbed. Eliana sniffed back tears.
“‘Now,’ they said, ‘you are a clean woman.’ They dragged me to a berth somewhere deep in the belly of the ship, and each man—”
Maria held up her hand for Eliana to stop. She picked up a napkin and wiped tears from her eyes, then she motioned for Eliana to continue.
“Each man took his turn inside me. When they finished, they said, ‘It’s good practice for your new life in America.’ I thought they simply wanted to insult me. When they left, a man turned out the lights and said, ‘For your services, tonight you can sleep alone in this bed.’”
Now Eliana also began to sob. In the background, Raven’s chanting grew louder.
“The next day they returned me to the room with the others. They came for me and the other women whenever they wanted. When the men tried to stop them, they used clubs and beat the men until they were bloody and bruised. Time stopped. My life stopped. I wanted to die at sea. I tried to kill myself by rushing from the men once when they came for me. I wanted to jump into the sea. Surely, the sea would open her arms for me and let me lie peacefully in them rather than stay in this brutal hell. But the men caught me, and from then on they guarded against my flight.
“Then one day, a man came into our room. He tied our wrists behind our backs with a heavy rope. Blindfolded us. Gagged us. I thought it was just another trick to drag the women away for sex. But the ship shuddered beneath us, the engines slowed, and suddenly I felt little motion other than the sea. They led us all up several flights of stairs. Once on deck, I felt the salt air kiss my face. We were lowered into smaller boats whose engines roared to a start. We bobbed up and down in the sea. I felt myself getting seasick, but I told myself soon we would be on land. But land never came.
“We were taken to another boat, smaller than the freighter, I think. A different kind of boat. My feet walked over carpet as they led us through the boat, then down. Down somewhere in the bottom of this boat. Below the water, I think. The sides of the boat felt cold against my skin. I heard water sloshing against the boat.
“Ten of us were crammed into a long, small room without light. We could not really stand, and we could not really lie down.”
Eliana extended her hand back on her wrist. “We leaned against the sides of the boat. Shoulder to shoulder, like sardines in a can.”
I closed my eyes as Eliana continued.
“We could not speak. They kept the gags over our mouths. The rope rubbed my wrists raw. No one fed us. But no one bothered us either, at least not at first. I experienced a different motion in this second boat. We moved faster, and I felt the sea more than I had before. It made me feel nauseous, but I did not vomit. And the smell. I remember the smell of this boat.”
Eliana paused, searching for words.
“A strange smell, Señor Noble. Slightly sweet. Slightly pungent. I have been in several new cars since I am here, and their smell reminded me of this boat.
“Thankfully, we did not stay long on this boat. Less than a day. Again we were led from our tiny room and placed into a smaller boat that sped away. And finally, finally, my feet touched the earth. I said a prayer to Santa Maria for carrying me through this ordeal. A man said, ‘Welcome to America.’ He removed our blindfolds and then said we must be quiet or else risk discovery and return to Mexico by the American immigration authorities.”
“Did you see this man? Could you describe him?” I asked.
“No, Señor, it was very dark. Only the twinkling of lights over the water in the distance, like stars floating on darkness. I thought that now I would be taken to see Mama and Papa.” Eliana touched her mother’s arm. “After so much to go through, I thought finally I would be with my family. Finally, I could leave the horror of this voyage behind me. But this would not be.”
She sighed. “We were marched in the darkness for a long time. After little food and little sleep, my body was very weak. I was very tired. Walking up hills and down for maybe two hours. No stars above. Just clouds. No lights. No sounds. Trees all around us. And new smells. A sweet picante smell in the air. It reminded me of cherries. I remember thinking, ‘This can’t be America. Where are the big cities? The lights? The cars? The people?’
“At the end of this march, we came to more water. But now I saw more lights in the distance. An orange glow lit the air. We were placed in small, fast boats that zoomed toward the lights. Then put in cars. I thanked God for leaving the water. I fell asleep in the car, and when I woke up I was in a strange bed.
“The next morning someone knocked on the door. I opened it and saw this short man, Señor Frank. He had a smile and a tray of food. I asked when could I see my parents. ‘Soon,’ he said. ‘But first you must help them out.’ When I asked how I can do that, he said, ‘Your parents did not have enough money to pay for you to leave Mexico, but I have a job for you that will help them pay what they owe.’ When I asked what job that is, he said, ‘A nice job. A hostess to see to the needs of my customers. You will be paid very well, and you will soon repay what your parents owe.’”
Miguel stabbed the table with his elbow, then dropped his head into his hands. Eliana reached out to touch him. They spoke. At first, Maria said nothing.
“Please,” I asked Maria. “Translate for me.”
“Eliana said, ‘Papa, it is not your fault, you did not know.’
“Miguel said, ‘I sold my baby into slavery. I wish to kill these coyotes and this Señor Frank with my bare hands.’
“Eliana said, ‘Papa, it would only result in more sin.’”
Miguel rose from the table. Eliana reached for him. He turned around and spoke to Maria. She translated for me without being asked.
“Miguel said, ‘I cannot stay and listen to what happened to my baby.’”
He moved toward the door. Suddenly, Raven stepped forward. He put an arm around Miguel’s shoulder, opened the door, and walked him outside onto the rear deck. I didn’t hear them speak, but a low, rhythmic tapping sound came from the back of the boat.
Naida spoke to me through Maria.
“We knew something had happened to Eliana when we heard she had made it out of Mexico but we never saw her here. We prayed for the best, but fears of the worst were never far away. Now the truth is worse than our fears. Miguel cannot forgive himself for trying to bring Eliana to be with us. His dream of a better life has become a night-marish hell.” She sighed. “Eliana is our daughter. I will not leave her side.”
Eliana squeezed her eyes closed, but she continued her story through Maria.
nineteen
“At first there was no sex. I felt very uneasy in the club. Señor Frank knew this, so he had me work behind the counter and in the kitchen preparing drinks and food for the women who served the customers of his club. Then
one night he said that one of the women servers became sick. He asked if I could take her place. So I put on one of those very short dresses and served the patrons.
“A man I served asked if I would accompany him to the backroom. ‘What backroom?’ I asked. The man laughed and said, ‘Go ask Señor Frank.’ I did. Señor Frank said it would be all right. So I escorted this man to the back of the club. He took me into a room with a bed and pink satin sheets. When he began to get out of his clothes, I ran from the room back to Señor Frank. But now Señor Frank became a monster. He yelled at me, ‘If you don’t please my customers you will never see your parents again.’”
Eliana sobbed softly.
“And so my descent into an even worse hell began that night.”
Now, she openly wept.
I punched the ceiling in the galley, fighting the urge to act on Miguel’s wishes. Then I took in a deep breath. I leaned over the table and touched Eliana’s arm. She raised her head, her dark eyes now a fathomless pit of sadness.
“You are a very brave woman,” I said, “to endure what you have endured. And, also, to tell the truth about it. Please, I know this is hard but may I ask you some questions?”
I waited for Maria to translate.
Eliana nodded. “Sí.”
“On the second boat, you said you moved faster and felt the motion of the sea more than on the first boat. Can you describe the motion of the waves you felt?”
After Maria translated, Eliana shook her head.
“She doesn’t understand what you mean,” Maria said.
“Did you feel this?” Clap. Clap. Clap. I smacked my hands together sharply three times. “Or did you feel this?” I raised my hand and traced the outline of a large wave.
Before my hand dropped, Eliana pointed. “Sí.” Then she spoke through Maria.
“Yes, the second.” Eliana touched her midsection. “My stomach dropped from under me each time the boat dropped down.”
“Thank you,” I said. Then I held up a finger. “Uno momento.”
Precious Cargo Page 17