by Jack Dunn
SHORT STORIES
JACK DUNN
Copyright © 2015 by Jack Dunn
All Rights Reserved.
OTHER BOOKS BY JACK DUNN
HOME AND AWAY
MEMORIAL DAY
THE WAY IT WAS
Table of Contents
MIGUEL’S STORY
THE UNVEILING
STEPS TO FREEDOM
ROY’S BIG SUPPRISE
LOVE STORY
GOING HOME
MIGUEL’S STORY
My name is Miguel and I am dead. I don’t know how long I’ve been dead. Maybe for not so long. I was badly beaten by gang of young guys. I think that I might not have died but one of them kicked me in the head twice after I was down. I never regained consciousness and I died in the hospital two days later.
I tell you a little bit about myself. I was twenty years old. I was born near the town of Moncleva, Mexico. If you never heard of that place, it is a two or three day walk south of Neuva Laredo which is right on the Rio Grande River. I lived there with my mother and my three sisters and four brothers.
There was a man who would come to our house every now and then and would stay for a while. I don’t think he ever stayed for more than a couple of weeks. I think that man was my father but he liked to beat me especially when he was drunk. That stopped when I was fifteen and big for my age. One day that man came into our house and he was drunk. He tried to push me to the side. I hit him in the face and he fell to the floor. He never tried to push me or hit me again. That made me feel good.
When that man was not around our life was not too bad. My mother was not mean to us even though she had to work very hard. We all had to work hard. We had a corn field and a garden where we grew vegetables. Some times we had some chickens.
When I was a boy, I never thought much about what the next day or the next week would bring. But as I got older, I started to see how things never changed much for us. There was never more than just enough food to eat, we were all crowded into this little house and things never seemed to get any better. Then I started hearing talk about people going north into the United States where there were jobs to make money. But I didn’t know how to do that.
One day when I was nineteen years old, my mother’s younger brother came to visit us. Luis was older than me and he had just returned from the States where he had been working for several years. He looked so grand! He was wearing nice clothes, real shoes and he was wearing a real sombrero, not that straw kind that I had. I will always remember the big wide belt with the silver buckle that he was wearing. He brought some special foods and he gave my mother some money.
Later that day, Luis talked to me about going back with him. He made it sound very good. He said he had money for me to go back with him and I could repay him after I got a job. Luis was sure I could get a job where he worked at the place where they cut up chickens to be sold in the stores. I could make money to buy things and I could send money back to help my mother. He said that not having English wouldn’t be a problem and I could pick up words after a while. I was afraid that I would get arrested and put in jail. Luis said that after we would get across the border there probably would not be a problem and the worst thing that could happen would be the police would bring me back
I was more than a little scared and not sure that I wanted to leave my family and everything and everybody that I had ever known. Maybe it wouldn’t be fair to my mother. But she helped me make the decision to go.
She said, “Miguel, there is never going to be anything for you in this place.
Maybe you can make a better home for yourself with the Anglos and maybe someday I could cone to live with you.”
The next day, Luis and I got on the bus and traveled from Moncleva to Nueva Laredo. Luis seemed to know everything. He knew where to find a man and he paid him some money to take us across the Rio Grande River in a little boat. We walked back into the town of Laredo to get another bus to go north. We had to wait several hours for the bus, so we slept on a bench.
The long trip north took parts of two days. The bus traveled both night and day but it stopped many times. Luis and I got off to eat a couple of times. The food was very different from what I was used to.
We slept a lot on the bus ride but when we were awake we talked a good bit.
Luis told me about where we were going and where he lived. It was in Pennsylvania and in a town called Coalville. He said that a long time ago many of the men in that town used to be coal miners but not so much now. He said that some of their names were very hard to say and sometimes they would talk in a different language. I asked Luis if they were Anglos. He said maybe but he didn’t know for sure.
Luis said it did not get as hot in the summer as in Mexico but it got a lot colder in winter and that sometimes there would be a lot of snow. I had never seen snow.
Luis told me that he lived with another family in their house and that he had a room and a bed of his own. The houses were different from my home and they were mostly made of wood, not adobe. He said that in the part of the town where he lived there were other families from Mexico. Sometimes in the evenings and on the weekends everybody would get together and play music and sing and have like a fiesta.
I thought that sounded very nice.
On the first afternoon of our bus trip we made a stop in a little town to eat. Three men got on the bus as it left and they sat in front of us. The talked very loud and laughed a lot. I think that they had been drinking. Luis and I had been talking and one of the men turned and pointed to us and said a word that I did not know.
I whispered to Luis. “What is wetback?”
Luis shook his head and motioned that I shouldn’t say anything. Later that day after those men got off the bus, Luis told me some Anglos did not like Mexicans and used ugly words to describe us. He didn’t seem to know why that was. He said maybe it was just because we spoke different or looked different. He said that some of his friends had gotten into fights about this but he always just walked away. Fighting never solved anything, he said. I should have remembered that.
Luis smiled when I reminded him that we came across the river in a boat and didn’t get our backs wet.
Late on the second day of our bus trip from Laredo, we came into a large city. I couldn’t believe that there were buildings that high. So many people. Luis said that this place was called Philadelphia. He bought tickets but he said the bus we wanted would not leave until the next morning so we slept on the benches again. The trip continued the next day and for a while we saw many farms. There were large fields of corn and other crops. I saw many big barns and lots of cows. It was not too long before we were in some mountains. I had never seen so many trees.
Later on the bus came in to a small town. We drove down a street where there were some stores and cars were parked along the street. The bus stopped and Luis stood up.
He said, “This is where we get off.”
As we stepped off the bus, I could see that there were two men standing there. I didn’t know if maybe they were going to get on the bus or if they were meeting somebody that was getting off. As soon as they saw Luis and I, they both got scowls on their faces and they exchanged words. Luis told me later what they had said.
“Looks like we’re getting two more.”
“Yeah, those greasers never stop coming.”
Luis said it was just a short walk to where he lived and in a few minutes we had arrived. We walked up on to the porch and in the front door of the house.
He called out, “Carmelita, I’m back!”
A woman appeared from a room to the right. “Luis it’s so good to see you. Have any trouble?
“No, everything went smooth. I brought a friend back. This is Miguel. He is my sister’s son.”
The woman nodded. “We’ll have a nice meal tonight and maybe some music to celebrate your return. I can find a place for Miguel to sleep tonight but we’re crowded and he’ll have to find somewhere else after that. I think the Perez family may have a spare room. You should talk to them this afternoon.”
”I’ll do that. Has there been any trouble around here since I was gone?”
“Nothing around here but the government raided a plant over near Harton and they picked up twelve or fifteen people that didn’t have the papers. They’re probably in jail somewhere or on the way back.”
Luis took me around the area where most of the Mexicans lived that afternoon.
I found a place to live. The room was small but it had a closet, a nice bed and table. Luis paid for my first week’s rent. We visited a store where they sold groceries and other things and introduced me to the owner. Later Luis told me that man might help me get the right papers to stay here but it would cost a lot of money.
That night we had a big meal where Luis stayed. Afterward several neighbors came. There was music and singing. I met a lot of people but it was going to be several days before I remembered all the names.
After the people left, Luis told me that we would have to get to bed because we had to get up early to go to work. He said he was pretty sure that I could get a job where he worked.
The next morning Luis and I left the house and walked up to the next street corner where several other men were standing. Luis told me that we would wait for a truck that would take us to the plant. The trip to the plant only took a few minutes and Luis took me directly to the boss’s office.
The boss was an Anglo but he had enough Spanish to ask me questions. Luis helped me to answer and the boss wrote things on some papers. Finally he looked up at me and spoke.
“We have work for you Miguel. I expect you to be here every day and on time.
Don’t show up drunk and no fighting.”
The work of handling the chicken parts was messy and dripping but it wasn’t hard and it was easy to learn what was expected. By the end of the first week, I felt like an old hand. A few days later I got my first pay. It was the first money that I had ever earned. I knew, though, that I had to pay my rent and pay for food every week. And I owed Luis a lot of money. I was sure that I had made the right decision to come to this place with Luis.
Time slipped by quickly and by the end of the first six months I had saved enough money to pay Luis all that I owed him and I had been able to send some money back to my mother. I bought some new clothes. Life seemed pretty good. I had a problem at work only once during that time.
One day we got a new section boss where I worked. It was pretty clear from the beginning that he didn’t like Mexicans or anybody that was Spanish speaking. He never had a smile on his face when he talked to any of us. A few days after he was there he came walking quickly down the way in back of me and bumped into me very hard. I fell into my work area and some of the chicken parts fell on the floor. He yelled at me and I suppose he was cursing me. He went on his way and I cleaned up the mess. I told Luis about it and he said that maybe it was just an accident and that he had slipped.
But two days later the same thing happened again. A few minutes later I saw him talking to one of the other Anglos and he was looking in my direction and laughing. It was no accident.
So I started keeping my eyes open and being sure I knew where that man was at all times. Three days later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him heading my way. I stiffened my legs and braced my hands against my work area. When he came up behind me and started to push into me, I pushed back, hard. He fell to the floor. When he tried to get up he slipped on the mess on the floor and fell again. I tried to put an innocent look on my face and extended my hand to help him. He waved it away, managed to get to his feet and hurried away, yelling curses over his shoulder. Several of the other workers in the area had big smiles on their faces.
After work and on the way home, the other workers were treating me like I was a hero. We stopped into a bar where they would sell drinks to Mexicans. Everybody wanted to buy me a beer. I didn’t understand all this. Luis told me that mostly if we were treated badly by the Anglos we would just ignore it. He said it might not be good to draw attention to myself.
Winter came and I saw snow for the first time. In the following weeks it snowed several times, it was very cold and not nice. The leaves were off of all the trees and I could see big piles of dirt and rock from the mining. It was not so pretty in winter.
At last spring came and with it, came love. I had been given some new work. Most days I gathered all the boxes of the chicken parts on a big cart and pushed them to the other end of the plant where they were shipped out. I started noticing a pretty Anglo girl and then I saw that she sometimes looked at me. Then one day she smiled at me and I smiled back.
Her name was Jennifer but she said everybody called her Jen. She was very pretty with blond hair and blue eye. She had a nice figure. When she smiled it was like her whole face lit up.
Then one day as I came out of work, I saw her standing on the sidewalk by the building. As I walked up towards her, she took a step towards me, smiled and said hello.
I was speechless. She asked me in Spanish, if I had English. I told her that I had only a few words.
Luis called to me and said I was going to miss the ride back. She said she had a car and would give me a ride to where I stayed. So I told Luis to go ahead.
So we stood there and talked for quite a while. She told me that she had Spanish in high school and she had learned a lot by using it at work. She was easy to talk to and she laughed a lot. She said her home was in another town called Harton and she lived here in her aunt’s home. After we talked for a while she said she would give me a ride to where I lived. Her car was old and it didn’t look so good. She laughed about that and said that her brother had given it to her.
I saw Luis that night and we talked about her. He said it could cause me trouble to be with her. I didn’t understand that. He tried to explain the way Anglos thought but I still didn’t understand. I thought if two people liked to be with each other what was the problem?
From that time on we saw each other pretty often. Not every day but most days.
We both would have liked to be able to see each other some place other than standing on the street or sitting in the car. But the people I lived with would not allow me to have a woman in my room, especially an Anglo. Jen said her aunt was very strict about her bringing anybody into her house.
One Friday after work, Jen asked me if I would like to go for a ride with her the next day. We didn’t work on Saturdays. It was a nice warm day and we drove around the area for a while. We ended up at the end of a road by an area where coal had been dug out of the ground. We talked for a while and then I pulled her to me and kissed her.
We had kissed before but those times we never felt like we had privacy. This was different and we made love. This was the beginning of the happiest time of my life.
Every week on our days off from work, we would go somewhere in Jen’s car and be together. Sometimes we would take food and have like a picnic. Jen helped me to learn a lot of English words and I could say few sentences. We always made love.
It was a warm summer day about three months later, that Jen told me that she had a surprise for me.
“You’re going to be a father. I’m sure that I’m going to have a baby,” she said.
I had never thought much about being a father. She seemed so happy about it. So I would be happy , too. That afternoon and other days that summer we tried to make some plans. We would have to find some place to live after the baby came. Jen said she would have to take some time off from work. She said she could get her job back after the baby was old enough for the day care place. I didn’t think I liked that very much. I told her that in Mexico, the woman would stay at home and take care of children. She said things were different here and we would need the money. I was not so su
re about that. That was the only time we didn’t agree about something.
The next weekend she asked me to go with her to the medical clinic in Harton. I sat in the waiting room while she saw the doctor. When she came out she was all smiles.
The doctor had said that she was for sure going to have a baby and everything looked good. As we left we walked by two Anglo ladies. They were looking at us and the one said something to the other. I couldn’t hear all she said but I did hear the words, ”welfare baby.” I stopped and was going to say something but Jen grabbed my arm. As she pulled me through the door, she said,” Don’t make a fuss. It’s not worth it.”
The summer days passed quickly. Before long, Jen’s belly was swelling and everybody knew she was going to have a baby.
The last day that I can remember, we were both very happy. It was a Friday and on the next day we were going back to the medical clinic. Jen was going to have a test.
She said they had some way to look into her belly and tell if the baby was a boy or a girl.
We really didn’t care which but we were excited to find out. After work we had gone to a restaurant for dinner. It was like a celebration. After we ate, we walked around town and looked in the store windows. It was a nice evening, so far.
We were looking in the window of store that sold baby clothes. I turned as I heard the sound of loud voices and laughter. I saw five or maybe it was six young men walking in our direction. We continued to look in to the store window as they got close.
They stopped by us and one of them said, “Well, what have we here?”
Jen and I turned to look at them.
“Looks like this grease ball has got his little whore knocked up.”
I had enough English words to know what he had said and it made me very angry. I stepped forward and was close enough to smell beer. I moved a little to the side so that I was between them and Jen.
“Ah, we’ve got a hero here. He’s gonna protect his little bitch.”
Jen cried out in a frightened voice. “Miguel! Please! Let’s leave.”
With no warning, the one who had been doing all the talking lurched forward and pushed me hard in the chest with both hands. I staggered off balance but did not fall down. Then that one and another started hitting me with their fists. I don’t know how long the fight lasted. I tried to fight back and I know that I hit them some times. I heard Jen screaming and I turned to look for her. That’s when one of them hit me on the side of my head really hard. I fell and hit my head on the sidewalk.. The last thing I heard before I was kicked unconscious was Jen’s voice calling my name.
So that is what happened to me. I wonder a lot about what I’ve left behind. I hope Jen is alright. I suppose she didn’t go to the clinic to find out if our child is a boy or a girl. Well, she’ll find out some time. I wonder what her life will be like. I suppose Luis will tell my mother what happened. I hope he won’t feel like he caused my death since he brought me to this place. It wasn’t his fault. I still don’t understand why some of the Anglos seem to hate us so much. All I wanted to do was find some work so I could make a better life.
That is my story.
THE UNVEILING