Wasatch Mountain Times | 1995-12-01 | Page 11

WASATCH Continued from page 10 milling about the door at the shelter. She already knew there was no room an earlier visit. But a friendly an angel really, named Leticia, who could speak Spanish, told Maria that she and little Javiar could spend the night inside on a cot in the hallway. Rodrigo could put his name on a waiting list, but with the cold weather, she cautioned that it might be a long time before there would be space for hint and Jesus. After several uneasy nights on the cot, she joined Rodrigo and Javiar under the viaduct in the little shanty. She just wanted to be alone with her husband and baby. er milk was still plentiful. But she knew she would have to eat more in order to keep feeding the baby and there simply wasn’t enough. The treks to the soup kitchen were not convenient from their shanty under the viaduct and her shoes were coming apart. And even at that, one good meal a day didn’t seem adequate. Maybe we should go back, she offered in worried tones in the middle of the night, bundled tight against her husband. Rodrigo found no answer, but she could see in the light of the dying embers a deep concern in his eyes. Things had seemed right when they crossed the border near Mexicali in early spring. She and Rodrigo and Jesus picked the spring crop of grape- fruit in the California desert. It was only then that she suspected her pregnancy. They followed the picking northward throughout the summer. Lettuce and carrotts in the great central valley of California. She tried to remember the heat, it was like a furnace. Then grapes and peaches in northern California and into Oregon, as summer ended. And then autumn, until all the apples were picked between the white-topped volcano in northernmost Oregon and the wide river they Chala end Columbia. By then Was Maria getting too big to travel much. And one day, the jeffe, the farm boss, rushed them in his pickup truck from Hood River to the little hospital in The Dalles. It was there, overlooking the Columbia, that Javiar was born. He was a handsome baby and a blessing from God. But the hospital took almost everything of their hardearned money. She shook her head as she remembered how Jesus and Rodrigo had burst into her family’s little shop with bright eyes and exuberance after hatching the plan to come to Estados Unidos — the great, rich country. They would make a lot of money, said Jesus. TIMES Then they would buy fancy cars and expensive clothes and return to buy a big shop or restaurant in Oaxaca, right on the zocalo. It is a good plan, said Rodrigo exuberantly. Then we will start the family, Maria. A gust of wind sent red embers flying into the night. Maria put Javiar to her breast inside the wool Army coat that Leticia had found for her. Maria prayed to St. Christopher that he would guide them back safely to Mitla, her little town in the foothills of the Sierra Madre. There she would help her mother and Grandma Rosa in the shop, selling yarns and threads And perhaps Rodrigo could get a good job as a tour guide at the ruins. They would all be warm and happy Jesus broke the windblown silence of the night. He sounded drunk and mournful. I wish we were home in your Grandma Rosa’s kitchen again, preparing the tamales of Christmas, he said over the wind. I wish we were celebrating, rolling the masa in the corn husks and drinking wine and laughing with dough all over our hands and 7 faces. Do you remember Maria? It was just one year ago. Do you remember? Is Mitla still there? Or is it just a dream? Don’t worry, Maria said to comfort him. St. Christopher will guide us back home. Oaxaca is still there. All our family and friends wait for us in Mitla. They are praying for us and little Javiar, who they haven’t even met. Still, they are waiting for him and praying for him. I know. Rodrigo walked out of the dark night. He had a bag of hamburgers that were still warm. Jesus gulped one down. Very good, brother, he said Maria ate hers slowly, not wanting it to be finished quickly What is wrong with your hands? Rodrigo asked his brother. It is nothing, Jesus answered with a touch of machismo A little scuffle in the park. Nothing really TY odrigo, noticing Jesus was a little Py ame gave him a stern look J and then set to resurrecting the shanty. It is too cold for Maria and the baby, he said to Jesus. We must build a windbreak at least. And to hell with the police and the bastards that won't allow us a little warmth. I think they forget that we are human, too. We haven’t always been this way, have we Rodrigo, Jesus offered loudly. We are the sons of a proud people. Our people are from Oaxaca, he shouted to the night. We built pyramids hundreds of years ago that stand to this day. Who do you think you are, here in Estados Continued on page 14 +. Te ie Fe EE 2& The Suntan al Company ie ena Park City , Plaza 1890 Bonanza Dr #103 [phone] Salt Lake City 2120 &. wee EE Wehee from woman, MOUNTAIN 700 East [phone] Market We Offer Professional Lines of Suntanning and Bedy Lotions ie ee « Delicatessen HOLIDAY De Me ¢ Café SPECIAL ORDERS Ae MMe ley BREAKFAST ¢ LUNCH ¢ DINNER Daily Specials CATERING Open ¢ PLATTERS Daily « 1492 ¢ GIFT BASKETS Park Ave. « Park City » 649-0090 ty .