Thirteen Senses (23 page)

Kenny laughed. “Well, you're pretty good, too, Salvador, even if you are a damn Mexican!”

Kenny and Salvador walked out of his house and got into his Ford truck. Kenny lived behind his garage, and the house that Salvador and Lupe were renting was three blocks away, over on the north side of Elm Street—which years later would be renamed Carlsbad Village Drive.

Salvador was sound asleep before Kenny had driven a block.

AS SOON AS LUPE HEARD
a vehicle coming down their long driveway, echoing between the trees, she jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Salvador had been gone for three days and nights, and she'd been scared half out of her mind.

And yes, of course, she realized that they didn't have a phone, but still he could have called the Eisner market down the way and had them come and tell her what was going on. She'd been praying day and night, hoping to God that Salvador was all right. They'd been so close, so happy, so why hadn't he come home? Could it be . . . oh, no, not another woman? My God, she hoped not.

But, then, Lupe saw that it wasn't their Moon automobile that was coming down the driveway through the orchard. No, it was a big truck.

“Oh, my God!” said Lupe. “Salvador has been killed, and someone is coming to tell me!”

Quickly, she put on her robe and rushed to the front door. Then she thought that she recognized the truck. It was Kenny White's big truck, and it looked like he was alone.

But then, Kenny parked his truck, and she saw him get out and go around to the passenger side. The blood came back to Lupe's face when she saw that Kenny was helping Salvador out of the truck. Her truelove had come home to her, and he was alive!

“Is he hurt?” she asked Kenny as he brought Salvador inside.

“No, I don't think so. He's just at the end of his rope. He told me he hasn't slept for three days.”

“When did he get to your place?” she asked. All her life Lupe had been very shy, but she wasn't shy now.

“Just a little while ago. He had car trouble and dropped the Moon off at my garage.”

“I see. Was he in a wreck?”

“No, I don't think so,” said Kenny, taking Salvador down the hallway to the bedroom. “Just tired.”

Lupe was trying her best to keep calm, but, oh, she'd been sick with worry, and she'd had no one to talk to.

Kenny lay Salvador down on the bed and pulled off his boots.

“Am I home?” asked Salvador, waking up. “I need to get home to Lupe!”

“You're home,” said Lupe.

“Lupe! Lupe!” said Salvador, quickly reaching out for her. “I love you so much, and I've been driving and driving and . . . and the Moon followed me, bringing me home. Did you see the Mother Moon tonight? She's beautiful, Lupe, and she spoke to me,” he said. “She told me that you were praying for me. And I could feel your love come to me here in my heart, this time,” he added, then he was fast asleep again, and snoring quietly.

Kenny laughed. “Well, I guess he had quite a trip, with the Moon and all. I think he was at his mother's place over in Corona.”

“I don't know,” said Lupe. “Three days ago, he said he was just going out for a few hours on business.”

Lupe walked the older man to the front door. She was so upset that she could scream.

“Good night,” said Kenny, tipping his hat.

“Good night,” said Lupe. “And, well, thank you very much for bringing him home, Kenny.”

“You're welcome, Lupe, and, please don't be too hard on him,” he began to say, but then he stopped himself. “Sorry, Lupe,” he said, “it's none of my business,” he added quickly, and left.

Lupe closed the door and took a deep breath. Yes, she knew that Kenny was right and she shouldn't be too hard on Salvador. No, she should be happy and thank God that she'd gotten Salvador back in one piece; but, also, she couldn't just hide the fact that she was angry.

She'd been so worried.

Where had he been, and what had he been doing? Had he really been at his mother's all this time? Then why hadn't either of them thought of calling her?

Once again, Lupe wondered if, well, could it be another woman.

But oh, she really didn't want to have all these kinds of terrible thoughts running around inside of her head. What was wrong with her? It just seemed that ever since she'd found that bottle of whiskey hidden under the two beautiful pillows with their names embroidered on them, her mind was just alive with the Devil's toys of doubt and fear!

She began to cry. She felt overwhelmed.

UP IN CORONA
, Doña Margarita was praying with her rosary in hand when she heard her daughter-in-love's crying. Ever since Salvador had come by and she'd given him the message that the Chinese man needed to see him, she'd been praying day and night for God, the Father, to help her son Salvador and his young wife.

A mother's job was never done. A woman of substance wasn't done until her earth-body was returned to the ground from which it had come.

But even then the journey of life,
la vida,
wasn't finished. After human beings finished their work here on Earth, they then returned to the Great Beyond to continue their service in the name of the Holy Creator.

Doña Margarita prayed in her little shack in the predawn of the day using the rosary that had been her father's—the rosary that she'd been carrying from town to town ever since they'd had to leave their beloved
tierra de los Altos de Jalisco.
And in her mind's eye, the old woman suddenly knew that Lupe and Salvador were in danger once again.

Salvador's young wife was crying and the Devil was creeping close, preparing to snatch her love for Salvador away from her the first chance he got.

Quickly, Doña Margarita moved up and down the musical scale of the full Thirteen Senses as she'd done before when she'd turned into an eagle and went to help her son at the border. This time she once more stopped at the Eleventh Sense—called Form-Shifting by many Indigenous People of the Southwest—and she took on the form of an owl this time.

El Diablo
was creeping down the branches of the Tree of Knowledge to intercept Lupe's prayers when the old Indian came sweeping down out of the Heavens and took the old Devil by such surprise, grabbing him by his long weasel tail, that he leaped out of the Tree and went screaming up into the Sky, trying to get away. But the She-Owl had a good hold of him, and she rode him through the Heavens until by accident she almost got him through the Gates of Heaven and back with God.

“Get the hell away from me, you smelly old woman!” he screamed.

“Oh, come and give me a quick kiss!” she said. “You know you love me, and to love me is to love God!”

Hearing this, the Devil spat and took off for the depths of Hell!

AND INSIDE
of their honeymoon cottage, Lupe suddenly felt this great peace come over her and she felt so happy, so blessed, like all these feelings of doubt and fear had left her soul, and
Papito Dios
was now completely here with her once again.

“Thank You, Lord God, for helping me,” she said. “I don't want to keep having all these bad thoughts inside of my head, thinking that my husband's love be false!”

And saying these last words “his love be false,” Lupe was suddenly back in her box canyon of
la Lluvia de Oro
. She was seven years old and she and her childhood girlfriends were playing jump rope and singing a song about false love.

The tears streamed down Lupe's eyes, and in Corona some seventy miles away, Doña Margarita smiled, sending love to her daughter-in-love. For the words of “daughter-in-law” had never made much sense to the old Indian woman. It wasn't the “law” that brought new members into one's
familia,
it was the “love.” And so tears of joy continued streaming down Lupe's face as her mother-in-love kept praying for her, and Lupe was now sure that everything was going to work out for her and Salvador and their promises were true to each other, so their love would then be sweet as long as oranges were sweet—forever and ever!

Lupe felt better. It was hard to keep full of doubt and fear when you had so many wonderful memories smiling down upon you like kisses from Heaven.

She made the sign of the cross over herself, thanking the Holy Creator.

Then instantly, she remembered the bottle and the can of money she'd thrown in the trash. She'd never gone back to get them! She decided to now go and retrieve them.

She was no longer afraid.

The Devil was gone. She'd brought light into her darkness.

And walking outside, here was the Mother Moon, and she looked so beautiful surrounded by dark sky and bright stars.

“Hello, Mother,” Lupe said to
la Luna,
as she'd done every single night back home in their beloved box canyon.

And the Mother Moon smiled back to Lupe, holding in all her glory, the Female Eye
de Papito Dios,
giving Heart-Guidance to women since the dawn of time.

THE NEXT AFTERNOON
, Kenny White was washing off Salvador's car so he could start working on it, when he came across the two huge bullet holes in the lid of the trunk. He turned off the hose and opened the trunk very carefully. There were splatters of blood all over the inside of the trunk. Kenny didn't know what to do. Should he go to the law, or should he wait and ask Salvador to explain himself first? He decided to put the car back inside of his garage and have a good-sized drink of whiskey so he could think the whole situation over very carefully.

SALVADOR SLEPT FOR SIXTEEN HOURS STRAIGHT.

Then little by little, as he began waking up, he dreamed that he was being hugged and kissed and it felt so good. Warm, strong, firm legs wrapped all about him and hard, big-nippled breasts pushing against him like a covey of quail running uphill.

He dreamed of gripping his truelove closer and closer, tighter and tighter, feeling her young, hard quail-breasts beating hard against his chest as she jerked him to herself with such hunger and warmth and smooth silkiness.

Then yes, oh, yes, they were gliding, slipping, sliding through that needle's eye of returning toward a memory, a longing of paradise.

All yesterdays disappeared and today stood still . . . not in thoughts, but in feelings of warmth, of juicy wet warmth, and kissing, kissing, holding, and, oh, oh, yes, yes, such soft, tender feelings—truly a Gift from Heaven!

For every little kiss, every little caress of Heart to Heart in the quiet of the Good Night was a journey to the Great Beyond.

In the distance, the ocean waves continued racing up to the seashore like wild stallions. And the Mother Moon rejoiced, giving light and warmth to all young lovers.

And here, in this Blessed Place, the Mother Moon smiled, speaking gently to them, and Salvador and Lupe listened with open hearts, finally letting go, and standing naked before the Universe, having surrendered themselves completely to the journey
de AMOR!

An owl called outside their window.

In the distance a rooster crowed and flapped his wings.

Another Sacred Night was coming to pass.

THEN IT WAS DAYBREAK
and waking up, Salvador remembered that entering Carlsbad, he'd dropped his car off at Kenny's before coming home because he hadn't wanted Lupe to see the car all dirty and . . . with those huge bullet holes in the trunk.

He leaped out of bed! He had to get over to Kenny's garage before the old man found those bullet holes and turned him in to the law! What had he been thinking? Kenny was an Anglo!

“Lupe,” said Salvador, “I need to go and see Kenny!”

“But why?” she said, lying naked next to him in bed. “You were gone for three days and nights!”

“Look,” he said, looking out their window and seeing the first signs of daylight just coming up over the avocado trees in the east. “I know that last time I said I'd only be gone a few hours and was gone for a couple of days, but, look, it's almost daylight, and this time I'm honestly—”

“You were gone three days and three nights,” said Lupe, cutting him off. “And now you've been home two days, but you've been asleep for the whole time.”

Salvador stared at her. “What are you saying?” he said, looking completely baffled. “You mean, that I've been sleeping for two days—oh, my God! I've got to get to Kenny's, and fast!”

Salvador leaped up, grabbed his clothes and pulled them on as he went rushing down the hall. “I'll be right back, Lupe!” he yelled. “I'll be right back!”

“Salvador!” screamed Lupe, slipping on her robe. “Don't you dare leave me again! I'd thought that you'd gotten killed! I was going crazy with fear! We need to talk! I found your whiskey bottle!”

“I'll be right back!” he yelled, repeating himself.

“You leave,” she screamed, “and this time I won't get your money and whiskey from the trash when I throw them away!”

But he paid her no attention. He was out the door, then glancing around, he saw that he had no vehicle. He suddenly remembered that his truck was being used by Epitacio and his car was at Kenny's place. Quickly, he started down the driveway at a jog, and then he was running, and he was barefoot.

Lupe watched him go. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what was going on. Why, Salvador was acting crazy. Was she doing something wrong? What could possibly be so urgent about his car's condition? Her brother, Victoriano, had always said that Kenny was a good mechanic, so surely he could figure out what to do with the car without Salvador.