Authors: Victor Villasenor

Thirteen Senses (86 page)

First, I'd like to thank my agent, Margret McBride, who read this work in so many different forms for the last six years. Poor Margret, I almost drove you crazy when
Thirteen Senses
was entitled
Father Sun, Mother Moon and To The Sky.
Thank you, Margret, for not losing your enthusiasm. I'd like to also thank Margret's staff, who have been real troopersâKris, Sangeeta, Donna, and Jessica.

Next, I'd like to thank my friend Bill Cartwright, whom I met in the early â6os and we were both going to be writers. Thank you, Bill, for hiking into
la Lluvia de Oro
with me when I had a broken arm and I was writing
Rain of Gold.
Thank you and Dennis Avery when we traveled to
los Altos de Jalisco
for researching
Wild Steps of Heaven.
And biggest thanks of all, Bill, for reading
Thirteen Senses
in its many forms and drafts over the last six years. You and Helen and Rob and Barbara were such big help during that mentally explosive time.

Thanks to Jackie, who runs my office and knows more about me than anyone will ever know, thank you, Jackie, thank you, Jackie, thank you, Jackie and I also thank your wonderful husband, Roland, that great attorney that you found in the yellow pages, brought him into our office, then married him to make sure that he stayed with us. Thanks, Roland, too.

Hal, my running partner with the sore neck, thank you for sticking with me on an almost daily basis, not only reading the different drafts again and again but also listening to me when I was jumping up and down, screaming, “Hal, I now see the Sixth! Hal, I now understand the Seventh! Hal, last night
papa
came to me with his
mama
and a dozen angels and now I finally see the Ninth, the Tenth and the Eleventh.” Hal, thank you for not forsaking me. It was a long, marvelous experiencing of Good-Goding-God.

Thank you, David, my son, for being the wise solid rock that you are and keeping the
rancho
together even in the midst of great financial worry and mind-expanding times. You always manage to say the most reassuring words. And congratulations on your acceptance to med school.

Thank you, my son Joseph, and for being the bearer of light. You caused your mother, Barbara, and me to travel to India on a moment's notice and we got to participate in your Siddhartha experience of illuminationâwhich no doubt one day you will put to pen or simply teach. No greater sons could parents ever hope to have than you, Joe, and your brother, David.

Thank you, Barbara, mother of our children, for your support and love that continues even now that we are no longer husband and wife but good friends and .Â .Â . family forever.

And I'd like to thank my sister Linda, whom I grew up with and have not had a close relationship with for almost twenty-five years but now, since
mama
passed away on June 2, 2000, we have been closer together than ever. For the last six months you, Linda, are the one that saved this book by typing with me, working with me, literally from six in the morning to late at night as I reworked the book over and over, sometimes one page, one paragraph for a weekâstretching not just our minds but our languaging from the five senses into the Thirteen.

Now, I'd like to give thanks to RenÃ© Alegria, my editor, who had the guts to buy
Thirteen.
This genius of an editor of HarperCollins (who'd been raised by his grandparents in Tucson, Arizona, and is of my own culture) had the
tanates
to drink red wine and work with me through five months of editing. Thank you, Rene, you are a great editor.
Gracias!

And I'd like to thank Juanita Kramer-Hermoza for coming into my life with such flair and dance, teaching me the word
delicioso
in an all-new way, saying, “Isn't this just a delicious day!” and then smile with such
gusto
at the end of a long, hard day of teaching third grade and still want to go dancing that night. Thank you, Juanita,
mi esposa
, for all your love and support.

Also, thank you very much, my baby sister, Teresita, for supporting me with love and wedding rings and information about our life with
mama
and
papa.
Thank you, Tencha, my older sister with the wealth of information and photos that you have so generously given to me to help capture the mood of this book. And thank you, Gorjenna, for being the wild person you are, and your husband, Big Gary. Thank you, RoseAna, for being the loving person you are, and your husband, Jay. Thank you, Joe Colombo. Thank you, Teri, Joseph and Lyn, John, Kimberly, Skeeter and Alicia, Bryon, Billy and Stacy, Jason and Kady, Little Gary, Bill and Charlene, Erik, Lorraine and Greg. Thank you, Andres and Shannon, Jacinto, Diego, Melissa, Jessica, Callie, Adam Ray, Nicholas, Sara, Miguel, Madeline, Carlitos, Nina, Pablito, MacKenzie, Tyler, Trent, and all you others of
nuestra familia
that I might have missed at this moment, but will remember within the hour.

We are
all familia
, we are all God's childrenâTogether Forever!

And of course, thanks to all of
Tia Maria
's children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And thanks to Luisa's and Sophia's and Victoriano's and Domingo's, who are spread all over Arizona and Texas on both sides of the border and we really don't know who you areâlike Dale, who just showed up at the
rancho
with his wife and kids last month and is a great-grandson of Sophia, who'd been adopted and found us after reading
Rain of Gold. Gracias!
There's no way that this book could've been realized without All of You!

And last but not least, I'd like to give a very special thanks to Gary Cosay and Chuck Scott, who've been with me more than twenty years, as my agent and lawyer. Thanks for the faith and perseverance. We've done it and are still doing itâ
adelante!

ALSO BY
VICTOR VILLASEÃOR

FICTION

Macho!

NONFICTION

Jury: People vs. Juan Corona

Rain of Gold

Walking Stars

Snow Goose: Global Thanksgiving

Wild Steps of Heaven

SCREENPLAYS

Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

Burro Genius

THIRTEEN SENSES
. Copyright Â© 2001 by Victor VillaseÃ±or. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 0-06-621077-1

EPub Edition September 2013 ISBN 9780061753923

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