Love a Foot Above the Ground by Burke Anna

Author:Burke, Anna [Burke, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2014-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

10 El Pinto and the three witch birds

The trip to visit Guillermo’s family was a long one. We traveled through Mexicali then, east before turning south again. For nearly two days we drove, stopping for a few hours to sleep that first night. Not at a hotel, but along the road, sleeping in our truck. I rode with my father and mother in the cab of that beat up old truck, hoping and praying the entire trip that it would not stop. Especially when I got my first view of mountains that we had to cross on our way east. The truck groaned and grumbled, but did not give up. My father and brothers had placed wooden rails around the bed of the truck. They provided better shelter to my brothers and sisters who rode in the back crammed in among boxes that held our treasures for that trip.

Carlos and Juanita drove with us and had loaded more of our baggage into the bed of their truck where Tomàs and Rosa rode. Both Carlos and Juanita had apologized, several times, for the savage words Juanita had spoken on Christmas Eve. Carlos apologized more often than Juanita, who offered more profuse apologies, apparently, to Guillermo than to me. I tried to forgive her since my anger did not make me, or her, a better person. I also tried to accept, even though I did not understand it, that some people are just not right in the head, whether by choice, a sickness of the mind or the bottle. I prayed the rosary along the way, using the beautiful rosary Guillermo had given me. I prayed not meet others like Juanita in Guillermo’s circle of family and friends.

For most of the trip, my brother Paolo sat in the cab of the truck with Carlos and Juanita. Both he and Tomàs had obtained licenses to drive so they could help. Each took turns driving, giving Father and Carlos time to rest.

On the second day we finally arrived at the town nearest to Guillermo’s family’s ranch. The ranch was still miles away, but we would be leaving paved roads behind as we traveled beyond that town. Without road markings to guide us at that point, we had decided that Guillermo, or another of his family members would meet us. I hoped it would be Guillermo.

My father and Carlos parked our trucks in front of a cantina in a town not much bigger than San Felipe. The shops were more modern, as was the gas station where we had already stopped to fill the tanks of the trucks. The instant we stepped out of the trucks, people came to greet us from inside the cantina. In no time at all, the sidewalk in front of the restaurant was crowded with our family members and well-wishers from the town.

“Welcome, welcome,” they called to us. The owner of the cantina stepped forward to introduce himself.

“Please come inside. You have ridden a long way and must be tired. Let us fix you something to eat and drink before you get back on the road.

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