Maria's Trail (The Mule Tamer) (3 page)

She made it to the corral and the water trough
and remembered the building well. She looked left and right; there was no one
around. She had begun to dig when a voice called out. She jumped and tried to
hide what she was doing.

“What are you on about there?”

She looked up and saw a child peering at her,
trying to see what she was digging at. The child was about the same age as the
little girl, no more than ten. She was about the same height but she was quite
round and the little girl thought that she must be from a wealthy family to be
so fat.

“Nothing.”

The fat child pushed her aside and began
looking at the spot. “Oh, you are looking for something. What is it?”

The little girl pushed her back and placed her
body between the hole and the fat girl. And now the fat girl, with a good deal
more force than one would expect, struck the little girl along the side of her
face, knocking her to the ground.

She was suddenly furious. Tired of so much
injustice, tired of being mistreated by so many and now this fat little girl,
someone akin to her size, had attacked her. The little girl jumped up and began
beating at her attacker, smacking her over and over, like a wild beast. The
chubby girl recoiled, not expecting such an attack. She retreated and held her
nose which was now freely spouting blood.

“God damn you! You didn’t need to do that.”

“I’m sorry.” She wasn’t really but knew that
she’d won. There was no reason to be cruel and she had a kind heart.

“Jesus!” The girl pinched her nose to keep from
bleeding all over herself. She spit a gob of blood onto the ground. The two sat
together for a while and the little girl kept an eye on her buried treasure.
The fat one looked her attacker over. “What’s your name?”

“Maria.”

“Where’d you come from? I’ve never seen you
before.”

The little girl pointed southeast. “Back
there.” She looked over at her nemesis who had by now staunched the bleeding.
“What’s your name?”

“Juana.”

“I’m sorry for making you bleed.” She regarded
the girl and thought that she might perhaps live with her. “Do you live in this
town?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Here, there, everywhere.” She shrugged and
smiled.

“You have no home?”

“No.” She grinned, she could read the girl’s
mind. “I know, I am too fat to be a vagrant.”

She regarded the girl again. “Maria.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Just saying your name. Named for the
Virgin.”

“Who’s that?” She suddenly had an urge to
urinate again and ran behind the trough as Juana looked on.

“Oh, you’re in a state.” She watched the little
girl wince as she peed. “Let me have a look.”

“Where?”

“Down there.”

“No!” She stood up and straightened her skirt.
The fat girl was appalling.

“Who did that to you?” She suddenly had a
thought. “I know!” She grinned and then stopped grinning. “That pig Sanchez,
the shopkeeper. Didn’t he?” She leaned over the trough and washed the blood
from her blouse. “He’s missing, you know.”

“Yes. I know.” She watched the fat girl for a
while and decided it would be safe to dig up her necklace. Juana watched and
nodded approvingly. She took it from Maria and washed it in the trough for her.
“It’s pretty.” She handed it back.

“Who is this virgin?”

She giggled. “You really don’t know?”

“No.”

“Do you know of Jesus and the church and heaven
and hell?”

“No.”

“But you’re named for her. The Virgin Maria.
Except you aren’t one now.”

“A what?”

“A virgin.” Juana was getting hungry. “Come on,
I’ll take you to the whores. They’ll help you down there.” She pointed at
Maria’s midsection. “They’ll know all about it.”

“What are whores?” Maria was feeling very stupid
around the chubby girl. She said words and talked of things that made no sense,
things Maria knew nothing about.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“They do it for money.”

“What?”

“It, what Sanchez did to you.”

“I don’t know what he did. I was asleep. He
gave me something and I don’t know what he did.”

Juana laughed and then thought better of it.
She became serious. “Did you ever see animals doing it…, you know, breeding,
dogs or cats?”

Maria understood now. “Oh, goats, I’ve seen
goats breed. Yes.”

“That’s it! That’s what the whores do for
money, what Sanchez did to you. He mated with you. He stuck his thing in there,
but you’re too small. The whores said that about me. I’m too young to be a
whore. I’m not big enough yet.”

“I see.” Maria thought she was going to be
sick. It made sense now and it made her feel ill. She thought back to her time
with the shopkeeper. Some things she kind of remembered. Juana brought her from
her reverie.

“Come on, Maria, it’s okay, the whores will
help you.”

They made it to the far side of town, to the
end of the street where there were three saloons and a bordello. Juana escorted
Maria through the front door. Maria had never seen such a place. The walls and
door were painted red. The carpet was red, the drapes were red and red shades
covered all the lamps. A woman greeted them. She was wearing only underwear.
Her breasts were exposed and Maria turned her head away. The prostitute was
kind to her, though. She had a kind face and when she smiled  it revealed an
incomplete set of teeth. She was an Indian, yet she had yellow hair.

“What’s this, Juana?”

“A new girl. Maria. She needs help down there.
Sanchez got her and made her sore.”

“Oh.” The whore lit a cigar and regarded the
little girl. The child was a beauty and the whore’s face reflected a deep
twinge of regret. She reached down and patted Maria on the head, then took her
by the hand. “Come with me, Maria. I’ll help you.”

She took her into another red room with a
sagging bed that was pushed against the wall. It stank of sweat and dirty
bodies and things that Maria had never smelled before. The woman told her to
lie back on the bed and Maria complied. She handed Maria an ointment and told
her what to do. She left the room so that she was alone.

Maria did as she was told and immediately felt
better. She was not certain what to do and stayed in the room. She rested on
the soft bed. The pillow was nice. She’d never felt such a thing in her life,
it was the first bed she’d ever lain in.

She thought about the mean man from the
village. He called her a whore’s spawn. She now knew what a whore was and what
a whore did, but she did not know what it meant to be a spawn. She considered
it. She’d only ever known the old woman and knew well enough that the old woman
was not her mother. The old woman had always made that clear to Maria, and
she’d never thought much about her mother. Perhaps her mother was here. Her
mother was a whore, according to the mean man. Maybe the woman with the yellow
hair was her mother. Probably not. She soon fell into a deep sleep.

She awoke to find food next to her bed. Juana
was sitting nearby, puffing on a cigarette. “Feeling better?”

“Yes.” She looked around and then heard a party
outside the room.

“Go ahead and eat, but hurry. We’ve got to get
out of this room. It’s needed.”

She complied and ate and enjoyed the food. She
could not understand why they were all so good to her. She regarded Juana and
regretted hitting her earlier in the day. She spoke without thinking. “I’m
sorry for making you bleed, Juana.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” She smiled at her. Juana had
a pretty round face. “I deserved it. I shouldn’t have been so cross with you.”
She brightened. “Let’s go get your things.”

“How?” She was confused. She didn’t even know
where her things were. If they were in Sanchez’s shop, it would not be possible
to get them. She needed to urinate again and asked Juana where to go. She
handed Maria a chamber pot and turned her back. She understood her new friend
required privacy.

Maria urinated and it didn’t hurt anymore.

“That medicine is a dream.”

“The whores know.” She grinned. “They always
know and they are good. You’ll never go hungry when there are whores, Maria.
That’s why I’m so fat.” She grinned.

They left and wandered through town. It was
getting busy because some men had come in from a mine and were letting off
steam. Maria saw the rurale from the other day but he paid her no mind, as he
did not remember her. She got Juana’s attention and pointed him out. “Who is
he?”

“Pedro, the rurale. He’s a real pendejo.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, Maria.” Juana bobbed her head from side to
side. “You are the most ignorant bumpkin I’ve ever known. I’ll tell you all the
words, but later.”

They were interrupted by some excitement. A
little man had been drinking with some friends and now they were humiliating
him. They all took turns holding his head as the man swiped at them, flailing
about and falling to the ground. One man became angry at him and began kicking
him. The little man became enraged. He screamed at the top of his lungs and the
bully laughed at him. The bully spat on the little man and then pinned him to
the ground. He ground his face into a pile of horse manure and told the man to
go sleep it off.

Maria watched the little man. He was not unlike
her, except that he was drunk and to an extent asking for it, but there was no
call for pushing him into feces or spitting on him. There was nothing he could
do because he was so small.

This is what Maria was thinking about her own
situation. There was nothing she could do but take it. Take it and be quiet
because the more the little man squawked, the more the bully man mistreated
him.

Finally, mercifully, the bully became tired and
relented. He was becoming a little embarrassed in front of his friends. They
all knew the little man well enough, knew that when he got drunk it was best to
just leave him alone. He’d be better when he’d sobered up. He never really
caused any harm.

Juana wanted to move on, but Maria wanted to
see how this little drama played out. She watched the little man. No one seemed
to notice him, only Maria, as they were all too busy with other things. She
watched as the man brushed himself off, rubbed the feces from his ear and
cheek, then walked away to his mount, still saddled in front of the biggest
saloon. He pulled something from the saddle and walked up to the bully man, got
his attention and, when the bully man turned, the little one shot him through
the head. The bully man was dead.

This is what Maria wanted to see. It
was
possible. She needed only to learn how.

“Come on, there’ll be trouble when Pedro, the
pendejo gets here. He always makes trouble.”

Juana grabbed Maria by the hand and pulled her
down the street. Soon they were at Sanchez’s store. It looked different to
Maria now, all dark, and the outside did not look so nice. She noticed that the
building was not painted and bare wood showed through, two steps were broken
and one looked rotten. She looked at Juana.

“What are we doing here?”

“Getting your things.”

Maria recoiled. “We can’t.”

Juana grinned and tipped her head, “Come on,
I’ll show you.”

They walked to the back of the place and Juana
deftly dropped down to a place beside the rear steps. She slid her body under
the stairs until Maria could no longer see her and now Maria was alone, waiting
for the mean rurale to show up. Suddenly the back door opened and Juana was
standing there with a big grin on her face. “Come on, Maria, hurry.” She
whispered in a low hiss as she looked about.

“How did you do that?”

“There’s a trapdoor. I learned about it a while
ago. I come in here sometimes in the middle of the night to get candy. He never
misses it.”

They were inside and Maria remembered the good
smells. She looked over at the desk, the last place she remembered being during
her time in the store. Juana casually walked about and grabbed some pretty
candy sticks for them both. They began eating.

Juana smiled. “The asshole’s missing, you
know.”

“I know.”

Juana looked at her sideways. “How do you know,
you’ve only just got into town?”

“I know where he is.” Maria suddenly wanted to
tell her new friend everything. Juana sat down and opened two bottles of beer
for them. They drank and Maria liked the beer. She’d never had it and it made
her feel a little dreamy.

Juana grabbed some cigars and lit two. Now she
was drinking beer, eating candy and smoking. She looked very funny to Maria who
smiled for the first time.

“He tried to catch me on fire out in the desert
and I hit him with a rock and he caught himself on fire. Now he’s dead.”

“Really?” Juana grinned. “A rock?”

“Sure.” Maria tried the cigar and liked it. She
blew smoke at Juana’s smoke. “I’m good at rock throwing. I can kill a rabbit
from all the way over there.” She pointed to the far end of the room.

Juana picked up a fancy glass paperweight from
Sanchez’s desk and handed it to Maria. She didn’t doubt the child, but she
wanted to see what Maria could do. “Hit that hat over there.”

Maria threw and easily knocked the hat down.

“Ay, chingao, you
are
good.”

Maria smoked and finished her beer. She was
getting sleepy. She looked around a little nervously. “Should we leave?”

“No, let’s just stay here tonight. Sanchez, I
heard from the whores, didn’t have family nearby. The rurale captain’s been
notified and the pendejo, Pedro, is guarding it. No one will come in here. He’s
too lazy to do anything but check the doors, and they’re locked.

She began wandering around the place and soon
found a box with Maria’s stuff. She showed her new friend and it pleased Juana
to make Maria happy. She looked at the items doubtfully. She picked up the
mirror, then the brush. “This stuff’s junk.”