The Brick People

by Alejandro Morales

  Near them a group of distinguished visitors talked with Walter about the founding of Simons. Walter indicated that early in the establishment of the company town, remembering what he had seen in Mexico, he realized that poor living conditions were as obnoxious to Mexicans as to any other people. With this in mind he attempted to build, step by step, dollar by dollar, in such a manner as to allow free rein to the employees in all matters outside of actual business affairs. The preference of the Mexicans was considered when houses were constructed and the company store was opened. Walter had it stocked and operated by people who understood and respected the national tastes of the Mexicans.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Walter said to the visitors, “in this way I have tried to solve the problem of satisfying labor and thereby avoiding any talk of unions. I felt that if I could succeed with this project, production and quality would rise, costs would be down, and profit would be more than satisfactory. You have seen the results and proof of the wisdom of the course.”

  Walter had always been interested in the individual concerns of his brown workmen. Mexicans were like the earth; Mexicans were the earth, he often would say to himself when alone. By keeping in close touch with his employees and taking care of these men and their families, although it had been an onerous task, the patron had been well repaid. When it was revealed that the annual labor payroll at the plant was less than its primary competitors, that the company had enjoyed the uninterrupted production of a high quality article of brick and had successfully out-earned the keenest competition, there was great applause from the special guests and magnificent praise for the humanitarian policies pursued by Walter.

  Throughout the company’s growth, Walter had endeavored to establish an equitable, mutually agreeable wage scale. In addition, he had been able to inculcate a spirit of loyalty among his Mexican employees that was the envy of all the Eastern businessmen who toured the plant. They agreed that the Simons Brick Company had attained one of the most remarkable industrial records in the country.

  Octavio felt proud when he heard the man say “ ... in the country ... ” During World War I, the Mexican employees had the proud record of subscribing in greater volume for Liberty Bonds and war stamps, in proportion to numbers, than at any similar plant in the United States. The Mexicans, although few were United States citizens, matched their loyalty and patriotism with their hard-earned money and their lives. Moreover, at the suggestion of Walter and Edit, the men wrote letters to relatives in Mexico telling of the wonderful living conditions in the company town of Simons, as well as the goodwill of Americans towards Mexico. These letters did much to counteract German propaganda damaging to United States interests as the letters were passed around freely and widely read in Mexico.

  In Simons, no whistles blew, nor bells rang to mark the beginning or end of work time. Walter was opposed to any methods of labor handling which savored of slave-driving. This attitude paid large dividends in both morale and increased production. When on double shifts, the plant with a capacity of seven hundred thousand bricks easily produced one million bricks per day.

  Octavio and Walter crossed glances. The group of visitors shifted position and moved slowly toward the center. Walter continued to explain his success. The masterminds of Simons were Walter himself and Rosendo Guerrero, whose directional mandala plan had evolved beyond what they both could have imagined.

  After Walter’s model Christmas Eve program, Octavio and Nana planned for their elopement. Malaquías had not been receptive to Octavio, and Nana was sure that her father would deny Octavio her hand. And so they waited for the right hour when Nana would walk out of her house and start a new life with Octavio.

  For days before Nana’s departure, Octavio made himself somewhat of a nuisance and alerted Malaquías that Nana had a serious suitor. Octavio would walk past the house and talk to one of Nana’s brothers and give him an envelope. About ten love letters had been exchanged. The decisive final letter from Nana was delivered to Octavio by Ignacio Sandoval on the morning of December 27. She had instructed Octavio to come for her at six o’clock in the evening.

  At about five o’clock on that not too cold afternoon, Ignacio and Guadalupe Sandoval drove by the de Leon house. Nana and Paquita waved to them through the screen door and heard Guadalupe call out “six o’clock.” Nana and Paquita returned to help their mother in the kitchen. Lorenza knew that her older daughters were planning something. She had a hunch that Nana might not be home the next morning. Sadness, happiness, excitement, worry and love pounded her heart as she observed Nana nervously checking the clock and searching out the front door to the street. Malaquías gathered his family round the table and Lorenza served.

  “Where is Nana?” Malaquías asked, turning to his wife who continued to serve around the table.

  “She’s not feeling well, Papa. She is resting in bed,” Nana’s older sister responded.

  The clock marked three minutes to six. Dinner had started early. The front door was left open and from where Malaquías sat at the head of the table he could see through the kitchen and living room to the street. Lorenza warmed the tortillas. The boys, not aware of what was about to happen, talked and ate happily. Paquita looked to Nana and her bedroom. When Octavio arrived, Nana would have to walk through the living room in front of her father. Paquita drank a glass of milk without breathing.

  “Well, look how hungry you are,” Malaquías remarked to his oldest daughter.

  “Yes, papa, I’m very hungry,” Paquita said and noticed a blue car drive past the door.

  Ignacio’s car was black and Paquita relaxed for a moment. Then a black car drove to the front of the door and stopped right before Malaquías’ view. Paquita’s heart palpitated. Nana would have to leave now. Malaquías saw the car but continued to eat. Nana, carrying her shoes and a small valise, went to the front door. She turned and before pushing the door open looked back at her family. Her mother smiled. Nana was out the door and ran to the car where Octavio waited. They embraced, got into the back seat and drove away down Maple Street. They heard one cry from Malaquías.

  “Nana!” Malaquías, in the middle of the street, saw his daughter looking back and getting smaller.

  That night Nana stayed with Ignacio and Tati. Octavio went to his home and finished the extra room that he had added to the Mondragón family house. This would be the room that he would give to his bride. Early the next morning, on December 28, Friday, Octavio and Nana were married in a Los Angeles civil court. On the next day they were married by the church and celebrated at Ignacio and Tati’s home.

  Octavio and Nana kissed. This time they would be alone together for the first time in their relationship. She was unsure as to what he might expect and he worried about how he should treat her that night. The evening was clear; the December stars were bright. The month of December had become so special in their lives. Octavio was born on the twenty-fourth of the month and they were married in December, and perhaps by next December they would have their first child. Nana gently pushed Octavio away.

  “Octavio, we should return to your home.” Nana urged Octavio to stop.

  Octavio and Nana approached the Revueltas kitchen and were surprised to find Octavio’s father, mother, brothers and sisters bearing gifts for the newlyweds.

  “Octavio, you are the oldest son. For Milagros and me your marriage is very special. We have come to congratulate and welcome you and your wife, Nana,” Damian said slowly and carefully.

  Milagros nodded in agreement. Octavio waited for a few seconds and embraced his father and mother. Milagros immediately went to Nana, welcomed her with a mother’s hug, and sat with her for the rest of the evening. From that moment on, Nana was accepted by the family and known to society as a Revueltas.

  The wedding celebration continued until the early morning, but Octavio and Nana left at eleven and walked under the cool night sky. Octavio took Nana to the room he had built on the side of his parents’ house. Nana accepted the room and the house but wanted h
er own home. Octavio lit a candle and watched the shadows on the wall. Nana undressed. All the while her husband admiringly studied her body. That evening they made love once and fell asleep, satisfied with each other.

  After the new year, Nana settled in the Revueltas home and tried to feel comfortable living with her in-laws. Although she made an honest effort, it was not what she had hoped married life would give her. She became close to Milagros and willingly helped her wash, cook, and clean. As the year progressed, however, it became more and more difficult to avoid petty clashes with her sisters-in-law, and at times her brothers-in-law asked her to wash and iron for them as if she were more like a servant than a wife of their older brother. Often Nana would run to her private room to escape being ordered or yelled at by Damian, who proved to be a selfish and demanding father-in-law. There were moments when she felt like a kept whore when Octavio would arrive from work, bathe, eat, make love and leave to gamble. As she waited through the night worrying about Octavio, she vowed that some way or other she would get a home for herself. It was in late February that she announced to her husband that she was pregnant and demanded her own house for her children.

  “Don’t you like it here?” Octavio asked, disappointed.

  “Think of your child, Octavio. We need a house for our family,” Nana answered with an angered tone.

  “Don’t be mad. I am very happy we are going to have a son.” Octavio picked up his coat.

  “Where are you going?” Nana asked angrily.

  “To win money for our family.” Octavio’s last word was pronounced half-way to the door.

  Nana heard the screen door close, Octavio speak with Ignacio, and the car drive off. She fell on the bed and cried. After a while she realized that crying no longer helped. She stopped and would not ever again cry for his leaving to go off to gamble.

  Months passed, and to the world Nana always showed a happy face. She was visited several times by her sister Jesús who was well on her way to having her first-born. Jesús, Paquita and Andrea were Nana’s only contact with her family. Paquita described how Malaquías became depressed after Nana’s elopement. Life around the house was not the same. Nana’s sister and brothers feared their father and kept out of his way. Malaquías worked from sun up to sun down, blaming his plight on Nana. He was furious at her abandoning the house when they needed her the most. Nana could not go home to visit and her mother, sisters and brothers were forbidden to see her.

  “Tell Mama to wait for a grandchild about the first of November,” Nana proudly told Paquita. “I know she will be very happy. And give her a big hug from me. Please, Paquita.”

  Nana felt miserable at not being able to see her mother.

  Late in June, on a warm Sunday on a weekend that Octavio chose to spend at home, he asked Nana to put on her finest dress. He told her that they were going to see one of the greatest men in the world and his miracle machine. Nana immediately thought of the circus but Octavio explained that they were going to see an airplane. The day was beautiful; the morning fog had been burned away by the warm sun and the sky was as clear as crystal blue water. Octavio hurried her along, for the plane was to land at eleven, stay until one and depart for Los Angeles. It would probably never return again. Octavio did not want to miss the great plane and its pilot.

  They started on their way down Vail Street to the dirt path that led to the baseball field and the arroyo separating Simons property and the Vail Airport. They climbed up and over the embankment of the arroyo. When they reached the top, they were amazed upon discovering scores of cars lined before them. Hundreds of people had congregated. Most of the men, like Octavio, wore suits and ties, and Nana was in her party best.

  Nana noticed that she and Octavio were the only two brown faces among the huge crowd who hurried to flock around the plane hoping to get a glimpse of the miracle bird that had flown across the great Atlantic Ocean. The brave man who accomplished the feat stood under the propeller answering whatever questions were asked. Nana realized that as they got closer to the plane and the man, the crowd got whiter, almost porcelain and sickly to the eyes of people who had never seen a large concentration of the Aryan race. She and Octavio kept walking right through the crowd, passing lines of modern automobiles until finally they saw the aircraft hangar beyond a fence.

  “An airplane, Octavio?” Nana questioned with irony.

  “It’s Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis. It crossed the Atlantic.” Octavio pulled her toward the fence.

  “How small and fragile to fly to the other side of the world.”

  Nana’s eyes followed the fence and the faces peering in at the plane. No one knew she was there. She raised her hands, reaching up to the upper horizontal pole of the fence. She felt as strong as anyone there and her baby felt comfortable, as if he were stretching his body with joy. She brought her hands down and walked away from the fence. Octavio followed behind. Adjusting his cap he stopped her.

  “We’ll lose our place!”

  “But I don’t want to be squeezed against the fence,” Nana said moving toward the Vail Airport runway.

  “Don’t you want to hear what Charles Lindbergh has to say?” Octavio walked alongside, moving away from the excited crowd.

  “No,” Nana replied.

  They advanced along the runway. The voices faded, the sun got hotter and they were alone in silence.

  “Let’s go for a soda at Acacio Delgado’s store,” Octavio suggested.

  “Good idea. Let’s go.”

  Nana took her husband by the hand and headed in the opposite direction to Maple Street, close to where her family lived. They again passed by the crowd around the Spirit of St. Louis.

  “Look, Octavio. It’s Mr. Simons!” She pointed and Octavio immediately pulled her hand down.

  They watched Simons shake hands with Charles Lindbergh and embrace him twice. Walter and Charles Lindbergh were joined by a group of men and women who escorted them into the hangar. As Octavio and Nana neared they saw the celebration in honor of Charles Lindbergh’s feat and Walter’s accomplishment in getting the famous pilot to land at Vail Field.

  The Revueltas crossed over to the side of the arroyo and over the next barranca down to where the Simons locomotive tracks lay connecting the clay pit above Washington to the machines in the main yard. They enjoyed the warmth and each other’s company. By Vail Elementary School Nana sat down on one of the benches against the administration office. She felt her abdomen, caressed her child. Octavio placed his hand there and felt life. A smile, intimacy and peace reigned.

  “Help! Help us!” a woman screamed.

  Octavio and Nana focused in the direction of Washington from which a woman ran towards them.

  “Please, someone help us!”

  The woman was almost to them. Behind her rose black smoke. The woman reached for Nana and fell to the dirt. Octavio ran beyond her, toward the screams of children trapped inside a burning makeshift wooden cab attached to an old Ford pick-up truck. From the back of the bed, sticking out over the tailgate, a man’s large legs kicked, struggling to move out backwards. Octavio grabbed the man’s feet and pulled. Suddenly a man emerged clutching a child in his arms. The man fell on his back, the child rolled off his chest, and the truck was overcome by flames. Octavio dragged the man and child to safety. The woman noticed the man on the ground and the crying child.

  “Where are my other two babies?” the woman asked and reached for the truck.

  Nana stopped her advance. The woman realized that they had been consumed. A shrill inhuman scream shattered the air around Simons.

  Now other Simons workers had come. Gonzalo Pedroza ordered someone to drive into Montebello and summon the police and firemen. In an hour the police and firemen investigated the truck carcass. The firemen treated the man, woman and child while others cooled the metal steel and smoldering wood. As the firemen began to rip apart the metal and wooden house shell, the people who had gathered waited for the extraction of two corpses. When the moment came to pu
ll the babies out, the police pushed the spectators back, which gave Nana a direct view into the open bed. The two and three-year-old children were not burned but had died of asphyxiation from toxic smoke. They seemed to have wanted to protect one another, for they died embracing each other. The man and woman sat and watched the firemen load the two corpses onto a large red truck. A fireman called to the parents who picked up their living, crying child and joined the rest of their family in the truck.

  The police did not care to ask questions about the accident. After the family was driven away, the police and firemen left. The crowd dispersed and Octavio and Nana were left alone as they had begun the day. Nana protectively touched the child in her womb. The people who had suffered the tragedy which she and Octavio witnessed were some of the many that kept appearing around Simons. Most looked for a job but were turned away by Gonzalo or William. They were people who carried their belongings looking for a place to sleep, eat, rest—a place to make the search end. That family lived in that truck. Even if Octavio did not like it, she would have a home for her children, her family, Nana thought.

  Nana looked at Octavio and did not like him at that moment. He felt that she should live with her mother-in-law. In that way she would always be protected when he was gone. Nana did not want to be protected, much less mothered by Milagros who had major problems with Damian and still had most of her children at home. Nana could not understand how Octavio enjoyed living cramped in that room attached to the house. She walked faster and Octavio was left behind. Finally he caught up.

  “Octavio, I want my own home!” Nana demanded with fear and confidence.

  Octavio kept walking.

  In a sunburst of color, Octavio moved in tall brown work boots, blue pants, long-sleeved white shirt, sleeveless brown thick sweater and brown hat. His right arm swung freely, his left crossed his stomach, and his legs took long strides. His brown face and clear dark eyes glistened under the shadow cast by the rim of his hat. He marched happily. Alone, abuzz with excitement, he played and advanced over a bed of lapis lazuli, grey, yellow-greenish, brown, rust, black foliage; the husks of the sugarcane his father planted rotted over the earth. He threw bread crumbs of leftover Mexican sweet bread. Three crows swooped down to beak them.