River of Angels

by Alejandro Morales

  Miss Agatha Banac was the youngest of three children. Her father, Leonard Adam Banac, was the bank lawyer, and her two brothers, also lawyers, were associates in Banac & Sons, Attorneys-at-Law. Her father’s law firm specialized in real estate and banking.

  “The future of California is in land and banking,” Leonard Banac enjoyed repeating the first time Agatha invited Oakley to dine with the family at their home in exclusive Hyde Park, one of the richest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The Banac boys were present with their wives to meet Agatha’s new beau. She was twenty-eight years old and unwed. Her brothers were all married with children and were more than willing to accept Oakley into the family. Oakley, however, was completely unaware of Agatha’s intentions. Agatha, it seems, had been strongly attracted to him from the day she had put a pen in his hand and touched his fingertips. She watched him, his father and mother, and made it a point to thank them for their business. After the signing, Agatha walked them to the door and thanked them again. Oakley did not pay much attention. One week later he returned to make a deposit, and Agatha made it her business to intercept him before he got to a teller. It happened this way every time Oakley entered the bank. Oakley had not noticed that Agatha had handled every single deposit he made. She was easy to talk to and began asking questions about keeping track of the company’s deposits and payments. She slowly taught Oakley how to keep the company’s books. By the end of the year, Oakley controlled all the Sun Construction finances. In the meantime, Franco, Paolo and William kept bringing in contracts and building houses, barns, aqueducts, wells and roads. Oakley handled all the legal and financial negotiations, keeping the company on firm ground. He could account for every penny coming in and going out.

  Before accepting a job, Oakley went on site, calculated material and labor needs, worked out a budget and presented a bid. No matter the size of the job, Oakley was there. Agatha suggested that Oakley call quarterly company meetings to give a financial report to the partners. Franco, Paolo and William were amazed at Oakley’s organization of the company. They were glad to see that every dollar was accounted for, but at the last meeting of the year they discovered that they had become dependent on him for company money. They could not withdraw company funds independently without his approval.

  “You have your personal accounts. If you want a loan, the company can probably give it to you. But, I have to see if we can do it. If you want a raise, I have to see what I can do. The company has limits. We are doing very well, but do not force it. Let’s work a couple of years at this rate, start getting bigger jobs and then bid for a bridge. I heard the city council will approve two more bridges. They’ll start accepting bids next year. Let’s not be greedy, let’s be ready.” Oakley borrowed this last thought from Leonard Banac’s advice to his children at a family dinner.

  Oakley visited his parents at least once a week, making sure to visit when his mother cooked rabbit stew. Abelardo had always raised animals to sell. He had rabbits, chickens, geese and hogs. At any given time he had between 150 to 200 rabbits. When the number of rabbits grew too quickly, he gave the older rabbits away to the poor residents on the east side of the river. “It’s better to eat them before they get too old and tough,” he’d explain to his neighbors. Abelardo also had a herd of forty to fifty goats. Garras and Jesús’ sons worked for old Abelardo, tending the animals and working the small farm that produced lots of corn, tomatoes, squash, peppers and several fruits, including peaches, oranges and melons. Abelardo did well selling his produce and animals to Los Angeles residents who crossed the river, but rabbits made Abelardo the most money. People came from far and near for his rabbits, which were often featured on Los Angeles restaurant menus.

  OAKLEY HAD ONE of the company’s crews construct an office on his family’s property on the east side of the river. The building was really a house that Agatha helped him design. Oakley picked a location on the corner directly diagonal to his parents’ home about a quarter of a mile away. The house had a large client-reception area, a meeting room, accounting office and his personal office. A living area composed of a large open kitchen, a dining room, a tea and library combination room, three guest bedrooms, two baths and a large bedroom and bath for him completed the house. Agatha designed the house looking toward the future of high-end family housing, which she considered to be houses with big rooms and many of them. She suggested the old Spanish California style for the exterior, with adobe walls rather than brick and a red tile roof. She used brick as an ornamental feature for patios, walkways and garden areas. Agatha explained to her father that although she had taught Oakley much about accounting and finance, he still needed guidance on simple things like investing and building his own house. After the house was completed, she came by weekly for tea.

  One morning, Oakley drove a company truck up the dusty road to his parents’ house and noticed that the front door was wide open. It was uncharacteristic for Toypurina to leave the door open, what with flies, insects and dust flying into the house. Oakley looked down to the rabbit coops. Two dogs were barking excitedly at something between the rows of rabbit cages. The dogs had probably cornered a desperate coyote hungry for rabbits. As Oakley approached, he saw his mother being helped by Jesús. Toypurina saw him and quickly ran to her son. Immediately Oakley understood that his father had departed. As he held and tried to comfort his mother, two Los Angeles police officers walked out from the rows of cages. One of the officers simply said, “Sorry” to Oakley and walked to a police car that was parked at the side of the house.

  Bard Family Mortuary took care of everything. Abelardo Ríos’ wake at Calvario Cemetery Chapel in East Los Angeles was attended by more than a thousand people, many wanting to speak about Abelardo and how he had helped them. Among neighbors, friends, business acquaintances were many unknown to Toypurina and Oakley. They had come from beyond Los Angeles to honor a man who sincerely cared for people poor and down on their luck. Amazingly, men and women representing the many ethnic groups of Los Angeles lined up and patiently waited for hours to attest their appreciation for a truly altruistic man.

  “Abelardo Ríos helped me get on my feet when I first arrived in Los Angeles.”

  “El señor Ríos me dio dinero para curar a mi hijo.”

  “… saved my business.”

  “… he saved my family.”

  “Ríos me prestó el dinero para comprar mi rancho.”

  “For three months he provided rabbits for my restaurant until I started to show a profit.”

  “After a flood wiped us out, Abelardo and Toypurina took us in, fed us, clothed us and gave us enough to get started again.”

  The testimony celebrating Abelardo Ríos’ life could have gone on for hours, but the chapel official respectfully asked the family to stop the public accolades because the chapel had to close at midnight to prepare for the funeral in the morning. In attendance was the entire Banac family. Oakley explained the dilemma to Toypurina, who asked her son to prevail upon Mr. Banac to explain the situation to the attendees and offer them an option.

  “Good evening. My name is Leonard Adam Banac. I am speaking at the behest of the Ríos family. Mrs. Ríos and her son want to thank you for attending. They want to thank you for the beautiful, heartfelt acknowledgment you are giving Mr. Ríos. Because the chapel must close to prepare for the funeral, they are requesting that you write and sign your comments in the journal provided outside in the garden. Thank you.”

  Mr. Banac walked away from the podium and stood watching so many people still waiting to make a statement. Several chapel employees directed them to several tables with pens and journals. Each person carefully wrote comments in English or in Spanish and signed. Those who could not write were assisted by other attendees.

  “Are you all right, Father?”

  “Agatha, I’m touched by how this man was loved by all these people. He probably never knew. He just kept on giving.”

  TOYPURINA STAYED ON the family ranch, farming and raising rabbits. Oakley asked
his mother to come and live with him at the office-house, but she opted to stay near the river in the house Abelardo loved dearly. Jesús and Garras kept working for the family. They helped run Toypurina’s ranch. Sun Construction offered to build them each a house on the river land, but they politely refused the offer.

  Garras and Jesús had bought property in East Los Angeles, a fast-growing area. Many Mexicans who worked in downtown Los Angeles and in the new satellite cities on the west side of Los Angeles crossed the river every day back to their new homes in East LA. Both of Oakley’s workers had purchased large parcels of land in the area called Maravilla. They went to Oakley and traded his offer of a new house for the material to build their own homes.

  In 1909, the same year that Garras and Jesús constructed their homes, Sun Construction signed a contract negotiated by Banac & Sons for Sun Construction to build the Main Street bridge, the first of two new bridges to be constructed over the Los Angeles River. That same year, without the fanfare of a big wedding, Oakley Rivers and Agatha Banac were married. The nuptials were celebrated at the Banac residence with only the immediate families of the bride and groom in attendance. The couple spent their honeymoon at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California.

  Agatha Banac Rivers had long reddish brown hair, brown eyes, a sharp nose. A slender athletic woman, she stood an inch and a half taller than her husband, who was five feet ten inches in height. It did not bother Oakley that his wife was taller. At receptions, dinners and formal occasions, he simply hung on to her, put his arm around her waist and looked up at her, smiled and entered the many social events they had to attend as partners in one of Los Angeles’ largest construction companies. Wherever they were, they stood out not for their height difference or physical elegance, but because of the way they cared for one another and for the people who surrounded them. Leonard Banac often said to his friends, “Agatha and Oakley have a wonderfully different love.” When Agatha and Oakley were together, they radiated a joy that infected all who surrounded them.

  Their first child was born just under nine months after their marriage. No eyebrows were raised—people did not care. They were happy for the couple and their baby boy. Agatha and Oakley named him Albert Banac Rivers. In a photograph taken at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Main Street bridge, Agatha held Albert in her arms as Oakley stood proudly behind her. When Agatha took Albert to meet Toypurina, the old grandmother had to sit down to hold her first grandchild. Toypurina’s cries of happiness filled the rooms of the house and the ears of everyone present. The child seemed content in his grandmother’s arms. Toypurina rocked the baby for about an hour; then Albert started to cry.

  “Time to eat.” Agatha gently lifted Albert from his grandmother’s bosom.

  “¡Ay, Dios mío!” Toypurina shouted, still with her arms extended, proclaiming how handsome her new grandson was. “¡Qué guapo es mi niño! Va a lastimar tantos corazones pero solamente uno te va enamorar, te va enloquecer.”

  Oakley walked his mother to the veranda where Abelardo and she had been accustomed to having their tea. For several years before Abelardo’s death, they had employed a Mexican woman, Marta Orrari, to help them run the house. Marta had worked for many years for an elderly British couple in Los Angeles. First the husband died and, as happens often, the wife soon followed. After the couple passed away and the house was brought to order, the children—who lived in England—sold the mansion and let Marta go. Marta was overcome by the ungrateful attitude of the children, shocked at being fired. She had practically grown up in that mansion and had dedicated a good part of her young life to caring for the British couple. When Marta’s situation was brought to Toypurina’s attention, she sent for her and hired her without an interview. Marta was a blessing to both Abelardo and Toypurina, but with Marta, who had become accustomed to life in a British household, came British conventions, and one was tea sharply at four in the afternoon. Regardless of the weather and whether Abelardo and Toypurina drank it, Marta served tea and small cakes on the veranda’s round tea table punctually at four. Marta, a woman who had invested her life in serving others, glanced at Albert in his mother’s lap. A smile formed on her lips as she admired the beauty of the baby.

  DURING THE MEXICAN Revolution, more than a million Mexicans crossed into the United States, contracted as far north as Illinois, Ohio and Minnesota to construct railroads and pick crops. Eventually entire communities of Mexicans settled down in states from the border to the Midwest. The border was generally open and unguarded almost until the Depression. Mexicans paid a crossing and visa fee and walked over to El Norte. Los Angeles became a favored destination, as the city was growing in population and expanding in all directions. New arrivals from Mexico tended to go to downtown Los Angeles around La Placita. If they did not have relatives or friends waiting for them, they found friendly people willing to help them get a foothold.

  La Placita was the hub of immigrant activity, a space for immigrants from different parts of the world to gather. Chinese, Germans, Italians, Russians, Irish, Indians, Mexicans and African Americans crisscrossed La Placita and the streets around it to go to work, to return home, to buy food, to go to church, to visit friends, to celebrate marriage, death, birth and the coming of age. There were restaurants that prepared foods from a variety of countries. People lived in crowded conditions, but they generally got along and usually respected each other and tried to help each other when the need arose.

  Mitchel Plummer, after losing everything except his family to the river, did not rebuild his house on the beautiful but deceptive little peninsula. He took his family inland to a parcel he bought just northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Plummer had saved enough to open a hardware shop near La Placita, focusing his business on the immigrants living in and near the area. His business did well almost as soon as it opened. He carried just about every tool needed by city dwellers for daily life, including nails, saws, oil lamps, candleholders, pliers, brooms, shovels, axes, buckets, fabric, bedding, sewing instruments, kitchen utensils, canned foods, sugar, salt, flour, paper products, boots, shoes, clothing, hats, belts and more. Plummer’s Hardware was located near a church run by Baptist missionaries who aided the poor and destitute in the neighborhood. Local residents gave clothing, blankets, food and volunteered to cook, wash, iron and distribute food and clothes. Plummer considered himself lucky to have all his family with him. He had become a religious man who often brought his family to serve meals to the poor at the Skid Row Mission Center. On one occasion as the family was leaving, Mary Plummer took notice of a young man who walked up to get served. The young man acted strangely, made odd gestures and constantly spoke to himself. It was already late, time for Mary Plummer and her family to head home. For days the young man’s face kept coming back to her.

  “I have seen that face before.”

  “Next week you can ask him. Ask him where he’s from. There are so many people in this city now. He’s probably come to the store for help or to buy something, Mary. That’s where you remember him from.”

  The following week, the Plummer family went again to serve meals at the mission and, when they completed their service and started toward the door, Mary saw the strange young man sitting at a table, eating slowly. Mary went to one of the missionaries and asked about the young man.

  “No, I do not know where he lives exactly, but he periodically comes to eat here. He’s been around here for several years. He says he’s the sun, stands for hours worshiping the sun. I think he’s dim, retarded.”

  Mary got closer to the young man who worshipped the sun. She wanted to see his face closer. Although he had a slight beard, Mary thought she knew him, for sure.

  When she returned to where Mitchel waited with the children, she said, “Mitchel, I think that man is Sol.”

  Plummer immediately went to the old house to look for Toypurina. After knocking at the front and back doors and calling out her name, he opened the front door slightly and called out again. Only silence, a strong silen
ce, and the aroma of fresh bread floating in the house. Plum-mer went to the barn. There were animals in crates waiting to be picked up for sale. He felt peculiar walking there unescorted by Toypurina, but he waited to let her know that maybe her son Sol was alive. She must be nearby, he thought, and decided to wait longer. Next he walked out to the fields and saw a truck and workers in the corn stalks.

  He approached them and, soon, Plummer, Garras and Jesús were driving across the ranch to Oakley Rivers’ office. They found Agatha outside talking with several workmen loading sacks of cement onto a large truck.

  Jesús rushed over to Agatha. “Señora Rivers, ¿dónde está el señor Rivers?”

  She waved him over to the office.

  The three men found Oakley discussing loudly a housing construction project with William Ross Henry. The discussion ceased, and Oakley and William Ross Henry stared at them, bewildered.

  “Señor Rivers, el mister Plummer vio a su hermano Sol.”

  OAKLEY, AGATHA, PLUMMER, Garras and Jesús sat on chairs arranged in a half circle in front of Sol. Behind him was a dwelling put together with broken chairs, tables, scraps of sheet metal, wood, sheets of canvas, steel rods, dried trees, large rocks, truck and automobile frames and parts, old sinks, toilets, bed springs, sheets of wire fence, steel pipes, tin cans, bottles, iron stoves, steel barrels, ropes, wire, sheets, rags woven through every object stacked and shaped into the walls intermittently covered with plaster and mud.

  A withered old Indian woman, known thereabouts as the River Mother and the owner of the improvised home, began to speak. “Muy bien, empezamos. You are here because you want to know about Sol’s rescue. When I first saw him out of the corner of my eye, I thought he was one of the lizard people. The lizard people come up to save the most defenseless who are drowning or have drowned in the river and take them to their home deep underground. Few have seen them, because, when lizard people are changing from human to lizard or from lizard to human, their appearance is terrifying.