by Glover, Dan
Though it was the beginning of spring the summer heat had arrived early. She found it strange that high temperatures had never bothered her during all the years she spent working yet now that she did nothing but laze about all day and night the heat threatened to boil her blood and caused her to become dizzy and unsteady on her feet.
Of course the mail delivery person didn't arrive until the middle of the afternoon... the hottest part of the day. Still, her anticipation of going to Cuba was such that each day no matter the heat Yani made the sojourn to the road. One day, when she had nearly passed out making the short walk and was just about given up any hope, the letter was waiting for her... it was in an official-looking envelope which she tore open with trembling fingers. It was short and simple.
Dear Ms. Ford,
You are hereby granted a visa to visit Cuba. Congratulations. Please find enclosed any documents needed.
She read the letter over twice to make sure it was really happening and then tottered back into the hacienda to make arrangements for a flight to Cuba. Once on the island she could consider how she would confront Evalena but for now the logistics of just getting there occupied her attention.
Once again she wished she still had the piedra in her possession. It might give her a slight edge over Evalena... without it, she probably didn’t stand a chance at defeating the girl.
After talking to the girl at the travel agency she discovered that the only flight to the island originated in Miami so she made reservations both for that flight and the one to Cuba... she wasn’t sure what she would do or say when she found Evalena but she would think of something.
Chapter 40
It bothered him that he couldn’t find a body.
It wasn’t that he was ghoulish about it but he had to know she was gone, that the evil she represented had been once and for all wiped off the face of the earth. Though it was possible Evalena had been blown to bits in the explosion he expected to at least see blood and gore strewn throughout the cellar. The damage was horrific yet the only thing he seemed to have killed was the chabola.
Before tossing the dynamite into the cellar he made sure to brace the only possible escape portal with a stout timber which oddly was still in place. She couldn’t have gone up the stairs... he would have spotted her, and there simply wasn’t time. He narrowly managed to dodge the blast himself and he had a head start.
Had he merely been hallucinating how Evalena called out to him from down below the chabola? He'd noticed lately that his mind, though as clear as glass, was also apt to mistake illusion for reality.
It was dangerous to even be inside the chabola... the structure was leaning to one side and obviously unstable and each time a timber creaked he expected the ruins to cave in upon him trapping him in the rubble. Still, he had to know. If she was alive she'd be coming after him if not for revenge at least for the stone. He fooled her once but it wouldn’t be so easy the next time they met.
Evening was pressing in on him by the time he finished his fruitless search. Whatever had caused the spider infestation had apparently vanished along with Evalena... the webs were in tatters and Church couldn't see even one spider remaining. He jumped when the words sounded in the gathering darkness as he walked back to the pickup truck.
"The spiders were drawn to her. Now that she's gone, they've left too."
He recognized the voice and when he turned to confirm for himself who was speaking Lorraine was by his side, ethereal and as beautiful as moonlight.
"You aren’t real. You're dead."
He felt like he was killing her all over again, as if he was telling he something she didn't know herself. She laughed the same laugh he'd grown used to in Mexico during his long stay inside the cave of the monarchs. The sound was like musical wind chimes blowing in a gentle breeze.
"Oh, my darling boy... of course I'm dead. Otherwise I couldn't be here with you now. Listen to me carefully, Church. This isn't over yet. We missed our chance but that doesn’t mean there'll not be other opportunities."
"Maybe she's gone for good, Lorraine. I must've frightened her pretty good with that dynamite."
"You know better than that, Church. Evalena will never be satisfied until she has the stone in her possession."
"I don’t understand how she got away, Lorraine."
"The world is far stranger than you know, Church. With her eye Evalena sees things other living beings cannot. Even though she was trapped in that cellar she managed to dream her way out of there."
"But how do you know all this, Lorraine? Are you a witch too?"
"No, my sweet Church... I'm not a witch. But I was touched by Evalena's magic... a single grain of sand froze my heart. When that event occurred I acquired part of her knowledge—I became something of a wraith, neither in this world nor the next—but there are still things hidden from me."
"Tell me what to do, Lorraine. I'm lost."
"Oh my sweetie... I only wish I could. I exist yet I do not... I don't expect you to understand me but listen... the stone that Evalena yearns after has great powers... when I died in your world I awoke in its domain. That's how I'm able to communicate with you."
"But I see you right in front of me, Lorraine. I hear your voice in my ears. You must exist."
"I exist only in your mind, Church... I'm but a series of electrical impulses permeating the atmosphere. Then again, maybe that's all I've ever been. I've found a home in you. I see that now. Because of your close proximity with the stone you're more sensitive to my vibrations than you might otherwise have been."
"Am I the only one who can see you, Lorraine?"
"I don't know, Church. But I do know that when Evalena fled she did so under great duress. Her fear was such that she might have ended up anywhere. You were within seconds of annihilating her, at least from the present."
"Do you mean that Evalena vanished into time?"
"No, not exactly, though to say so wouldn't be all together incorrect either... I mean that our vision of death is short sighted. What we think of as an ending is but a continuation of a process that's been going on since the beginning."
"The beginning of what, Lorraine?"
"Why, the beginning of the human race, Church."
"If Evalena knows that death is but a continuation, why is she frightened of it?"
"Evalena fears death but not for the same reasons normal people might. Death for her is more of an inconvenience. She understands the homogeneity of energy... that everything we know is composed of elemental forces outside the domain of our senses."
"But I see the world all around me, Lorraine. I know the difference between what's real and what an illusion is."
"Do you really, Church? What we see and hear are but representations of that primal power. Many people mistake those forces for god or the divine but in point of fact the world is made up of lines—for lack of a better word—along which this original energy rides. Evalena has the ability to tap into that power... her eye lends her the ability to see those lines... if she's able to gather herself, as she must have done at the last moment when facing her death... she's able to ride those streams of energy much like anyone else might walk across a room."
"So how do we find her, Lorraine?"
"We go to her. She went home to the island where she lived for many long years. Being American you cannot travel to that isle easily yet you are an intelligent boy. You'll find a way."
"My mother and my aunt are from Cuba... is that where she went?"
"Yes... and remember... you have what Evalena desires. She'll use all her powers to regain the stone. Use that to your advantage, Church. Tell her what she wants to hear and she'll believe you despite her mistrust. Take your time in going to find Evalena. You've done well to stay alive for so long, Church. If you hurry in doing what you must do, you will not only fail in your objective, but you'll die in the bargain. Small steps, my boy, will lead to greatness."
"Wait... don’t go, Lorraine... I need you."
He was talki
ng to the night. Had she been there at all? As he thought about it he already knew everything she told him. Living under the same roof as Evalena had been much more of a learning experience than he heretofore considered.
That altar of hers... he remembered seeing it for the first time when he ventured into her room when one of his marbles rolled under her door. The whole room smelled of something dead, like the time an injured raccoon had crawled under the front stoop of the chabola and died.
The skull stared at him like it had eyes. The red candle wax leaking down its nose reminded him of blood. The tiny bones nestled around the base of the skull had once been the tips somebody's fingers... he didn’t know how he knew it but he did.
He wondered why he wasn’t afraid of that altar. Instead, he felt a sort of affinity for its horror... a closeness to death which he didn't fully understand. When Evalena walked into the room and saw him staring at the montage of bones and skull, feathers and blood red wax, she didn't scold him the way he thought she might. Instead, she grinned, nodded her head, and walked back out of the room, as if she knew he was establishing some sort of rapport with the monstrosity.
Perhaps—unwittingly—he was.
He wondered if he should've simply given the stone to Evalena. After all, it belonged to her, not to him. Or so she claimed... but Tia was a liar as well as a thief. She was as assuredly the night as his mother was the day.
Tia had made him a promise. Had he brought her the stone, he would die yet his mother would live. Now, however, they all might well be doomed. He wondered about his father and his brother... if they were still alive. He longed to see them again yet he suspected their time together had passed them by.
The monarchs of Mexico were still roosting in their hidden forest... that would be his destination too. Until he had gathered enough power to confront his Tia it was useless to try.
Something about that magical valley called out to him in ways the dusty Texas landscape had never done. Though he spent all his time alone in the high mountains surrounding the village of Angangueo he never felt as lonely as he did in Guthrie surrounded by people.
What was it Lorraine was saying? Something about small steps... he'd come this far so there was no sense in hurrying now. Jumping into the old and battered pickup truck he pointed it south and stepped upon the gas pedal.
Chapter 41
The thing inside him was dead.
The explosion that rocked the early morning calm came from the direction of the shack where he'd lived with Evalena. Was she dead too? Despite all the harm she'd done to him and his family, he still loved the girl.
Why had she left him behind right when he needed her the most? It seemed a cruel trick to play on someone who had given their all... she'd run away without even looking back while bullets pummeled the thin walls pulverizing what little furniture there was and piercing his body.
If only he had the strength he'd hate the girl for who and what she was. Yet all he could think about was seeing her one more time before he died. He could see the shadows pressing in upon him even inside the room filled with light.
He couldn’t blame Evalena, though. Had he stayed upon the floor he would've been safe. Instead he'd done what his mother advised... he'd somehow summoned the strength to climb into the bed, to offer himself up for the sacrifice.
He told himself he didn’t fear death but he did... maybe not the dying so much as the pain associated with it. Oddly, though, he felt nothing. Instead of the beleaguering ache that had assailed him for as long as he could remember, he was numb. His mother had been right.
"Billy... can you hear me?"
He was in a fog with people he didn't recognize all around him, prodding and probing his body, and asking inane questions that any fool could answer. Yet he had no voice with which to speak... no words worth sharing.
"He's awake, doctor... I think he might be in shock."
The girl was dark and pretty and for just a moment he thought it was Evalena come back to him. As his foggy vision began to clear he realized it wasn’t who he first thought... that Evalena was probably gone from his life for good.
"Pupils are fixed and dilated, doctor... we're losing him."
Who was she talking about? Other than being a bit tired he felt fine... better than he had in months. The pain he'd been suffering from was gone. He was sure his strength would return in a day or two and he'd be up and around again.
He'd been neglecting the ranch. Hopefully someone had been helping Church in looking after the horses... he hated to think the boy was doing all the work himself. He hadn’t meant to stay away as long as he did... time had a way of slipping past when he was with Evalena... like nothing else in the world mattered but her touch.
"It isn’t just the trauma he suffered to his shoulder... there is a mass inside his abdomen, possibly a tumor."
The girl seemed quite knowledgeable for someone so young. They seemed to be making ready to operate upon him. He wondered if he should be asleep but then he realized he wasn’t actually inside his body any longer... he seemed to be hovering over the bed looking down upon the scene like a disinterested bystander, a dethroned dictator in exile.
The fences had a way of deteriorating quickly in the hot Texas summers. The sun baked all the life out of the wooden posts they planted in the ground so that they broke off at ground level with just a hint of wind. They'd been gradually replacing them with iron ones but the going was slow... driving them into the hardpan made his muscles ache and his shoulders cramp.
Where was his family? Why weren’t they here with him? Had they forgotten about him? He wouldn’t blame them... after all, he'd forsaken every one of them for the love of Evalena even when he'd been warned about her.
"My aunt isn’t who you think she is, Billy. Be careful around her."
Church wasn't only his brother but his best friend. But the pull he felt for Evalena had overridden all his senses. Billy found himself disregarding the sage advice of everyone, even Yani, who knew Evalena better than them all.
"I call her my sister but she isn’t really... she has a way of trapping men like you, Billy. Stay away from her. Nothing good will come from any relationship you might have with her."
He thought how Yani was talking down to him, as if she somehow felt that he wasn’t good enough to be keeping time with a girl like Evalena. Oh, she clothed her words in glamour and love but the rancor was there lurking right beneath the surface... the fear that he—not even yet a man—might one day supplant the love Evalena felt for her.
One day his father pulled him aside and had tried to talk some sense into him but he hadn’t listened, or if he did, the words merely washed over him like a sudden rainstorm that evaporated before they could soak into his brain.
"You know how much I love the women, Billy. I never tried to keep that a secret from you. But there are some ladies who you're better off leaving alone, and Evalena is one of them. I heard it said she was a whore down in Mexico. Now, you know I'm not one to judge anybody, and Lord knows what kind of suffering drove her into that profession, but keep it in mind that she might not be all that clean... there are some diseases out there that can't be cured."
Was his father actually jealous of him for having a girl like Evalena? Billy hated to think so but then again the man had been with her older sister Yani... had even had a son with her... and perhaps his father thought the son shouldn’t be playing around inside the family like that.
He and Church had ridden the fence line on the north section just before he left the hacienda to live with Evalena... as they worked they fell into talking about life and love and how hard it was to meet a pretty girl in Guthrie, or any girl for that matter.
"Sometimes I think the only people in Guthrie are cowpokes and insurance salesmen, Billy. Remember Sally? I heard she up and moved to Los Angeles last month along with her cousin Jenny."
They'd gone on double dates with the girls though their fathers were as strict as any in Guthrie and demanded the girls be
home by midnight. Billy was still of an age when things like that mattered so he made sure to comply.
"Yeah, I heard that too, Church. They were the only girls worth seeing in the whole county. What do you say we plan a trip one of these days? Maybe we'll find a place where girls like cowboys and we'll be the only ones around."
It all seemed so long ago now... the friendships and the dalliances with any girl who'd have him. Being with Evalena had opened his eyes to so many things that he'd been blind to and now she was gone.
"She'll only use you, Billy... take it from me... I know. She's been telling me what to do ever since she got here and when I say something to my mother about it, she tells me that Evalena is family... that we have to love and respect her. She isn’t your family though. If I were you, I'd stay as far away from her as possible."
He knew Church meant well, but like the warnings from Yani and his father, Billy ignored him. He wanted what he wanted, and that was Evalena. The girl drove him mad with desire and she knew it. She teased him in ways he never knew were possible and when she finally gave in to his wants she fulfilled him entirely.
"My father says you were a whore down in Mexico. Is that true?"
He had gotten a little drunk with her one night on some of her homemade dandelion wine otherwise he never would've broached the subject. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he wished he could take them back but Evalena seemed fine with answering him.
"Your father doesn’t have all the facts, Billy. I owned a brothel in Mexico... that's what we used in trade when you desired to acquire that ranch for your father, remember?"
"I do remember that, yes. I didn’t realize you worked there though."
"I was never a puta... except to you, my love. I was what you might call a madam. But I'll always be your whore, Billy. Do you believe me?"
Of course he did. He accepted every word the girl spoke to him as gospel. Even as she began weaving her spells upon him he believed what she was doing was for the best... that she only had his interests in mind.
