La Noche de la Chankla: Chili con Carne
Chapter 15
Shaken by the sheer extent of influence the Hounds possessed, the brujas were unsure of how to proceed. They had accepted that the Church would never stop until they, and all threats to its machinations, were removed, and the women would not, could not, lie down and allow it, no matter the risk to themselves. What had begun as a desire to protect themselves and their loved ones had transitioned into a war for, not just the town of Agape, but the safety of everyone whom the Hounds could reach, which could well have been the entire world for all anyone but the Hounds themselves knew.
“But what should we do, Luna? What can we do then? They can get to us no matter what we do or where we are. It’s just a matter of time before they decide to just … kill us … like lagartos snapping up mariposas,” Luz said.
Luna did not like the image Luz conjured. The rubbery tongue of a lizard lashing out and drawing its prey to its jaws, crushing the delicate wings of a soulful butterfly as the insect sought out flowers to pollinate, was a metaphor that was jarring to her mind. Nor was she happy with Luz’s sudden fatalism. She knew that Luz, normally the ornery one, was scared. “Ay, Luz, no. We cannot give up. We cannot let them hurt anyone else.”
“But what do we do now, Luna?” Xochitl interjected.
Sitting quietly, while the other two women looked at her expecting an answer, Luna could think of nothing short of a direct confrontation with the Church. But it was a confrontation they would assuredly lose, as only Luna seemed, as yet, to have developed the words to the level necessary to oppose the evil she knew dwelt within the confines of the Silver Moon Church, an evil that would only make itself known if need be. As she sat, pondering the impasse and sipping tea, a cool breeze blew through the open window of Luz’s kitchen, the sort that portended the coming of another storm. She could smell the rain in it, and it reminded her in that moment of tears, tears from the sky, desperate to wash away the danger but impotent. But, as her thoughts turned to despair, the breeze carried something else to her, to her ear, a whisper, a whisper that gave her renewed hope. “Sergio Harkness,” Luna said all of a sudden.
“Qué?” Xochitl asked, as if she were suddenly hard of hearing.
“We must contact Sergio Harkness, the man who was killed by the dogs. He has something to tell us, I think,” Luna responded.
Given that there appeared to be no other course of immediate action and having nothing more to fear from the wild dogs, Luz and Xochitl agreed that any information the spirit could provide them could only be of benefit. They would, once again, with their moonstones and chanklas, travel the sand to the crossroads in the desert, where the power was concentrated, and reach across the veil, seeking the man named Sergio.
First, Luna had to return home again to feed her nieto, Spider, and Hueso, presuming that Spider and Luisa had not done so. Walking home, neighbors came out and greeted her silently. Some waved through windows as they saw her pass. Upon entering the little white house with a new front window and a new coat of painting covering the label that had not had the effect the artists had hoped for, Luna’s senses were met by an altogether different smell from the rain … chili. Hueso came into the room wagging his tail and led her to the kitchen, where she found Javier, Spider, and Luisa eating large bowls of it with flour tortillas and corn.
“Señora Luna!” Spider called to her, while standing. “You’re just in time!”
Luna walked to the stove and inspected the comida. She thought it looked and smelled excellent, although Tex-Mex was not her favorite. “Luisa, how did you cook this when you were at work all … ?” She stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing that her daughter could not have made the chili.
“Spider made it, Mama,” Luisa said, smiling.
“Spider? You?” Luna asked, now feigning ignorance, as a subtle way to stroke Spider’s pride.
Hueso barked, as if in answer, from the corner in which he’d been eating tortillas, and trotted over next to Spider’s leg.
“Sí, Señora! Have some, por favor,” Spider answered, sporting a grin.
“And the window and the paint?” Luna asked.
“Sí. Me and Javi had all day and it needed to be done. The little vato did most of it.”
Luna knew that Javi could not have been primarily responsible, but she walked behind him and patted his head, while he looked embarrassed. “You did such a good job, mijo!” she said, smiling at Spider. “Muchos gracias!” Then she helped herself to a large bowl of the chili with two flour tortillas and sat at the empty seat at the little handcrafted table with her familia. Spider was not the role model that she had wanted for Javier, but, like Luisa, a change had come over him since the incident in the square, and she was suddenly glad to have him there. She firmly squeezed his wrist to communicate that to him.
After dinner, Luna and Javier cleaned up, making sure to save the remainder of the chili. It had tasted as good as it had looked, with the perfect amount of heat, and Luna found herself even more impressed with her daughter’s novio, so impressed that she had volunteered herself and Javi to clean up so that Luisa and Spider could go spend time together, Luisa having worked all day and Spider having been so helpful.
“Abuela,” Javi asked, as he dried a plate, ” What happened to those men in the suits?”
“Nothing, mijo. They had the wrong person. Your abuela just explained it to them and that was all.”
Javier knew when his grandmother didn‘t want to tell him something … and not to ask more … but her answer let him know that she had done something. And knowing now that his abuela was a bruja made him feel both anxious for her and safer. His whole life he had only known her as the older lady who spent her days tending the stove, tucked him into bed, watered her pathetic excuse for a lawn, and gave him clever little regalos for his birthday and holidays. Now she was so much more than that. She even seemed taller to him, stronger, and she hadn’t watered her lawn in days, although it had been raining off and on. He had always loved his grandmother, but now he respected her, and not out of some trained sense of duty.
When the dishes were put away, Luna and Javi watched some TV together in the living room, with Hueso pressing himself in between them on the couch. Luna neither understood nor approved of the show Javi chose, which was on a Mexican station and featured men dressed as clowns chasing women dressed in short Shirley-Temple-like dresses and pigtails, but Javi thought it was funny so she let him have his way that night, having no idea what the immediate future held in store. When nine o’clock chimed from the kitchen clock, she made him go to bed, although he protested, having no school the next day. In fact, no one had school. The school had been temporarily closed, but Luna did not want Javi staying up all night and developing that bad habit, like so many children his age, addicted to all-night video gaming.
After tucking him in, she prepared her things from the boxes in her room, as she had done before calling her mother, and waited for the approach of midnight, hoping Spider and Luisa would fall asleep in the interim. At 11:25, gripping her piedra de luna, she quietly opened the front door and stepped into the night in her white, unembroidered dress and chanklas, with a thick serape, as the night was cold, waiting for Luz and Xochitl, who, as before, came down the road with the candles from which she would light her own. This time, however, they were not alone.
To Luna’s surprise, Luz and Xochitl were followed by a group of local townspeople, including Enrique, also dressed in white and carrying candles. Although they did not know the customs of bujería, it was close enough to Catholic rites for them to guess, and they had decided that the brujas would not be left to fight the Hounds alone, keeping tabs on the women to be of aid when needed. They had seen Luna walking and they had come to protect the circle, although they could offer little more than their physical presence.
Marching toward the desert in the indigo-tinted light of night, with the moon watching, the group climbed the sandy hill and descended into the depression surrounded by the shadows of ocotillos and yuccas. The townsfolk watched from the hill, while the brujas, once again, made their circle and crossed in the form of a triangle. A wind picked up, and the unbeknownst to the group of residents, the brujas knew they were being watched by someone else. They spoke the words of protection, consciously including the residents in their incantation, and then they prepared to call Sergio Harkness.
