CHAPTER 1
Maria
The night Maria saw the angel began just like any other nightwhen she went to the laboratory to feed the dogs. After dinner shefinished her chores—turning the compost, scattering corn for thechickens. When she was done she stuck her head in the kitchendoor. Her father was at the table fixing a boot and didn't look up.
I'm going now. The señor is expecting me.
Then go.
She pulled the bicycle out of the shed and walked it to theabandoned highway. Hiked her skirt up and started pedaling. Itwas a warm night and she rode slowly to savor the feel of the airon her skin. Around her the desert ran without interruption to thehorizon and even though it was nighttime you could tell where thehorizon was because that was where the stars stopped.
Mostly the road was flat. But toward the end there was adescending hill, not too steep, that led to the building where theseñor kept his laboratory. For this final stretch the girl coastedwith her hands off the handlebars as she always did, holding herskirt open so she could feel the air against her thighs. This was herfavorite part of the job, coasting down the last hill at night withher skirt lifted, hearing the sound of the bicycle tires against theasphalt and the faint whirring of the wheels and the fluttery soundof her dress and the sound of her own breathing and nothing else.
When she came to the laboratory she got off the bicycle andlaid it on its side in the dirt next to the long low building. Fromfar away, the sound of a train, going through the pass over nearMagdalena. The señor's Cadillac was parked in front and there wasa light on in the back where he usually worked. Which meant hehad come back from Texas early. Or wherever it was that he went.She thought it was Texas.
Maria walked inside and turned on the light. The laboratorywas a converted warehouse with a concrete floor. Metal shelvingran down three walls and on the fourth the señor had put thetwenty-one dog cages.
Maria opened a sack of dry dog food and began scooping itinto metal bowls. One and a half cups for each dog. She movedfrom one cage to the next, sliding the food and a bowl filled withwater through a hatch at the base of each cage.
When she came to the end of the line of cages she stood,indecisively, looking at a door at the far end, hoping this wouldn'tbe one of those times the señor would need her help for theblood-taking. During this procedure a dog would be put on ametal table and she would hold its head and talk to it soothinglywhile the señor did something with a long needled syringe downnear its hindquarters.
Should she tell him she was here?
Maria went back outside and stood for a moment in the stilldark air. A small gust of wind blew out of the east, lifting her dressabove her thighs, flapping about her waist with such insistence thatshe had to use both arms to settle it back in place. The feeling ofthe cool air against her bare skin produced a curious constrictedsensation in her throat. A dark and nameless excitement sweptthrough her.
From somewhere in the distance came the low rumble ofthunder. Above her a reef of charcoal-colored clouds had sprungup and the stars that were visible only moments before had beenobliterated.
A storm was coming.
The girl went back inside. For some reason the dogs hadretreated into the shadows at the back of their cages and stoppedtheir peculiar crooning sound. She found the silence unsettling.
Hola, she said. Qué es?
The hound in the first cage came slowly forward and pressedits muzzle against the wire mesh. She allowed it to smell her fingersand lick them. Once again she felt something stirring inside of her.
Then she heard a voice.
Maria.
At first she thought it was the dog who had spoken her namebecause the sound came from nearby. But the dog wasn't evenlooking at her. Its gaze had shifted to the door leading outside. Atits base a streak of pale blue light. Maria felt the hairs on her armsstart to tingle and she could hear the blood pounding in her ears.
When the door blew open she half expected to see someonestanding there. A maniac maybe, or a ghost. But there was nothingin the doorway. Just the wind picking up outside. Then she hearda pinging sound, and another, above her, on the tin roof, almostlike popcorn popping.
Maria.
This time she was sure the whisper came from beyond thedoor. From outside.
A cool wind was drifting in from the door. She could feel itaround her legs, grasping at her dress, as the pounding overheadgot louder and more insistent. Slowly she approached the door andby the time she stood at the entrance the noise had ceased.
Oh, she said. Dios.
The ground was covered with hailstones as far as she couldsee, glowing almost blue in the uncertain starlight. They coveredthe señor's car and they covered her bicycle, it's wheel turning, thespokes glittering with tiny white stones. Maria thought it was themost beautiful thing she had ever seen.
After a while she stepped outside. Her shoes making acrunching sound. She knelt and picked up a handful of smoothwhite pebbles and put one in her mouth savoring the cold againstthe heat of her tongue.
When she looked up she saw it.
The figure was standing about fifty feet away. Motionless.
Staring at her.
She had the impression of whiteness though she couldn't havesaid whether the figure was dressed in white or simply blended inwith the mantle of hail that stretched to the horizon. Nor couldshe have said whether it was a man or a woman. The only thingshe was certain of was that the figure was the source of the voicethat now repeated her name for the third time and whispered thesewords in her ear: Para ti.
Maria's mouth formed the words silently. Para ti.
She heard the crackle of lightning in the distance, a farawaysoothing sound. Still watching the figure, she knelt down andplaced another hailstone on her tongue. After a while her eyesteared up from the effort of staring. Maria blinked a few timesand when she could see again the figure was gone. She waited fora while to see if it would reappear and when it did not she turnedand ran back through the building past the dog cages and downthe dark hallway to the small room where the señor was working.
She entered the room without knocking.
The señor was standing at the window, looking outside, but itwas the wrong side of the building to have seen the figure in white.She said the first thing that came into her mind.
There was an angel. Outside. He talk to me.
The señor looked at her for a long time and pointed to a chair.She sat down.
What did the angel say?
He say, Maria. He say it three time.
And that's all?
Then he say, para ti.
Para ti. The señor regarded her intently. Then what happened?
Then he go away.
She sat with her hands folded in her lap while the señor wentto the window and looked out. She thought he seemed sad becausetears came to his eyes.
God bless you, he said.
Then he asked her if she had ever tasted champagne.
Charlene
It was about midway through her pregnancy that CharlenePonto began to wonder if it had been such a good idea to have ababy after all.
Babies were cute, no doubt about it....
