The Aztec’s Root For Maguey

The next day was a Saturday, Lauren felt that something wasn’t completely right with Antoinette, and so she decided to skip work, sometimes murder cases can wait, once the coroner does his evaluation you have seven years to discover if the body was killed or if it was an accident that looks like a murder or if it was a deceptive suicide, or if it was simply a murder by mother nature. Lauren was one of those who believed that everything was a murder because she was a homicide investigator but Habakkuk could have told her, though he never did, that the universe considers all murders accidental overload, when enough things agglomerate in a certain direction and all the participating entities are in negative accordance someone gets killed, simple as that, the murdered is an equal participant in his undoing, and the murderer is equally a victim of their mutual interaction. But we are not going to try to explain that to Lauren. Anyway she now felt that Antoinette needed some time away from the rambunctious city, and so awakened her with a scramble egg breakfast on what was a lovely sunny Saturday.

Antoinette munched down on the buttered toast and the delicious tea, of the latter she preferred more than coffee, Lauren was the coffee addict, in its pure essence, no sugar, no milk, black, and Italian roast preferably though sometimes she softened and accepted French roast. “Hey why don’t we go to Salinas tonight for the weekend, its near here but far away in every other sense, we can have some delicious Mexican food, and perhaps get those banana leaves you been wanting for your tamales.”

Antoinette loved to cook tamales and she always complained that she could never get the banana leaves, so this was a very pleasant idea, “Salinas, yes that sounds wonderful.”

Salinas was not a tourist town, it was instead a farming community full of illegal and legal Mexican migrant labor that worked away the days pulling lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli; and contrary to popular belief, they were mostly happy people, migrant labor yes, hard and dirty work yes, but they didn’t consider ground dirt, and mostly they were happy; poor yes, mostly illiterate yes, they hadn’t even heard of homeboy Steinbeck; nor were they as sad about Salinas and their lives as he was. Would their sixteen year old daughters mostly get pregnant out of wedlock and with the wrong boy? Yes, but they were happy families just that the fathers and the mothers were a bit unreasonable, they wanted the best for their daughters; yet most of them would end up just like them, which could be a sort of compliment; the parents wanted their daughters to marry rich white boys or some Mexican from Mexico City, but they were not being realistic, sixteen year old girls from poor families don’t get to meet a lot of white guys from Harvard, specially not where white boys are a minority, nor do these girls get to Mexico city because they are part of a caravan of lettuce pickers in America, these Mexicans parents were just being idealistic so as to protect themselves from the reality that the chances of their daughter getting out of their way of life were nil. Statistic after statistic showed that 80% of a community kept on reproducing itself, rich and poor alike; sure, the Mexican families took their daughters to the famous Salinas rodeo to meet the cowboys, but the cowboys were nothing more than migrant laborers themselves, and just as happy and as drunk as the Mexican lettuce pickers. So little Conchitas or Mijitas weren’t going to get anywhere beyond this little town, and it was only for the parents sake that they were punished for getting pregnant like their mother did; and little Fernandito that got her pregnant would get his balls temporarily tied, by mother tears, like those horses at the rodeo, but in the end he would be an added and much loved son to the girl’s family. They were all mostly happy. Most of the time life was calm, food was good, very good for it was Mexican food, but of course you couldn’t tell the human rights activists, you couldn’t tell them that these were the descendants of the Aztecs; that the Aztecs were the worlds greatest farmers of their time, hence the reason why the Salinas Valley was so productive, Aztec energy, but you couldn’t even tell it to the big plantation owners; that the Mexicans picking their lettuce were the descendants of Tenochtitlan.

The two pretties drove to the fertile Salinas Valley and found an inn where they could rest the coming night, though they had every intention of eating out, and ignoring their hostess’s offerings. They went to the town market, “Jose’s” and there they went of a buying binge for everything that composed a tamale, lard, pork butt, nixtamal and including banana leaves, sure Mexicans were more in the habit of using corn husk but Antoinette had her own version, she was an avid lover of the dark green texture of banana leaves, that is how she hid her tamales.

Coming out of the town market they stumbled into Jose, the owner of the market, a Mexican, now in his late fifties, that had worked the fields all of his life, but saved enough money to open his own market. He was getting into his white van and Antoinette and Lauren greeted him, as they knew him from their occasional shopping. Jose greeted them cordially but seemed a bit distant, less his usual cheery self. Antoinette took notice and made her way closer to him, “where are you going Jose?” “Out to the field to pick Maguey for some Pulque.” Antoinette was familiar with the miracle plant and Pulque its fermented sweet liquid that was the product of the end of a Maguey’s life, the sweet liquid was the result of ten years of maturity and a blossoming stem, to get to the sweet liquid Jose would have to cut the stem, that would kill the plant. Perhaps the Aztec in him was into pulling hearts and tasting the sweetness of the act. Antoinette without asking Lauren “Jose we will go with you, would love to see you extract the sweet liquid.” Jose didn’t know how to say no to the ladies, he was himself a sweet man, and though underneath his ruana his heart hesitated, “Come on then, that plant and I have waited for ten years for this moment.”

This was why Lauren loved Antoinette, because at any moment something different would happen, the shopping trip had turned into a trip for extracting some liquid from some plant, and this was what they were going to do. She was pleased, they hopped on the van both sat in the back, the front was all cluttered with boxes, the back had no seats, it was not going to be a very comfortable trip, but Jose’s conversation made things comfortable enough. “Worked this fields all my life, there hasn’t been a place where I haven’t stood beneath a hot sun to rip harvest from the earth, long years.” Antoinette, “Did you ever marry Jose?” there was some hesitation from the man, “No, no, couldn’t bring myself to it, there was so much work, all the time work, Mexican woman require lots of attention and I didn’t have the time, not the time.” This was highly unusual and Lauren took notice of the cultural dissent, so she decided to dig a little deeper as was her nature, “Jose but surely you have some children running around all of Mexico?” She finished that sentence with the appropriate smooth over giggle and eye play towards Antoinette. From the drivers seat the pause was another long one, then the man that had no philosophy in him, only worked the fields all of his life, picking lettuce, carrying boxes, loading trucks, and shelling out dough to fill the shelves with inventory, the man with fingers always inflamed and dirty nails, but dirty with the grub of the earth, dirty because the earth had sculpted them so that he could touch her, “children, no, no…” and his voice faded then he revitalize himself, “Pulque will be good today, that plant doesn’t give around these parts, planted it there myself just ten years ago.” With that the van came to a halt somewhere next to a huge lettuce field. Lauren and Antoinette followed their tour guide, he pointed somewhere towards what could have been the center of the field with military precision, “its over there.” Only Antoinette and Lauren stared at each other, over there could be anywhere, it was a huge field, you couldn’t see the other side, they started through the furrows occasionally losing balance and crushing the total production of lettuce, Jose walked firmly but slowly, after about a seven minute walk they reached what they had not seen but should have seen, amongst all the lettuce was this gorgeous and huge Maguey, a leach collection long and sturdy plant, belching out towards the sky and then subdued by gravity retrenching towards the earth, a desert plant amidst this fertile valley, she seemed like the queen of the lettuce patch, and a huge stem rising full of blossoms, “children, children” his hands up, cried out Jose, “children you wanted to see my children here are all my children, blossoming after ten years.” Antoinette and Lauren smiling joy, seeing the glory in these man’s love of his plant, “beautiful.” Cried Antoinette, “yes, very beautiful.” Followed Lauren.

“Well but to get our Pulque we must cut out the stem.” and with saying that, Jose, grabs a machete from his bag, and chops the twenty foot stem right off its foundation. And a jolly Jose grabs the yellow exposed heart of the maguey, and he takes this yellow large banana shaped organic container, and from the top, cutting a small hole, begins to suck agua the miel, then he gives some to his companions, which approvingly enjoy the honeyed water, though not wholly aware that the formation will arouse drunkenness. After the afternoon hot sun had shied a little, the three were laying on the lettuce, next to the plant, Jose utters, “the plant I now freed to die.” “What do you mean Jose?” When I cut the stem the plant’s life was over, but it was the only way to get the pulque out of her heart.” Lauren a bit disgusted, “You mean that beautiful plant dies after you cut it?” Jose inching no sympathy, “Well we just drank the blood within its heart lady.” Antoinette, “It’s a shame, a real shame, Jose we could have let it live, it was wrong to kill it.” Jose, is now just as drunk and somewhat candidly he said, “you don’t know why I cut that heart, you don’t know why I drank its blood, I had a child, I had a child, you want to know I had a child!” Antoinette and Lauren are a bit out of comprehensive range, “I had a child, had to come work this field, work this field, we wore head covers, couldn’t afford a hat, so we used blankets, cover our heads from the presumptuous sun, I brought little Joselito here many times, couldn’t leave him at home alone…” Antoinette and Lauren have lost any drunkenness they had amass, they remained silent, “then one day, I get done and having Joselito in my back the blanket heat had killed him, I held my Joselito in my arms, I held my only companion in my arms, he didn’t cry, never cried, he didn’t breath, didn’t breath, I buried my Joselito there.” Pointing his earthly fingers at the core of the dying plant while tears drained him. Lauren puts her hand to her mouth, Antoinette, doesn’t move, “My little Joselito, today I drank his sweetness, no one knows lady cop, now you know, you wanted to come here with me, my Joselito is the root of this pulque we just drank. You can arrest me now, I am ready to go, I was just waiting for ten years.”

Lauren and Antoinette don’t know how to react they haven’t a socialized ritualized reaction for what they are witnessing, they came here to get away from the vibrant city, and now they are both in front of a man that lost his baby to the sun god, and now before the altar that he constructed on top of his baby’s grave they have drank the sacred liquid in his honor. Something Jose had waited ten years for, ten years.

Lauren somewhat restored but hesitant, “What happened to your baby’s mother Jose?” The despondent man responded, “never had a wife, she didn’t want to marry me, she said she never wanted to marry me, that she didn’t love me, she had Joselito and gave him to me, said she couldn’t keep a child from a man she didn’t love.” To Antoinette the complete separation that had existed between them and Jose became huge and impossible to ignore, Antoinette got up, walked over to him, grabbed his earthly bound hand, “common Jose, come with us, you can stay at the Inn with us tonight, it is best we talk later, for now lets just go.” Lauren, who was not quite sure she was in agreement with Antoinette, helped to carry him into the van, and Antoinette held the languishing Aztec, while Lauren drove them to the Inn.