El Tiempo

I enjoy a good story from time to time. I especially enjoy local stories from my hometown in Mexico. They remind me that the fantastical can still happen in this world. That this world is still filled with some magic and is not to be swallowed by void that is the modern world only to be a forgotten story which will never be heard again. It is something that My current town in The United States is missing. A local story. I believe that this is what makes up a local culture and makes the world a little for unique and magical. So without delay here is a story from My local Town In Mexico.

At first day break, the sound of the roosters cry shatters the morning silence. Jose wakes from the warm embrace of his wife Maria and checks his watch its 4:00 AM. Jose’s wife awakens alongside him. She gets up, ties her hair in a ponytail, puts on her apron, and starts to make breakfast. As Maria starts to make her husband breakfast, Jose starts to get ready he takes a cold shower to fully wake up, brushes his teeth, and puts on his clothes that consist of a pair of jeans, boots, and a flannel shirt. As soon as he opens the door of the bathroom the strong smell of coffee and the delicious odor of huevos rancheros meet his nose. He sits down to eat as his wife serves him his food. Before he goes Jose visits his children bedroom and says goodbye to his son Angel who is 11 and his daughter Valeria who is 9 telling them he will be back for dinner. Before he goes his wife Maria sternly reminds him not to be late for dinner or he will have to sleep in his truck tonight, right after she lovingly kisses her husband goodbye. It scares Jose how his wife can be as stern and fierce as a hen protecting her eggs, but then as loving as his abuela. Either way he knows he is a lucky to be married to her. As he is putting his tqejana on and going out the door, he sees a vibrant red, orange, and yellow compilation with the smell of the fresh morning dew that covers the streets. Jose goes next door to his neighbor Jaime to tell him they got to go and see the tierras. Jaime also puts on a flannel a tejana on and goes with Jose. They get in Jose’s truck and drive out of their neighborhood. As they are driving, they see doña Juana getting up to go to get some tortillas they say hi with respect, but as they drive off they call her la chismosa because at night her and her friends get together to share gossip. They later drive through the town and see the venders in el mercado getting ready for another day of selling their goods. They got there before the break of dawn to set shop. Their goods range from watermelons, tunas, chicken, pork, beef, and even goat. They go through la Plaza that has a Kiosk in the center of it with a New coat of blue paint and a big water fountain filled with water. As they finally drive out of town and into the huertas they see them still wet from the mornings dew. They pass rows of mango trees, some lemon trees, huertas de nopal, and then sorghum. Later they go off the main road into a dirt road then drive for 30 minutes into the deep huertas of sorghum until they got to their lands. It was a 20-hector plot of sorghum. The is land fenced off with barbed wire like all the huertas to distinguish who’s is who’s. They got off and started taking care of the land. Jose fires some rockets off at his crops to scare off the birds while Jaime cuts of the weeds getting close to Jose’s crops with a machete. They both share stories about how life is going. Jose asks how’s your wife to Jaime. “No pues la vieja quiere que baje de peso” Jaime says distraughtly. Jose retorts “pues para de trager tortillas”. Jaime says, “es que estan tan buenas”. Jose laughs. As the day drags on, they shoot a few rounds at the birds with Jose’s rifle to see who’s a better shot while also scaring of the birds. Jaime’s stomach starts to rumble then asks Jose if he brought some food. Jose puts his hand on his head then turns to his head to the field saying in an embarrassed tone that he forgot to bring something to eat. It was about time for lunch. Jose looked at his watch. “Its three” he said. They decided to go get something to eat in town then come back. As they were driving back, they came across an orange tree. “How lucky are we” Jaime said. They got off to take a look. Jaime reached up and picked an orange. It was deep orange with a bit of green still on the other side. He peeled the layer off and took a slice. It was sweet and sour with the orange crystal bursting in his mouth with each bite he took. Jose who had not eaten since breakfast took one as well and ate it. They ate until they felt sleepy then under the shade of the orange tree, they fell asleep. When they awoke it was night. Jose looked at his watch then jumped up and said let’s go its eight. They grabbed some oranges to share with their families and got in their car and drove off. When they into town they saw that the kiosk in La plaza wasn’t blue anymore but was orange and the fountain did not have water anymore and was converted into a walkway. They looked at each other with doubt. They couldn’t have done painted and converted the fountain that fast, said Jaime as he looked at Jose with a confused look. I don’t know said Jose trying not to look worried. They kept on driving. As they got closer their homes, they saw a group of women in front of doña Juana’s house, but doña Juana wasn’t there. When the women looked at them their eye’s widened and their mouths dropped. One woman became hysterical and started praying. When they got home a group of people gathered and started starring in disbelief. Jaime and Jose got off and each went to their own home navigating through the crowd while each carrying some oranges. When Jose knocked on his door his wife Maria came out then feel on her knees when she saw her husband and started crying. Jose dropped the oranges and went to hold his wife. At that point Jose heard screaming coming from Jaime’s house then heard Jaime’s wife saying that he should be dead over and over to Jaime, While Jaime was trying to console his wife. As that happened Jose saw his two children come out of their room, but they looked older and in disbelief when they saw their father. They were too scared to come closer. Jose with a worried look and shaky voice on the verge of tears begged his wife to tell him what happened. She looked at Jose in the eyes and said “you are late to dinner” as the tears fell down her cheeks “two years late”.