Further Adventures (21 page)

Newberry WROTE to her how it made him sick to the pit of his stomach to see his own dear Father toil so hard over his F.B.I. desk for the miserable payment of a few monthly Dollars when crooked union bosses or casino bosses etc. very rough types live the Life Of Riley they do not deserve. A blessing it did not take his best years to learn this Lesson Of Life & it is up to every free individual to even out the odds the best way he can. By this he tried to tell Amelia how he understood her Motivations & how he sympathized with her utterly & truly.

Curiosity pulled on Amelia harder than her Suspicion pushed her back. She wrote a postcard to Newberry very brief: “How you can be unhappy in America?”

She got her Reply delivered by a taxicab in Juarez. In this LETTER he described how they could help each other make improvements in their lives. To Wit: it would be a pretty feather in his F.B.I. Homburg if Agent Newberry could put Amelia’s boss Señor Aguilar out of the Wetback Transporting Business. If she would help him with the old gorilla she would find out what a good career move Betrayal can be.

Could she attract Señor Aguilar to a motel in El Paso? Before the Señor could get his socks off Newberry would burst in on them with a Arrest Warrant all she had to do was trust him and she would see in Technicolor how much happiness the Future would bring.

So it was the End of one thing with Señor Aguilar and the Beginning of something else with John Newberry.

Amelia & Tio did all of the business on the Mexican side. They hired Mules. They offered a Guarantee to any Muchacho or Muchacha who had the jumping beans to pay for it. They put the competition out of business one by one the old gorillas fell. Because John Newberry was doing his Dirty Work on the American side. By his influence and inside Information certain Clients would bust through the Border and disap
pear into the Sun Belt States & earn a better Life as busboys or migrant fruit pickers. Not Newberry or Tio or Amelia ever heard a complaint from any Dissatisfied Customer.

The secret Life going on between them pulled Newberry very close to Amelia. Or the rest of the world around him who did not know or care pushed them together kisser to kisser. So his bones shook from Romance at last! Not inside the walls of his Family home—not where his wife Chantal is safe and his healthy pink Children—not with the skin & bones of his Life. He could hear Amelia’s heart beating on the other side of the Border so close to him.

Mother Nature knows a opportunity when she sees one. During the Full Moon he visited her South of the Border where he left Amelia pregnant with child.

When John Newberry heard the news his new Romance rushed out of him like air out of a broken balloon. He gave her some advice in a stern tone & strong terms. “Do not let this baby of yours live.” Amelia did not agree with this selfish piece of advice and this caused a strain & a crack between them. Business started going downhill and the tidy Sums stopped rolling in. After a couple of months of this starvation Newberry was the party who threw in the towel. He WROTE ANOTHER LETTER & told her he thought it over & deep down he does revere the great American institutions of Motherhood and Free Enterprise. The Gringo Cockroach will forget if the Mexican Flea will forgive.

So this happened next of all.

After the usual 9 months besides their Agreement they had a Daughter between them. Newberry adored this package from the first minute since she inherited her Father’s round face & caramel color brown eyes. From his Heart he promised Amelia no matter what may happen in the coming years little Dolores will have all the same Benefits of Life which he bestows upon his pair of pink kids at home in Santa Fe.

Time goes by and things change. The Human Smuggling Business
can not be better with more Clients than they can handle. Also Newberry & Amelia put away some very desperate Characters who used to be in their line. So Amelia got to be the top banana south of the border down Mexico way and Newberry got promoted to a glass office in Dallas. But he was not altogether happy—

By this date he had 2 more healthy pink kids. He was smoking more now & enjoying it less. He did not find Satisfaction anymore in his duties for the F.B.I. even if this ploy did protect his own rear end. Newberry was ready to retire before the strain could break his back & before he was his Father’s age with a crystal punch bowl for the neighbors to ooh & aah at. He made fast Plans to get out of Law Enforcement and into Property Development.

For this vocation he needed a lot more money than the Tidy Sums he was collecting by his business with Amelia. So he did not tell her a word when he called up certain slippery types far away over the Isthmus of Panama and he made a deal to buy a planeload of Drugs for this item is in short supply but in big demand. Not really like Muchachos & Muchachas at all.

With this valuable Merchandise in his hands he was not clicking his heels in the air. Newberry had to face up to plenty of new problems. For one how was he going to move his Precious Bags of powder over the U.S. Border? For another one how was he going to keep his sneaky business a trade secret from Tio & Amelia?

He did not sit alone in the barren desert for 40 days & nights he did not need to read the spilled guts of a goat. He only required 10 Minutes with a cup of black coffee before his Conscience spoke: “I’m leaving you John Newberry. I know when I’m not wanted!” Amelia & Tio would learn what is up by and by so why waste Vital Energy on wrestling with that hairy ape until it climbed on top of him? Out went Newberry to find the Lucky Monkeys to swing over the Border with his Happy Powder in their pockets. He tempted them out of
Juarez with his Once In A Lifetime Offer—Tonight you may be a empty-handed Muchacho shivering in your cardboard box in a garbage dump on the wrong side of the Border but tomorrow you can be a free citizen in Deming New Mexico! Yes! A real live nephew of your Uncle Sam with all of the Official Papers in your possession to prove it!

They lined up for Newberry around the Block.

A few months after this anonymous Competition made Tio & Amelia feel the pinch. Until a empty-handed Muchacho begged Tio in a Juarez bar for some Info thereby he revealed what was up & who was who & why Tio was losing his Mules as fast as he found them. Tio drank beer all night before he had the Heart to tell Amelia about this crooked business. Then he hoisted a few more & passed out on her brick floor in Tres Osos. So Amelia became the hairy ape who paid a surprise visit to Newberry at his Human corral in Deming.

Amelia read her personal Stars for that week & discovered this new Cosmic Arrangement of topsy-turvy upheaval. Friends departing & strangers arriving shocking encounters.

She let herself in by the back door she found Newberry enjoying a hot TV Dinner all by himself. He put on a friendly manner & pulled out a chair for her to sit down but she stood there very stiff. “Let me guess…” By her tight mouth and narrow eyes he received the Message that Amelia did not come over from Mexico to play 20 Questions so from his own tight mouth Newberry said, “Do I get to finish my last meal?”

A sour joke! He would not dodge her or lie further since he figured from the start this day would come. He told her how he was only thinking of her & their daughter Dolores most of all. He was thinking how much Amelia hated all to do with Drugs etc. so for her sake he did not want to scare her. And besides with the Citizens Patrols knocking off his Mules and his wealth of jumping beans in the bank Newberry was all finished with this monkey business any day.

He clawed open a corner of the linoleum behind the refrigerator to get at the heavy envelope he hid there. Inside was the Deed of Land made out to Dolores and held in Trust by Newberry. “Keep it someplace safe,” he said & handed it over.

AMELIA: What it is?

NEWBERRY: Houses. Soon. Right now it’s 10,000 ugly acres of desert waiting for a concrete face lift.

AMELIA: What you did to me…

NEWBERRY: No baby no.
For
you. For Dolores. Come on. I want to show it to you. Let me take you out to the lots. We can talk on the way.

They did not talk on the way since Amelia kept Silent to save her strength to defend herself from Newberry’s charming ways. He smiled & cocked his head when they drove past the billboard with the happy Kids painted on it under the shelter of the name of their pretty neighborhood New Plains.

He walked Amelia across the soft sandy dirt of a vacant lot in the middle of 1,000 vacant lots. Little plastic flags on the ends of sawed-off stakes fluttered a few inches off the ground. Straight lines of them stretched out of the shadowy desert into the setting Sun.

NEWBERRY: Streets. Impressed?

AMELIA: Big secret from me Juanito. You want me to say muchas gracias for this big place. You like it if I go home hm and tell Dolores how much her daddy love her.

NEWBERRY: Such is my hope.

AMELIA: Behind my back you been doing dirty things. Anythings you want.

NEWBERRY: On my side of the fence we play by my rules.

AMELIA: No more playing.

NEWBERRY: You don’t say when. I say.

AMELIA: No more you don’t cheat me. You lie in my face!

NEWBERRY: For Dolores. Both of you.

AMELIA: No more of this drugs…This…

NEWBERRY: Say it. Say the word. Dirty Juanito’s dirty business. Say the naughty wordy.

AMELIA: No. Stop doing this.

NEWBERRY: I’ll give you some help. That’s my job right?

They danced some kind of sloppy tango back to his car until Newberry got Amelia bent over backwards on the hood.

AMELIA: John. Stop…

NEWBERRY: Stop doing what? What is it Amelia? You can’t stand the idea that your little girl is set up for the rest of her life. Her gringo daddy with his
drogas
.

AMELIA: I take her away from you for good.

He smeared his pouchy mouth over her lips he slithered his tongue between them. Amelia twisted her face away then twisted back & she spat at him. She kicked him hard so he doubled over & rolled off her but Newberry did not let go he dragged her down too.

NEWBERRY: What are you going to do about it? Complain about me to the F.B.I.?

AMELIA: No. Your father.

NEWBERRY: What are you going to do for evidence? Anything you can do I can do better. Get back in the car before you get hysterical.

She let him help her to her feet but she did not make any move further. She stared into the car & did not see a Cadillac leather front seat no it was a Bottomless Pit. Newberry pushed her a helpful push in the right direction and her legs went stiff.

AMELIA: Oh yes Querido. I have evidence.

On & on Newberry bragged about his smart Arrangements and the more he told her the safer he felt. Because he was reminding himself how perfect he tied up every loose string how he covered his tracks so clever & cunning from Start to Finish. He was sure he was big & Amelia was small beneath him. For she did not know the Law of the Land frontwards & backwards the same nor she did not know if her last piece of Evidence a judge would believe in Court.

AMELIA: Your letters. I keep your letters.

NEWBERRY: You didn’t save any letters.

AMELIA: All them. Love letters.

Newberry did not have a smart Answer to this he just socked her in the stomach. He never raised a hand to her before and so in the middle of pain & shock Amelia knew she possessed some Power over him. He cursed her for it for Love Letters she turned into Hate Letters. The windup was she did not get back in his car then his anger drove him on.

NEWBERRY: Mexico’s
that
way.

He gunned the motor & tore into the Twilight across the desert. When the plume of dust settled down when she did not see his taillights shining anymore Amelia started walking & hitch-hiking 30 Miles until she saw the Lights of Mason she let them guide her steps
to the bus station there & the 5:25 A.M. to Juarez. The soft dirt slowed her down her High Heels sank in but she kept going straight ahead. Somewhere underneath the haze of Light was the end of her Troubles for the night.

If the Dark can flash then in a Flash of Dark it was gone. All the lights of Mason went out & a hole in the night hung there instead. Amelia shivered from the idea of Newberry’s reach and the Force of it so powerful he can black out a town & crush her Hope. So she sneaked down the dead Streets of Mason she roamed the broken sidewalks of the East 8th. And by this late hour what was doing in that Neighborhood was not soothing to a Living Soul. Sounds of footsteps starting & stopping. Laughs inside a vacant shop. Some car slowing down next to her & Wolf Whistles shooting out from the back window but before Amelia can turn around & curse in their faces the cowards step on the gas & they squeal off around the corner.

So she keeps her head down & keeps walking towards the Bus Station likewise she is thinking
Maybe this blackout delayed all departures & maybe the Juarez bus is still waiting
—this Hope hurried her along so she Cursed out loud when her high heel snapped off on a crack in the sidewalk. When she heard the car go by slow again she was ready to throw her shoe at those juvenile delinquents but it was not the same car. This time it was a white Cadillac with those men in front.

Perry did not Wolf Whistle he just leaned his chalky bony face & arms out of the window & enquired most polite, “Amelia?”

He kicked the door open & Amelia was already running the other way down the street. And the broken shoe she clutched in her hand was her only Weapon so she was Helpless when Nilo swerved the car around her she was Defenseless when Perry ran her down & let her see how his intention was only Harm.

WHO CAME BUSTING OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO DEFEND HER? WHO APPEARED OUT OF THE THIN AIR TO COMFORT
HER IN SUCH DANGER? WHO DID SHE SEE LIKE A LIGHT IN THE BLACKOUT A BALL OF FIRE WHO WAS ON HER SIDE?

“He try and protect me this crazy man,” she told Tio. She reported in her safe motel room she told him how this Stranger defeated her captors how he acted so Brave for her sake.