Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Read Free Book Online Page B

his mouth and swallow him? Will God forgive his sin and be with him?” For a long time Ultima did not answer.
    “A man of the llano,” she said, “will not take the life of a llanero unless there is just cause. And I do not think your father fired at Lupito last night. And more important, mi hijo, you must never judge who God forgives and who He doesn’t—”
    We walked together and I thought about what she had said. I knew she was right. “Ultima,” I asked, “what was it you gave me to make me sleep last night? And did you carry me to my room?”
    She laughed. “I am beginning to understand why your mother calls you the inquisitor,” she said.
    “But I want to know, there are so many things I want to know,” I insisted.
    “A curandera cannot give away her secrets,” she said, “but if a person really wants to know, then he will listen and see and be patient. Knowledge comes slowly—”
    I walked along, thinking about what she had said. When we came to the bridge my mother hurried the girls across, but my father paused to look over the railing. I looked too. What happened down there was like a dream, so far away. The brown waters of the River of the Carp wound their way southward to the orchards of my uncles.
    We crossed the bridge and turned right. The dirt road followed the high cliff of the river on this side. It wound into the cluster of houses around the church then kept going, following the river to El Puerto. To our left began the houses and buildings of the town. All seemed to turn towards the Main Street of town, except one. This house, a large, rambling gray stucco with a picket fence surrounding the weedy grounds, stood away from the street, perched on a ledge that dropped fifty feet down into the river below.
    A long time ago the house had belonged to a very respectable family, but they had moved into town after the waters of the river began to cut into the cliff below them. Now the house belonged to a woman named Rosie. I knew that Rosie was evil, not evil like a witch, but evil in other ways. Once the priest had preached in Spanish against the women who lived in Rosie’s house and so I knew that her place was bad. Also, my mother admonished us to bow our heads when we passed in front of the house.
    The bell of the church began to ring,
una mujer con un diente, que llama a toda la gente
. The bell called the people to six o’clock mass.
    But no. Today it was not just telling us that in five minutes mass would begin, today it was crying the knell of Lupito.
    “¡Ay!” I heard my mother cry and saw her cross her forehead.
La campana de la iglesia está doblando…
    The church bell tolled and drew to it the widows in black, the lonely, faithful women who came to pray for their men.
Arrímense vivos y difuntos
    Aquí estamos todos juntos…
    The church rose up from the dust of the road, huge brown granite blocks rose skyward to hold the bell tower and the cross of Christ. It was the biggest building I had ever seen in all my life. Now the people gathered at its doors like ants, asking questions and passing on rumors about what happened last night. My father went to talk to the men, but my mother and Ultima stood apart with the women with whom they exchanged formal greetings. I went around the side of the church where I knew the boys from town hung around until mass began.
    Most of the kids were older than I. They were in the second or third grade at school. I knew most of them by name, not because I talked with them, but because after many Sundays of observing them I had learned who they were and a little bit about their characteristics. I knew that when I went to school in the fall I would get to know them well. I was only sad because they would be a year ahead of me and I already felt close to them.
    “My ole man saw Lupito do it!” Ernie pointed his thumb in Able’s face. I knew Ernie liked to brag.
    “Bullshit!” Horse cried out. They called him Horse because his face looked like the