WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:01:53.473 align:middle line:90% 00:01:53.473 --> 00:01:54.890 align:middle line:84% I'm going to make my announcements 00:01:54.890 --> 00:01:57.560 align:middle line:84% very quickly because I know how eager you 00:01:57.560 --> 00:01:59.810 align:middle line:90% are to hear Mrs. Doerr. 00:01:59.810 --> 00:02:02.540 align:middle line:84% We have two readings scheduled for next week. 00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:06.830 align:middle line:84% Wednesday night, in the University Art museum, 00:02:06.830 --> 00:02:11.810 align:middle line:84% six students will read, Lolly Butler, Anne Heed, 00:02:11.810 --> 00:02:18.080 align:middle line:84% Harry Kressler, Kim Kuykendall, Kevin Lanoue and Holly Welker. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:22.070 align:middle line:84% And on Friday afternoon, in the-- 00:02:22.070 --> 00:02:28.820 align:middle line:84% in Student Union 283, Navajo poet, Luci Tapahonso will read. 00:02:28.820 --> 00:02:33.740 align:middle line:84% That's at 4 o'clock, Student Union 283. 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:36.350 align:middle line:84% Two weeks from tonight, Writers at Work 00:02:36.350 --> 00:02:40.940 align:middle line:84% will present the first in their series of readings and-- 00:02:40.940 --> 00:02:44.540 align:middle line:84% presenting the novelist, essayist, nonfiction writer, 00:02:44.540 --> 00:02:46.670 align:middle line:84% Edward Abbey, in this auditorium. 00:02:46.670 --> 00:02:53.480 align:middle line:90% 00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:59.240 align:middle line:84% Oh, copies of Sonora Review, the university's literary magazine, 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:00.980 align:middle line:90% are on sale tonight. 00:03:00.980 --> 00:03:05.165 align:middle line:84% And also, we have a few copies of Stones for Ibarra on sale. 00:03:05.165 --> 00:03:11.087 align:middle line:90% 00:03:11.087 --> 00:03:13.170 align:middle line:84% I hope you'll stay and have some punch and cookies 00:03:13.170 --> 00:03:14.820 align:middle line:84% and tell Harriet how wonderful she is. 00:03:14.820 --> 00:03:18.785 align:middle line:90% 00:03:18.785 --> 00:03:21.160 align:middle line:84% I mean, you already know, but you've got to tell her too. 00:03:21.160 --> 00:03:27.531 align:middle line:90% 00:03:27.531 --> 00:03:31.960 align:middle line:84% Harriet Doerr comes to us from Pasadena. 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:36.280 align:middle line:84% She went back to school after a long time 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:41.020 align:middle line:84% away, and finished her work at Stanford 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:42.760 align:middle line:84% and stayed on as a Stegner Fellow 00:03:42.760 --> 00:03:49.660 align:middle line:84% in their fiction program, and received a Henfield award 00:03:49.660 --> 00:03:51.560 align:middle line:84% for the writing that she was doing, 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:54.460 align:middle line:84% which was later put together as the novel, 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:57.470 align:middle line:84% Stones for Ibarra, which she will read some of for us 00:03:57.470 --> 00:03:57.970 align:middle line:90% tonight. 00:03:57.970 --> 00:04:01.030 align:middle line:84% But she's also consented to read some newer work. 00:04:01.030 --> 00:04:03.010 align:middle line:84% It's been such a pleasure to have her with us 00:04:03.010 --> 00:04:05.020 align:middle line:84% and I wish all of you could have heard her 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:07.300 align:middle line:90% speak with classes yesterday. 00:04:07.300 --> 00:04:08.980 align:middle line:84% It's my great pleasure and privilege 00:04:08.980 --> 00:04:10.240 align:middle line:90% to introduce Harriet Doerr. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:12.196 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:12.196 --> 00:04:24.910 align:middle line:90% 00:04:24.910 --> 00:04:27.960 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:29.820 align:middle line:90% Screams at you. 00:04:29.820 --> 00:04:31.050 align:middle line:90% Knew you wouldn't like that. 00:04:31.050 --> 00:04:33.240 align:middle line:84% I won't be able to see the book if I'm back here. 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:37.230 align:middle line:90% 00:04:37.230 --> 00:04:37.980 align:middle line:90% Is that all right? 00:04:37.980 --> 00:04:40.290 align:middle line:84% It's very sensitive, so you don't have to go closer. 00:04:40.290 --> 00:04:43.700 align:middle line:90% Oh, OK. 00:04:43.700 --> 00:04:46.092 align:middle line:84% It's a new [INAUDIBLE] that's what [INAUDIBLE].. 00:04:46.092 --> 00:04:53.390 align:middle line:90% 00:04:53.390 --> 00:04:54.185 align:middle line:90% I have a clipping. 00:04:54.185 --> 00:04:57.080 align:middle line:90% 00:04:57.080 --> 00:05:01.340 align:middle line:90% It's a record, oldest authoress. 00:05:01.340 --> 00:05:05.690 align:middle line:84% The oldest female author was Mrs. Alice Pollock 00:05:05.690 --> 00:05:08.450 align:middle line:84% of Haslemere, Surrey, England, whose 00:05:08.450 --> 00:05:11.480 align:middle line:84% book, Portrait of My Victorian Youth, 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:18.320 align:middle line:84% was published when she was 102 years, eight months. 00:05:18.320 --> 00:05:21.500 align:middle line:84% So I'd like to start with this because it gives me 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:22.400 align:middle line:90% hope and courage. 00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:24.987 align:middle line:90% 00:05:24.987 --> 00:05:26.695 align:middle line:84% You know, it makes you feel rather young. 00:05:26.695 --> 00:05:30.820 align:middle line:90% 00:05:30.820 --> 00:05:33.640 align:middle line:90% People do say, why wait so long? 00:05:33.640 --> 00:05:35.770 align:middle line:84% And it's absolutely true that being 32 00:05:35.770 --> 00:05:38.090 align:middle line:84% is quite a lot better than being 77, 00:05:38.090 --> 00:05:41.540 align:middle line:84% and you have all that future in front of you. 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:43.435 align:middle line:84% But the reason I waited so long was 00:05:43.435 --> 00:05:45.310 align:middle line:84% that I wasn't at all convinced I could do it, 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:50.770 align:middle line:84% and I didn't try seriously until quite late on when I went back 00:05:50.770 --> 00:05:51.790 align:middle line:90% to school. 00:05:51.790 --> 00:06:01.450 align:middle line:84% I was not like Truman Capote who said, I've known all my life, 00:06:01.450 --> 00:06:04.900 align:middle line:84% I can toss a bunch of words up in the air 00:06:04.900 --> 00:06:07.660 align:middle line:90% and they'd come down just right. 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:14.110 align:middle line:84% I didn't know that, and I wasn't like EB White either 00:06:14.110 --> 00:06:15.115 align:middle line:90% who said this-- 00:06:15.115 --> 00:06:19.420 align:middle line:90% 00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:21.460 align:middle line:90% later on, not when he was a boy. 00:06:21.460 --> 00:06:25.990 align:middle line:84% I think he was writing to his brother, yes, in 1947. 00:06:25.990 --> 00:06:30.400 align:middle line:84% I'm glad to report that even now, at this late day, 00:06:30.400 --> 00:06:33.640 align:middle line:84% a blank sheet of paper holds the greatest excitement 00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:35.110 align:middle line:90% there is for me. 00:06:35.110 --> 00:06:38.020 align:middle line:84% More promising than a silver cloud, 00:06:38.020 --> 00:06:40.660 align:middle line:84% prettier than the little red wagon, 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:44.110 align:middle line:84% it holds all the hope there is, all fears. 00:06:44.110 --> 00:06:46.810 align:middle line:84% I can remember really quite distinctly 00:06:46.810 --> 00:06:49.450 align:middle line:84% looking a sheet of paper square in the eyes when 00:06:49.450 --> 00:06:52.180 align:middle line:84% I was seven or eight years old and thinking, 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:53.800 align:middle line:90% this is where I belong. 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:55.540 align:middle line:90% This is it. 00:06:55.540 --> 00:06:59.690 align:middle line:84% So how wonderful to know that and at the same time, 00:06:59.690 --> 00:07:02.770 align:middle line:90% have the talent of EB White. 00:07:02.770 --> 00:07:06.640 align:middle line:84% Only a fool would read any word or four or five or two 00:07:06.640 --> 00:07:08.890 align:middle line:84% sentences of EB White before they 00:07:08.890 --> 00:07:10.900 align:middle line:90% were about to read themselves. 00:07:10.900 --> 00:07:14.470 align:middle line:90% That puts me in my place. 00:07:14.470 --> 00:07:19.510 align:middle line:84% And people say, is it ever too late to start? 00:07:19.510 --> 00:07:21.160 align:middle line:90% Well, I don't think it is. 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:22.220 align:middle line:90% I don't think it is. 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:25.030 align:middle line:84% I think old age can be terribly tiresome, 00:07:25.030 --> 00:07:28.310 align:middle line:84% but I don't think there's any reason for it to be boring. 00:07:28.310 --> 00:07:30.310 align:middle line:84% I'm going to tell you about a friend of mine who 00:07:30.310 --> 00:07:35.050 align:middle line:84% retired from his business at the age of 65, 00:07:35.050 --> 00:07:37.960 align:middle line:84% and soon after that, a friend of his retired. 00:07:37.960 --> 00:07:42.850 align:middle line:84% So my friend gave his friend advice 00:07:42.850 --> 00:07:45.640 align:middle line:90% about how to spend retirement. 00:07:45.640 --> 00:07:50.740 align:middle line:84% And this was his advice, never go to the bank 00:07:50.740 --> 00:07:52.330 align:middle line:90% and get a haircut the same day. 00:07:52.330 --> 00:07:57.450 align:middle line:90% 00:07:57.450 --> 00:08:02.560 align:middle line:84% So I don't think that's absolutely necessary. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:07.830 align:middle line:84% I think that there must be something else. 00:08:07.830 --> 00:08:11.370 align:middle line:84% It seems to me that there's so little time. 00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:15.210 align:middle line:84% From the moment we're born, it starts running out. 00:08:15.210 --> 00:08:18.420 align:middle line:84% Then they say, how is publishing-- 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:20.990 align:middle line:90% being published once? 00:08:20.990 --> 00:08:22.980 align:middle line:90% It changed my life. 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:25.080 align:middle line:84% Well, it's changed my life utterly, 00:08:25.080 --> 00:08:28.320 align:middle line:84% and that's one reason I'm not getting on with the next thing 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:29.940 align:middle line:90% I'm trying to write. 00:08:29.940 --> 00:08:33.760 align:middle line:84% Lots of things happen extremely unexpectedly. 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:36.809 align:middle line:84% Well, you get telephone calls, you get visitors 00:08:36.809 --> 00:08:40.030 align:middle line:84% and you get lots of interesting mail. 00:08:40.030 --> 00:08:42.030 align:middle line:84% The only thing I don't have is a glass of water. 00:08:42.030 --> 00:08:43.320 align:middle line:90% It's underneath. 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:44.640 align:middle line:90% Oh, there it is. 00:08:44.640 --> 00:08:45.300 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:08:45.300 --> 00:08:49.175 align:middle line:90% 00:08:49.175 --> 00:08:50.800 align:middle line:84% I'll tell you about one or two letters. 00:08:50.800 --> 00:09:00.280 align:middle line:84% I had a wonderful letter from [? Supopic-- ?] [? Niwalar ?] 00:09:00.280 --> 00:09:03.910 align:middle line:84% yeah, [? Supopic. ?] From someone I didn't know at all, 00:09:03.910 --> 00:09:05.710 align:middle line:84% quite soon after the book came out. 00:09:05.710 --> 00:09:08.200 align:middle line:90% This woman is an anthropologist. 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:11.350 align:middle line:84% And she was studying the Huichol Indians there. 00:09:11.350 --> 00:09:13.510 align:middle line:84% And had lived there for years and years and years, 00:09:13.510 --> 00:09:15.885 align:middle line:84% and I suppose was going to live there forever because she 00:09:15.885 --> 00:09:16.880 align:middle line:90% loved it so much. 00:09:16.880 --> 00:09:19.360 align:middle line:84% And she said please come and just 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:21.100 align:middle line:90% stay with me whenever you want. 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:26.020 align:middle line:84% I kept her letter so maybe I can still go. 00:09:26.020 --> 00:09:28.150 align:middle line:84% And then I have a friend who's constantly 00:09:28.150 --> 00:09:31.150 align:middle line:84% making reservations for me in a hotel in Asunción, 00:09:31.150 --> 00:09:33.550 align:middle line:90% Paraguay for three months. 00:09:33.550 --> 00:09:35.530 align:middle line:84% And she writes me, says dear Harriet, 00:09:35.530 --> 00:09:40.510 align:middle line:84% the manager has changed, but I think I will find you a room 00:09:40.510 --> 00:09:41.860 align:middle line:90% anyway. 00:09:41.860 --> 00:09:43.405 align:middle line:84% The hotel hasn't changed that much. 00:09:43.405 --> 00:09:47.860 align:middle line:84% I'd never said a word to her about going there. 00:09:47.860 --> 00:09:50.380 align:middle line:90% She thinks if I go to Asunción-- 00:09:50.380 --> 00:09:51.580 align:middle line:90% I don't know why-- 00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:53.860 align:middle line:84% that there, I will finish the book 00:09:53.860 --> 00:09:56.260 align:middle line:90% in three months in this place. 00:09:56.260 --> 00:09:59.140 align:middle line:84% And has a constant correspondence 00:09:59.140 --> 00:10:01.690 align:middle line:84% about what's happening, with what the view is now 00:10:01.690 --> 00:10:04.630 align:middle line:90% and how the rooms are and-- 00:10:04.630 --> 00:10:07.450 align:middle line:84% then probably my best letter came from someone 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:13.780 align:middle line:84% in the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California, who 00:10:13.780 --> 00:10:18.610 align:middle line:84% wrote a letter to say that he didn't have-- he'd read reviews 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:21.130 align:middle line:84% of the book in the New York Times 00:10:21.130 --> 00:10:23.680 align:middle line:84% and the Wall Street Journal in the penitentiary. 00:10:23.680 --> 00:10:28.150 align:middle line:84% And he said he didn't have any money 00:10:28.150 --> 00:10:29.950 align:middle line:90% and he was coming begging. 00:10:29.950 --> 00:10:32.500 align:middle line:84% So of course, I sent him a book immediately. 00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:34.480 align:middle line:84% And in his letter, he said this-- 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:36.790 align:middle line:90% this is what moved me to do it. 00:10:36.790 --> 00:10:41.710 align:middle line:84% He said, being in jail isn't the worst thing in the world. 00:10:41.710 --> 00:10:45.550 align:middle line:84% Being broke and in jail isn't the worst thing in the world. 00:10:45.550 --> 00:10:49.900 align:middle line:84% The worst thing in the world is being broke and in jail 00:10:49.900 --> 00:10:51.940 align:middle line:90% with nothing to read. 00:10:51.940 --> 00:10:54.490 align:middle line:84% So naturally, he couldn't wait to get 00:10:54.490 --> 00:10:57.460 align:middle line:90% the book in the post office. 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:00.700 align:middle line:84% This is a question I was asked in class yesterday, 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:02.590 align:middle line:90% am I wiser now than before? 00:11:02.590 --> 00:11:03.580 align:middle line:90% No, of course not. 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:05.750 align:middle line:90% I'm not wiser. 00:11:05.750 --> 00:11:08.410 align:middle line:90% More experienced, yes. 00:11:08.410 --> 00:11:09.370 align:middle line:90% Wiser, no. 00:11:09.370 --> 00:11:12.640 align:middle line:84% I think what people in this age have is the long view. 00:11:12.640 --> 00:11:14.530 align:middle line:90% You remember everything. 00:11:14.530 --> 00:11:17.770 align:middle line:84% You remember Maude Adams, Houdini, Lindbergh, learning 00:11:17.770 --> 00:11:20.110 align:middle line:90% how to drive in a Model T Ford. 00:11:20.110 --> 00:11:23.290 align:middle line:84% Another thing you remember is what war 00:11:23.290 --> 00:11:25.450 align:middle line:90% this day is commemorating. 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:29.920 align:middle line:90% 00:11:29.920 --> 00:11:31.210 align:middle line:90% There was a quiz-- 00:11:31.210 --> 00:11:33.070 align:middle line:84% maybe this was only in California schools, 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:35.140 align:middle line:84% I don't know whether it was nationwide or not-- 00:11:35.140 --> 00:11:37.720 align:middle line:84% and very, very few people knew the difference 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.150 align:middle line:84% between World War I and World War II. 00:11:40.150 --> 00:11:42.820 align:middle line:84% Well, I think that's quite good of the students, that's 00:11:42.820 --> 00:11:44.470 align:middle line:90% proof it's all for nothing. 00:11:44.470 --> 00:11:46.345 align:middle line:84% Nobody can remember the numbers so-- 00:11:46.345 --> 00:11:48.860 align:middle line:90% 00:11:48.860 --> 00:11:53.050 align:middle line:84% so from a writer's standpoint of, in your old age, 00:11:53.050 --> 00:11:56.890 align:middle line:84% you have these things, perspective, experience. 00:11:56.890 --> 00:11:59.920 align:middle line:84% And unless you've somehow found out all the answers, 00:11:59.920 --> 00:12:01.840 align:middle line:90% you still have curiosity. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:06.700 align:middle line:84% And if things still make you wonder, you have imagination. 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:09.770 align:middle line:84% And with all this, assuming you love words, 00:12:09.770 --> 00:12:12.340 align:middle line:84% you have a lot of what you need to write a story. 00:12:12.340 --> 00:12:15.200 align:middle line:84% I don't think age has terribly much to do with it. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:18.200 align:middle line:84% But as for wisdom, that's a completely different thing. 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:20.530 align:middle line:84% It's like the story probably apocryphal 00:12:20.530 --> 00:12:24.850 align:middle line:84% about Gertrude Stein dying with Alice B. Toklas at her bedside. 00:12:24.850 --> 00:12:28.540 align:middle line:84% And Alice, wanting to get the final important word, 00:12:28.540 --> 00:12:33.460 align:middle line:84% said to Gertrude, what is the answer? 00:12:33.460 --> 00:12:36.250 align:middle line:84% And Gertrude Stein, with her last breath said, 00:12:36.250 --> 00:12:37.870 align:middle line:90% what is the question? 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:40.090 align:middle line:90% I'm sure you all know that. 00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:43.270 align:middle line:84% But that's absolutely, absolutely true 00:12:43.270 --> 00:12:45.040 align:middle line:84% because the questions proliferate. 00:12:45.040 --> 00:12:48.580 align:middle line:84% So you think you have one sort of solved 00:12:48.580 --> 00:12:50.530 align:middle line:90% and then 10 more come along. 00:12:50.530 --> 00:12:55.540 align:middle line:84% And that keeps you from being wise very effectively. 00:12:55.540 --> 00:12:57.760 align:middle line:90% And what made you do it? 00:12:57.760 --> 00:13:01.480 align:middle line:84% Well, I was encouraged by a teacher at Scripps College, 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:03.550 align:middle line:90% and by someone else at Stanford. 00:13:03.550 --> 00:13:06.130 align:middle line:84% And without that, I'm sure I would have been convinced, 00:13:06.130 --> 00:13:07.960 align:middle line:90% I couldn't do it. 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:11.050 align:middle line:84% I didn't have that much faith in myself. 00:13:11.050 --> 00:13:16.930 align:middle line:84% And I think what it's all about is 00:13:16.930 --> 00:13:19.840 align:middle line:84% a matter of spying and eavesdropping 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.280 align:middle line:90% and seeing and hearing. 00:13:21.280 --> 00:13:26.710 align:middle line:84% And you happen to see small things on the street corner, 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:28.960 align:middle line:84% in the elevator, where you're eating, 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.540 align:middle line:84% or as you drive along looking out the window of your car. 00:13:31.540 --> 00:13:34.330 align:middle line:84% And just for a second, those things 00:13:34.330 --> 00:13:36.310 align:middle line:84% strike you as being Earth-shattering. 00:13:36.310 --> 00:13:39.110 align:middle line:84% They strike you as being terribly important. 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:43.180 align:middle line:84% And everything-- every single thing, including man's fate-- 00:13:43.180 --> 00:13:44.740 align:middle line:84% seems to depend on your getting it 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:48.380 align:middle line:90% down exactly right on the page. 00:13:48.380 --> 00:13:51.430 align:middle line:84% I think that's why you do it, probably. 00:13:51.430 --> 00:13:54.010 align:middle line:90% Now I'm going-- 00:13:54.010 --> 00:13:56.830 align:middle line:84% Lois said I was going to read out of the book. 00:13:56.830 --> 00:14:01.360 align:middle line:84% My intention was to read you a slightly newer story. 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:06.970 align:middle line:84% I don't dare say new, but a newer story that was published 00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:10.510 align:middle line:90% in The New Yorker last year. 00:14:10.510 --> 00:14:12.280 align:middle line:84% And then if there's time left over, 00:14:12.280 --> 00:14:14.770 align:middle line:84% I was just going to read a short excerpt 00:14:14.770 --> 00:14:17.980 align:middle line:84% from the book of a page and a half, 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:19.930 align:middle line:90% which is very important to me. 00:14:19.930 --> 00:14:21.640 align:middle line:84% But we can see how the time goes. 00:14:21.640 --> 00:14:25.180 align:middle line:90% 00:14:25.180 --> 00:14:32.938 align:middle line:84% This is called, "Picnic at Amapolas." 00:14:32.938 --> 00:14:36.880 align:middle line:84% "A number of years ago, in the town of La Luz, 00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:40.210 align:middle line:84% on an August day, half of hot sun, half of rain, 00:14:40.210 --> 00:14:44.110 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique Ortiz prepared to sell his ancestral estate 00:14:44.110 --> 00:14:47.170 align:middle line:84% to an American gentleman and an American lady. 00:14:47.170 --> 00:14:49.360 align:middle line:84% The economy of Mexico compels me, 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.840 align:middle line:84% he explained, facing his two buyers across a desk littered 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:54.640 align:middle line:90% with legal briefs. 00:14:54.640 --> 00:14:56.860 align:middle line:90% Taxes, said Don Enrique. 00:14:56.860 --> 00:14:59.620 align:middle line:84% On the wall behind him under his grandmother's portrait, 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:02.530 align:middle line:84% hung a calendar dark with inked out days. 00:15:02.530 --> 00:15:06.310 align:middle line:84% Taxes, he repeated, they're becoming insupportable. 00:15:06.310 --> 00:15:09.160 align:middle line:84% The American gentleman who was using the false name of Bud 00:15:09.160 --> 00:15:11.230 align:middle line:90% Loomis nodded. 00:15:11.230 --> 00:15:13.330 align:middle line:84% Like other travelers, he had come to Mexico 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:15.400 align:middle line:84% for the sake of new surroundings, to get away, 00:15:15.400 --> 00:15:17.260 align:middle line:90% particularly to get away. 00:15:17.260 --> 00:15:20.770 align:middle line:84% His own taxes were under investigation in Arizona. 00:15:20.770 --> 00:15:24.130 align:middle line:84% In his pocket was a summons to appear in a Phoenix court that 00:15:24.130 --> 00:15:28.000 align:middle line:84% day. 'I know what you mean,' Bud said in border Spanish. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.120 align:middle line:84% He drummed his blunt fingers on the arm of his chair 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:33.190 align:middle line:84% and stared at Don Enrique's calendar. 00:15:33.190 --> 00:15:36.460 align:middle line:84% 'So I'm selling the land that came to me through my mother, 00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:40.000 align:middle line:84% all four hectares of the land in Amapolas.' 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:42.430 align:middle line:84% As he spoke these words, Don Enrique-- 00:15:42.430 --> 00:15:47.080 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique Cesar Ortiz de Leon apologized silently 00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:49.270 align:middle line:84% to that Castilian ancestor of his 00:15:49.270 --> 00:15:53.410 align:middle line:84% who had stepped just behind Cortez out of Mexican soil. 00:15:53.410 --> 00:15:57.160 align:middle line:84% He drew his bare frame taller in order to stiffen his pride. 00:15:57.160 --> 00:15:58.840 align:middle line:90% 'How much is an hectare?' 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.810 align:middle line:84% I asked the woman in slow, precise Spanish. 00:16:01.810 --> 00:16:03.850 align:middle line:84% From her shoulder bag, she removed a pencil 00:16:03.850 --> 00:16:07.450 align:middle line:84% and a notepad on which her name, Susanna Ames, 00:16:07.450 --> 00:16:09.530 align:middle line:90% was printed at the top. 00:16:09.530 --> 00:16:11.800 align:middle line:84% She pulled her chair closer and made space 00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:14.845 align:middle line:84% at a corner of Don Enrique's crowded desk. 00:16:14.845 --> 00:16:18.430 align:middle line:84% 'Susanna Ames,' Don Enrique pronounced phonetically 00:16:18.430 --> 00:16:19.270 align:middle line:90% to himself. 00:16:19.270 --> 00:16:22.120 align:middle line:90% 'Her name is Susanna Ames.' 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:24.760 align:middle line:84% He repeated it like a soundless chant. 00:16:24.760 --> 00:16:27.100 align:middle line:84% And answer to her question, he said an hectare 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:29.450 align:middle line:90% is 10,000 square meters. 00:16:29.450 --> 00:16:32.650 align:middle line:84% Bud Loomis, who had reduced her name to one syllable on the day 00:16:32.650 --> 00:16:35.410 align:middle line:84% they met, said, 'the whole thing's 10 acres, Sue, 00:16:35.410 --> 00:16:36.940 align:middle line:90% give or take.' 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:41.440 align:middle line:84% Then added without speaking, this is going to be a steal. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:42.880 align:middle line:90% 10 acres, as much as that. 00:16:42.880 --> 00:16:44.650 align:middle line:90% She was clearly surprised. 00:16:44.650 --> 00:16:48.940 align:middle line:84% At this, an identical notion entered the minds of both men. 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:52.720 align:middle line:84% They believed they were in the presence of a helpless female. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:56.500 align:middle line:84% This Susanna Ames, Don Enrique supposed, was in need of a man, 00:16:56.500 --> 00:16:58.810 align:middle line:84% perhaps one her own age, about 30, 00:16:58.810 --> 00:17:01.420 align:middle line:84% or better, an older man, one who understood 00:17:01.420 --> 00:17:03.550 align:middle line:90% business and the law. 00:17:03.550 --> 00:17:05.980 align:middle line:84% Bud retained his original impression of her. 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:08.230 align:middle line:84% When he and Sue Ames had met for the first time 00:17:08.230 --> 00:17:11.829 align:middle line:84% by coincidence in the property agent's office, 00:17:11.829 --> 00:17:13.359 align:middle line:90% he noticed her looks. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.970 align:middle line:84% And her reckless attitude toward land 00:17:15.970 --> 00:17:18.910 align:middle line:84% concluded that all she needed was shaping up. 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:22.359 align:middle line:84% Further acquaintance only reinforced his opinion. 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:24.010 align:middle line:84% Now with the two men observing her, 00:17:24.010 --> 00:17:27.430 align:middle line:84% Susanna Ames began to draw for the first time in years. 00:17:27.430 --> 00:17:29.950 align:middle line:84% She sketched on her notepad a long rise 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:32.950 align:middle line:84% of ground, which dropped to a lake at one end 00:17:32.950 --> 00:17:36.370 align:middle line:84% and met the steep slope of a hill at the other. 00:17:36.370 --> 00:17:40.450 align:middle line:84% Beyond it, she drew in the whole landscape of cornfields, 00:17:40.450 --> 00:17:42.160 align:middle line:84% and beyond them, a range of mountains 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:43.900 align:middle line:90% that climbed to a peak. 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:46.330 align:middle line:84% She lined one shore of the lake with a neat row 00:17:46.330 --> 00:17:48.340 align:middle line:90% of houses and a church. 00:17:48.340 --> 00:17:53.230 align:middle line:84% She left empty the flat, extended surface of the rise, 00:17:53.230 --> 00:17:56.020 align:middle line:84% though she might have penciled in a dream. 00:17:56.020 --> 00:17:59.200 align:middle line:84% For in the corner of her mind that excluded reason, 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:03.220 align:middle line:84% she had already constructed a low adobe house 00:18:03.220 --> 00:18:05.800 align:middle line:84% and a separate studio looking North, 00:18:05.800 --> 00:18:09.640 align:middle line:84% and had planted four apricot trees, a small vineyard 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:14.050 align:middle line:84% and an alfalfa field simply for the green of it. 00:18:14.050 --> 00:18:16.240 align:middle line:84% Though this house did not appear on the page, 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.540 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique noticed that she was exaggerating everything, 00:18:19.540 --> 00:18:22.540 align:middle line:84% the fields, the mountains, the good order of the dwellings 00:18:22.540 --> 00:18:24.220 align:middle line:90% that faced the pond. 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:27.130 align:middle line:84% He had never seen so elegant a small church as the one that 00:18:27.130 --> 00:18:29.260 align:middle line:90% took rough shape on her page. 00:18:29.260 --> 00:18:33.460 align:middle line:84% He became concerned. 'Have you visited the property?' 00:18:33.460 --> 00:18:35.380 align:middle line:90% Sue continued to draw. 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:37.120 align:middle line:84% Now at the center of the rise, she 00:18:37.120 --> 00:18:40.060 align:middle line:84% was building a Stonehenge of tilting columns and broken 00:18:40.060 --> 00:18:41.320 align:middle line:90% pediments. 00:18:41.320 --> 00:18:43.150 align:middle line:84% All that was left of Don Enrique's 00:18:43.150 --> 00:18:45.460 align:middle line:90% centuries-old hacienda. 00:18:45.460 --> 00:18:48.250 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique persisted, 'were you there long enough to walk 00:18:48.250 --> 00:18:49.570 align:middle line:90% about?' 00:18:49.570 --> 00:18:50.230 align:middle line:90% Is he crazy? 00:18:50.230 --> 00:18:51.340 align:middle line:90% Bud asked himself. 00:18:51.340 --> 00:18:54.580 align:middle line:90% We've already told him we'd buy. 00:18:54.580 --> 00:18:57.880 align:middle line:84% Sue said, 'we spent an afternoon there with the agent.' 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:00.580 align:middle line:84% Bud corrected her. 'An hour and a half,' he said, 00:19:00.580 --> 00:19:03.670 align:middle line:90% 'just before dark.' 00:19:03.670 --> 00:19:05.530 align:middle line:84% But even in that brief period, he 00:19:05.530 --> 00:19:07.630 align:middle line:90% had found time to walk about. 00:19:07.630 --> 00:19:09.820 align:middle line:84% Once satisfied in respect to connections 00:19:09.820 --> 00:19:12.610 align:middle line:84% for electricity and water, he had started pacing 00:19:12.610 --> 00:19:14.410 align:middle line:90% off the land. 00:19:14.410 --> 00:19:16.270 align:middle line:84% On that occasion, Sue Ames had gazed 00:19:16.270 --> 00:19:19.190 align:middle line:84% after his short, thick figure as it moved away, 00:19:19.190 --> 00:19:22.390 align:middle line:84% stepping out straight lines and corners in the distance. 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:24.910 align:middle line:84% It pleased her to think he was drawn as she 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:27.400 align:middle line:90% was to the serene, empty place. 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:30.850 align:middle line:84% Even so, it had taken her 10 days to reach a decision. 00:19:30.850 --> 00:19:33.310 align:middle line:84% Between calls to her lawyer and her bank, 00:19:33.310 --> 00:19:36.820 align:middle line:84% Sue considered alternatives, each morning on a sunny bench 00:19:36.820 --> 00:19:40.030 align:middle line:84% in the plaza-- in the principal plaza of La Luz, 00:19:40.030 --> 00:19:44.965 align:middle line:84% each rainy evening on a stiff chair in her hotel room. 00:19:44.965 --> 00:19:46.840 align:middle line:84% Actually, the matter had been settled the day 00:19:46.840 --> 00:19:50.770 align:middle line:84% she chose La Luz as a stopping place partly because 00:19:50.770 --> 00:19:53.710 align:middle line:84% of the sweep of landscape that surrounded it 00:19:53.710 --> 00:19:57.700 align:middle line:84% and partly because no one she knew had recommended it. 00:19:57.700 --> 00:20:00.550 align:middle line:84% Neither her friends nor her family in California 00:20:00.550 --> 00:20:02.440 align:middle line:84% could be aware of this settlement, remote 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:05.960 align:middle line:84% as it was from any airport and from both coasts. 00:20:05.960 --> 00:20:09.310 align:middle line:84% Sue, divorced two months ago, believed that in rural Mexico, 00:20:09.310 --> 00:20:11.830 align:middle line:90% she might at last be let alone. 00:20:11.830 --> 00:20:13.450 align:middle line:84% People here would hardly expect her 00:20:13.450 --> 00:20:16.600 align:middle line:90% to live wisely, marry happily. 00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:19.720 align:middle line:84% A middle-sized town of no particular architectural or 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:23.200 align:middle line:84% archaeological interest, La Luz rested quietly 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:26.980 align:middle line:84% on the plain between a winery on the east and a railway 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:28.660 align:middle line:90% line on the west. 00:20:28.660 --> 00:20:30.550 align:middle line:84% Trains bound north and south stopped 00:20:30.550 --> 00:20:32.905 align:middle line:84% at the red-plastered station twice a day 00:20:32.905 --> 00:20:36.610 align:middle line:84% to load and unload freight and a passenger or two. 00:20:36.610 --> 00:20:40.420 align:middle line:84% The plaza of La Luz, shaded green by Indian laurels, 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:43.840 align:middle line:84% faced on one side the entrance to the town's main hotel. 00:20:43.840 --> 00:20:47.530 align:middle line:84% This was the Posada Del Sol, a hostelry of 30 rooms, 00:20:47.530 --> 00:20:49.250 align:middle line:90% cold and bare cells. 00:20:49.250 --> 00:20:53.170 align:middle line:84% Sue took one of these first for three nights, then a week, 00:20:53.170 --> 00:20:56.600 align:middle line:84% and eventually for a number of months. 00:20:56.600 --> 00:20:58.580 align:middle line:84% At first, her days were all alike. 00:20:58.580 --> 00:21:02.260 align:middle line:84% She sat each morning in the plaza, 00:21:02.260 --> 00:21:05.530 align:middle line:84% ate a lunch of thick soup and bread in the hotel, 00:21:05.530 --> 00:21:07.750 align:middle line:84% and spent her afternoons outside the town, 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:10.690 align:middle line:84% driving whenever any road would take her. 00:21:10.690 --> 00:21:13.240 align:middle line:84% It may have been the intensity of light 00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:16.720 align:middle line:84% or the transparency of air or simply 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:21.730 align:middle line:84% the illusion of unlimited space that brought her to a decision. 00:21:21.730 --> 00:21:23.440 align:middle line:84% On her third evening at the hotel, 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:25.090 align:middle line:90% she spoke to the manager. 00:21:25.090 --> 00:21:27.700 align:middle line:84% 'I believe I will remain in Mexico,' she said, 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:29.350 align:middle line:90% 'perhaps in La Luz. 00:21:29.350 --> 00:21:31.660 align:middle line:90% Do you know of a house?' 00:21:31.660 --> 00:21:34.780 align:middle line:84% The manager was also the owner of the hotel, a man worn thin 00:21:34.780 --> 00:21:36.250 align:middle line:90% by lack of trade. 00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:38.770 align:middle line:84% He contemplated the American woman, one 00:21:38.770 --> 00:21:40.990 align:middle line:90% of his 14 registered guests. 00:21:40.990 --> 00:21:43.870 align:middle line:84% His examination revealed nothing except that she 00:21:43.870 --> 00:21:46.540 align:middle line:84% appeared more determined than other women he had known 00:21:46.540 --> 00:21:47.980 align:middle line:90% and richer. 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:50.260 align:middle line:84% He gave her the name of the property agent 00:21:50.260 --> 00:21:53.140 align:middle line:84% whose office was around the corner between a notion 00:21:53.140 --> 00:21:54.925 align:middle line:90% shop and a bakery. 00:21:54.925 --> 00:21:57.580 align:middle line:84% The following morning, Sue entered the agent's ground 00:21:57.580 --> 00:22:00.760 align:middle line:84% floor room, only to find someone else, a stranger, 00:22:00.760 --> 00:22:03.100 align:middle line:90% already there. 00:22:03.100 --> 00:22:05.890 align:middle line:84% 'Another American client,' said the agent. 00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:08.380 align:middle line:90% 'Bud Loomis,' said the man. 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:10.570 align:middle line:84% She waited on a chair against the wall for Bud 00:22:10.570 --> 00:22:12.370 align:middle line:90% to transact his business. 00:22:12.370 --> 00:22:14.020 align:middle line:90% Time went by. 00:22:14.020 --> 00:22:17.080 align:middle line:84% It became clear to her that an impasse had been reached. 00:22:17.080 --> 00:22:20.410 align:middle line:84% Bud finally turned away from the agent's desk. 00:22:20.410 --> 00:22:23.590 align:middle line:84% 'You go ahead,' he told her. 'I've got to do some figuring.' 00:22:23.590 --> 00:22:25.630 align:middle line:84% Then, as though preordained, it all 00:22:25.630 --> 00:22:28.510 align:middle line:90% began to happen step by step. 00:22:28.510 --> 00:22:33.040 align:middle line:84% Sue inquired about a house to rent, then about one to buy. 00:22:33.040 --> 00:22:35.650 align:middle line:84% She said, 'but there must be something.' 00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:37.665 align:middle line:84% A silence fell, and she rose to leave. 00:22:37.665 --> 00:22:39.040 align:middle line:84% Then, Bud turned from the window. 00:22:39.040 --> 00:22:40.810 align:middle line:90% He said, 'wait a minute.' 00:22:40.810 --> 00:22:44.350 align:middle line:84% Sue sat again and listened to him say, 00:22:44.350 --> 00:22:47.230 align:middle line:84% 'there's a piece of land we could split up.' 00:22:47.230 --> 00:22:52.510 align:middle line:84% Before the day was over, arrangements 00:22:52.510 --> 00:22:55.630 align:middle line:84% had been made to visit the property at Amapolas. 00:22:55.630 --> 00:22:58.450 align:middle line:84% The agent requested credentials, and Bud 00:22:58.450 --> 00:23:02.860 align:middle line:84% produced a deposit slip verifying a substantial cash 00:23:02.860 --> 00:23:05.140 align:middle line:90% balance in the local bank. 00:23:05.140 --> 00:23:07.780 align:middle line:84% Sue said she would have to call her lawyer in California 00:23:07.780 --> 00:23:09.010 align:middle line:90% and also her bank. 00:23:09.010 --> 00:23:12.580 align:middle line:84% She displayed documents, a passport and a driver's 00:23:12.580 --> 00:23:14.860 align:middle line:84% license, but the agent had already 00:23:14.860 --> 00:23:18.130 align:middle line:84% noticed about her an air of absent-minded integrity, 00:23:18.130 --> 00:23:21.070 align:middle line:90% which by itself inspired trust. 00:23:21.070 --> 00:23:22.420 align:middle line:90% That was 10 days ago. 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:24.670 align:middle line:84% Now in Don Enrique's office, the back 00:23:24.670 --> 00:23:27.700 align:middle line:84% of his high-ceilinged house, Sue went on drawing. 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:31.690 align:middle line:84% She outlined a stand of pines behind the ruined walls. 00:23:31.690 --> 00:23:34.660 align:middle line:84% 'I have something to suggest,' interposed the lawyer, 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:37.000 align:middle line:84% 'that we visit the property together to avoid 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:38.560 align:middle line:90% a misunderstanding. 00:23:38.560 --> 00:23:40.090 align:middle line:90% Please be my guest on Sunday. 00:23:40.090 --> 00:23:42.490 align:middle line:84% We will eat lunch in the fresh air.' 00:23:42.490 --> 00:23:45.820 align:middle line:84% 'No need to bother with all that,' said Bud. 00:23:45.820 --> 00:23:47.870 align:middle line:90% 'We're ready to settle now.' 00:23:47.870 --> 00:23:50.990 align:middle line:84% But Sue was accepting the invitation. 00:23:50.990 --> 00:23:52.700 align:middle line:90% 'Then we will meet at Amapolas.' 00:23:52.700 --> 00:23:54.830 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique examined his two buyers. 00:23:54.830 --> 00:23:57.890 align:middle line:84% Their indifference to each other puzzled him. 00:23:57.890 --> 00:24:01.130 align:middle line:84% 'You're related, are you not,' he asked. 'Brother and sister?' 00:24:01.130 --> 00:24:02.580 align:middle line:90% Though this seemed impossible. 00:24:02.580 --> 00:24:04.160 align:middle line:90% There was no resemblance. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.090 align:middle line:84% 'Or cousins?' The impatient man across from him shook his head. 00:24:08.090 --> 00:24:10.880 align:middle line:84% The lovely Susanna Ames shook hers. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:13.490 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique lifted a hand to warn her, 00:24:13.490 --> 00:24:16.550 align:middle line:84% a guileless woman entering into a costly negotiation 00:24:16.550 --> 00:24:19.260 align:middle line:84% with a stranger who was in a hurry. 00:24:19.260 --> 00:24:21.660 align:middle line:84% But in the end, addressing them both, he only said, 00:24:21.660 --> 00:24:22.970 align:middle line:90% 'you have a car?' 00:24:22.970 --> 00:24:24.890 align:middle line:84% As if that as well as the land were something 00:24:24.890 --> 00:24:25.940 align:middle line:90% they would share. 00:24:25.940 --> 00:24:28.340 align:middle line:84% Each, however, had a car and nodded. 00:24:28.340 --> 00:24:30.680 align:middle line:84% 'Next Sunday at 2:00,' said Don Enrique. 00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:33.860 align:middle line:84% He turned to the calendar, circled the proposed date, 00:24:33.860 --> 00:24:36.000 align:middle line:84% and at the same time, crossed out yesterday, 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.870 align:middle line:90% which had slipped by unnoticed. 00:24:38.870 --> 00:24:42.470 align:middle line:84% On Sunday, the three cars converged almost simultaneously 00:24:42.470 --> 00:24:47.090 align:middle line:84% at the picnic place, having turned in close succession 00:24:47.090 --> 00:24:50.630 align:middle line:84% from the highway at a sign that said Amapolas del Lago, 00:24:50.630 --> 00:24:52.340 align:middle line:90% one kilometer. 00:24:52.340 --> 00:24:54.440 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique's ancient Buick sedan, 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:56.510 align:middle line:84% packed with baskets and folding furniture, 00:24:56.510 --> 00:25:00.350 align:middle line:84% led the way along two ruts between thickets of weeds. 00:25:00.350 --> 00:25:03.620 align:middle line:84% Still in single file, they were almost inside of the lake 00:25:03.620 --> 00:25:07.930 align:middle line:84% when a new sign, hand-lettered, appeared on their ride. 00:25:07.930 --> 00:25:11.600 align:middle line:84% Lomas de Amapolas, it read, and indicated the way 00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:15.050 align:middle line:84% across a narrow ditch and up an abrupt slope. 00:25:15.050 --> 00:25:16.940 align:middle line:84% Bud was the first to jump out of his car, 00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:20.390 align:middle line:84% a Mustang so new it still lacked license plates. 00:25:20.390 --> 00:25:23.960 align:middle line:84% He walked over to a huisache tree in whose sparse shade Sue 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:25.580 align:middle line:90% had parked her station wagon. 00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:29.600 align:middle line:84% It held a number of flat wooden boxes and an easel in the back. 00:25:29.600 --> 00:25:34.010 align:middle line:84% Looking in, Bud foresaw art that would never sell. 00:25:34.010 --> 00:25:37.850 align:middle line:84% He asked if she had noticed the new sign at the turnoff. 00:25:37.850 --> 00:25:42.080 align:middle line:84% 'Lomas de Amapolis, what a name for a place to live,' he said, 00:25:42.080 --> 00:25:43.610 align:middle line:90% 'Poppy Heights.' 00:25:43.610 --> 00:25:46.700 align:middle line:84% Sue directed her attention to Don Enrique 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:50.360 align:middle line:84% who stood next to his car offering his arm to the oldest 00:25:50.360 --> 00:25:52.490 align:middle line:90% man she had ever seen. 00:25:52.490 --> 00:25:54.410 align:middle line:84% When this person was finally on his feet 00:25:54.410 --> 00:25:57.740 align:middle line:84% outside and drawn up to his full crooked stature, 00:25:57.740 --> 00:26:00.950 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique introduced him as Pepe Gomez, who 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:02.480 align:middle line:84% had been born on this land and was 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:05.990 align:middle line:84% the grandson of his own great grandfather's major domo. 00:26:05.990 --> 00:26:09.440 align:middle line:84% Then, Don Enrique introduced the Americans to Pepe. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.780 align:middle line:84% 'These are the people who are buying the property,' he 00:26:11.780 --> 00:26:15.650 align:middle line:84% informed the aged man, 'Señor Loomis and Señorita Susanna 00:26:15.650 --> 00:26:17.210 align:middle line:90% Ames.' 00:26:17.210 --> 00:26:20.180 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique went on to say that he and Pepe usually 00:26:20.180 --> 00:26:22.370 align:middle line:90% drove out here on Sundays. 00:26:22.370 --> 00:26:25.460 align:middle line:84% 'Though I never lived here, this was always my home.' 00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:27.570 align:middle line:84% He pointed to the ruins and Sue imagined 00:26:27.570 --> 00:26:31.400 align:middle line:84% that for him, the massive house rose up again each time he 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:35.510 align:middle line:84% came, its roof and walls intact, its doors deep set, 00:26:35.510 --> 00:26:38.360 align:middle line:90% its carved cornices in place. 00:26:38.360 --> 00:26:41.660 align:middle line:84% The picnic party gathered in the shadow of an arch, 00:26:41.660 --> 00:26:44.360 align:middle line:84% and everyone helped Pepe set up the chairs and table, 00:26:44.360 --> 00:26:49.280 align:middle line:84% arrange the cloth, and extract five glasses from a basket. 00:26:49.280 --> 00:26:52.850 align:middle line:84% Into four of these, the old man, with remarkable agility, 00:26:52.850 --> 00:26:54.500 align:middle line:90% poured red wine. 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:57.230 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique explained the fifth glass. 00:26:57.230 --> 00:27:01.130 align:middle line:84% 'The padre from the village often joins us. 00:27:01.130 --> 00:27:02.900 align:middle line:90% You may meet him.' 00:27:02.900 --> 00:27:04.820 align:middle line:84% Bud looked at Sue and shook his head. 00:27:04.820 --> 00:27:08.090 align:middle line:84% She saw him think, another waste of time. 00:27:08.090 --> 00:27:11.420 align:middle line:84% Before seating his guests, Don Enrique proposed a toast. 00:27:11.420 --> 00:27:14.090 align:middle line:84% 'To the lives we have lived,' he said. 00:27:14.090 --> 00:27:15.950 align:middle line:90% The others raised their glasses. 00:27:15.950 --> 00:27:18.230 align:middle line:84% 'And to the one ahead,' he continued, 00:27:18.230 --> 00:27:20.990 align:middle line:84% and all drank to this immediate simplification 00:27:20.990 --> 00:27:22.400 align:middle line:90% of their futures. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:26.090 align:middle line:84% Then, Don Enrique kicked away an anthill and some thorny stalks, 00:27:26.090 --> 00:27:28.580 align:middle line:84% drew out a chair for Sue at his right. 00:27:28.580 --> 00:27:31.370 align:middle line:84% Pepe meanwhile laid four plates and an earthenware dish 00:27:31.370 --> 00:27:32.630 align:middle line:90% on the table. 00:27:32.630 --> 00:27:34.180 align:middle line:90% 'Who made these good tacos?' 00:27:34.180 --> 00:27:36.830 align:middle line:84% Sue asked, and found that Pepe's elderly daughter 00:27:36.830 --> 00:27:39.920 align:middle line:84% was in charge of Don Enrique's kitchen in La Luz. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:42.980 align:middle line:84% Bud swallowed a small green chile whole, choked, 00:27:42.980 --> 00:27:46.250 align:middle line:84% said 'Jesus,' reached for his wine glass. 00:27:46.250 --> 00:27:50.180 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique pondered his two guests. 00:27:50.180 --> 00:27:51.140 align:middle line:90% How can they afford it? 00:27:51.140 --> 00:27:51.680 align:middle line:90% He wondered. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:54.200 align:middle line:84% How pay for this exceptional land? 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:55.880 align:middle line:84% 'Now that you see Amapolas again, 00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:58.010 align:middle line:84% you are disappointed,' he declared in a statement 00:27:58.010 --> 00:28:01.490 align:middle line:84% directed mainly to Sue, though it was Bud who responded 00:28:01.490 --> 00:28:03.470 align:middle line:90% in English, 'Hell no.' 00:28:03.470 --> 00:28:06.560 align:middle line:84% 'I don't expect to change my mind,' said Sue. 00:28:06.560 --> 00:28:08.750 align:middle line:84% But she had in fact noticed for the first time 00:28:08.750 --> 00:28:11.690 align:middle line:84% the depleted look of the earth on which her house would stand, 00:28:11.690 --> 00:28:14.420 align:middle line:84% the dangerous drop where the rise fell away 00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:16.490 align:middle line:84% at one end above the village and the lake. 00:28:16.490 --> 00:28:19.760 align:middle line:84% She had observed the rugged terrain, the absence of trees 00:28:19.760 --> 00:28:22.490 align:middle line:84% except for a scattering of scrub oaks. 00:28:22.490 --> 00:28:25.130 align:middle line:84% The surrounding hills were lower than she remembered, 00:28:25.130 --> 00:28:28.130 align:middle line:84% the cornfields fewer, the distant mountain peaks 00:28:28.130 --> 00:28:30.290 align:middle line:90% scaled down. 00:28:30.290 --> 00:28:32.990 align:middle line:84% 'That is a volcanic cone,' said Don Enrique, 00:28:32.990 --> 00:28:34.760 align:middle line:90% following her gaze. 00:28:34.760 --> 00:28:36.740 align:middle line:90% 'What do you think of the lake?' 00:28:36.740 --> 00:28:39.230 align:middle line:84% 'It's a little smaller than I remembered it.' 00:28:39.230 --> 00:28:42.380 align:middle line:84% 'And it is larger now and deeper than it will be next spring 00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:44.330 align:middle line:90% during the dry season.' 00:28:44.330 --> 00:28:46.940 align:middle line:84% 'Do poppies ever grow here?' she asked. 00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:48.310 align:middle line:90% 'I think my mother said so. 00:28:48.310 --> 00:28:50.800 align:middle line:84% I've never seen them for myself.' 00:28:50.800 --> 00:28:52.660 align:middle line:84% Then Pepe brought grapes and cheese, 00:28:52.660 --> 00:28:54.040 align:middle line:90% opened another bottle of wine. 00:28:54.040 --> 00:28:57.580 align:middle line:84% And Don Enrique, urged on by the old man's nods, 00:28:57.580 --> 00:29:00.700 align:middle line:84% began to an outline of family history. 00:29:00.700 --> 00:29:04.270 align:middle line:84% Sue leaned forward at the first mention of a 16th century 00:29:04.270 --> 00:29:05.200 align:middle line:90% Spanish count. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:08.080 align:middle line:84% Bud pushed back from the table, upsetting his chair 00:29:08.080 --> 00:29:11.020 align:middle line:84% and before long could be seen at some distance, 00:29:11.020 --> 00:29:13.840 align:middle line:90% stepping off great squares. 00:29:13.840 --> 00:29:16.970 align:middle line:84% 'On my father's side,' Don Enrique went on, 'a governor, 00:29:16.970 --> 00:29:18.700 align:middle line:84% a conductor of the National Symphony, 00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:21.040 align:middle line:90% rector of the university. 00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:27.770 align:middle line:84% On my mother's, a foreign minister and two bishops.' 00:29:27.770 --> 00:29:31.220 align:middle line:84% The three still at the table sat a moment 00:29:31.220 --> 00:29:34.130 align:middle line:84% in silence, warmed by the splendor that 00:29:34.130 --> 00:29:37.940 align:middle line:84% radiated from the Ortiz de Leon genealogies. 00:29:37.940 --> 00:29:40.550 align:middle line:84% 'Many of them born in the house that once stood here,' Don 00:29:40.550 --> 00:29:43.220 align:middle line:84% Enrique waved toward the collapsed pillars, 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:46.070 align:middle line:84% strewn rubble of his ancestors' former bastion and country 00:29:46.070 --> 00:29:47.540 align:middle line:90% seat. 00:29:47.540 --> 00:29:49.760 align:middle line:84% 'There were generals on both sides,' he added, 00:29:49.760 --> 00:29:52.160 align:middle line:90% 'and recognized scholars.' 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.710 align:middle line:84% Sue sank without resistance into the past. 00:29:54.710 --> 00:29:57.050 align:middle line:84% 'And the house,' she said, 'I suppose it was destroyed 00:29:57.050 --> 00:29:58.520 align:middle line:90% in the revolution.' 00:29:58.520 --> 00:30:01.460 align:middle line:84% At this, Pepe gathered his waning reserves 00:30:01.460 --> 00:30:03.950 align:middle line:84% and rose joint by joint to describe 00:30:03.950 --> 00:30:08.150 align:middle line:84% the revolution of 1910, a good deal of which he remembered. 00:30:08.150 --> 00:30:12.080 align:middle line:90% 00:30:12.080 --> 00:30:14.990 align:middle line:84% But his teeth were so few and the images 00:30:14.990 --> 00:30:19.010 align:middle line:84% he sought so reluctant to come that of all he said, 00:30:19.010 --> 00:30:22.880 align:middle line:84% Sue understood only two words, burn and kill. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:25.310 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique, middle-aged and childless, 00:30:25.310 --> 00:30:27.470 align:middle line:84% listened as though for the first time 00:30:27.470 --> 00:30:31.100 align:middle line:84% until at last Pepe stopped in mid-sentence and sat down. 00:30:31.100 --> 00:30:33.290 align:middle line:84% Sue glanced behind her at the scattered traces 00:30:33.290 --> 00:30:35.960 align:middle line:90% of the former house. 00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:37.910 align:middle line:90% 'So now there is nothing left. 00:30:37.910 --> 00:30:39.890 align:middle line:90% One bed,' said Don Enrique. 00:30:39.890 --> 00:30:43.730 align:middle line:84% But he did not describe this bed, tall-posted and canopied, 00:30:43.730 --> 00:30:47.750 align:middle line:84% cradle of illustrious infants that had by some special grace 00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:51.590 align:middle line:84% survived or mentioned it was there on a hair mattress 00:30:51.590 --> 00:30:55.370 align:middle line:84% that he himself now spent his lengthening nights. 00:30:55.370 --> 00:30:58.880 align:middle line:84% He turned his aquiline profile to Sue 00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.490 align:middle line:84% and looked into the distance where Bud was tramping 00:31:01.490 --> 00:31:04.010 align:middle line:90% back and forth across the land. 00:31:04.010 --> 00:31:06.020 align:middle line:84% 'What's he doing, the Señor Loomis?' he asked. 00:31:06.020 --> 00:31:08.120 align:middle line:90% 'Is he disoriented?' 00:31:08.120 --> 00:31:09.710 align:middle line:90% 'I'm not sure,' she said. 00:31:09.710 --> 00:31:12.350 align:middle line:84% But it was precisely at this moment 00:31:12.350 --> 00:31:16.130 align:middle line:84% with clouds darkening the day, the plates and glasses still 00:31:16.130 --> 00:31:19.340 align:middle line:84% to be packed, that Sue noticed a cold wind 00:31:19.340 --> 00:31:22.730 align:middle line:84% from the east and the sudden presence of a stone in her shoe 00:31:22.730 --> 00:31:27.050 align:middle line:84% and finally understood that Bud meant to subdivide the land. 00:31:27.050 --> 00:31:29.360 align:middle line:84% Now Don Enrique was waving in the direction 00:31:29.360 --> 00:31:30.830 align:middle line:90% of the village and the lake. 00:31:30.830 --> 00:31:33.230 align:middle line:84% Sue watched as first the head, then the shoulders, 00:31:33.230 --> 00:31:36.680 align:middle line:84% then all of a black-robed priest came into sight 00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:41.120 align:middle line:84% at the edge of the mesa where a path led up the bluff. 00:31:41.120 --> 00:31:45.110 align:middle line:84% His ascent was so steady and inexorable that even after he 00:31:45.110 --> 00:31:49.190 align:middle line:84% was entirely in view, it seemed he might rise a few inches more 00:31:49.190 --> 00:31:51.320 align:middle line:84% and approach the picnic party with his feet 00:31:51.320 --> 00:31:52.940 align:middle line:90% not touching the ground. 00:31:52.940 --> 00:31:55.730 align:middle line:84% But he made his way toward them in an ordinary manner, 00:31:55.730 --> 00:31:59.180 align:middle line:84% his shoes crushing spiders and ants, his habit collecting 00:31:59.180 --> 00:32:00.410 align:middle line:90% nettles. 00:32:00.410 --> 00:32:03.680 align:middle line:84% As he approached, Sue saw that the priest was young, 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:05.600 align:middle line:90% younger than she. 00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:08.540 align:middle line:84% 'Here's my friend, Padre Miguel,' said Don Enrique. 00:32:08.540 --> 00:32:11.075 align:middle line:84% And to the priest, 'May I present the Señorita Susana 00:32:11.075 --> 00:32:12.080 align:middle line:90% Ames? 00:32:12.080 --> 00:32:15.110 align:middle line:84% She is one of the new owners and plans to build a house 00:32:15.110 --> 00:32:17.750 align:middle line:90% on the spot where we stand.' 00:32:17.750 --> 00:32:21.650 align:middle line:84% 'Oh no,' Sue said. 'Not here,' at the far end.' 00:32:21.650 --> 00:32:24.290 align:middle line:84% She pointed to the place where Padre Miguel had first 00:32:24.290 --> 00:32:25.603 align:middle line:90% been seen. 00:32:25.603 --> 00:32:27.770 align:middle line:84% The priest, who saw no difference between the north, 00:32:27.770 --> 00:32:30.050 align:middle line:84% south, and center of this strip of land 00:32:30.050 --> 00:32:33.230 align:middle line:84% allowed his gaze to rest on Sue's face. 00:32:33.230 --> 00:32:35.990 align:middle line:84% 'Is this woman a Catholic?' he wondered. 00:32:35.990 --> 00:32:38.270 align:middle line:90% But he doubted she was. 00:32:38.270 --> 00:32:41.750 align:middle line:84% Of the two or three priests Sue had met in her lifetime, 00:32:41.750 --> 00:32:44.840 align:middle line:84% Padre Miguel impressed her as the only one entirely suited 00:32:44.840 --> 00:32:46.430 align:middle line:90% to his calling. 00:32:46.430 --> 00:32:49.850 align:middle line:84% His eyes burned, and he appeared to have been fasting. 00:32:49.850 --> 00:32:51.620 align:middle line:90% 'And here comes Señor Loomis.' 00:32:51.620 --> 00:32:54.170 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique might have been announcing the players 00:32:54.170 --> 00:32:55.850 align:middle line:90% on a soccer team. 00:32:55.850 --> 00:32:58.910 align:middle line:84% 'He will be joint owner of this land.' 00:32:58.910 --> 00:33:02.300 align:middle line:84% Padre Miguel looked into Bud's square coarse-grained face, 00:33:02.300 --> 00:33:04.880 align:middle line:90% believed he saw a troubled man. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.300 align:middle line:84% 'Two irresolute Americans,' thought the priest, 00:33:08.300 --> 00:33:10.940 align:middle line:84% but acknowledged the introduction with a nod. 00:33:10.940 --> 00:33:14.720 align:middle line:84% Pulled Sue to one side, 'I've got an idea,' he said. 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:17.960 align:middle line:84% She refused to listen, saying, 'Let me tell you where I want 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:22.310 align:middle line:84% my house,' and indicating the bluff beyond which appeared 00:33:22.310 --> 00:33:27.530 align:middle line:84% the top of a bell tower, half a church dome, 00:33:27.530 --> 00:33:31.430 align:middle line:84% and the outer rim of the lake, which had faded to slate gray 00:33:31.430 --> 00:33:33.830 align:middle line:90% under the massing clouds. 00:33:33.830 --> 00:33:36.800 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique overheard. 'Not too close to the edge,' he warned 00:33:36.800 --> 00:33:39.155 align:middle line:84% her. 'There's danger of erosion.' 00:33:39.155 --> 00:33:41.030 align:middle line:84% 'From that point, you will look straight down 00:33:41.030 --> 00:33:44.330 align:middle line:84% on the cemetery,' said the priest in a voice unexpectedly 00:33:44.330 --> 00:33:46.580 align:middle line:90% deep for a man his age. 00:33:46.580 --> 00:33:48.800 align:middle line:84% Bud took Sue's arm and propelled her 00:33:48.800 --> 00:33:53.240 align:middle line:84% toward the leaning portico of the old house. 00:33:53.240 --> 00:33:55.040 align:middle line:90% 'This is my idea,' he said. 00:33:55.040 --> 00:33:56.750 align:middle line:84% And while he spoke of selling lots, 00:33:56.750 --> 00:34:00.410 align:middle line:84% Sue studied the volcanic cone whose sheer sides were faintly 00:34:00.410 --> 00:34:02.780 align:middle line:90% green with terraced corn. 00:34:02.780 --> 00:34:07.040 align:middle line:84% Eventually she heard him say, 'It's a deal made in heaven.' 00:34:07.040 --> 00:34:09.320 align:middle line:84% He went on to speak of land as collateral, 00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:12.080 align:middle line:84% of cheap labor, of doubling or tripling their money, 00:34:12.080 --> 00:34:14.659 align:middle line:84% of a joint reserve in Mexican securities. 00:34:14.659 --> 00:34:17.030 align:middle line:84% 'These damn bonds pay 40%,' said Bud. 00:34:17.030 --> 00:34:18.560 align:middle line:90% 'There's no way we can lose. 00:34:18.560 --> 00:34:19.840 align:middle line:90% No way.' 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:22.850 align:middle line:84% Sue, pinned against a crumbling plaster, 00:34:22.850 --> 00:34:25.480 align:middle line:90% confronted her own common sense. 00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:27.300 align:middle line:84% It's not too late to get out of this, 00:34:27.300 --> 00:34:28.980 align:middle line:84% to say my funds are insufficient, 00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:31.409 align:middle line:90% my lawyer has strong objections. 00:34:31.409 --> 00:34:34.739 align:middle line:84% I'm homesick for the sea in Mendocino, California. 00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:36.810 align:middle line:84% Then neither of us will have the land 00:34:36.810 --> 00:34:39.360 align:middle line:84% since it's being sold as a single piece and neither of us 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:41.850 align:middle line:90% can pay for it all. 00:34:41.850 --> 00:34:43.800 align:middle line:84% 'May I still build my house over there?' 00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:45.719 align:middle line:90% She pointed. 00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:47.460 align:middle line:90% 'Why not?' said Bud. 00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:49.710 align:middle line:90% Sue turned in a slow circle. 00:34:49.710 --> 00:34:52.320 align:middle line:84% The hills, the fields, some stretches 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:54.780 align:middle line:84% of pure desert revolved around her. 00:34:54.780 --> 00:34:56.880 align:middle line:90% Far away, a dog barked. 00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:00.870 align:middle line:84% A burro carrying two boys raised dust on the road 00:35:00.870 --> 00:35:02.400 align:middle line:90% to the village. 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:05.220 align:middle line:90% A cow waded into the lake. 00:35:05.220 --> 00:35:08.220 align:middle line:84% And all at once, she surrendered her orchard, her vineyard, 00:35:08.220 --> 00:35:09.930 align:middle line:90% and half of her view. 00:35:09.930 --> 00:35:12.480 align:middle line:90% She said, 'All right, yes.' 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:13.980 align:middle line:84% As soon as they rejoined the others, 00:35:13.980 --> 00:35:15.690 align:middle line:84% Padre Miguel invited them to visit 00:35:15.690 --> 00:35:17.910 align:middle line:90% the village in the church. 00:35:17.910 --> 00:35:20.520 align:middle line:84% 'I've got to get back to the motel,' said Bud. 00:35:20.520 --> 00:35:24.030 align:middle line:84% 'Next time, Padre,' said Don Enrique, 'rain is coming, 00:35:24.030 --> 00:35:26.010 align:middle line:90% but have some wine.' 00:35:26.010 --> 00:35:27.780 align:middle line:84% When they raised their glasses this time, 00:35:27.780 --> 00:35:29.730 align:middle line:84% they simply wished each other health. 00:35:29.730 --> 00:35:33.810 align:middle line:84% Pepe, not sure how old he was, drank with relish to this toast 00:35:33.810 --> 00:35:36.090 align:middle line:84% and to the years or perhaps the months he still 00:35:36.090 --> 00:35:37.770 align:middle line:90% had left to live. 00:35:37.770 --> 00:35:40.180 align:middle line:90% Soon, light rain began to fall. 00:35:40.180 --> 00:35:41.610 align:middle line:84% The picnickers and the priest were 00:35:41.610 --> 00:35:44.520 align:middle line:84% about to separate when a figure came into sight 00:35:44.520 --> 00:35:46.110 align:middle line:90% at the top of the bluff. 00:35:46.110 --> 00:35:49.110 align:middle line:84% Skirt flapping, shawl dragging, a little girl 00:35:49.110 --> 00:35:52.140 align:middle line:84% ran toward them through the drizzle. 00:35:52.140 --> 00:35:53.490 align:middle line:90% 'What now?' said Bud. 00:35:53.490 --> 00:35:57.180 align:middle line:84% He gathered up chairs and moved in the direction of the cars. 00:35:57.180 --> 00:35:59.550 align:middle line:84% The barefoot child crossed the stretch of land 00:35:59.550 --> 00:36:01.470 align:middle line:90% with astonishing speed. 00:36:01.470 --> 00:36:04.200 align:middle line:84% Once arrived, she quickly kissed the Padre's ring, 00:36:04.200 --> 00:36:07.350 align:middle line:84% then went to Pepe and took his bony hand in hers. 00:36:07.350 --> 00:36:09.420 align:middle line:90% Sue felt a pang. 00:36:09.420 --> 00:36:12.780 align:middle line:84% She began to mourn the child's future in advance. 00:36:12.780 --> 00:36:15.120 align:middle line:84% There were never eyes so shadowed 00:36:15.120 --> 00:36:17.430 align:middle line:84% as these, never cheek so scabbed, 00:36:17.430 --> 00:36:20.580 align:middle line:84% neck so stem like, hair so clotted. 00:36:20.580 --> 00:36:23.130 align:middle line:84% When the girl lifted her head to smile at Pepe, 00:36:23.130 --> 00:36:25.050 align:middle line:84% she exposed baby and second teeth 00:36:25.050 --> 00:36:28.120 align:middle line:84% at odds competing for space in her mouth. 00:36:28.120 --> 00:36:29.760 align:middle line:90% Don Enrique led her to Sue. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:31.770 align:middle line:84% 'This is Altagracia Gomez,' he said, 00:36:31.770 --> 00:36:33.720 align:middle line:90% 'Pepe's great granddaughter. 00:36:33.720 --> 00:36:36.780 align:middle line:84% After you are settled here, she will come to work for you.' 00:36:36.780 --> 00:36:38.730 align:middle line:90% 'But she's only a child.' 00:36:38.730 --> 00:36:39.990 align:middle line:90% 'She's 12. 00:36:39.990 --> 00:36:42.510 align:middle line:84% By the time your home is built, she will be 13. 00:36:42.510 --> 00:36:45.120 align:middle line:84% That's old enough.' 'How do you know?' 00:36:45.120 --> 00:36:46.830 align:middle line:90% Sue wanted to ask. 00:36:46.830 --> 00:36:50.280 align:middle line:84% Everyone is old enough for something, and too old or young 00:36:50.280 --> 00:36:52.890 align:middle line:90% for something else. 00:36:52.890 --> 00:36:55.200 align:middle line:84% A few weeks later on another rainy afternoon, 00:36:55.200 --> 00:36:57.840 align:middle line:84% the contract was signed in Don Enrique's office 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:00.870 align:middle line:84% under the portrait of his grandmother, a young woman 00:37:00.870 --> 00:37:04.170 align:middle line:84% almost too satined, jeweled, ribboned and combed ever 00:37:04.170 --> 00:37:05.730 align:middle line:90% to have lived. 00:37:05.730 --> 00:37:08.265 align:middle line:84% The lawyer had failed to keep his calendar current. 00:37:08.265 --> 00:37:11.690 align:middle line:90% 00:37:11.690 --> 00:37:15.590 align:middle line:84% The last day checked off was the day before the picnic. 00:37:15.590 --> 00:37:17.540 align:middle line:84% While Don Enrique sorted documents, 00:37:17.540 --> 00:37:20.420 align:middle line:84% Bud smoked, crossed and uncrossed his legs. 00:37:20.420 --> 00:37:22.775 align:middle line:90% During the pause, Sue spoke. 00:37:22.775 --> 00:37:24.650 align:middle line:84% 'I can't believe our good fortune,' she said. 00:37:24.650 --> 00:37:27.890 align:middle line:84% 'This must be the most beautiful piece of land in Mexico.' 00:37:27.890 --> 00:37:29.600 align:middle line:90% 'She's a fool,' thought Bud. 00:37:29.600 --> 00:37:32.000 align:middle line:84% 'Any more of this and even now when we're almost under 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:35.090 align:middle line:84% the wire, will drive up the price.' 00:37:35.090 --> 00:37:37.760 align:middle line:84% 'It's a large property for two people,' said Don Enrique. 00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:40.040 align:middle line:84% 'You will have a pair of ranches.' 00:37:40.040 --> 00:37:44.390 align:middle line:84% At this, Bud, abandoning caution, disclosed his project. 00:37:44.390 --> 00:37:48.260 align:middle line:84% 'Twenty fine lots,' he told Don Enrique. 00:37:48.260 --> 00:37:50.480 align:middle line:90% 'I thought it was 10,' said Sue. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:54.320 align:middle line:84% Her words were lost in Bud's recital of building plans, 00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:56.870 align:middle line:84% street lamps and paved walks, cesspools, 00:37:56.870 --> 00:37:58.970 align:middle line:90% and in time, telephones. 00:37:58.970 --> 00:38:01.250 align:middle line:84% Don Enrique, foolishly neglecting 00:38:01.250 --> 00:38:03.890 align:middle line:84% to claim a share of the enterprise, 00:38:03.890 --> 00:38:06.350 align:middle line:90% seemed to welcome it anyway. 00:38:06.350 --> 00:38:09.152 align:middle line:84% 'My godson is an architect,' he informed the Americans. 00:38:09.152 --> 00:38:09.860 align:middle line:90% 'He can help you. 00:38:09.860 --> 00:38:11.430 align:middle line:90% His wife may also be of use. 00:38:11.430 --> 00:38:14.570 align:middle line:84% She is a weaver, a designer of cloth.' 00:38:14.570 --> 00:38:16.400 align:middle line:84% Now, each of the three people in the room 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:18.590 align:middle line:90% separately saw a sample house. 00:38:18.590 --> 00:38:21.350 align:middle line:84% Its individual shape, its sala and patio, 00:38:21.350 --> 00:38:24.440 align:middle line:84% its textured curtains and handloom spreads. 00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:27.230 align:middle line:84% Simultaneously, it occurred to Don Enrique 00:38:27.230 --> 00:38:30.170 align:middle line:84% that the town of La Luz was growing too fast. 00:38:30.170 --> 00:38:32.450 align:middle line:84% Each day found it noisier and more crowded 00:38:32.450 --> 00:38:34.220 align:middle line:90% than the day before. 00:38:34.220 --> 00:38:36.380 align:middle line:84% 'Country air,' he began to think, 00:38:36.380 --> 00:38:40.850 align:middle line:84% and only a 30 minute drive from Amapolas to his office. 00:38:40.850 --> 00:38:44.607 align:middle line:90% 'Why not?' thought Don Enrique. 00:38:44.607 --> 00:38:46.190 align:middle line:84% There was a knock at the door, and Bud 00:38:46.190 --> 00:38:49.370 align:middle line:84% started as if even here a federal agent might track him 00:38:49.370 --> 00:38:50.510 align:middle line:90% down. 00:38:50.510 --> 00:38:53.960 align:middle line:84% But it was only Pepe, trembling under a silver tray, a bottle, 00:38:53.960 --> 00:38:55.880 align:middle line:90% and four glasses. 00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:57.950 align:middle line:90% Don Enrique held up his hand. 00:38:57.950 --> 00:39:01.400 align:middle line:84% He looked from one to the other of his clients. 00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:03.680 align:middle line:84% 'Are you Catholics?' he asked, as though we were about 00:39:03.680 --> 00:39:05.925 align:middle line:84% to impose an condition of purchase. 00:39:05.925 --> 00:39:06.425 align:middle line:90% "No. 00:39:06.425 --> 00:39:07.970 align:middle line:90% Why?' said Bud. 00:39:07.970 --> 00:39:10.820 align:middle line:84% 'I used to be an Episcopalian,' said Sue. 00:39:10.820 --> 00:39:13.850 align:middle line:84% But Don Enrique had merely been remembering holy days 00:39:13.850 --> 00:39:15.890 align:middle line:90% in the village by the lake. 00:39:15.890 --> 00:39:18.710 align:middle line:84% He named a few of them, Corpus Christi, Guadalupe, 00:39:18.710 --> 00:39:21.410 align:middle line:90% San Juan, Asunción. 00:39:21.410 --> 00:39:23.810 align:middle line:84% 'These are colorful festivals,' he went on. 00:39:23.810 --> 00:39:27.080 align:middle line:84% 'Perhaps even as Protestants, you might wish to see,' here he 00:39:27.080 --> 00:39:27.770 align:middle line:90% stopped. 00:39:27.770 --> 00:39:30.380 align:middle line:90% 'Oh, yes,' said Sue. 00:39:30.380 --> 00:39:33.860 align:middle line:84% Bud has his eye on Pepe and the quivering tray. 00:39:33.860 --> 00:39:37.130 align:middle line:84% 'My God, how old can you get?' he wondered. 00:39:37.130 --> 00:39:40.490 align:middle line:84% Then it was done, the agreement signed, the tray set down, 00:39:40.490 --> 00:39:44.384 align:middle line:84% the brandy poured, the toast proposed and drunk. 00:39:44.384 --> 00:39:45.926 align:middle line:84% At this moment, in Amapolas del Lago, 00:39:45.926 --> 00:39:49.070 align:middle line:84% Altagracia Gomez entered the church 00:39:49.070 --> 00:39:52.100 align:middle line:84% to kneel at the back, offer prayers for a necklace 00:39:52.100 --> 00:39:53.720 align:middle line:90% and high heeled shoes. 00:39:53.720 --> 00:39:56.840 align:middle line:84% At the same time, Padre Miguel on his knees at the altar 00:39:56.840 --> 00:40:00.620 align:middle line:84% prayed to be assigned to another parish, a larger place where 00:40:00.620 --> 00:40:03.110 align:middle line:84% he could be in the company of people who talked well, had 00:40:03.110 --> 00:40:05.270 align:middle line:90% talents, examined ideas. 00:40:05.270 --> 00:40:09.230 align:middle line:84% Then for having asked this, he prayed to be forgiven. 00:40:09.230 --> 00:40:11.780 align:middle line:84% As soon as dark came, night animals 00:40:11.780 --> 00:40:15.650 align:middle line:84% began to occupy the four hectáreas of long, flat ground 00:40:15.650 --> 00:40:17.000 align:middle line:90% above the village. 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:21.140 align:middle line:84% Each creature followed a purpose of its own, to eat, to mate, 00:40:21.140 --> 00:40:24.230 align:middle line:84% to dig a burrow, or simply run from north to south 00:40:24.230 --> 00:40:25.820 align:middle line:90% by moonlight. 00:40:25.820 --> 00:40:28.580 align:middle line:84% Heedless of approaching change, they 00:40:28.580 --> 00:40:32.000 align:middle line:84% traced the lengths of walls and paths to come. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:34.850 align:middle line:84% They paused in doorways not yet raised, 00:40:34.850 --> 00:40:37.220 align:middle line:90% circled trees not planted. 00:40:37.220 --> 00:40:42.050 align:middle line:84% Their footprints webbed the dust of unmarked building sites. 00:40:42.050 --> 00:40:46.100 align:middle line:84% Three gophers meeting on Sue Ames' plot of land 00:40:46.100 --> 00:40:49.730 align:middle line:84% anticipated her rows of lettuce, beans, and corn, 00:40:49.730 --> 00:40:52.430 align:middle line:90% and began to tunnel underground. 00:40:52.430 --> 00:40:55.220 align:middle line:84% Slow workers in the dark, they would not 00:40:55.220 --> 00:40:56.705 align:middle line:90% find her roses until May." 00:40:56.705 --> 00:40:59.300 align:middle line:90% 00:40:59.300 --> 00:41:03.920 align:middle line:84% I probably should explain to you that The New Yorker took 00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:07.790 align:middle line:84% this story as a story, but actually it 00:41:07.790 --> 00:41:11.210 align:middle line:84% is the first chapter of a new book. 00:41:11.210 --> 00:41:16.460 align:middle line:84% So that explains all these people left-- 00:41:16.460 --> 00:41:17.870 align:middle line:90% I hope a little-- 00:41:17.870 --> 00:41:23.720 align:middle line:84% these people left dangling there with many situations 00:41:23.720 --> 00:41:28.220 align:middle line:84% and problems ahead of them to be solved. 00:41:28.220 --> 00:41:31.200 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:41:31.200 --> 00:41:31.820 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:41:31.820 --> 00:41:34.610 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:41:34.610 --> 00:41:38.560 align:middle line:90% 00:41:38.560 --> 00:41:39.280 align:middle line:90% Is there time? 00:41:39.280 --> 00:41:41.050 align:middle line:90% You have all the time you want. 00:41:41.050 --> 00:41:47.530 align:middle line:84% I just wanted to read a page and a half out of Stones. 00:41:47.530 --> 00:41:50.050 align:middle line:84% It's from a chapter called, "Immense Distances, 00:41:50.050 --> 00:41:51.520 align:middle line:90% Extraordinary Events." 00:41:51.520 --> 00:41:54.460 align:middle line:84% And this-- I don't know if you've read it, 00:41:54.460 --> 00:41:58.150 align:middle line:84% but this woman goes back after her husband dies 00:41:58.150 --> 00:41:59.840 align:middle line:90% and has to sort out things. 00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:02.170 align:middle line:84% And so she starts going through cupboards. 00:42:02.170 --> 00:42:06.160 align:middle line:84% And every time she takes things out, she looks at them 00:42:06.160 --> 00:42:09.560 align:middle line:84% and puts them all back again, sometimes adding to them. 00:42:09.560 --> 00:42:14.500 align:middle line:84% So she has been going through things. 00:42:14.500 --> 00:42:16.900 align:middle line:84% "That evening, Sara sat at the sala window 00:42:16.900 --> 00:42:20.230 align:middle line:84% as long as she could see leaves drip and flower pots overflow. 00:42:20.230 --> 00:42:23.620 align:middle line:84% Then, instead of listening to another record in the dark, 00:42:23.620 --> 00:42:25.840 align:middle line:84% she went to the north bedroom, lit a lamp, 00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:28.480 align:middle line:84% turned the brass wreath to open the cómoda. 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:31.270 align:middle line:84% She took out a shoebox together with a pile of letters 00:42:31.270 --> 00:42:32.800 align:middle line:84% and papers that lay on top of it, 00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:36.940 align:middle line:84% an accumulation she had gathered since her March arrival. 00:42:36.940 --> 00:42:41.560 align:middle line:84% Depositing it all on the nearest bed, she began to sort. 00:42:41.560 --> 00:42:43.810 align:middle line:84% She first picked up a fertilizing schedule 00:42:43.810 --> 00:42:44.950 align:middle line:90% she had made for Paco. 00:42:44.950 --> 00:42:47.440 align:middle line:84% This, she set aside for Luis although she 00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:50.320 align:middle line:84% knew his true persuasion lay in the circle of the seasons 00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:52.480 align:middle line:90% and the direction of the wind. 00:42:52.480 --> 00:42:55.000 align:middle line:84% She pulled out a black-bordered newspaper clipping. 00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:57.460 align:middle line:84% It was an announcement of Richard's death 00:42:57.460 --> 00:43:00.790 align:middle line:84% placed in the Concepción Heraldo by a committee of miners. 00:43:00.790 --> 00:43:04.030 align:middle line:84% With grief, said the clipping, in esteem. 00:43:04.030 --> 00:43:06.880 align:middle line:84% There were three prescriptions signed by the hematologist 00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:08.320 align:middle line:90% in California. 00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:11.260 align:middle line:84% Here, a packet of seeds marked flocks. 00:43:11.260 --> 00:43:16.120 align:middle line:84% Behind a recipe for oyster stew, use fresh blue point oysters, 00:43:16.120 --> 00:43:19.390 align:middle line:84% she found a twice doubled piece of pink paper. 00:43:19.390 --> 00:43:21.610 align:middle line:90% 'What's this?' she said aloud. 00:43:21.610 --> 00:43:25.660 align:middle line:84% The residual dust of dry leaves lay in its folds. 00:43:25.660 --> 00:43:28.180 align:middle line:84% Sara lifted one of the veined, scented skeletons. 00:43:28.180 --> 00:43:31.420 align:middle line:84% 'Chamomile,' she said, and knew it was from Lourdes, 00:43:31.420 --> 00:43:35.500 align:middle line:84% knew it was meant to ensure impossible things, long life, 00:43:35.500 --> 00:43:38.590 align:middle line:90% a forgiving nature, faith. 00:43:38.590 --> 00:43:41.260 align:middle line:84% There was too much here to sort in a single night. 00:43:41.260 --> 00:43:43.870 align:middle line:90% She began to refill the shoebox. 00:43:43.870 --> 00:43:46.300 align:middle line:84% When she found the accumulations more than it could hold, 00:43:46.300 --> 00:43:48.970 align:middle line:84% she went to the closet for another box. 00:43:48.970 --> 00:43:51.340 align:middle line:84% She left the room in order, the doors of the cómoda 00:43:51.340 --> 00:43:53.650 align:middle line:90% closed, the shelves full. 00:43:53.650 --> 00:43:55.630 align:middle line:84% But she had taken something with her. 00:43:55.630 --> 00:43:58.180 align:middle line:84% And later on in the kitchen, she spread it on the table. 00:43:58.180 --> 00:44:01.090 align:middle line:84% It was a roadmap so worn that the creases and the torn edges 00:44:01.090 --> 00:44:02.500 align:middle line:90% had been taped. 00:44:02.500 --> 00:44:05.140 align:middle line:84% On it, an automobile route through the southwest United 00:44:05.140 --> 00:44:08.200 align:middle line:84% States and central Mexico had been lined in red, 00:44:08.200 --> 00:44:10.090 align:middle line:90% stop overs circled. 00:44:10.090 --> 00:44:12.130 align:middle line:84% One end of the road in San Francisco 00:44:12.130 --> 00:44:13.840 align:middle line:90% was Richard's specialist. 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:16.840 align:middle line:84% At the other, the Malagueña mine. 00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:19.540 align:middle line:84% The mountains and deserts and plains 00:44:19.540 --> 00:44:22.840 align:middle line:84% that the map without illustration implied 00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:24.980 align:middle line:84% had been climbed and sanded and traversed 00:44:24.980 --> 00:44:28.520 align:middle line:84% so often that Sara, years later and 1,000 miles away, 00:44:28.520 --> 00:44:30.790 align:middle line:84% without needing to close her eyes, 00:44:30.790 --> 00:44:33.310 align:middle line:84% could see the village with the ocotillo fences, 00:44:33.310 --> 00:44:35.500 align:middle line:84% the vine-covered boxcars switched 00:44:35.500 --> 00:44:38.650 align:middle line:84% onto sidings for family homes, the grazing 00:44:38.650 --> 00:44:43.240 align:middle line:84% land, the settlement without a well, the broken hacienda 00:44:43.240 --> 00:44:45.160 align:middle line:90% reflected in the lake. 00:44:45.160 --> 00:44:47.110 align:middle line:84% She could put her finger on the map and say, 00:44:47.110 --> 00:44:48.440 align:middle line:90% here's a blind curve. 00:44:48.440 --> 00:44:50.050 align:middle line:90% Here's a great crossing. 00:44:50.050 --> 00:44:51.880 align:middle line:84% This is where we saw the Tarahumara 00:44:51.880 --> 00:44:54.250 align:middle line:90% Indian running beside the road. 00:44:54.250 --> 00:44:56.530 align:middle line:84% She knew the distance in miles and kilometers 00:44:56.530 --> 00:45:00.520 align:middle line:84% between gas stations, between places to spend the night. 00:45:00.520 --> 00:45:02.897 align:middle line:90% All these motels, Sarah thought. 00:45:02.897 --> 00:45:04.480 align:middle line:84% Were there rooms waiting to be brought 00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:07.150 align:middle line:84% to life with toothbrushes, the local paper, slippers 00:45:07.150 --> 00:45:08.890 align:middle line:90% beside the bed? 00:45:08.890 --> 00:45:11.530 align:middle line:84% There had been occurrences in these places that at the time 00:45:11.530 --> 00:45:13.720 align:middle line:90% seemed scarcely memorable. 00:45:13.720 --> 00:45:17.050 align:middle line:84% But from this distance, from the kitchen of the house in Ibarra, 00:45:17.050 --> 00:45:19.510 align:middle line:84% where she stood alone on a rainy night, 00:45:19.510 --> 00:45:21.880 align:middle line:90% they were exposed as remarkable. 00:45:21.880 --> 00:45:24.880 align:middle line:84% One morning in Durango while the Evertons were eating breakfast 00:45:24.880 --> 00:45:28.120 align:middle line:84% in their hotel, a man rode a horse into the vestibule, 00:45:28.120 --> 00:45:30.490 align:middle line:84% dismounted, took out a knife, and chased their waiter 00:45:30.490 --> 00:45:32.260 align:middle line:90% from the dining room. 00:45:32.260 --> 00:45:34.750 align:middle line:84% Once in Chihuahua, Sara heard music long 00:45:34.750 --> 00:45:36.910 align:middle line:84% before daybreak, pulled Richard awake 00:45:36.910 --> 00:45:40.210 align:middle line:84% and outside to listen to a mariachi band of 12 00:45:40.210 --> 00:45:43.510 align:middle line:84% serenade a pair of shutters that remained latched and bolted. 00:45:43.510 --> 00:45:47.500 align:middle line:84% From the beginning to the end of an hour, songs. 00:45:47.500 --> 00:45:49.780 align:middle line:84% She moved her finger on the map and remembered 00:45:49.780 --> 00:45:51.530 align:middle line:90% Assumption Day in Morelia. 00:45:51.530 --> 00:45:53.530 align:middle line:84% On that occasion, there had been no need for her 00:45:53.530 --> 00:45:55.150 align:middle line:90% to wake her husband. 00:45:55.150 --> 00:45:57.880 align:middle line:84% The rockets that seemed to explode under their pillows 00:45:57.880 --> 00:46:01.060 align:middle line:84% at midnight lifted them simultaneously from sleep 00:46:01.060 --> 00:46:02.680 align:middle line:90% onto a balcony. 00:46:02.680 --> 00:46:06.980 align:middle line:84% Between the detonations, shouts and cheers racked the night. 00:46:06.980 --> 00:46:09.280 align:middle line:84% 'It's like the end of a war,' said Richard. 00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:10.990 align:middle line:84% Above the church, spotlight shown 00:46:10.990 --> 00:46:12.940 align:middle line:84% on a painted figure of the Virgin attached 00:46:12.940 --> 00:46:14.590 align:middle line:90% to an upright pole. 00:46:14.590 --> 00:46:17.590 align:middle line:84% In the midst of a succession of blasts, human screams, howls 00:46:17.590 --> 00:46:19.810 align:middle line:84% of dogs, police whistles, and a siren, 00:46:19.810 --> 00:46:22.780 align:middle line:90% bells began to toll for mass. 00:46:22.780 --> 00:46:25.660 align:middle line:84% Tracing the marked route, Sara recalled the motel 00:46:25.660 --> 00:46:27.670 align:middle line:84% where Richard killed a cockroach, the one where 00:46:27.670 --> 00:46:29.860 align:middle line:90% he crushed two scorpions. 00:46:29.860 --> 00:46:30.880 align:middle line:90% She folded the maps. 00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:34.940 align:middle line:84% She foresaw that future sorting might prove difficult. 00:46:34.940 --> 00:46:37.180 align:middle line:84% So faint and uncertain was a line 00:46:37.180 --> 00:46:40.490 align:middle line:84% that separated the significant from the trivial. 00:46:40.490 --> 00:46:42.770 align:middle line:84% It occurred to her this evening in Ibarra 00:46:42.770 --> 00:46:46.310 align:middle line:84% with rain at the window and Richard four months dead, 00:46:46.310 --> 00:46:48.980 align:middle line:84% that nothing ever happened on either numbered 00:46:48.980 --> 00:46:53.270 align:middle line:84% or unnumbered roads that could be classified as unimportant. 00:46:53.270 --> 00:46:56.870 align:middle line:84% All of it, observed by dark, observed by day, 00:46:56.870 --> 00:46:59.122 align:middle line:90% was extraordinary." 00:46:59.122 --> 00:47:02.098 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:47:02.098 --> 00:47:13.900 align:middle line:90% 00:47:13.900 --> 00:47:14.400 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:17.382 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:47:17.382 --> 00:47:21.360 align:middle line:90% 00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:23.880 align:middle line:84% I don't know what Lois decided about questions. 00:47:23.880 --> 00:47:27.000 align:middle line:90% It's up to you. 00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:29.250 align:middle line:84% Should we have questions or no question? 00:47:29.250 --> 00:47:32.890 align:middle line:90% Should we have one or two? 00:47:32.890 --> 00:47:37.560 align:middle line:84% I better put on my long distance glasses so I can see any hands. 00:47:37.560 --> 00:47:39.420 align:middle line:84% I'll try to repeat the question so people 00:47:39.420 --> 00:47:40.770 align:middle line:90% can know what it's all about. 00:47:40.770 --> 00:47:43.530 align:middle line:90% 00:47:43.530 --> 00:47:44.070 align:middle line:90% No hands? 00:47:44.070 --> 00:47:44.850 align:middle line:90% No question? 00:47:44.850 --> 00:47:45.540 align:middle line:90% Oh, there's one. 00:47:45.540 --> 00:47:49.800 align:middle line:90% 00:47:49.800 --> 00:47:51.690 align:middle line:90% Did this book come from-- 00:47:51.690 --> 00:47:54.840 align:middle line:84% mostly from your imagination or is there some truth in it 00:47:54.840 --> 00:47:56.580 align:middle line:90% from your life? 00:47:56.580 --> 00:47:59.310 align:middle line:90% There are three things. 00:47:59.310 --> 00:48:04.350 align:middle line:84% Experience, observation, and imagination. 00:48:04.350 --> 00:48:06.720 align:middle line:84% Every single thing, I think, that 00:48:06.720 --> 00:48:08.910 align:middle line:84% goes through a writer's mind and gets on the page 00:48:08.910 --> 00:48:12.180 align:middle line:84% is some sort of combination of those three things. 00:48:12.180 --> 00:48:16.650 align:middle line:84% I think imagination is terribly important in that trio 00:48:16.650 --> 00:48:19.440 align:middle line:84% of things, so I would say it's all three. 00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:23.880 align:middle line:84% I'll say I couldn't have written it if I hadn't lived in Mexico. 00:48:23.880 --> 00:48:26.880 align:middle line:90% That answer your question? 00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:28.080 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:48:28.080 --> 00:48:32.250 align:middle line:84% You said that you were going to read that particular page 00:48:32.250 --> 00:48:35.040 align:middle line:84% and a half because it was especially significant to you, 00:48:35.040 --> 00:48:36.480 align:middle line:90% and I would like to know why. 00:48:36.480 --> 00:48:38.400 align:middle line:90% Because I believe it. 00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:41.250 align:middle line:84% I believe that every single thing in the world 00:48:41.250 --> 00:48:43.860 align:middle line:84% is extraordinary, that there's scarcely anything 00:48:43.860 --> 00:48:45.870 align:middle line:90% you could just walk by. 00:48:45.870 --> 00:48:48.970 align:middle line:84% Occasionally true, some things a little bit more. 00:48:48.970 --> 00:48:52.560 align:middle line:84% But you can find an extraordinary thing 00:48:52.560 --> 00:48:54.310 align:middle line:90% where you least expect it. 00:48:54.310 --> 00:48:59.040 align:middle line:84% And when put into perspective and against other things, then 00:48:59.040 --> 00:49:03.690 align:middle line:84% its importance and its extraordinary-ness increases, 00:49:03.690 --> 00:49:04.630 align:middle line:90% I think. 00:49:04.630 --> 00:49:08.385 align:middle line:84% I think everything is awfully interesting, almost always. 00:49:08.385 --> 00:49:09.060 align:middle line:90% I agree. 00:49:09.060 --> 00:49:10.440 align:middle line:90% Yeah, yeah. 00:49:10.440 --> 00:49:12.420 align:middle line:90% You have to listen a lot. 00:49:12.420 --> 00:49:17.880 align:middle line:84% That's what Grace Paley said, listen a lot, look a lot. 00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:20.490 align:middle line:90% See what's happening. 00:49:20.490 --> 00:49:21.180 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:49:21.180 --> 00:49:23.440 align:middle line:84% Had you lived in this part of the country? 00:49:23.440 --> 00:49:24.295 align:middle line:90% Which part? 00:49:24.295 --> 00:49:27.870 align:middle line:84% This part, the background of the book. 00:49:27.870 --> 00:49:29.970 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I lived in Mexico City for a while, 00:49:29.970 --> 00:49:33.150 align:middle line:84% and I did live in the country for a while. 00:49:33.150 --> 00:49:37.710 align:middle line:84% That part of Mexico is the whole length of Mexico, practically. 00:49:37.710 --> 00:49:41.580 align:middle line:84% It's the central plateau, and it's like the spine of Mexico 00:49:41.580 --> 00:49:43.320 align:middle line:90% and goes all the way down. 00:49:43.320 --> 00:49:45.990 align:middle line:84% And there are mines along the length of it. 00:49:45.990 --> 00:49:49.800 align:middle line:90% And Ibarra is an imagined name. 00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:54.060 align:middle line:84% Ibarra came with Cortez, and he was in charge of finding mines. 00:49:54.060 --> 00:49:58.600 align:middle line:84% And he went with his men from one end of Mexico to the other. 00:49:58.600 --> 00:50:01.200 align:middle line:90% And I think 20 years-- 00:50:01.200 --> 00:50:03.090 align:middle line:84% perhaps you'll have to correct me-- 00:50:03.090 --> 00:50:03.780 align:middle line:90% 20 years. 00:50:03.780 --> 00:50:07.050 align:middle line:84% In that period of time, they found every mine 00:50:07.050 --> 00:50:09.113 align:middle line:90% in Mexico, all the silver mines. 00:50:09.113 --> 00:50:11.280 align:middle line:84% I don't know-- well, I may be exaggerating a little. 00:50:11.280 --> 00:50:15.690 align:middle line:84% I don't know of any mine that is still 00:50:15.690 --> 00:50:19.740 align:middle line:84% operating that even after a long, long, long space of time 00:50:19.740 --> 00:50:22.860 align:middle line:84% when it wasn't being worked, the Spaniards didn't find. 00:50:22.860 --> 00:50:25.530 align:middle line:84% And some of them just have never stopped, 00:50:25.530 --> 00:50:29.250 align:middle line:84% like the Valenciana in Guanajuato. 00:50:29.250 --> 00:50:31.740 align:middle line:90% They've gone forever, yeah. 00:50:31.740 --> 00:50:32.640 align:middle line:90% Very interesting. 00:50:32.640 --> 00:50:34.307 align:middle line:84% I mean, they didn't have the instruments 00:50:34.307 --> 00:50:35.280 align:middle line:90% that people have now. 00:50:35.280 --> 00:50:38.670 align:middle line:84% And I don't know exactly what their technique was, 00:50:38.670 --> 00:50:40.740 align:middle line:84% but they found it and then they sent it back 00:50:40.740 --> 00:50:42.960 align:middle line:90% to the kings of Spain. 00:50:42.960 --> 00:50:45.960 align:middle line:90% All that's over. 00:50:45.960 --> 00:50:46.505 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:50:46.505 --> 00:50:48.240 align:middle line:90% Do you keep diaries? 00:50:48.240 --> 00:50:50.730 align:middle line:84% I didn't in Mexico, and it a terrible crime. 00:50:50.730 --> 00:50:53.130 align:middle line:84% I castigate myself for it all the time. 00:50:53.130 --> 00:50:55.650 align:middle line:84% So this was all from memory then? 00:50:55.650 --> 00:50:56.160 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:50:56.160 --> 00:50:58.500 align:middle line:84% Well, yeah, most of it from memory. 00:50:58.500 --> 00:51:01.860 align:middle line:84% And people threw away the letters I wrote them. 00:51:01.860 --> 00:51:02.850 align:middle line:90% I wish they hadn't. 00:51:02.850 --> 00:51:05.980 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:51:05.980 --> 00:51:07.408 align:middle line:90% They threw away the letters. 00:51:07.408 --> 00:51:09.700 align:middle line:84% Nobody can keep all those letters that friends send you 00:51:09.700 --> 00:51:10.630 align:middle line:90% from here and there. 00:51:10.630 --> 00:51:15.100 align:middle line:84% And so one friend found a letter when she was moving, 00:51:15.100 --> 00:51:16.690 align:middle line:90% and so she sent it to me. 00:51:16.690 --> 00:51:19.840 align:middle line:84% And it had three things I'd totally forgotten about. 00:51:19.840 --> 00:51:21.070 align:middle line:90% They weren't stories. 00:51:21.070 --> 00:51:22.450 align:middle line:90% They were just episodes. 00:51:22.450 --> 00:51:25.450 align:middle line:84% But out of each one of those, a story could be made. 00:51:25.450 --> 00:51:28.780 align:middle line:84% And I'd forgotten them absolutely completely. 00:51:28.780 --> 00:51:34.090 align:middle line:84% I recommend journals to everybody. 00:51:34.090 --> 00:51:36.080 align:middle line:90% End of questions? 00:51:36.080 --> 00:51:36.580 align:middle line:90% Oh. 00:51:36.580 --> 00:51:37.690 align:middle line:90% Are you a [INAUDIBLE]? 00:51:37.690 --> 00:51:39.460 align:middle line:90% You mentioned correspondence. 00:51:39.460 --> 00:51:41.275 align:middle line:84% Do you correspond with a lot of people? 00:51:41.275 --> 00:51:44.380 align:middle line:90% 00:51:44.380 --> 00:51:47.500 align:middle line:84% If you correspond a great deal, it 00:51:47.500 --> 00:51:50.530 align:middle line:84% makes a big hole in your writing time. 00:51:50.530 --> 00:51:54.955 align:middle line:84% I got some letters, and I answered those letters. 00:51:54.955 --> 00:51:56.830 align:middle line:84% I don't know if you call that correspondence. 00:51:56.830 --> 00:51:57.660 align:middle line:90% I mean with friends. 00:51:57.660 --> 00:51:59.077 align:middle line:84% Do you have a lot of friends which 00:51:59.077 --> 00:52:02.470 align:middle line:84% were corresponding [INAUDIBLE] before you became published? 00:52:02.470 --> 00:52:04.330 align:middle line:90% Oh, before I became published? 00:52:04.330 --> 00:52:05.890 align:middle line:90% Well, not especially. 00:52:05.890 --> 00:52:07.483 align:middle line:84% I mean, you know, every now and then 00:52:07.483 --> 00:52:08.650 align:middle line:90% I'd write a friend a letter. 00:52:08.650 --> 00:52:10.165 align:middle line:90% I didn't do it all the time, no. 00:52:10.165 --> 00:52:13.220 align:middle line:90% 00:52:13.220 --> 00:52:15.810 align:middle line:84% I ask because I know there's letter writers in the world. 00:52:15.810 --> 00:52:18.270 align:middle line:84% And I wonder if I'm wasting my talent writing letters 00:52:18.270 --> 00:52:18.770 align:middle line:90% to people. 00:52:18.770 --> 00:52:21.260 align:middle line:84% I think you are if you want to do something else. 00:52:21.260 --> 00:52:23.043 align:middle line:84% Unless those letters-- people are keeping 00:52:23.043 --> 00:52:24.710 align:middle line:84% and you can put them together in a book. 00:52:24.710 --> 00:52:26.340 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:52:26.340 --> 00:52:28.075 align:middle line:90% No, I think that's wonderful. 00:52:28.075 --> 00:52:30.200 align:middle line:84% If they're such wonderful letters that your friends 00:52:30.200 --> 00:52:31.010 align:middle line:90% are keeping them. 00:52:31.010 --> 00:52:32.593 align:middle line:84% And suddenly they'll put them together 00:52:32.593 --> 00:52:36.350 align:middle line:84% and you put a title on, I think that's a marvelous thing. 00:52:36.350 --> 00:52:39.710 align:middle line:84% You may be writing something you don't know. 00:52:39.710 --> 00:52:43.220 align:middle line:84% But if you're thinking of what you put on the page of a story 00:52:43.220 --> 00:52:46.880 align:middle line:84% or trying to write a novel, if you write a good letter, 00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:48.200 align:middle line:90% it takes a while. 00:52:48.200 --> 00:52:52.730 align:middle line:84% And if you run out of time, like everybody seems to, 00:52:52.730 --> 00:52:55.550 align:middle line:84% I don't know if you have time to be prolific in both. 00:52:55.550 --> 00:52:58.070 align:middle line:90% 00:52:58.070 --> 00:52:58.610 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:52:58.610 --> 00:53:00.620 align:middle line:84% I don't know which hand I'm looking at. 00:53:00.620 --> 00:53:04.910 align:middle line:84% In the novel, the relationship with Sara and Richard, 00:53:04.910 --> 00:53:08.240 align:middle line:84% how did you know what to tell us and give us and not 00:53:08.240 --> 00:53:09.950 align:middle line:90% give us and let us-- 00:53:09.950 --> 00:53:13.380 align:middle line:90% in our own imagination? 00:53:13.380 --> 00:53:15.620 align:middle line:90% I don't think I thought of that. 00:53:15.620 --> 00:53:16.940 align:middle line:90% I didn't decide. 00:53:16.940 --> 00:53:19.400 align:middle line:84% I think it was the only way I could do it, probably. 00:53:19.400 --> 00:53:22.602 align:middle line:90% 00:53:22.602 --> 00:53:24.060 align:middle line:84% I probably shouldn't tell you this, 00:53:24.060 --> 00:53:29.690 align:middle line:84% but I wrote the book in segments because I kept turning parts 00:53:29.690 --> 00:53:31.280 align:middle line:90% of it in to writing class. 00:53:31.280 --> 00:53:37.760 align:middle line:84% And only after I'd been doing that for, oh, more than a year, 00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:40.040 align:middle line:84% someone in the class said, why don't you 00:53:40.040 --> 00:53:41.810 align:middle line:84% think of making this into a novel 00:53:41.810 --> 00:53:44.420 align:middle line:84% because everything is happening in the same place 00:53:44.420 --> 00:53:46.880 align:middle line:84% and the same characters are reoccurring? 00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:49.850 align:middle line:84% And that's when I put the Americans in. 00:53:49.850 --> 00:53:52.535 align:middle line:84% I'd started with just the Mexican people in the village. 00:53:52.535 --> 00:53:55.410 align:middle line:90% 00:53:55.410 --> 00:53:57.240 align:middle line:84% I don't think that's a very scientific way 00:53:57.240 --> 00:53:58.050 align:middle line:90% to write a novel. 00:53:58.050 --> 00:54:00.930 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:54:00.930 --> 00:54:03.390 align:middle line:90% 00:54:03.390 --> 00:54:06.990 align:middle line:84% I don't think anybody should copy that idea. 00:54:06.990 --> 00:54:09.163 align:middle line:90% That's how it just happened. 00:54:09.163 --> 00:54:10.830 align:middle line:84% I don't think it's the right way at all. 00:54:10.830 --> 00:54:13.410 align:middle line:90% 00:54:13.410 --> 00:54:14.440 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:54:14.440 --> 00:54:16.532 align:middle line:84% Did you service a consultant for the film 00:54:16.532 --> 00:54:17.740 align:middle line:90% being made out in Old Tucson? 00:54:17.740 --> 00:54:18.520 align:middle line:90% No. 00:54:18.520 --> 00:54:20.530 align:middle line:84% I don't know how to write a script, 00:54:20.530 --> 00:54:22.630 align:middle line:84% and I couldn't have done it without going 00:54:22.630 --> 00:54:24.308 align:middle line:84% to school for five more years and learn 00:54:24.308 --> 00:54:25.225 align:middle line:90% how to write a script. 00:54:25.225 --> 00:54:26.920 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:54:26.920 --> 00:54:28.360 align:middle line:90% However, yes. 00:54:28.360 --> 00:54:30.850 align:middle line:84% I mean, yes, they did call me a consultant 00:54:30.850 --> 00:54:34.030 align:middle line:84% and very kindly sent me the script 00:54:34.030 --> 00:54:35.800 align:middle line:90% in all its various phases. 00:54:35.800 --> 00:54:39.460 align:middle line:84% And I did have a few suggestions, mostly about facts 00:54:39.460 --> 00:54:41.710 align:middle line:90% and occasionally about words. 00:54:41.710 --> 00:54:44.530 align:middle line:84% And they were always very kind to me, 00:54:44.530 --> 00:54:48.460 align:middle line:84% so I really can't complain about anything. 00:54:48.460 --> 00:54:51.460 align:middle line:84% And I must tell you that I like the way it's turning out. 00:54:51.460 --> 00:54:55.420 align:middle line:90% 00:54:55.420 --> 00:54:57.357 align:middle line:84% Before you come and see, I didn't 00:54:57.357 --> 00:54:59.440 align:middle line:84% know all the wonderful people I was going to meet. 00:54:59.440 --> 00:55:00.970 align:middle line:90% I'll have to tell you one thing. 00:55:00.970 --> 00:55:03.712 align:middle line:84% They were-- this will probably be the end because everybody 00:55:03.712 --> 00:55:04.420 align:middle line:90% wants to go home. 00:55:04.420 --> 00:55:09.220 align:middle line:84% But they were filming on a mountain west of Tucson. 00:55:09.220 --> 00:55:12.460 align:middle line:84% I guess it's in the Tucson Mountains, they told me. 00:55:12.460 --> 00:55:17.440 align:middle line:84% And we went past the ranch and past some trailer places 00:55:17.440 --> 00:55:17.990 align:middle line:90% and so forth. 00:55:17.990 --> 00:55:21.220 align:middle line:84% Then we went up a mountain, halfway up a large mountain 00:55:21.220 --> 00:55:24.940 align:middle line:84% with very jagged peaks at the top, beautiful mountain, 00:55:24.940 --> 00:55:27.520 align:middle line:84% and all the desert plants were there, 00:55:27.520 --> 00:55:29.890 align:middle line:84% all the native plants all around. 00:55:29.890 --> 00:55:34.420 align:middle line:84% And the film company had built this house-- 00:55:34.420 --> 00:55:35.200 align:middle line:90% part of it. 00:55:35.200 --> 00:55:37.450 align:middle line:84% They built part of a porch in an angle, 00:55:37.450 --> 00:55:42.250 align:middle line:84% nail-shaped thing with the roof over the porch, tile, 00:55:42.250 --> 00:55:46.090 align:middle line:84% and a roof over the house so that the roofs came this way, 00:55:46.090 --> 00:55:46.590 align:middle line:90% you know. 00:55:46.590 --> 00:55:48.280 align:middle line:90% One was higher than the other. 00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:52.120 align:middle line:84% And the floors were tile, inside and outside the house. 00:55:52.120 --> 00:55:53.560 align:middle line:84% It wasn't adobe, naturally, which 00:55:53.560 --> 00:55:57.430 align:middle line:84% would take a million years, but it was white plaster. 00:55:57.430 --> 00:56:01.690 align:middle line:84% And when I saw that house on that mountain and those desert 00:56:01.690 --> 00:56:04.450 align:middle line:84% plants around, I truly thought I'd gone home. 00:56:04.450 --> 00:56:09.155 align:middle line:84% And I don't know if any of you have read the book, but-- 00:56:09.155 --> 00:56:11.550 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:56:11.550 --> 00:56:15.160 align:middle line:90% 00:56:15.160 --> 00:56:17.180 align:middle line:84% In the very first chapter, they get there, 00:56:17.180 --> 00:56:18.490 align:middle line:90% and they're exhausted at night. 00:56:18.490 --> 00:56:20.830 align:middle line:84% And they put up camp cots and sleep 00:56:20.830 --> 00:56:23.650 align:middle line:84% in sleeping bags on the porch because they're too 00:56:23.650 --> 00:56:25.550 align:middle line:90% worn out to do anything else. 00:56:25.550 --> 00:56:30.790 align:middle line:84% And so dawn comes, and these two wonderful actors who are in it, 00:56:30.790 --> 00:56:33.070 align:middle line:84% Glenn Close and Keith Carradine, were 00:56:33.070 --> 00:56:35.800 align:middle line:84% saying these few words they say when they wake up 00:56:35.800 --> 00:56:39.670 align:middle line:90% about the cenzontle bird. 00:56:39.670 --> 00:56:42.790 align:middle line:84% I was sitting there quietly, not wanting to make a single sound. 00:56:42.790 --> 00:56:47.020 align:middle line:84% Suddenly behind me came this voice 00:56:47.020 --> 00:56:52.090 align:middle line:84% with a very slight accent saying, 'Good morning, señor. 00:56:52.090 --> 00:56:53.950 align:middle line:90% Did you sleep well? 00:56:53.950 --> 00:56:56.920 align:middle line:84% There are 12 men waiting at the gate. 00:56:56.920 --> 00:56:58.450 align:middle line:90% They want jobs at the mine.' 00:56:58.450 --> 00:57:00.940 align:middle line:84% And I was that close to bursting into tears. 00:57:00.940 --> 00:57:02.710 align:middle line:90% It was terrible, terrible. 00:57:02.710 --> 00:57:04.450 align:middle line:90% I thought I was there. 00:57:04.450 --> 00:57:05.900 align:middle line:90% This was happening. 00:57:05.900 --> 00:57:07.275 align:middle line:84% And so when there a little space, 00:57:07.275 --> 00:57:09.400 align:middle line:84% I turned around and said, 'Are you playing the part 00:57:09.400 --> 00:57:10.030 align:middle line:90% of Domingo?' 00:57:10.030 --> 00:57:11.590 align:middle line:90% And he said, yes, he was. 00:57:11.590 --> 00:57:14.290 align:middle line:84% So after that, I met everybody, everybody, 00:57:14.290 --> 00:57:17.750 align:middle line:84% and they said, I'm Lourdes, and I'm Manuel, and all that. 00:57:17.750 --> 00:57:21.070 align:middle line:90% And I practically wept. 00:57:21.070 --> 00:57:22.255 align:middle line:90% Didn't I, practically? 00:57:22.255 --> 00:57:25.075 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:57:25.075 --> 00:57:26.560 align:middle line:90% 00:57:26.560 --> 00:57:27.850 align:middle line:90% Thanks a lot for coming. 00:57:27.850 --> 00:57:30.790 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:57:30.790 --> 00:57:37.650 align:middle line:90% 00:57:37.650 --> 00:57:40.790 align:middle line:90% Thanks a lot. 00:57:40.790 --> 00:57:43.760 align:middle line:84% Well, we kept everybody over time. 00:57:43.760 --> 00:57:46.270 align:middle line:90% No, you didn't. 00:57:46.270 --> 00:57:56.000 align:middle line:90%