WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200 align:middle line:84% I'll read you something a little more cheerful. 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:08.670 align:middle line:84% And for those of you who don't know, 00:00:08.670 --> 00:00:11.310 align:middle line:84% I like I said was born in Tijuana, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:15.600 align:middle line:84% I was the first member of my family to graduate from college 00:00:15.600 --> 00:00:18.900 align:middle line:84% and my father, unfortunately, is also dead 00:00:18.900 --> 00:00:25.470 align:middle line:84% and he was killed near here in San Luis Río Colorado, handled 00:00:25.470 --> 00:00:28.410 align:middle line:84% very badly by the police in Mexico. 00:00:28.410 --> 00:00:30.180 align:middle line:84% And that put me in a very strange state, 00:00:30.180 --> 00:00:32.610 align:middle line:84% he was killed in my senior year of college 00:00:32.610 --> 00:00:37.840 align:middle line:84% in my second semester, and I was just blown away. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.140 align:middle line:84% So I wandered around a little bit 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:42.960 align:middle line:84% and I did some odd jobs and artistic things, 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:46.590 align:middle line:84% and in 1978 I met this pastor who 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:48.720 align:middle line:84% led this missionary group working in Tijuana 00:00:48.720 --> 00:00:49.350 align:middle line:90% with the poor. 00:00:49.350 --> 00:00:51.142 align:middle line:84% I've told this story, you probably know it. 00:00:51.142 --> 00:00:52.890 align:middle line:84% But for those of you who don't, his name 00:00:52.890 --> 00:00:56.220 align:middle line:84% is Pastor Von and I've dedicated the first book about Tijuana 00:00:56.220 --> 00:00:59.100 align:middle line:84% to him, Across the Wire, and he figures largely 00:00:59.100 --> 00:01:01.260 align:middle line:84% in my second book that just came out. 00:01:01.260 --> 00:01:05.610 align:middle line:84% Von is a really miraculous guy, I call him a zen Baptist 00:01:05.610 --> 00:01:12.540 align:middle line:84% because he's got this strange satori thing happening. 00:01:12.540 --> 00:01:14.730 align:middle line:84% And he has these snaps of brilliance 00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:18.930 align:middle line:84% and he's also quite a commando, he's a crusty old man. 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:25.080 align:middle line:84% And I love him because he doesn't seek favor from anyone. 00:01:25.080 --> 00:01:27.360 align:middle line:84% He doesn't seek petting from anyone, 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:29.610 align:middle line:84% and he will speak his mind whether it costs him 00:01:29.610 --> 00:01:30.840 align:middle line:90% everything or not. 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:33.780 align:middle line:84% A good example of this is a story I relate in this book 00:01:33.780 --> 00:01:37.110 align:middle line:84% when a friend of mine was at Sunday services at the church 00:01:37.110 --> 00:01:40.170 align:middle line:84% that he works out of which is a church called Claremont Emmanuel 00:01:40.170 --> 00:01:41.100 align:middle line:90% Baptist. 00:01:41.100 --> 00:01:44.550 align:middle line:84% And it's become a very nice yuppie church 00:01:44.550 --> 00:01:46.650 align:middle line:84% where everybody dresses really nicely and sings 00:01:46.650 --> 00:01:49.080 align:middle line:84% give me oil in my lamp and then they go home. 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:54.492 align:middle line:90% 00:01:54.492 --> 00:01:59.340 align:middle line:84% Von has been in Mexico for about 33 years, 35 years working 00:01:59.340 --> 00:02:01.050 align:middle line:90% and seeing unimaginable things. 00:02:01.050 --> 00:02:04.380 align:middle line:84% So he has very short patience with this. 00:02:04.380 --> 00:02:06.420 align:middle line:84% And he's a legend, so when he shows up, 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:08.880 align:middle line:84% everybody is kind of in awe of the great man. 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:11.130 align:middle line:84% Anyway, in the middle of this church service Sunday 00:02:11.130 --> 00:02:13.620 align:middle line:84% morning, they're in the middle of one of their happy songs 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:14.940 align:middle line:90% and Von walks in. 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:19.020 align:middle line:84% And according to the witness, walks halfway down the pew 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:20.130 align:middle line:90% and stands there. 00:02:20.130 --> 00:02:22.050 align:middle line:90% I mean halfway down the aisle. 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:24.990 align:middle line:84% Looking at everybody and the song petered out 00:02:24.990 --> 00:02:27.360 align:middle line:84% and they all turn to him waiting for the word 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:31.770 align:middle line:84% and he looked at them and he said, dead sheep. 00:02:31.770 --> 00:02:34.650 align:middle line:90% And then he walked out. 00:02:34.650 --> 00:02:38.250 align:middle line:84% That's my Von, leaving them to wonder 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:41.230 align:middle line:90% what he was talking about. 00:02:41.230 --> 00:02:44.160 align:middle line:84% So I started working with Von and I've told this story 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:45.420 align:middle line:90% at least three times today. 00:02:45.420 --> 00:02:48.150 align:middle line:84% So I'm probably repeating myself too much. 00:02:48.150 --> 00:02:52.410 align:middle line:84% But being from Tijuana, I figured I knew everything 00:02:52.410 --> 00:02:53.550 align:middle line:90% about Tijuana. 00:02:53.550 --> 00:02:58.410 align:middle line:84% My family's been there at least seventy years, we knew it. 00:02:58.410 --> 00:03:01.440 align:middle line:84% But what you don't know is what goes 00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:03.120 align:middle line:90% on up those canyons you see. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.460 align:middle line:84% Where the paper shacks are, or what's 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:07.128 align:middle line:84% going on inside the dumps, or what's 00:03:07.128 --> 00:03:08.670 align:middle line:84% going on inside the prison, or what's 00:03:08.670 --> 00:03:11.520 align:middle line:84% going on inside the orphanage, I'd never seen it. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:13.740 align:middle line:84% And I realized that my family had never seen it 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:17.070 align:middle line:84% and then everybody I knew from Tijuana had never seen it. 00:03:17.070 --> 00:03:20.290 align:middle line:84% So I started seeing things I didn't know existed. 00:03:20.290 --> 00:03:21.890 align:middle line:84% And the first night I was there, I 00:03:21.890 --> 00:03:26.160 align:middle line:84% met this little child which I've mentioned to you named America. 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:28.800 align:middle line:90% America the orphan. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:30.420 align:middle line:84% And she was in an orphanage one hill 00:03:30.420 --> 00:03:33.910 align:middle line:84% over from my grandma's house, in Grupo Mexico, 00:03:33.910 --> 00:03:36.950 align:middle line:90% which is a colonia in Tijuana. 00:03:36.950 --> 00:03:40.190 align:middle line:84% And America was a little blond and blue-eyed girl, looked just 00:03:40.190 --> 00:03:41.900 align:middle line:90% like an Urrea. 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:45.110 align:middle line:84% Probably was an Urrea, who knows? 00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:48.410 align:middle line:84% And I started talking to her and nobody in this group 00:03:48.410 --> 00:03:51.050 align:middle line:90% spoke Spanish. 00:03:51.050 --> 00:03:54.590 align:middle line:84% They spoke the store-bought Spanish that people learn 00:03:54.590 --> 00:03:58.880 align:middle line:84% and it wasn't the same as neighborhood street 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:01.320 align:middle line:90% Tijuana-Spanish that she knew. 00:04:01.320 --> 00:04:03.470 align:middle line:84% So when we started to speak we got 00:04:03.470 --> 00:04:07.550 align:middle line:84% this really warm relationship happening and it was time to go 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:08.960 align:middle line:90% and she wouldn't let me go. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:11.240 align:middle line:84% And the children when they don't want you to go sit on your feet 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.365 align:middle line:84% and you get one going this way, one going that way, 00:04:13.365 --> 00:04:17.810 align:middle line:84% one going that way, one going that way, and you're stuck. 00:04:17.810 --> 00:04:22.100 align:middle line:84% And she had led this commando raid on my feet. 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:27.500 align:middle line:84% So to get her off me, I promised I would be back the next week. 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:31.390 align:middle line:84% I said, don't worry, I'll come back, just let me go. 00:04:31.390 --> 00:04:35.140 align:middle line:84% And I walked outside and he was waiting for me. 00:04:35.140 --> 00:04:37.690 align:middle line:90% He was like Godzilla enraged. 00:04:37.690 --> 00:04:40.135 align:middle line:84% And he said, what did you say to that child? 00:04:40.135 --> 00:04:42.260 align:middle line:84% And I said, what, I told her I'd be back next week. 00:04:42.260 --> 00:04:46.630 align:middle line:84% And he said, don't ever lie to my children again. 00:04:46.630 --> 00:04:49.307 align:middle line:84% He said that little girl is going to wait a week for you 00:04:49.307 --> 00:04:50.890 align:middle line:84% and when you don't show up she's going 00:04:50.890 --> 00:04:53.500 align:middle line:84% to wait another week for you, and when you don't show up 00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:55.277 align:middle line:84% she's going to wait another week for you, 00:04:55.277 --> 00:04:56.860 align:middle line:84% and she's going to wait months for you 00:04:56.860 --> 00:04:59.230 align:middle line:84% and she may wonder her whole life why you didn't 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:02.650 align:middle line:90% care enough to come back. 00:05:02.650 --> 00:05:04.960 align:middle line:90% And I thought, oh man. 00:05:04.960 --> 00:05:08.030 align:middle line:90% So I went back the next week. 00:05:08.030 --> 00:05:09.562 align:middle line:84% And then I went back the next week. 00:05:09.562 --> 00:05:11.020 align:middle line:84% And then I went back the next week, 00:05:11.020 --> 00:05:13.930 align:middle line:84% and then pretty soon about four weeks into it 00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:17.710 align:middle line:84% this was Monday night, he said, why don't you come on Thursday? 00:05:17.710 --> 00:05:19.610 align:middle line:84% So I went on Thursday and they said, well, 00:05:19.610 --> 00:05:21.730 align:middle line:90% why don't you try Saturday too? 00:05:21.730 --> 00:05:23.650 align:middle line:84% So pretty soon I was there full time 00:05:23.650 --> 00:05:27.140 align:middle line:90% and I became his translator. 00:05:27.140 --> 00:05:29.750 align:middle line:84% So all the kind of adventures that happen in these books 00:05:29.750 --> 00:05:31.550 align:middle line:84% that I've published about the border 00:05:31.550 --> 00:05:34.310 align:middle line:84% are from that experience translating for him 00:05:34.310 --> 00:05:37.220 align:middle line:84% and becoming the ear of the people 00:05:37.220 --> 00:05:39.380 align:middle line:90% and the mouth of the people. 00:05:39.380 --> 00:05:41.990 align:middle line:84% And this thing that I find myself repeating a lot 00:05:41.990 --> 00:05:45.440 align:middle line:84% is when you can speak the language, 00:05:45.440 --> 00:05:48.290 align:middle line:84% you will hear the unspeakable because somebody 00:05:48.290 --> 00:05:51.440 align:middle line:84% has to tell somebody, and they ended up telling me, 00:05:51.440 --> 00:05:53.570 align:middle line:84% which was a very hard thing for me to live with 00:05:53.570 --> 00:05:56.250 align:middle line:84% and I fled finally, I couldn't take it anymore. 00:05:56.250 --> 00:06:00.277 align:middle line:84% But these books came out of it, so it was a blessing. 00:06:00.277 --> 00:06:02.360 align:middle line:84% I thought I would read you one chapter to give you 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.850 align:middle line:84% an idea of what life is like and what the books are like, 00:06:04.850 --> 00:06:07.130 align:middle line:84% this is probably one of the mildest chapters 00:06:07.130 --> 00:06:08.760 align:middle line:90% in either of the two books. 00:06:08.760 --> 00:06:11.450 align:middle line:84% So I see people buying these for Christmas 00:06:11.450 --> 00:06:12.755 align:middle line:90% presents and I think, dang. 00:06:12.755 --> 00:06:15.500 align:middle line:90% 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:18.895 align:middle line:90% I feel really guilty. 00:06:18.895 --> 00:06:21.740 align:middle line:84% In the new book there's a whole chapter about cussing 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:24.320 align:middle line:84% on the border and it's quite obscene and this mother was 00:06:24.320 --> 00:06:25.980 align:middle line:84% buying it for her 12-year-old daughter. 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:29.960 align:middle line:84% And I was like, ma'am, that's a R rated book. 00:06:29.960 --> 00:06:32.210 align:middle line:84% So I said, just at least look at it before you give it 00:06:32.210 --> 00:06:34.160 align:middle line:90% to the kid, OK? 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.560 align:middle line:84% And my favorite story is someone who bought it for her 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.530 align:middle line:84% 81-year-old mother and she said her mother went in the living 00:06:39.530 --> 00:06:42.770 align:middle line:84% room and sat down on the couch and all she heard was, oh dear. 00:06:42.770 --> 00:06:46.370 align:middle line:90% 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:54.860 align:middle line:84% So I don't know if I was ashamed or proud of that. 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:56.600 align:middle line:84% I didn't mean to write that stuff 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:58.790 align:middle line:90% but you have to tell the truth. 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:01.880 align:middle line:84% Anyway this is a chapter called "The Last Soldier of Pancho 00:07:01.880 --> 00:07:05.150 align:middle line:84% Villa" and it's pretty self-explanatory, 00:07:05.150 --> 00:07:08.930 align:middle line:84% and it's about somebody I love a lot who is still alive, 00:07:08.930 --> 00:07:11.540 align:middle line:84% even though you won't believe it when you hear how old he is. 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:14.130 align:middle line:90% 00:07:14.130 --> 00:07:18.180 align:middle line:84% Leaving Tijuana by way of the free road to Enseñada 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:20.070 align:middle line:84% takes you through a dusty poverty that 00:07:20.070 --> 00:07:22.350 align:middle line:90% is suggestive of ancient days. 00:07:22.350 --> 00:07:25.500 align:middle line:84% The canyons bristle with shacks and tumbled fences 00:07:25.500 --> 00:07:29.040 align:middle line:84% while above maquiladoras crown the hills and castle 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:30.240 align:middle line:90% like sprawls. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.480 align:middle line:84% The serfs below await the day the complexes above them 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:34.930 align:middle line:90% will open their doors. 00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:38.040 align:middle line:84% The hillsides seem to crumble as you watch them. 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:40.440 align:middle line:84% Yards are dust and on the slopes, 00:07:40.440 --> 00:07:42.960 align:middle line:84% where the soil is often shades of gray, 00:07:42.960 --> 00:07:45.180 align:middle line:84% the people have built ingenious gardens 00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:47.850 align:middle line:90% using abandoned car tires. 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:51.360 align:middle line:84% They dig the tires into the slope then fill them with dirt, 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.310 align:middle line:84% often whole hillsides will be made 00:07:53.310 --> 00:07:56.640 align:middle line:84% of a staggered sloping wall of tires and in each tire 00:07:56.640 --> 00:07:58.050 align:middle line:90% a plant or two. 00:07:58.050 --> 00:08:03.510 align:middle line:84% Geraniums and nopales, you can eat the nopales of course. 00:08:03.510 --> 00:08:07.980 align:middle line:84% Then there are yonques which are the junkyards, abandoned 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:10.920 align:middle line:90% discos, a Catholic orphanage. 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:14.610 align:middle line:84% Then you come around a bend into a field of flowers, buttercups 00:08:14.610 --> 00:08:17.970 align:middle line:84% and mustard splash yellow over the hills, it's surprising. 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:20.340 align:middle line:84% If you're not prepared, it might startle 00:08:20.340 --> 00:08:24.390 align:middle line:84% you to pop out of the sprawl of the city so suddenly. 00:08:24.390 --> 00:08:29.610 align:middle line:84% The sea seems to rise in the distance and the cars spread out 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:32.909 align:middle line:84% on the road and begin to speed, clean wind tearing 00:08:32.909 --> 00:08:35.409 align:middle line:90% through the windows. 00:08:35.409 --> 00:08:38.530 align:middle line:84% There are small towns before and beyond Rosarito. 00:08:38.530 --> 00:08:41.320 align:middle line:84% Near one of them, there's a rock in the ocean 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:44.020 align:middle line:84% that has the exact shape of a Volkswagen Beetle. 00:08:44.020 --> 00:08:47.320 align:middle line:84% It looks like it's driving to Hawaii. 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.440 align:middle line:84% You'll see a bright red building on the right. 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:54.430 align:middle line:84% This is the orphanage that has always been run by Mamá and Papá 00:08:54.430 --> 00:08:54.970 align:middle line:90% Torres. 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:57.050 align:middle line:84% I call them Mamá and Papá T in the book 00:08:57.050 --> 00:08:58.300 align:middle line:90% so people won't hunt him down. 00:08:58.300 --> 00:09:04.330 align:middle line:84% But Mamá had no teeth, her nose was a mass of brown scars 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:06.430 align:middle line:84% from years of continuous sunburn. 00:09:06.430 --> 00:09:11.140 align:middle line:84% She was always either 49 or 70, there was no way to tell. 00:09:11.140 --> 00:09:13.090 align:middle line:84% You heard her before you saw her. 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:16.480 align:middle line:84% She was either laughing, scolding a child or a dog 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:19.870 align:middle line:84% or crying out in her joy that you had come to see her. 00:09:19.870 --> 00:09:23.650 align:middle line:84% Oh, oh, she'd shout, get away now. 00:09:23.650 --> 00:09:26.930 align:middle line:84% She plowed into your ribs as you got out of your vehicle 00:09:26.930 --> 00:09:28.870 align:middle line:84% and if you seemed at all friendly she gave you 00:09:28.870 --> 00:09:34.930 align:middle line:84% a fierce hug, she patted you on the arms backsides and chest 00:09:34.930 --> 00:09:38.710 align:middle line:84% in the manner of poor old Mexican women. 00:09:38.710 --> 00:09:41.560 align:middle line:84% Her palm was open, her fingers stiff enough 00:09:41.560 --> 00:09:43.720 align:middle line:90% so they bent back a little bit. 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.640 align:middle line:84% And her touch was so light you hardly felt it. 00:09:46.640 --> 00:09:49.300 align:middle line:84% It was almost as though she were touching you to let 00:09:49.300 --> 00:09:52.150 align:middle line:90% herself know you were there. 00:09:52.150 --> 00:09:56.120 align:middle line:84% Then she was liable to hold her hand up next to your face, 00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:58.840 align:middle line:84% and you thought you might get slapped. 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:01.030 align:middle line:84% And she'd offer an ecstatic soliloquy 00:10:01.030 --> 00:10:04.510 align:middle line:84% that clearly included God, missionaries, 00:10:04.510 --> 00:10:07.120 align:middle line:90% and abundant blessings. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.460 align:middle line:84% You might even have gotten a tour of the compound; 00:10:09.460 --> 00:10:12.970 align:middle line:84% she was proud of her new American toilets and bathtubs. 00:10:12.970 --> 00:10:15.070 align:middle line:84% And if you took her donuts you could 00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:18.880 align:middle line:84% expect to end up in her kitchen watching her sop up coffee 00:10:18.880 --> 00:10:21.600 align:middle line:90% and slurp them down. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:25.630 align:middle line:84% Papá, however, was more reserved. 00:10:25.630 --> 00:10:27.940 align:middle line:90% He was a shadow. 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:31.180 align:middle line:84% You'd see him in the background, his slightly palsied head 00:10:31.180 --> 00:10:34.430 align:middle line:84% nodding gently in a white hard hat. 00:10:34.430 --> 00:10:38.170 align:middle line:90% Papá unlike Mamá was 90. 00:10:38.170 --> 00:10:46.030 align:middle line:84% In 1978, he was 90 and in 1991 he was still 90. 00:10:46.030 --> 00:10:49.000 align:middle line:84% His skin was dark brown, brown as mahogany. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:52.210 align:middle line:84% His mustache was white and sparse, small enough 00:10:52.210 --> 00:10:55.870 align:middle line:84% to look like a trace of milk he forgot to lick off. 00:10:55.870 --> 00:10:59.980 align:middle line:84% His brown eyes were so faded, so encircled with cataracts 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:03.100 align:middle line:84% and clouded, they seemed almost blue. 00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:05.660 align:middle line:90% He was five feet tall. 00:11:05.660 --> 00:11:09.680 align:middle line:84% In his youth, Papá rode a horse, he carried a rifle. 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:14.210 align:middle line:84% He rode hard into desert towns and saw army garrisons fall. 00:11:14.210 --> 00:11:17.780 align:middle line:84% He slept on the ground wrapped in a thin blanket. 00:11:17.780 --> 00:11:21.290 align:middle line:84% You might see him in some of those old Mexican photographs: 00:11:21.290 --> 00:11:24.530 align:middle line:84% he has gun belts crossed over his heart. 00:11:24.530 --> 00:11:26.720 align:middle line:84% Long before he became a Christian, 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.110 align:middle line:84% Papá Torres was a soldier of Pancho Villa. 00:11:30.110 --> 00:11:32.900 align:middle line:84% And when any commotion happened at his orphanage, 00:11:32.900 --> 00:11:35.570 align:middle line:84% Papá retreated into his own silence. 00:11:35.570 --> 00:11:39.440 align:middle line:84% He hid in the big chicken coop under the water tower. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:44.240 align:middle line:84% If you followed him, you saw a pale shape standing in there. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:49.010 align:middle line:84% He held the chickens to his lips; he had a few favorites. 00:11:49.010 --> 00:11:52.490 align:middle line:84% He fancied some fluffy white show chicken someone gave him: 00:11:52.490 --> 00:11:54.620 align:middle line:90% feel this, he'd say. 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:56.270 align:middle line:90% You'd pet the chicken. 00:11:56.270 --> 00:11:58.280 align:middle line:90% Its feathers felt like cat fur. 00:11:58.280 --> 00:12:02.120 align:middle line:90% Soft, he'd say. 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:07.610 align:middle line:84% His delighted laughter quiet, his voice a reed in wind, soft. 00:12:07.610 --> 00:12:11.100 align:middle line:84% He'd kiss the chicken on the head. 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.530 align:middle line:84% Papá built the orphanage by hand. 00:12:13.530 --> 00:12:16.605 align:middle line:84% He first made it of wood, hauling limber from-- limber. 00:12:16.605 --> 00:12:19.110 align:middle line:90% 00:12:19.110 --> 00:12:21.810 align:middle line:84% How about limberly hauling, limberly hauling 00:12:21.810 --> 00:12:25.560 align:middle line:90% lumber from Tijuana. 00:12:25.560 --> 00:12:28.050 align:middle line:84% At the time the people of the small fishing village 00:12:28.050 --> 00:12:30.270 align:middle line:90% were curious, if not suspicious. 00:12:30.270 --> 00:12:34.380 align:middle line:84% Papá made a long two story building with his dwelling 00:12:34.380 --> 00:12:37.950 align:middle line:84% at the West End and the boys lived downstairs and the girls 00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:42.360 align:middle line:84% above and he called it Hogar de Luz, the house of light. 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:46.600 align:middle line:84% When he finished building, he painted it sky blue. 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.310 align:middle line:84% Then as a service to the children of the community, 00:12:49.310 --> 00:12:51.550 align:middle line:90% he built a church next door. 00:12:51.550 --> 00:12:55.180 align:middle line:84% He and his sons labored for almost a year using cement, 00:12:55.180 --> 00:12:58.270 align:middle line:84% stucco, and wood, and it was the first Protestant church 00:12:58.270 --> 00:13:00.370 align:middle line:90% on that part of the coast. 00:13:00.370 --> 00:13:03.340 align:middle line:84% Once the church was done, Papá realized 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:05.260 align:middle line:84% the orphanage needed modernizing, 00:13:05.260 --> 00:13:07.780 align:middle line:84% so he hauled out his ladders and hammers again 00:13:07.780 --> 00:13:10.120 align:middle line:84% and began an ambitious construction project 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.430 align:middle line:90% behind the original orphanage. 00:13:12.430 --> 00:13:15.790 align:middle line:84% This one would be entirely of brick and cement 00:13:15.790 --> 00:13:19.120 align:middle line:84% with modern bathrooms and modern dorms. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:22.630 align:middle line:84% American work crews eagerly joined in, 00:13:22.630 --> 00:13:26.410 align:middle line:84% bringing him supplies and freshed faced youth groups who 00:13:26.410 --> 00:13:28.690 align:middle line:84% scrambled up and down Papá's ladders, 00:13:28.690 --> 00:13:31.660 align:middle line:84% slopping cement and banging nails. 00:13:31.660 --> 00:13:37.240 align:middle line:84% On those days he stood watching, his ever-present white hard hat 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:39.790 align:middle line:84% bobbing slightly, he gripped either 00:13:39.790 --> 00:13:43.960 align:middle line:84% a huge white cup of coffee or a banana and he pointed sometimes. 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.000 align:middle line:84% Then looked at me as if some secret 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.850 align:middle line:84% had just been confirmed between us. 00:13:48.850 --> 00:13:52.120 align:middle line:84% At the end of the day, he thanked everybody, 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:54.910 align:middle line:84% and as soon as they were on the highway back North, 00:13:54.910 --> 00:13:59.260 align:middle line:84% he climbed his ladder and undid the work they did. 00:13:59.260 --> 00:14:03.880 align:middle line:84% Often Papá spent two days fixing angles and re-hammering frames. 00:14:03.880 --> 00:14:06.700 align:middle line:84% It's all right, he said, these young people need to work, 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:09.400 align:middle line:90% it's good for them to have work. 00:14:09.400 --> 00:14:12.280 align:middle line:84% Because of his age and his bobbing head, 00:14:12.280 --> 00:14:15.580 align:middle line:84% Americans made the mistake of thinking him simple 00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:17.290 align:middle line:90% or diminished somehow. 00:14:17.290 --> 00:14:21.820 align:middle line:84% Once a missionary crew descended on him to repaint his orphanage. 00:14:21.820 --> 00:14:23.750 align:middle line:84% They had brought bright red paint 00:14:23.750 --> 00:14:25.840 align:middle line:84% so the orphanage would be easier to spot. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:27.640 align:middle line:90% Papá liked it blue. 00:14:27.640 --> 00:14:30.670 align:middle line:84% The Americans forged ahead anyway. 00:14:30.670 --> 00:14:33.230 align:middle line:84% And the leader of the group said to me, 00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:38.810 align:middle line:84% tell him he's a good man, then patted him on top of the head. 00:14:38.810 --> 00:14:43.940 align:middle line:84% Papá stood there shoulders hunched, shaking a little. 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:47.300 align:middle line:84% He then offered me the only unsolicited comment 00:14:47.300 --> 00:14:51.020 align:middle line:84% I ever heard him speak about Pancho Villa. 00:14:51.020 --> 00:14:55.040 align:middle line:84% Pancho Villa, he said, was a gentleman. 00:14:55.040 --> 00:14:57.520 align:middle line:84% At least he allowed a man self-respect. 00:14:57.520 --> 00:15:00.280 align:middle line:90% 00:15:00.280 --> 00:15:03.100 align:middle line:84% Things went on as normal in the newly red orphanage 00:15:03.100 --> 00:15:05.170 align:middle line:84% until one day we pulled into the driveway 00:15:05.170 --> 00:15:08.020 align:middle line:84% and found Mamá crying and wringing her hands. 00:15:08.020 --> 00:15:09.670 align:middle line:90% We thought he had died. 00:15:09.670 --> 00:15:13.960 align:middle line:84% She ran out to us and wailed, Papá had run away from home. 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:16.480 align:middle line:90% 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:19.420 align:middle line:84% He had this recurring dream, if you were friends 00:15:19.420 --> 00:15:21.940 align:middle line:90% with him he'd tell it to you. 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:25.620 align:middle line:90% Jesus is calling me, he'd say. 00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:28.710 align:middle line:84% He heard Jesus almost every night in his dreams. 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:32.100 align:middle line:84% No matter what he did, Jesus intruded in the dream, 00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:34.560 align:middle line:84% took him out of whatever rivalry he was in, 00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:37.980 align:middle line:84% and let him back to the same insistent vision. 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:40.410 align:middle line:90% He saw a vast barren plain. 00:15:40.410 --> 00:15:45.960 align:middle line:84% It was stark, dead, nothing grew there, the sun was white. 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:48.270 align:middle line:84% He could hear the empty sound of wind 00:15:48.270 --> 00:15:51.000 align:middle line:84% and Jesus would stride toward him. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.121 align:middle line:90% And in his hand, a seed. 00:15:53.121 --> 00:15:55.496 align:middle line:84% Papá always said, y es de este tamaño la semillita, más o 00:15:55.496 --> 00:15:57.270 align:middle line:90% menos, always, más o menos así. 00:15:57.270 --> 00:16:03.550 align:middle line:90% 00:16:03.550 --> 00:16:05.770 align:middle line:84% Jesus would press the seed into Papá's hand 00:16:05.770 --> 00:16:08.020 align:middle line:84% and indicate he was to plant it where they stood. 00:16:08.020 --> 00:16:10.630 align:middle line:84% Here my tree will grow, Jesus told him. 00:16:10.630 --> 00:16:13.350 align:middle line:90% 00:16:13.350 --> 00:16:16.290 align:middle line:84% Papá cried sometimes talking about it. 00:16:16.290 --> 00:16:19.410 align:middle line:84% He thought he was supposed to die there. 00:16:19.410 --> 00:16:23.400 align:middle line:84% He was afraid to go back to the desert fueled by nothing more 00:16:23.400 --> 00:16:25.950 align:middle line:84% than a dream, but he was a soldier. 00:16:25.950 --> 00:16:30.000 align:middle line:84% And he had been in the desert before, he had his orders. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.010 align:middle line:84% He put it off as long as he could, 00:16:32.010 --> 00:16:34.590 align:middle line:84% he put it off until he knew his life was over. 00:16:34.590 --> 00:16:36.900 align:middle line:84% And if he was going to die out there, 00:16:36.900 --> 00:16:41.040 align:middle line:84% at least he would know he had done his work for the children. 00:16:41.040 --> 00:16:43.260 align:middle line:84% He told Mamá goodbye one morning, 00:16:43.260 --> 00:16:45.690 align:middle line:84% took a small bag of things and a blanket, 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:47.550 align:middle line:90% and walked up to the highway. 00:16:47.550 --> 00:16:51.900 align:middle line:84% The children cried, she wrung her hands and pleaded, 00:16:51.900 --> 00:16:54.300 align:middle line:84% and the last they saw of him was the white helmet 00:16:54.300 --> 00:16:58.580 align:middle line:90% through the window of the bus. 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:02.810 align:middle line:84% Two months passed, a stranger appeared at the home of light 00:17:02.810 --> 00:17:07.609 align:middle line:84% asking for Mamá, was she related to a Señor Torres? 00:17:07.609 --> 00:17:08.900 align:middle line:90% Yes she cried. 00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:11.030 align:middle line:90% Oh yes. 00:17:11.030 --> 00:17:14.510 align:middle line:84% Did Señor Torres wear a white helmet and was he elderly? 00:17:14.510 --> 00:17:16.640 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.490 align:middle line:84% The man sipped a cup of coffee at Mamá's table. 00:17:19.490 --> 00:17:21.349 align:middle line:84% He related a story of what he had 00:17:21.349 --> 00:17:23.960 align:middle line:84% seen in the great northern deserts of Mexico, 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:26.359 align:middle line:90% just south of here by the way. 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.090 align:middle line:84% An old man got off a bus in a hamlet 00:17:29.090 --> 00:17:31.490 align:middle line:84% where this man had a small business. 00:17:31.490 --> 00:17:34.910 align:middle line:84% The locals watched him hobble along with his bed roll and bag 00:17:34.910 --> 00:17:38.210 align:middle line:90% and he approached a Yaqui man. 00:17:38.210 --> 00:17:41.060 align:middle line:84% They watched the stranger talk to the Yaqui man 00:17:41.060 --> 00:17:43.580 align:middle line:84% just for a few minutes and the two of them 00:17:43.580 --> 00:17:46.480 align:middle line:90% turned and hiked out of town. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.140 align:middle line:84% Later, when the Yaqui man returned to town for supplies, 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:53.140 align:middle line:84% he reported the old Mexicano had brought him 00:17:53.140 --> 00:17:54.730 align:middle line:90% a message from Jesus. 00:17:54.730 --> 00:17:58.240 align:middle line:84% They were busy building a new house for God on the plains. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:01.810 align:middle line:84% The townsfolk regularly visited the site and Papá 00:18:01.810 --> 00:18:06.340 align:middle line:84% somehow accumulated tools, supplies, and helpers. 00:18:06.340 --> 00:18:10.900 align:middle line:84% Tell Mamá, he told this visitor, that we are building a church, 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:12.970 align:middle line:90% it's going well. 00:18:12.970 --> 00:18:14.680 align:middle line:84% The fellow had business in Tijuana 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.470 align:middle line:84% and was so curious about this marvelous scene 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:20.455 align:middle line:84% that he promised to drive down the coast and report to Mamá. 00:18:20.455 --> 00:18:23.330 align:middle line:90% 00:18:23.330 --> 00:18:27.050 align:middle line:84% After the end of summer, we drove into the compound. 00:18:27.050 --> 00:18:30.020 align:middle line:84% Halloween was approaching soon and the searing heat 00:18:30.020 --> 00:18:32.390 align:middle line:84% of late September had finally drifted off 00:18:32.390 --> 00:18:33.920 align:middle line:90% as though it had never happened. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:38.000 align:middle line:84% Mamá wore a bright dress, a scarf tied over her hair. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.730 align:middle line:84% She danced around clapping her hands like a kid. 00:18:40.730 --> 00:18:44.460 align:middle line:84% He's back, she shouted, he's back. 00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:48.090 align:middle line:84% We thought she meant one of us until we realized it was Papá. 00:18:48.090 --> 00:18:50.250 align:middle line:84% Where is he, I said, with the chickens? 00:18:50.250 --> 00:18:54.480 align:middle line:90% 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.880 align:middle line:84% I went down to the chicken house. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.650 align:middle line:90% It was dark in there. 00:18:58.650 --> 00:19:01.470 align:middle line:84% I pulled open the wire door and stepped through. 00:19:01.470 --> 00:19:04.050 align:middle line:84% The floor was three inches of chicken dung. 00:19:04.050 --> 00:19:07.200 align:middle line:90% Papá, I said, are you in here? 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.530 align:middle line:90% I went in deeper: Papá. 00:19:10.530 --> 00:19:13.210 align:middle line:84% He had a white chicken in his hands. 00:19:13.210 --> 00:19:14.830 align:middle line:90% He held it out to me. 00:19:14.830 --> 00:19:18.160 align:middle line:84% He gestured to me with the chicken: feel these feathers, 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.480 align:middle line:90% he said. 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:21.320 align:middle line:90% I petted the chicken. 00:19:21.320 --> 00:19:25.820 align:middle line:84% Papá glanced at me, looking somewhat amused. 00:19:25.820 --> 00:19:28.840 align:middle line:84% He leaned over and confided a great secret. 00:19:28.840 --> 00:19:30.600 align:middle line:90% I lived, he said. 00:19:30.600 --> 00:19:40.227 align:middle line:90% 00:19:40.227 --> 00:19:41.310 align:middle line:90% How are we doing for time? 00:19:41.310 --> 00:19:43.865 align:middle line:90% 00:19:43.865 --> 00:19:45.113 align:middle line:90% Good. 00:19:45.113 --> 00:19:45.780 align:middle line:90% We're all right? 00:19:45.780 --> 00:19:48.810 align:middle line:90% 00:19:48.810 --> 00:19:51.680 align:middle line:90% By God this is going well. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.319 align:middle line:90%