CHAPTER 6: "Strange Barn, Strange Plaza"
Juan lifted the two huge bundles out of the hay cart, one after the other. With a grunt, he lifted the pushcart out and leaned it against the wall. As Felipe bent over to help his mother unpack, a strange voice startled him.
"Sorry, señor, but you must take your hay cart outside. There's going to be too many of you peons sleeping in this barn."
Felipe straightened up and turned around. A man stood near Juan, gazing at him. Juan clenched his fists and pressed his lips into a tight line, a sure sign of rage.
"Señor, I don't know who you are," Juan hissed. "But that's my cart, and I'll put it where I please!" A vein pulsated in his neck. "I don't take kindly to people tellin' me where I can't put my things!"
The man creased his brows as anger welled up in his eyes. Consuela caught her breath. Felipe took a deep breath, then held it and gaped at his enraged father. Nausea welled up in his throat; he fought to swallow it down.
What would happen? Was his father going to get into a fight? He hadn't seen Juan this angry since before the beginning of their trip.
Please, God, Felipe prayed silently, don't let my papá get in a fight! The little boy made the sign of the cross, and so did his mother.
"Señor." A fellow peon stepped around the edge of the stall. A dark-brown woolen serape, similar to Juan's, draped his oversized, white cotton shirt. "Señor, he's probably just doin' his job. This ain't our barn; it belongs to someone else. Right, señor?"
"Right." The man took a deep breath and made a visible effort to calm down. "My patrón owns this barn, and he sent me to give you all this message. It's not just for you; it's for every peon who's sleeping here." He raised his voice. "Attention! This goes for you all. Every peon who brought a wagon or cart into this barn must take it outside. Mi patrón's orders."
Juan sighed and pursed his lips. Felipe relaxed. His father might not like the order, but at least he wasn't going to fight the man.
"Felipe." Juan turned to his son. "Come on, we got to take the cart outside."
"Si, Papá."
Juan climbed onto the seat and took the reins. Felipe took hold of the burro's neck and tugged it. "Come on. You got to go outside," he told the donkey.
Juan drove the cart outside, as Felipe trotted alongside. Juan parked the cart in front of the barn, then unhitched the burro. "Felipe, take the burro back to the stall," Juan ordered.
Felipe led the burro inside and toward the stall. There, as he groomed it with a brush the Cortez family kept for that purpose, Juan joined them.
"Come on, let's unpack and make camp," Juan ordered. "It's late afternoon; we don't got all day." He tossed his sombrero on the floor as he spoke, and draped his serape on the stall's gate.
The three of them removed everything from the two bundles and arranged them in the stall. "Felipe, go outside and get some firewood," Juan ordered, when they were finished. "I'll get some rocks to make a firepit."
Nodding, Felipe raced outside. He darted toward a clump of trees and spent the next 15 minutes picking up twigs. When he had gathered a sizable bundle of them, he rushed back to the barn.
"Here, Mommy." Felipe raced into the stall. "Papá's gettin' some rocks."
"I know." Consuela smiled. "You're a good boy, Felipe, to get those sticks so quickly."
Felipe smiled back. Just seeing their possessions arranged as they would be in a hut already made that stall seem homelike. Mommy's gonna make supper, the little boy thought. She makes the best tortillas in the world!
He ambled out of the stall to watch the strangers as they made their own camps. For the next several minutes, he just leaned against the wall and gazed at the noisy crowd of peons.
At last, he felt restless. "I don't want to stay in this barn," he muttered. "It's too crowded. I want to go outside and play." He sighed. "I wish Rafael was here. It's no fun without him! Why'd the alcalde have to send them somewhere else?"
Without thinking, he walked toward the front entrance. As he stepped outside, the flood of sunlight hurt his eyes. He rubbed them, then stopped to look around.
The flood of peons had not ceased. More and more were arriving from every direction. Even Felipe, little as he was, could see that the barn could not possibly hold them all. "Where will they go?" he wondered.
He saw the man who had ordered the peons to take their carts and wagons outside raise his hands and blow a whistle. The crowds of peons stopped to listen.
"You can't stay in this barn," he shouted. "It's got as many as it'll hold. You'll have to go to a place the alcalde has picked out for you all. It's 10 miles on the other side of town. Follow the soldiers and vaqueros, and they'll take you there."
The peons followed a group of men on horseback. Some were clearly soldiers, judging from their uniforms. Others wore the attire of vaqueros. Felipe wondered where this other place was.
Felipe trotted down the cobblestone-lined street, curious as to where it led. He wanted to see everything. He couldn't wait to explore this pueblo, to see who lived here and what buildings there were. His sandals clicked on the cobblestones.
The narrow street led to a crowded plaza. For a long moment, Felipe just stood there, watching the people as they hurried here and there.
Suddenly, the boy's eyes caught sight of another street on the other side of the plaza. "Where does it go?" he wondered.
Before he knew it, Felipe was racing toward that street. He darted down it till he reached another plaza. It was just as crowded as the first one. He wandered around the edge of the plaza, gazing at the wares of the busy market vendors. Rubbing the back of his neck, Felipe stared at the crowd of people moving helter-skelter.
Faint growls in his stomach reminded Felipe that his mother was making supper. He glanced at the sky; the orange sun was dipping toward the horizon.
I got to go back, Felipe thought. But where's the street I took?
He scanned the plaza, looking for that street. Four streets ended at that plaza, one on each side. Any of them could be the right one.
Panic seized the child. Where am I? he wondered. Where's the barn? Where's my mamá and papá? I'm lost!
END OF CHAPTER 6