Carmen Navarro Chapter Ten: Lola's Place
The sea air gave way to simmering desert heat and then tropical steaminess as the stagecoach bumped and jostled along the road from Puerto Vallarta to La Ciudad de Mexico. Four, five days passed...days of constant stopping to change drivers and horses, to eat and to wash at sundry stations. Mano grew impatient; Buck did not. Cain't remember ever bein' in a hurry for a fight like this, he mused. Jes as soon take our time, loco as we is.
At last one morning the coach descended into the Valley of Mexico. "You know it is also known as the Valley of the Damned," Mano said, resting, not bothering to open his eyes to look. He had seen this sight many times before. But Buck poked his head out of the coach windows and stared. The gleaming white buildings of the capital, shrouded in mist, loomed ahead, materializing before him. By noon that day they found themselves rumbling over marshlands and lakes across the long bricked causeway that opened off the western road, toward the San Cosme Gate leading into the city.
"Ain't never seen nuthin' like this, Mano," Buck observed, gazing out over the marshes at cypress trees and stretches of water, an unearthly mystical sight so unlike the desert. The causeway itself was a double roadway on the side of a great aqueduct resting upon massive pillars and open stone arches. "I remember hearin' 'bout it from some boys who fought in the Mexican War with ol' Gen'ral Scott, but this do beat all."
They rode through the lofty arches crowning the San Cosme Gate to the coach station at the center of the city, where they debarked. Mano spoke Spanish to a soldier on a street corner who smiled and replied, pointing to something in the distance. It looked like he was givin' directions, Buck thought. Buck kept silent, wary, yet also looked around him at the gleaming buildings, statues, hotels, plazas, and churches. He hadn't really been in that many cities, nor had he ever cared to be. So many people, rushin' here an' there, he thought. Too many.
"What'd that soldier boy have to say, compadre?" Buck asked when Mano returned, grinning and dodging a few children running ahead of their governess and a businessman hurrying the other way.
"Oh, I asked him how to get somewhere, and he told me," Mano replied. "We must find a carriage, amigo, to take us to, ah, a certain area of town." To Buck's puzzled look, he added, "I told him I was on business. Do not worry!"
They walked down the block and Mano hailed a hansom cab, giving the driver an address. Buck only heard the words, "Zona Rosa," but he saw the driver's leer and he looked at his compadre.
"I thought you said we was seeing Casados," he whispered as they climbed into the carriage.
"Sí, but first we need to see a friend. We must go see Lola."
The cab stopped in front of what looked to Buck like a fancy storefront with painted windows. A sign suspended on chains over the boardwalk read, in elaborate script: Lola's. The batwing doors at the entrance were gilded, and bright polished brass gaslights adorned the facade.
Lola's proved to be an elegant bordello in the midst of La Zona Rosa Dos, a red-light district of Mexico City. As they strode through the batwing doors, it seemed to Buck as if they had entered just another saloon, but after Mano spoke a few words to the bartender who then pulled a cord on the wall, a young woman appeared. Guapa, thought Mano and winked at her, speaking to her in Spanish. Buck heard the words "Lola" and "amigos," but Mano spoke too fast for him to follow.
"Señores, ven conmigo, por favor," the woman said, inclining her head.
Buck pulled off his hat and rasped to Mano, "What we doin' here?" He started to ask what kind of place this was, but as they followed the woman, pushing through velvet curtains into a huge salon filled with plush couches, gilded tables and chairs, crystal chandeliers, and a sea of velvet draperies, he no longer needed to question. Men sat in booths and at tables, talking and drinking with women clad in low cut satin gowns topped by feathers and finery, while other women milled about, eyeing them. A spiral staircase leading to rooms upstairs dominated the center of salón. Soft music from a grand piano in the corner greeted their ears.
"Mano, this here is a fancy…"
"Yes, Buck, it is. And we have a friend here."
"But Mano, yore engaged…"
Just then a throaty voice, deep and sensual, sounded from a couch in the middle of the room.
"The nephew of Domingo!" the voice proclaimed, and Buck's eyes and ears followed it to a buxom woman in her fifties resting upon a red and cream velvet couch. Yellow hair was piled high atop her head and her plump face, still pretty, featured crimson cheeks and vivid blue eyes outlined in black. Her lips, a bright red, matched both her gown and the couch. A rich white fur stole was draped across her shoulders but this did not conceal the neckline of her dress which plunged very low. A large bejeweled necklace sparkled at her throat, its end lost in her ample cleavage. She carried her surplus flesh well and with grace. She smiled at Manolito as she lounged on the sofa, sitting up as he approached.
"Cómo estás, Lola?" Mano asked with a smile and a slight bow, removing his hat as he did so.
"Hola! It is Manolito, is it not? I did not know you at first under all of those whiskers!" And all of that grime, she thought, remembering the first time she had met him, when he had been impeccably groomed.
Reading her mind, Mano said, "Forgive our appearance, Lola. My friend, Buck Cannon, and I have been long on our journey and we could not wait even one minute more before coming to see you," his tone friendly and flirtatious.
She nodded and laughed. "You sound like Domingo. And how is he, your uncle?"
"Oh, he is fine, gracias. He is in Sonora at present. He now runs the rancho of my late father."
"So I had heard, Manolito. Sit down, you and your friend. You are making me nervous standing."
Buck and Mano complied, Mano sitting opposite Lola on the sofa, Buck sinking into a nearby upholstered and gilded chair. Young women sailed by to take their hats and to bring them drinks.
"Thank you," Buck said, while Mano settled back in the sofa and eyed Lola until again she spoke.
"It is good to see you, Manolito. And I am glad to learn that you are well and to hear that it goes well with Domingo." Lola paused a second before adding with a throaty laugh, "That Domingo. As I have told you before, your uncle, he has done me much wrong. But oh, I do still like that man!" She took a drink. "Do you know, Manolito, that he has been to see me twice since your visit?"
"Oh?" this was news to Mano.
"Yes. And he has repaid what he owes me, thanks, no doubt, to the proceeds left to him by your father."
"No doubt. Well, I am glad, Lola."
"I hear also you are to be married?"
"Er, yes, but how..."
"News travels fast in the city, Manolito, especially where a nephew of Domingo is concerned. All are surprised that he stays at that ranch."
"So are we, Lola," Mano admitted. "So are we."
Buck watched all this in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed. He nodded at the girls who wafted by, brushing against him to tease him, and he sipped his whiskey without speaking.
"The woman you are to marry. Carmen Navarro. I like her," Lola pronounced.
"Oh, you know her?"
"I know of her. And only good things. The same cannot be said for her brother and his wife, I am sad to say."
Mano said nothing, but Buck grunted his agreement.
"Lola, we need your assistance in a matter of great importance," Mano started in again after taking a drink. Fin'ly, gettin' to it, Buck thought. About time. Buck listened as Mano explained all that had occurred and then Lola spoke. This ol' gal's pretty helpful, Buck acknowledged, as they listened to her suggestions regarding where best to seek Casados. She offered ideas about approaching the general, and they listened well to these also.
"Be on your guard. He is even more dangerous now, since the last time you saw him and your uncle won that huge bet," she warned.
Mano nodded, then added, "And Lola, one more thing. When we set out, we had not expected our journey to take us all the way to Mexico City. We are, ah, we are in need, perhaps, of some more suitable clothes so that we do not draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, eh?" He was thinking more of Buck than himself, but even he needed something more formal to enter any place Casados might be found.
"Ah, I think I can help you with that." Lola called for a good looking girl and issued instructions. Mano caught the girl's eye and smiled, a reaction which did not go unnoticed by his hostess.
"I see you are still Domingo's nephew. You are about to be wed. None of this for you, guapo!" Lola laughed. "Unless…" she ventured, raising her eyebrows in a question.
"No gracias, Lola. If you knew my Carmen, you would know that I am only admiring from a distance. I will not be a, cómo se dice, a customer again." Mano laughed.
"That is good. Bad for my business, but good for you. Maybe there is hope for you yet. And hope even for Domingo."
Buck took a swig of his drink. He was seein' a side of Mano he hadn't seen on the ranch or in town. This flirtin' and polite talk left him, well, kinda antsy. Give me a plain ol' saloon, he thought. An' Polly an' the girls any day over this.
"Gentlemen," Lola announced as a stocky balding man with a moustache appeared, garters on his sleeves. "Follow Julio. He will show you where you may bathe and enjoy a shave. A servant will bring you some, ah, more appropriate clothes. Enjoy the bath...unless you can think of some other service we might yet provide?" Lola turned coquettish, batting her eyes at Buck who looked down.
"Er, no, gracias Lola." Mano smiled. "Permiso. Buck, let's go."
Within an hour, a clean and shaved Buck Cannon stood again in the salon, this time clad in a black suit and ruffled shirt. Mano, also clean shaven, wore light gray attire with a red tie and waistband. The fit was not perfect but it was close. Lola was good at sizing up men. From her sofa, she nodded her approval.
"These are borrowed from Zaragoza the tailor. You will return them when you are finished. We shall launder and keep your other clothes here for you," Lola said. I hope this will not become your funeral attire, she thought. She liked Manolito and his gringo friend.
"Hey, you look pretty good, compadre," Mano laughed. Buck just shifted his head to pop his neck and said nothing as he rolled a finger around his collar which seemed kinda tight.
"One thing, Manolito," Lola added as they took their leave. "Do not underestimate Casados. Here," she plucked a derringer from her bosom and handed it to him. "It is better that you leave those sidearms here. Put this in place of security, just in case. If you have to use it, Casados, that pig, will know it is from me." The large initial L engraved on the handle told Mano just what she meant.
"Gracias, Lola," and he took her hand to kiss it and leaned in to place a light kiss on her cheek. Buck nodded his thanks. The two amigos looked at each other, turned, and walked out through the velvet curtains and the batwing doors, bare-headed, into the twilight in search of Jose Casados.
None can copyright the characters of "The High Chaparral," for that has been done, but the authors do claim the creation of others, especially Carmen Navarro (whose first name comes from a David Dortort script proposal), Rancho Navarro, the entire Vargas and Santos clans, Valencio Ruiz, Teresa Lauder, and Delgado, whose appearance, we trust, may remind our readers of an older Henry Darrow.