Victor clenched his teeth, as the cloth muffled a groan coming from deep within him. His eyes rolled back, and he fell into the waiting arms of Miguel. Teresa was concentrating on what she was doing; holding the poker and counting to ten. The sound and smell got to her and she quickly tossed the poker back into the fire when done. She ladled cold water over the now cauterized wound and wrapped it in fresh clean cloths. Miguel was supporting Victor, but didn't have to work hard as the table and chairs held most of his weight. Teresa then dipped another cloth into the cold water, wrung it out and blotted Victor's forehead.
"Should we try to get him to the bed?" Miguel asked.
"No, let him slump forward onto the table to rest." Teresa answered.
Victor woke several hours later on his bed. Since he was sleeping for longer than expected, Teresa and Miguel ended up moving him back onto his bed by the fireplace. His arm throbbed something fierce. Teresa had placed it in a sling for him. He looked around for either Miguel or Teresa but no one was inside. So he got up, grabbed the hoe handle with his good arm and hobbled outside. He thought to himself, 'Good thing my bad arm isn't on the same side as my bad knee.' He wondered what the heck he had been doing several days ago to get into such bad shape. Having no memory of the past is horrible. It is such an empty feeling. He doesn't know if he himself was a murdering thief like Jorge or a rebel, or what. He is sure he is American, but what was he doing down here in Cumaguay? Is he running from the law in the U.S.? Is he a mercenary? And what of that strange blue uniform. What self-respecting soldier wears a bright blue uniform?! Who the hell was he?
After he helped lay Victor back down on the floor, Miguel took his mother outside and breached the topic of keeping him here. Even though they had both been thinking of it, neither had spoken to the other about it. So he was surprised when she agreed with him. Her biggest fear at the moment, more than Jorge returning, was that the men in blue would come looking for him. From what he told her, she had no doubt that the men in blue, if they were to start searching for their missing comrade, would find him quickly. Miguel said, "I will ride to the village and see if anyone is left there at all. If so, I can ask about those men in blue. Try to find out who they are."
Teresa said, "That is a good idea. I will take care of Victor if he asks where you are."
Miguel got on the burro and left. His pace today was much faster than a few days earlier when he was enjoying the cool of the forest early in the morning. He was on an important mission today. He reached the village in less than 2 hrs. He tied the burro up and started walking around the deserted town. He was interested in finding anyone at all. The emptiness of the place gave him the creeps. He went over to the church and looked around for anything that might tell him something. He went around to the side of the church to where the big machine holding up the church wall had been situated. He thinks Victor was here. He went past that towards the ravine and looked down. Other than it looked like some people had gone down there recently, there was nothing there to tell him anything. He walked back around to the front of the church and there was a very elderly lady approaching the church. "Buenos dias, Senora." He called. She looked at him and smiled, "Buenos dias, muchacho. What brings you here?" she asked in Spanish. He answered, "I was up on the hill over there a few days ago and watched the rescue of the children from this church. But that was all I could see. I was curious to who the blue soldiers were and what happened after the attack. I ran when the mortars started."
She obvious missed company for she asked Miguel to sit down on the church steps with her. "Come young man, sit with me. I was going to talk to God, but it will be nice to have a person to talk to too. What is your name?" He sat down on the step with her and answered her. "Miguel."
"I don't know much, but I know they are an American rescue organization. They were able to save all those children. They even transported them all to Esperanza Nueva. It is so sad that one of them died. I saw their faces when El Capitan told them the news. I thought they were going to break down right there. So sad. They come all this way to save our children only to lose one of their own."
Miguel intrigued asked, "How did he die?"
"The rebels got him. Our soldiers captured one of them and he had the American's gun with him. He told them they had killed him. Of course the rebel died before he would tell them where the body was. So the Americans cannot bring him back home to bury his body. So sad." She said shaking her head.
'Could his luck be so good? The Americans think their compadre is dead? That means that no one will come looking for him. And if he doesn't remember anything, maybe he will stay with him and his mother permanently!' Miguel thought excitedly. "Do you know anything about that American rescue group? he asked.
She shook her head no. Then her face lit up "Oh there is one more thing. The big green craft that landed here the other day had the word THUNDERBIRD 2 on the side."
Miguel thought to himself, he heard that word or name before, but couldn't place it. It doesn't matter, no one was looking for Victor and that is what was important. He bid farewell to the elderly lady and headed home.
When Victor got outside, the sun told him it was early afternoon. He found Teresa milking the goat. Miguel was no where to be found. "Hi" he said. Teresa looked around, "Oh and hello to you, how are you feeling?"
"My arm aches like the dickens, but I am not feverish. I think it worked." Then holding up his slinged arm, "Thanks for this. By the way, where is Miguel?"
"He went off to the village to see if there are any more soldiers in blue uniforms there. Maybe we can find where you belong." She lied. She and Miguel had discussed the possibility of Victor getting rid of Jorge for good, while he was unconscious. They both knew it was trickery, but they were desperate. They will both end up dying at the hands of Jorge Sanches if they don't get his help.
"So when is this Jorge fella coming back?" Victor asked bluntly. Teresa who had turned backed to finish her milking chore just froze. She didn't know what to say. She waited a moment longer to compose herself and she turned and faced Victor. Although she didn't think it showed, he saw her eyes glistening with moisture. "He's that bad, huh?" She just nodded yes. 'Dios, he was astute' she thought.
"Do you want me to get rid of him for you?" he asked. Her mouth just dropped open. Here, she had been planning on deceiving him in order to get him to stay and he is offering to get rid of him. "Uh, uh, I cannot ask you to do that, Senor. It is not your problem." She couldn't believe she just said that. After all that she and Miguel were trying to do to get him to stay and she just blurts out that!
Victor said, "If it weren't for you and Miguel, I won't be here to make the offer. It is the least I can do to repay you for my life."
"You would kill Jorge?" she asked unbelievably.
"KILL?!" Victor said. "Oh no, not kill. I don't think I can do that. But I could probably put enough fear in him to scare him away for good."
She looked down and thought ' I don't think you could scare this man. He is a monster.' Her heart sinking at the prospect that he only meant to scare Jorge away. First he doesn't scare easily, second even if he did, how long would he stay away? Victor isn't going to stay forever, he will eventually want to go and find his real life. Once Jorge finds out that the stranger that chased him away is gone, he would return. And it will not be a pleasant reunion.
Miguel reached home and saw Victor speaking with his mother over by the barn. He tried not to be smiling from ear to ear because he was supposed to be returning with bad news for Victor, not good news for his mother. He couldn't tell him the truth because he will try to go looking for the men in blue. He will simply say that he could find no information on them. He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, thought of something sad, then proceeded into the clearing heading towards Victor and his mother. As he approached, he saw his mother's jaw drop and a look of shock on her face. He hurried forward not knowing what Victor just said to her. He prayed that he didn't say he was leaving. He got close enough to hear Victor say, "Kill? Oh no not kill. I don't think…………"
Miguel asked, "What's going on?"
Teresa blurted out, "Victor has offered to stay and help chase Jorge away." Miguel didn't know whether to be happy or what. To have him stay was fantastic, but he heard 'not kill' and 'chase him away'. He knew that Jorge would never leave for good. He needed to die. Before Miguel could voice anything, objection or jubilation, Teresa asked, "What did you find out in the village?"
Miguel did give the canned answer that he had been practicing. "The village is almost completely deserted. The few people I did see, knew nothing of the men in blue. They also said that the soldiers were most probably not returning either. I'm sorry Senor Victor."
When Teresa had finished milking, Victor asked, "Is there anything I can do around here to help?"
"What you can do is sit down and rest" demanded Teresa. If you are going to help with Jorge, then you must get your strength back. You cannot fight a man with one good leg and one good arm. So, SIT!"
Victor did as he was told and sat in a old tree-branch chair next to the side of the house in the sun. He watched as mother and son went about their daily chores around their small house. They are pretty much self contained. They don't have electricity or anything of the appliances that go with it. They don't have hot water unless they heat it over the fire. But they seem very content in their life, other than Jorge that is. Victor started to think about this dangerous man and what he should do. The first thought that entered his mind was, 'will there be anyone else'. He called over to Teresa and asked.
"Yes, there could be. The most he has ever had with him was four other men. He knows our small house cannot fit any more than that."
Victor went into deep thought. He should plan something to handle at least four men. If only one shows, fine, but if he planned for only one and five show, then that would be a problem. He sat there for a while, a deep crease formed in his brow. Teresa was watching him from the corner of her eye, wondering what he was up to. He suddenly got up and hobbled into the house. He spent a few minutes in there and came back out and sat down once again going into deep thought. After a few more minutes, he went to the pole barn and looked at the poles that supported the roof. Leaning heavily on the makeshift staff/crutch, he kicked at the base of the pole to see if it was embedded in the ground. It moved 1/2 inch easily. That was exactly what he wanted to see. He went to the back wall of the barn near the hay-racks and studied where the wall met the dirt floor. He then hobbled around back behind the barn. After spending a few minutes there, he hobbled back to the chair. Once again he sat down and went into deep thought. After a few more minutes he got up and went into the house, spent a few minutes in there then came back out again. He sat down, put his head back against the house and took in the warmth of the sun. This time, no deep furrows lined his face.
Teresa and Miguel have been watching this man with interest as he would get up, roam around, sit back down, only to do it over again. They couldn't help but wonder what he was up to. They could only pray that it was enough.
For the evening meal, again they ate inside to make it easier on Victor. Getting up and sitting down on the ground was difficult with a bad knee and arm. After the meal, when Teresa asked Miguel to start the fire inside the house, Victor asked Miguel to shovel out the fireplace ash first and set it aside. He will need it later. After Miguel finished gathering the ash then starting the fire, he sat back down at the table to discuss what Victor had in mind. He asked Teresa, "Would you mind if a make a small hole in the back of the barn?" Puzzled, she said "no". He continued, "Ok, first thing tomorrow Miguel, with your help, I would like to chop a hole in the barn. Also, I will need a lot of rocks, do you have more than one bucket?"
Teresa said, "Yes, a few but they cannot hold water anymore, they have holes in them."
Victor said, "That's fine, it won't hold water. Bottles like that…" he nodded towards an old glass wine bottle, "how many of those do you have?"
"I don't know, but a few" she answered.
"Does the bellows work? Any holes or cracks in it?"
"No, it is fine" she answered. She and Miguel looked at each other. The more questions Victor asked, the more intrigued they became. Then he said, "Ok, here is my plan…"