SUBTERFUGE

PART III

The military was gaining on them. The poor villagers, with their rifles, carrying banners of La Virge de Guadalupe cried out:

¨Viva Cristo Rey!¨

The men of the military grumbled deep and low in a guttural whisper.

“God is Dead!” They said.

Shots rang out. A woman screamed. A body collapsed in the gutter near Gustavo as he made his way through the conflict. His pointy dress shoes dipped in the dark rusty blood of his fellow patriot and he shuddered.

¨I must get to Efraim,¨he thought to himself.

He covered his ears and held his breath.

The gunshots continued. There were children running barefoot. Men nursing their wounds. There was a mother sobbing and crying out as she held a young man who looked no older than thirteen. There were sounds of sirens in the village and the grunts of armed men marching down the cobblestone streets. Nearby, a young man stuffed a red handkerchief into a glass bottle, lit it, and then tossed it into the broken window of a nearby building. The building was soon engulfed in flames.

But the Gitano was clever and nimble, and although he was tall and lanky, he could disappear in a crowd fleeing the violence if need be. It was a practice his people were good at, being there, but also, not quite there. He hid behind the shadows in the corner, and behind lampposts, and he even hid amid the crowd, and could only be spotted at times when his top hat bounced to and fro across the surface of the crowd.

At last, Gustavo found a small alleyway and abandoned the cobblestone street that was now doused with rusty blood and dead bodies. He made his way down a dark crevice, to the other side, as if he was Dante escaping the inferno. On the other side, Gustavo could only hear the gunshots as faint echoes and the screams and cries as whispers and murmurs.

Gustavo was now walking near the prison. A somber darkness hung over the building as The Gitano made his way to the front door. As he made his way, Gustavo pulled out a wad of cash he was carrying in his back pocket and began counting each bill. He almost got to the main door before he got stopped by a soldier.

“What is your business here, gitano?’ The soldier asked.

Gustavo looked up from his bills and smiled, one of his golden teeth shining in the sunlight.

“I came to a see a friend, señor.¨

“There are no friends to the Mexican people in this jail.”

“A personal friend, señor, I have no part in this war. You know that. I am neither a fan of Christ nor of the president, para que te mentiro? You ask me if there is a god, and I say, I don’t know. You ask me if there is no god, and I say, I do not know. I don’t know. Any other answers to those questions to me is pure arrogance. People not comfortable with the mystery. I, I live for the mystery. The unknown. My heart is dipped in a deep lake of pure question marks, one top to bottom, the other bottom to top, you should join me there some time.¨

Gustavo winked at the soldier and tipped his hat.

¨I am neither here nor there, definitely not where anyone tells me to go,¨he continued. ¨I am always wandering, as my ancestors did, all the way from northern India through the Middle East and then Europe,for a time, until they reached the Americas, and thought Mexico City would be a nice place to fart and have little gypsy babies.¨

The soldier laughed.

“You’re funny, he said.

“It is my profession.”

“A payaso, eh?”

Gustavo nodded.

¨You like fart jokes, I have about twenty.¨

The solider laughed again.

“I came here to bail out an old friend, hermano. I have saved up for an entire month for this.¨

The soldier raised his eyebrows.

¨This man, my friend… I owe him… for a life he saved once.”

“Yours?¨

“No. Alguien who was precious to me… now, can I…?¨

Gustavo stepped forward, but the soldier pushed him back.

“Eh, eh eh, no, no, no. You must say the magic words.”

“Por favor.¨

The Gitano grinned, his gold tooth shining.

“No. The other magic words.”

The gitano, dismayed, looked up at a nearby cross that had been painted over with a black mark ¨X”.

Gustavo painfully looked away.

“God is dead.” He uttered hollowly.

“Good. You may pass.¨

As Gustavo passed the guard, a man wearing an oversized shirt and overalls ran into him on his way out.

“Gustavo! It’s me!” The man shouted.

“Con permiso who are—-“

Gustavo noted that the man was thin, had a pale complexion and had sunken eyes.

“Efraim! Hermano! Father Gregorio, I mean. What are you doing—“

¨The bishop bailed me out!¨

¨That’s wonderful! I was about to…¨

¨It’s illegal to wear my robes out in the open.” Father Gregorio pointed to a bag he was carrying. “I have it with me so that when I re-enter the church, I can feel like myself again. They are saying it is in the name of separation of church and state, but you and I know the real reason.”

“Hermano but the churches are all closed now. What are you and your brothers going to do?¨

“The church isn’t pulling any stops, Gustavo. It is not backing down and we won’t either. I will simply return to my post at the church and await orders from the bishop. All the clergy is united in this one cause. Christ will reign supreme again in Guanajuato.¨

¨I am just relieved you don’t have to spend another night in that filthy prison.¨

Efraim looked from side to side and leaned in closely to Gustavo.

¨But I have a personal favor to ask of you, hermano. Meet me over here.¨

Efraim gestured to Gustavo. The priest and the gitano walked several yards away from the prison near a food cart where a man was selling mangos doused with chile. Once they were out of earshot from the solider, Efraim continued.

“I must call in in that favor you owe me,¨he said.

“I was about to do that already, before….” Gustavo gestured to the money in his hands but Efraim pushed the cash away.

“No, no, something more dangerous than that, I am afraid. Very risky.”

Gustavos face lit up. He leaned in closer to Efraim. The mango seller appeared to grumble.

¨No, no. Not that,¨Efraim said. ¨But perhaps another time, somewhere more private.¨

Gustavo swung his pelvis forward.

¨Stop it, Gustavo. Don’t be cochino. I am talking about something else.¨

Gustavo sighed and stepped away.

¨What, then?”

Efraim gestured for Gustavo to come closer.

“I have a godson who needs to receive the Holy Sacrament of matrimony from me,¨the priest whispered. ¨He and his wife are expecting and if they are not married soon there will be a big scandal in the pueblo where she lives. The fiancé is good catholic girl and her parents are very proud of her. It would be a great shame to see her thrown to the streets.¨

“Ah, I see, and what does that have to do with me, padre? Seems like it has more to do with what your Church thinks of women who have carnal desires, than anything having to do with me.¨

The priest rolled his eyes and then got serious.

“As you know, all the churches in Guanajuato were forced to closed a month ago and are not allowed to hold any services until the church meets the unreasonable demands of President Calles. The church has refused to budge to any demand for it will not comply with the presidents new laws restricting church activities and, well, in the meantime we cannot stop being priests, Gustavo. We must do what God calls us to do.”

“I understand your predicament, hermano, but again, what do I have to do with any of it?¨

“It needs to be a secret wedding, Gustavo. Clandestine. You understand. No one can know it is happening, or we will all be arrested and thrown in jail together. And this time who knows for how long.¨

“Yes, I understood all that, Efraim, but I am sorry, you’ll have to be more clear. Maybe try my other ear, I’m slightly deaf in this one.¨

The Gitano turned his head around and the priest begrudgingly spoke into his other ear.

“The soldiers are monitoring every Catholic Church in Guanajuato…”

“Si, si, I already know that.”

¨So we will need a place that is not a church to hold the wedding ceremony.¨

¨Si, si. That makes sense.¨

¨So I was thinking that maybe a circus tent might be a good option.¨

Gustavo nearly fell off his feet.

¨Oh no, no, no priest, you can’t be serious!¨

“Gustavo but you must!!!!”

“You have got to be kidding me? You want me to hold a catholic wedding mass on my Circus stage??? Do you know what kinds of debauchery happens in that tent after hours? That floor is filthy with all kinds of unsavory juices.¨

“There is no other place,¨the father pleaded, ¨I believe that anywhere a priest is located is holy. So when I am there, performing the sacrament, it will be holy ground.”

¨Then do it in someone’s house! The girls house! How about there? Or do it in someone’s backyard garden, for god sakes. Not in my tent!¨

¨It has to be somewhere the soldiers would least expect, Gustavo,¨the priest said. ¨If we do it in someone’s house the chisme will be all over the place and we’d be found out in no time. Gustavo, you know that. You know how Mexicans are.¨

¨That is very true,¨Gustavo nodded. ¨Mexicans love good chisme. But who knows, maybe they´ll keep the plans of the wedding one of those open secrets. You know what I mean? Yes, claro, Mexicans love dirty secrets but we also hate facing the truth. Don’t you notice how we all walk around pretending we don’t know everyone’s chisme, because god forbid we deal with reality and actually try to move forward through all the pain and grief? Mexicans love chisme but they also hate the truth at the same time, its a delightful paradox that I think can help you in this very moment, Efraim, because maybe if you have the wedding in someone’s house, they will just keep lying and pretending because of the fear that revealing that truth might reveal more truths and that might pull a crucial thread that unravels everything. People will find out that Fulanos dad is not really his dad, or that the mother is having an affair with the butler, or that the neighbors are bankrupt. I mean isn’t that why we love chisme but hate the truth? Because deep down we’re all just lying to each other about everything to impress one another and run away from the horror that is total humiliation?

Gustavo blinked emphatically.

¨The truth and the lie are one part of the same peso,¨he continued. ¨With Mexicans you can’t have a truth without a lie that covers it up, nice and cozy, so that it can be swallowed like a warm pan dulce. And every single lie has to have a coating of truth at the very center, like a spicy dash of chile, so the pain is felt from the mouth to the tummy to the culo. The truth at the middle of the lie has to be nice and strong. Muy brava. This is how Mexicans love their truth and lies, all wrapped inside and out with each other so you don’t know the line between reality and fantasy, between history and mythology, between good and evil, right and wrong. Who we are on the street, and who we are when we hide behind mirrors.¨

The priest looked nervously around. The mango seller shook his head and grunted.

¨Isn’t that right Father Gregorio?¨

¨I don’t want to talk about that, Gustavo. I am a holy man. We don’t talk about such things.¨

The holy man wiped his overalls as he spoke.

“I don’t know if I would call you holy, Father,¨Gustavo said. ¨Holy with a hot dash of a sinner, maybe. Now that is something I would agree that you are.¨

Efraim placed his finger on Gustavos lips.

“Cállate, Gustavo. Don’t anger me.”

“Why not? You’re cute when you get angry.”

¨Gustavo!”

Efraim pulled Gustavo closer to the nearby alleyway, which was several feet away from the fruit saleman who appeared to be glaring at the both of them angrily.

“One wedding, Gustavo,¨ the priest whispered. ¨That is all I ask of you. It will take an hour at most.¨

“An hour! Priest, you ask too much of me!¨

“Yes and no. I do not think it is too much to ask for what I have done for you and your family.”

The Gitano took a step back. He took a deep breath and adjusted his top hat.

“Fine. Deal.¨ he said. ¨But it can’t be during my show hours, father, I need the money.”

Gustavo shook the priests hand and then poked him in the chest.

“Of course not, Gustavo, ¨said the priest. ¨I would never ask that of you. But we do need to make sure it happens in the middle of the night… so we can escape detection from the military.”

The priest eyed the soldier who was still standing next to the prison entrance several yards away.

“All right, done hermano,¨Gustavo said. I guess I will have to ask Mariela to make me some of her famous cafecito de oja so I can stay up all night.¨

Efraim smiled.

“So are you really sure, is that a yes?”

“Efraim, of course it is a yes,¨the Gitano shook his head and rested his hand gently on the priests shoulder. He looked at Efraim with adoring eyes. ¨You have never understood have you?”

“What?”

“When a man is handsome, I do whatever he wants. I would give him my whole heart if he asked me. It is my greatest weakness.”

Efraim blushed.

“I could…”

He shook his head.

“But you will not.”

The priest leaned into Gustavo.

“I will save it for the after party,¨ he whispered.

The gitanos body became animated as if he had been struck by a thunderbolt.¨

“Well what are we waiting for then!¨Gustavo said clapping his hands in one big swooping motion. ¨When should we prepare for the subterfuge?”

“Tonight.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh it has to be tonight, Gustavo, you do not understand. The woman will be showing her belly soon and we must save her pride and dignity. I have met her, she is a good woman. It is not her fault her husband was impatient.¨

“Dear god. What it must be to lust for women and fear that any small moment of fun can result in a fully formed human being coming out of her… How horrifying. I mean its a nightmare, isn’t it?”

“Oh yes it is. I can’t imagine,¨the priest pulled out a piece of paper from his overall pocket. ¨Now I have to go prepare for the wedding. But please tell your crew that they must keep everything in strict confidence. If anyone is to find out we will all be at risk of incarceration and not only will I incur the wrath of the President of Mexico but the rest of you will, too. I would hate to see that.¨

“Efraim, I just walked through a street filled with dead bodies on my way over here. I have tried to be neutral but I have had it up to here with this President. I am eager to engage in an act of defiance of the highest order to royally piss off this hijo de la chingada.¨

“My brothers and sisters appreciate that, Gustavo,¨said the holy man. ¨I know you do not like to pick sides in matters of faith, but for us who worship Christ, The Holy Spirit is our very life. To attack god is to risk our very survival, and we are simply not willing to give up our life so easily.”

“Just take care of yourself Efraim,¨Gustavo said, hugging the priest. ¨Yours is one body I do not want to see thrown in the gutter.”

“I promise I will be careful.”

The priest did the sign of the cross and then mimed showering Gustavo with holy water. Gustavo feigned being burned by the holy water and the priest chuckled.

The Gitano watched as the priest waved goodbye and then disappeared down the dark alleyway. After the priest left, Gustavo turned around and made his way back to the fruit salesman. He tossed the man a peso.

“Un mango, por favor.’

The fruit salesman ignored him.

“Un mango, señor.”

The fruit salesman stared at Gustavo. In the mans eyes there was a look of deep hatred and anger.

The man threw the peso back at Gustavo and spit on him.

“Es porque soy Gitano, o maricon?”

Gustavo winked. He turned on his heals and walked gingerly away.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Guanajuato, in a shabby hotel that was largely vacant except for one shoddy room, the soldier Alejandro was lying down, naked, underneath the bedsheets.

He was toying with his revolver, slowly inserting a bullet, one by one, into the empty barrel.

¨This revolver was my fathers, and it belonged to my abuelo, too,” he said. “It’s been passed down the family line to every single man in my lineage. Ever since the day of our Independence from Spain. The Castellanos were there right next to Hidalgo that day, carrying the gun that would help the priest win freedom from The King of Spain. There is always a gun in every movement. Always a gun.¨

Alejandro snapped closed the barrel of the gun and pointed it at the bathroom door.

¨The gun always chooses the right side. The Castellanos were Catholic on that day, now we are proudly men and women of Science. That is the wave of the future, mi amor.¨

¨Is that so, guapo?”

A man in a blond wig wearing a mango colored dress walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom where Alejandro was lying. He adjusted his dress and combed back his beautiful blond hair with his fingers.

“Yes, Benny. It is Darwin, not Moses, that will determine the laws of the land from now on. We’ve finally arrived at our destiny as a people.”

¨I thought atheists don’t believe in el destino, mi amor.¨

Benjamin laid down on the bed next to Alejandro and stared lustfully into the soldier’s eyes.

“Si, amor, we believe in destiny,¨Aljeandro said. ¨We believe in the destiny we make for ourselves. No bearded man in the sky can tell us what we can do. We are our own men.¨

Alejandro began caressing Benjamins body with his revolver.

¨This gun was an ally to my ancestors when they were Catholic, now it is an ally now that we are atheist. Nothing but our will changes. The rest stays the same. No imagined god can take that from us amor.¨

He pointed the gun at the mirror that was installed right above the bed, the mirror that exposed their forbidden love, the secrets they kept from the world.

¨When the objective is complete, no Catholic will stand in our way.¨

Benjamin shuddered.

¨What… what do you mean, mi amor. Aren’t, isnt the objective already complete? The president has arrested the priests, he shut down the churches—isnt that what he wanted all along?”

Alejandro laughed. But it was a dark laugh, a laugh that carried an air of foreboding that made Benjamin’s heart tighten with unease.

”But it is all over,” Benny said. ¨Hasn’t President Calles won the war over the Cristeros?¨

¨No, mi amor, ¨the soldier said. “Of course it isn’t over. Let me explain it to you.”

Alejandro placed the revolver into the holster by his bedside. He began kissing Benjamin on his neck and then on his collarbone.

¨The President is just getting started,¨the soldier said. ¨There are more plans to come. And in the end, in order to attain our goals, sacrifices will have to be made.¨

¨What sacrifices?¨

“Mi amor,” Alejandro said with a sigh. ¨Don’t ruin the mood with your stupid questions. Besides it’s all top secret. I’m not supposed to tell you.¨

Benjamin sat straight up.

¨Tell me, mi amor. What is the President going to do next?¨

Alejandro tossed his head back.

”I can’t tell you,” he said. “You know that.”

Benjamin crossed his arms and stared up at the mirror above them. He locked eyes with his own reflection.

”I used to believe in President Calles when he began speaking out against the church,” he said. “I kept silent, because I didn’t want anyone to know where I stood. I was afraid. You see, Alejandro, as a child I was an oprphan. The Catholic Church saved me. If it wasn’t for the nuns that took me in when I was begging for food in Guadalajara, I would have died. That is for sure. The nuns gave me food and water. They gave me a warm bed to sleep in. Those nuns taught me what was right and what was wrong. They told me to love people, as Jesus loved. They told me not to judge people, just as Jesus had not judged the prostitutes and the lepers. They taught me to love everyone, even my enemies, to love the sick, the poor the downtrodden. To welcome them into my home, with love. They taught me all of this, and yet, when they found me at fifteen in the boys restroom with another boy my age, and they saw what we were doing… all semblance of love and mercy banished from their hearts. I never saw two women so angry, so full of hate than those nuns had when they found me and Ernesto.

”I was thrown to the streets once again, but this time by the very same people who had saved me. I was condemned to hell by the nuns. I was told I was the devil. I was told I was in league with satanas and that one day I would go to sleep and wake up and I would be in hell with my fellow little devils, the murderers and the rapists and all the other horrible people.”

Benjamin began to cry and Alejandro moved to console him but Bejamin refused the offer.

¨Because I loved someone. Because I desired someone. Because of that, I was the same as a murderer. As a rapist. It did not make any sense to me. So, that’s why I realized that if god would condemn me for my love for other men then he was not real. He was a fake. He was made up. That teaching to me stunk of men who were afraid of what they did not understand.¨

Benjamin stood up and walked over to the window. Outside, on the cobblestone streets, there were men fighting. One group carried the image of the Virgin Mary, the other group, the military, waved the Mexican flag. Shots rang out. There were screams. When Benjamin caught the sight of blood he covered his eyes.

¨When I heard President Calles speak of the danger of religion and the need to separate the church and the state, I had this glimmer of hope. This opening in my heart. Maybe Mexico would become not just the country of my birth, but maybe it would finally be a home, a home where I could be myself. It would be home finally because all the backwards people would be made quiet and I could live the life… I could live my life.¨

Alejandro stood up and held Benjamin.

¨But now that the President is in power, the priests are shackled, and the churches are all shut down, I’m still in hiding. I’m still shamed. I am still rejected. I thought the Presidents new regime would accept me with open arms the way the nuns didn’t, but it hasn’t.¨

¨Mi amor, you must still have hope…¨

Benjamin pushed Alejandro away.

¨Religion gave me comfort without reality, and atheists, you all gave me reality without comfort. Both left me cold and alone. Still hungry for love and a home. Now I’m willing to live outside of reality and comfort in order to let my spirit breathe free. I don’t believe in the President anymore, Alejandro. I see what he is doing and I am terrified. ¨

¨What are you saying, mi amor?”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

¨So what, you’re going back to the nuns? The ones who tossed you aside, who made you homeless? Those hypocrites?”

”I don’t know where I belong now. I don’t know where my allegiance lies anymore, besides with myself.”

Benjamin unraveled the brown tie that was tied around his waist and threw it at Alejandro.

”I don’t want to know what President Calles has in store for his own people. I don’t want to know.”

Benjamin began walking towards the exit when he suddenly felt a cold piece of metal at his backside.

”Did you forget what I told you about the gun?” Alejando said coldly.

”Alejandro please—don’t!” Benjamin cried. “Leave me alone!”

¨The gun always chooses the winning side.” The soldier said. “And if I am the one holding the gun, then that means we will win. I don’t want to see you lose, Benny, mi amor. I don’t want to see you getting hurt.”

¨Stop it, Alejandro!” Benny shouted. ¨You’re scaring me!”

¨No, I am making you respect me.¨

Alejandro turned Benjamin around so that they were now face-to-face.

¨It doesn’t matter what’s in here,”Alejandro said, pointing to his forehead. ¨What matters is that I’m holding this.¨

He gestured to his revolver.

”All I care about is winning, mi amor.¨

Alejandro pulled out a cigar and lit it.

“The Castellanos don’t care about what philosophy or theory we’re backing, The Castellanos care about one thing and one thing only. Whose the chingon?”

Alejandro took a puff of his cigar and pointed the gun at Benjamin’s head.

¨Now, tell me, Benny. Whose the chingon, putä?”

¨Don’t—-stop. I won’t…¨

“Say it: who’s the chingon?”

“You are,” said Benny, his lips trembling.

”That’s nice.”

”Now tell me who’s going to report every move that Gustavo makes from now on to me?”

”I am.” Bennys voice was now hollow.

¨Good. You see, mi amor? All you need is one of these, and the world is yours.¨

El soldado pointed his gun at the mirror that hung over the bed and shot at it two times. The mirror shattered and scattered all over the bed sheets.

“Doesn’t matter who pulls the trigger—-God or Darwin—-because no matter what, the gun always wins.¨

END OF PART III

[PART IV Coming soon…]