29. It's Not New

“Just help me clearly understand what we went through,” said Ervey agitatedly.

“What do you want me to tell you?” asked Lilo.

“Were they police or narcos?” asked Ervey.

“It could be one or the other, or both, or a combination, or maybe just in coordination with each other,” said Lilo, “makes no difference and you shouldn’t care.”

“Shouldn’t care! How am I not going to care about something like this?” said Ervey.

“Nothing happened. That’s all that matters,” said Lilo.

“You’re right that there’s nothing I can do about it, but damn, all of a sudden you see it everywhere,” said Ervey, “it’s getting so commonplace. It’s just a matter of time before my little boy´s going to grow up without a father.”

“One thing it’s not is new,” said Lilo,“you’re mistaken if you think that until now all of the roadblocks you’ve ever run across have been legitimate or even put up by proper security forces.” 

Ervey didn’t respond, but Lilo did not let it drop.

“Look muchacho, if it’s your time to march on, it’ll happen because some idiot southern wet-nosed captain’s homesick for his hometown, Shitknowswhat, and takes it out on the next person he sees. And if it’s not your time, then even the most blood-thirsty narco won’t be able to harm you.”

“Sí, and what do I tell my son? Sorry kids, I got unlucky?” said Ervey, now restrained, resigned.

“I would tell him what I have always told my children: nothing’s for sure, take care of your mother and honor your relatives because if I’m not here when you need me, they’ll be all you can count on.”

Ervey turned to him but said nothing. 

The first signs of the old settlement now known as Ojinaga came into view. First the outer reaches of the old colony of Santa Teresa, where in the 1870‘s the Governor of Chihuahua granted refuge to a group of Apaches who did not want to go to the reservation where the US government wanted to settle them in southern New Mexico. Immediately after that came the hundred year-old settlements of Valverde and El Ancon, relatively new in the timeline of the small  metropolis. After that, they passed El Tecolote, where in 1724 the spanish conquistador, Juan Antonio de Trasviña y Retes, encountered a mud church erected by the locals to convince the spanish to establish a greater military presence and thus serve as a bulwark against the Apaches. Next came El Divisadero, a community formed around a small butte that served as a lookout for forays by the the Apaches. Just before they entered Ojinaga proper, they passed Cañada Ancha, a community set in a wide gulch that was the site of many bloody battles in Ojinaga´s history, more recently an invasion by Pancho Villa in 1913 and a day-long three-way battle between the Mexican army and two rival narco gangs in 1978. 

“So I’m going to the Ramirez hardware and furniture store. Keep straight, sí?” said Ervey.

“Sí,” said Lilo. 

“And there won’t be any more roadblocks?” said Ervey, facetiously.

“ No, so we can now talk only about happy things,” said Lilo.