30. How to Tell a Mulateño

The Kodiak met light traffic in Ojinaga. Ervey had been there before, so he knew well the most direct route to his destination. He kept straight on the highway and passed a landmark hotel that used to be owned by a famous trio of narcos that were captured in Australia after they brazenly showed their faces on television during the 2004 Olympics. He drove passed Trasviña y Retes Boulevard, the busiest intersection in town, and continued until the highway ended at a traffic light within sight of the international bridge to the US. On the other side, as the locals on either side of the Rio Grande River say, stood Presidio, Texas, the only part of La Junta that kept the name of the old Presidio del Norte after Benito Juarez changed it to Manuel Ojinaga in 1865. At the traffic light, Ervey turned north on Internacional Boulevard and headed uphill toward the center of town where the hardware store was located. 

“So you come back here often?” asked Ervey.

“No. Just for weddings, funerals,and things like that, ” said Lilo.

“Everybody must know each other here, no?” said Ervey.

“Sí. If not the individual, then his father, his family,” said Lilo.

“In Aquiles, we did too” said Ervey, “but it’s smaller than this.”

“Well, here it’s really because there are so many different colonies, and people have kept loyal to them,” said Lilo.

“So you can tell somebody from El Mulato versus any other neighborhood in Ojinaga?” said Ervey. 

“Some places I can tell just by people’s walk,” said Lilo.

Ervey chuckled.

“Then tell me how to identify somebody from El Mulato,” he said.

“They’re reserved yet get quite excited at the sight of violence,” said Lilo, “they say in El Mulato that certain passions only violence can calm them.”

Ervey shook his head.

They were awaited at the store. The door to the yard behind the store was held open by an employee who had been posted to look out for them. Inside there was a crew ready to unload. As they drove in, Ervey made eye contact and waved to the owner, Don Carlos, who looked out the glass storefront from behind the store counter inside. 

As they were being unloaded, Don Carlos came out and met Ervey.

“We’ve been waiting a long time,” he said, “what took you so long to get here from Aldama?

“There was roadblock at the bottom of the sierra,” said Ervey.

“Sí?” asked Don Carlos, clearly astonished, “did they inspect all of the bundles and the safe?”

“No, they just looked into the back and let us go,” said Ervey.

“That’s good,” Don Carlos said quickly and went back into the store. His men kept unloading. 

Ervey gave Lilo a blank stare. Lilo stared back briefly.