The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 104actually had several – were in fact just as much in training as the recruits that now stood before Jose tolearn how to shoot. They considered themselves a different breed from the regular infantryman,however, and when he stopped to think about these motorcycle trainees Jose saw much in them thatreminded him of his days in the cavalry. He also saw much that amazed him in how rapidly the Armyhad taken to all of the varying mobile machines, given that it had only been two years since he wasbouncing along through the desert on machines that the army then considered entirely experimental. Healso was never able, although he tried several times, to explain to Juan Paolo the irony that he felt whenhe realized that the motorcycles were largely made by a company called Indian Motorcycle.None of that crossed Jose’s mind, however, as the rider rounded the formation of trainees andcame to a stop in front of Jose with only minimal sliding. He had orders from Jose’s captain to fetchJose, leaving the recruits to wait until a replacement could be sent out to operate the range for them.Jose was reluctant to leave his post at the range when there were men to be trained, but as soon as themessenger made him aware of why the captain had sent a rider instead of simply telephoning Josejumped from the porch into the motorcycle’s sidecar in one gracefully acrobatic moment: Eudora wasin labor.The air in his face was stingingly cold, but as they bounced down the dirt roads of the camp tothe main gate and Chillicothe Jose still wished that the driver of the motorcycle would take him fasterthan the prescribed twenty-five-miles-an-hour maximum speed. Nonetheless, as long as the trip seemedit was hardly ten minutes before the motorcycle was pulling up in front of his little house, and onceagain Jose performed feats of acrobatic by this time vaulting out of the sidecar before the messengerhad had his chance to bring the machine to a slow and elegant stop. Juan Paolo, who had also riddenalong on the motorcycle studying its operation like he studied the operation of the steamrollers,approved of Jose’s athleticism and decided to do his own vaulting dismount, adding a floating midairsomersault for effect. Jose, however, was already up the four porch steps and to the front door before
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 105Juan Paolo accomplished his aerial maneuver, leaving it as just another of the unseen feats of the deadwhich litter the world of the living.Jose paused at the top of the steps, suddenly gripped by a strange sense of decorum. He turnedthe doorknob of the front door, swung it slowly open, and stuck his head inside to make sure he couldsafely enter the front room. No one was there to greet him, but from the bedroom that opened off of thisroom he heard low voices of encouragement that were suddenly punctuated by a grunting cry that couldonly be coming from Eudora. Still trying to maintain decorum, Jose crossed the room in three long,bounding strides that were as close as he could come to running without actually doing so.He slid to an awkward stop at the bedroom door, suddenly unsure whether he should crash infor dramatic effect or try to sneak in so as not to be a disturbance to the proceedings. With his mindembroiled in this ridiculous debate his body decided to take matters into its own hands, and he turnedthe knob and nudged the door enough so as to allow first his hair and then the rest of his head entry intothe room.Eudora was flat out on the bed except for her drawn up legs, forehead beaded in sweat and herhair damp even though the house had decided to participate in the November chill. Caroline themidwife and her assistant stood at the foot of the bed with their backs to Jose. Caroline seemed to feelmore than see or hear the moment when Jose entered the room, and since between the legs of a womanwas no place for a man to gaze quickly ordered her assistant to escort Jose back to the living room.Jose, chastened and wishing that he had committed more to sneaking into the room, did as hewas told and drew up a chair next to the stove in his joint kitchen and living room. Four pieces of coalinto the stove later, at exactly 11:00 a.m., Eugenia Montoya was pushed out into the world. She arrivedpursed-lipped and silent and disapproving of the whole noisy affair, and when Jose was finally allowedback into the room to see his daughter for the first time the only due she would give him was to raiseone skeptical eyebrow at him as Caroline held her up for his approval.
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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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