The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 26the middle of his forehead. His eyes were open. He looked happy. Jose half expected him to startgiggling again as he lay there on the ground. Grayley did not start to giggle again, at least not as he laythere on the ground. Throughout the coming years, though, whenever his ghost decided to drop in onJose and pay him a visit, he would always be laughing, like he had just understood some great joke.The soldier with the pistol turned out to be a lieutenant who commanded a machine gun section.He and the two of his troopers that he could find were on their way to the armory to collect a couple ofthose very same guns to help drive off the Villistas. This was good news to Jose, who would be able toget his rifle, El Flaco, and join the battle in earnest. The four soldiers made it to the armory withoutincident, creeping carefully through the darkness. The lieutenant unlocked the door, went inside, andstarted handing out weapons and ammunition to the men waiting anxiously outside. The lieutenant andone of his troopers each had a light machine gun, and the third soldier was carrying as many clips ofammunition and extra bullets as he could haul. The three set off into the darkness, but not before thelieutenant had found El Flaco and handed him over to Jose. Jose also stuffed his pockets with extraammunition clips and set off away from the armory.Jose went east until he got to the edge of the camp, and once there worked his way northward.It was not long until he saw a sight that appalled him: Columbus was burning. The sky had givenaway this fact to Jose long before, but he was shocked at the extent of the flames. It seemed to him likenearly every building he could see was engulfed by fire. In the streets he could see here and therebands of Villistas. The gunfire was all around him now. The soldiers that were sober enough to get outof bed and find rifles had found positions around the edge of the camp from which they could fire at theVillistas; the Villistas were either returning fire towards the Americans or randomly shooting at therelatively few buildings that were not burning. Some appeared to be doing nothing more than riding upand down the street on horseback, shouting unintelligibly.Jose knelt down into a ditch and pushed a clip into his rifle. The loaded clip was heavier than
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 27he had thought it would be, and it made the rifle balance a little differently than he was used to. It wasthe first time since joining the army that he had been allowed to handle live ammunition. He raised ElFlaco up, took a deep breath, and released it. Through the sights, down the barrel of the rifle, he sawone of the Villistas kneeling down in the street and firing round after round towards the Americans intheir positions around the camp. Jose kept the man in the sights as he took another deep breath and letit go. He imagined a nickel balancing on the barrel of his rifle and squeezed the trigger deliberately.The Villista in his sights dropped to the ground and was still.Jose continued to hold the rifle in position, staring down the length of the barrel at the man onthe ground. He waited for time to stop. He waited for La Catrina to come. He waited for the Villistato move. He waited for the clouds to part and the sky to open and the Lord to strike him down. Whennone of those things seemed imminent, Jose realized he had also been waiting to start breathing again.A single tear came from each eye and was rapidly swallowed by the grime on his face. He gave onelittle giggle in memory of Grayley, and then worked the bolt on his rifle to chamber another round.The fighting was easy. The Americans were in dark, concealed positions, looking across clearfields of fire at an enemy that was silhouetted by flame and that did not seem to care overly much ifthey were shot or not. Jose fired round after round in the direction of the Villistas. If he had a target,he would aim. If he didn't he would choose some random target and fire anyway, both as practice andas a kind of assurance to himself that things were going okay.One after another the Villistas fell and made libation to the indifferent, thirsty desert. Theirsituation grew even more dire as the machine guns that had been retrieved from the armory reachedsuitable firing positions and began spitting and hissing a poisonous stream of bullets at the invadingMexicans. To Jose it seemed endless, the parade of Villistas who kept turning up in the firelight to beshot down like hares. Still he worked the bolt and steadied the nickel, worked the bolt and steadied thenickel.
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Long</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Storied</strong> <strong>Life</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Montoya</strong> 26the middle <strong>of</strong> his forehead. His eyes were open. He looked happy. <strong>Jose</strong> half expected him to startgiggling again as he lay there on the ground. Grayley did not start to giggle again, at least not as he laythere on the ground. Throughout the coming years, though, whenever his ghost decided to drop in on<strong>Jose</strong> <strong>and</strong> pay him a visit, he would always be laughing, like he had just understood some great joke.<strong>The</strong> soldier with the pistol turned out to be a lieutenant who comm<strong>and</strong>ed a machine gun section.He <strong>and</strong> the two <strong>of</strong> his troopers that he could find were on their way to the armory to collect a couple <strong>of</strong>those very same guns to help drive <strong>of</strong>f the Villistas. This was good news to <strong>Jose</strong>, who would be able toget his rifle, El Flaco, <strong>and</strong> join the battle in earnest. <strong>The</strong> four soldiers made it to the armory withoutincident, creeping carefully through the darkness. <strong>The</strong> lieutenant unlocked the door, went inside, <strong>and</strong>started h<strong>and</strong>ing out weapons <strong>and</strong> ammunition to the men waiting anxiously outside. <strong>The</strong> lieutenant <strong>and</strong>one <strong>of</strong> his troopers each had a light machine gun, <strong>and</strong> the third soldier was carrying as many clips <strong>of</strong>ammunition <strong>and</strong> extra bullets as he could haul. <strong>The</strong> three set <strong>of</strong>f into the darkness, but not before thelieutenant had found El Flaco <strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>ed him over to <strong>Jose</strong>. <strong>Jose</strong> also stuffed his pockets with extraammunition clips <strong>and</strong> set <strong>of</strong>f away from the armory.<strong>Jose</strong> went east until he got to the edge <strong>of</strong> the camp, <strong>and</strong> once there worked his way northward.It was not long until he saw a sight that appalled him: Columbus was burning. <strong>The</strong> sky had givenaway this fact to <strong>Jose</strong> long before, but he was shocked at the extent <strong>of</strong> the flames. It seemed to him likenearly every building he could see was engulfed by fire. In the streets he could see here <strong>and</strong> thereb<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Villistas. <strong>The</strong> gunfire was all around him now. <strong>The</strong> soldiers that were sober enough to get out<strong>of</strong> bed <strong>and</strong> find rifles had found positions around the edge <strong>of</strong> the camp from which they could fire at theVillistas; the Villistas were either returning fire towards the Americans or r<strong>and</strong>omly shooting at therelatively few buildings that were not burning. Some appeared to be doing nothing more than riding up<strong>and</strong> down the street on horseback, shouting unintelligibly.<strong>Jose</strong> knelt down into a ditch <strong>and</strong> pushed a clip into his rifle. <strong>The</strong> loaded clip was heavier than
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