The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

Recommendations

Info

The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 36Villistas, and that chance kept the hope alive in his heart that he would soon get to see his beloved, LaCatrina, once again.The lieutenant was still talking at the front of the formation, and by now he had gotten toinformation that was of more interest to all the troopers of the platoon. Since the American forcesmoving into Mexico would be subject to possible attack from the Villistas at any time and from anydirection, Jose's company was to be detached from the rest of the cavalry regiment and temporarilyplaced under the control of the 1 st Aero Squadron. It was anticipated that this would primarily be forscouting and for guard duty, but war being what it was, the company was to fulfill any mission that theaero squadron's commander was to give them.The lieutenant carried on. Jose thought that it was a fine speech that the lieutenant was makingnow, having worked himself up into a condition full of valor and honor and duty, but Jose was onlypaying half a mind to it, at the very most. The rest of his mind was occupied with thoughts ofaeroplanes, and of what they might look like suspended in the sky if La Catrina came and time sloweditself down for his observation, as it had outside of Agua Prieta. He was certain that he would get tosee the great dragonflies in flight now, even if a ride in one was still practically out of the question.Jose spent the rest of the lieutenant's speech lost in daydreams about flying. He thought that itwould be like riding on the top of a freight car, only much higher up, and without direction beingdictated by the whims of rails he would be free to fly anywhere he wished, at any time. Since anaeroplane only had two seats, he then thought of himself flying around with La Catrina as his lovelypassenger, he in the back seat and she in the front. This he imagined to be a lovely, private, intimatesetting. It was not difficult for his imagination to melt the aeroplane into a flying carpet then, whichwas even more lovely and more intimate, since it was only one big seat with room for two.The platoon mounted up on its wagons and rode back to the barracks after the lieutenant wasfinished addressing the men. They were instructed to pack their gear and be ready to ride, since the
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 37order to move into Mexico could come at any moment. A cavalryman packs light, but there is alwaysroom for one more thing. In Jose's pack that one more thing was a small tin filled with sugary skullsand the perfect bloom from a single red rose.The order for the 1 st Aero Squadron to move out for Mexico was given only six days after theVillista attack on Columbus. Jose's platoon, riding as sentries, would move out with it. The first toleave the camp were the aeroplanes, now numbering eight. Jose had been waiting all week to see onefly, and now he was almost breathless with anticipation. One by one the sleeping dragonflies came tolife with a roar, exhaling a great cloud of smoke. Jose was a little taken aback at first; the noise of theirengines definitely had not been a part of his daydreams, which featured flight that was somehowsilently majestic. He quickly grew used to the noise and then forgot all about it as the machines beganto roll one across the desert floor. They left single file, in some mysterious order, first one and thenanother picking up speed, trailing long clouds of desert dust behind them, until their tails came off theground and their noses, sniffing clean desert sky, at last pulled their bodies free of the ground.The aeroplanes gone, it was time for the earthbound soldiers to load up and begin their ownodyssey into Mexico. Jose had been dreading this first phase of the expedition because he knew that itmeant another ride in the back of a truck, much longer than any he had been on during the week. Hehad no idea how long the ride would actually be, because he had no idea where in Mexico theexpedition was headed; that information had been kept confidential, to lessen the chance of a Villistaambush. As a final insult, the trucks were loaded with all of the gear that the aeroplane mechanicswould need to maintain the machines once in Mexico. Not only would Jose's ride be smelly, bumpyand long, it would be on top of a crate full of spare propellers.The order to mount up and move out came. Jose climbed into the back of his assigned truckand assumed his perch atop the propellers as the vehicles of the motor column banged to life. The
Page 5 and 6: The Long and Storied Life of Jose M
Page 35: The Long and Storied Life of Jose M
Page 87 and 88:
The Long and Storied Life of Jose M
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111:
show all

The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?