The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 54the town with their loose morals and poor hygiene. This section of street was easily watched over byclergy and other prominent citizens in case anyone other than soldiers might be tempted to visit there,so that the wayward could be corrected. They did this in order to better fulfill Jesus's commandmentthat those without sin worse than consorting with prostitutes should throw stones at others.The women stood in doorways up and down this street, each making her own foul businessproposal to Jose. For his part, Jose could not stand the site of any of them. They all seemed asdesiccated and as barren as the desert itself, and from every doorway crawled a mixture of the odors ofperfume and fetid decay that made Jose hold his breath as he walked along. Thus it was at first toJose's great delight that at the very far end of the street he found there La Brujita from the stockade inthe camp in Mexico, with her long red hair. Not knowing in which direction was her home, she hadfollowed the mass migration of soldiers back to America when they had torn down the stockade andthen the camp and headed out. Once across the border, however, the magic that had lived within her inMexico had apparently died. No longer could La Brujita make objects fly around the room, or evenscoot across a table. Even the brilliant red of her hair had drastically faded since she had been inAmerica.It was immediately obvious to Jose that wherever La Brujita's true home was it was not inAmerica, and were she to stay any longer she was in danger of becoming as lifeless and colorless anddry as the American women practicing their profession there in that narrow neighborhood in Columbus.He gave her the small amount of cash that he had on his person and walked her the few miles to theborder crossing to see her safely on her way. He admitted to her that he had no clear idea where hisown home was to be, either, and wished her luck in finding hers. Jose watched her cross the border, thered of her hair instantly intensifying. He felt like he might be giving up a friend, but he knew thatAmerica would not be good for her; and if he had any doubts that he was doing the right thing, thereturn of her hair color laid them to rest.