The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 64more around the Camp. The area around Chillicothe was strewn with burial mounds of cultures farolder than the Shawnees that had lived there most recently, and many of these mounds were beingscraped, shoveled and steamrollered flat as Camp Sherman grew. The Indian spirits did not necessarilymind that the mounds were being flattened, and most watched the goings-on at the rifle range withgreat curiosity. The only one that ever actually spoke to Jose had a name that sounded, as nearly asJose could tell, like “Juamapo”; and thus Jose began to think of him as Juan Paulo, which was closeenough for the spirit.Juan Paulo admitted to his own fascination with the growth of Camp Sherman. His ownculture, which had a name long and complex enough that Jose was never able to remember it, had builtnot only the burial mounds that were being razed, but also ceremonial locations spread over manymiles, connected by roads that were as straight and as purposeful as a taut rope. Juan Paulo wasimpressed by the roads that covered Camp Sherman but their layout confused him, as he was unable todetermine to which stellar or solar event each road was aligned. As soon as Jose understood why JuanPaulo was confused, he set him straight with a proper explanation: Roads no longer were built withmeaning in and of themselves. Now they were just a way to move people and things around moreeasily.When Juan Paulo seemed to accept this explanation Jose then went on to point out the vastsuperiority of the railroad, which was by far the most efficient way to get from one point to another.Juan Paulo could accept that also, since the directness of the tracks was much more in the nature of theroads that he himself had helped to build. Nonetheless, it was not the miniature railroad that JuanPaulo seemed to enjoy the most, but rather the construction equipment, and the steamroller inparticular; and anytime Jose happened to pass a steamroller in action, he could count on Juan Paulobeing crouched behind the driver, intently studying every aspect of how to operate the lumberingmachine.
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 65If modern technology was intriguing to Juan Paulo, Juan Paulo's culture was no less intriguingto Jose. Jose, however, found Juan Paulo's conversation almost maddeningly vague when the topic washis own society. This was when Jose first discovered the riches that the camp library contained in itsbooks, although none contained any serious details about the mounds around Chillicothe, or the culturethat built them. Eventually Juan Paulo grew tired of Jose's repeated questions, and early one Sundaymorning Juan Paulo guided Jose to the large earthen berm that formed a backstop for bullets on thefiring range. Although the army engineers had pushed up dirt to help form this berm, they had alsoutilized one of the area's ubiquitous mounds as the heart of the construction. Juan Paulo instructed Joseto take a knife and dig at a certain location. Jose had not dug away more than six inches of soil when asmall pipe unearthed itself under his knife. Juan Paulo told Jose to take it, and to keep it safe, and tostop asking so many questions. The pipe was made of fired clay, and was cleverly shaped like a smallbird.Even under the dirt that encrusted it Jose could see that it was also beautifully and delicatelyglazed, and that what Juan Paulo had just given him was in fact something to be treasured. Josedecided to accept the deal that Juan Paulo was offering in exchange for the pipe and stopped asking hisnew friend so many questions. From time to time he would still make a trip to the camp library to seeif he could turn up anything on the mound builders, but his efforts in that regard were always fruitless;if anyone knew anything about this mysterious culture, they were keeping it as quiet as Juan Paulohimself was.The bird effigy pipe joined the other treasures that Jose kept carefully tucked away. Even moreso than for his letter writing, Jose valued his room for the privacy it afforded him in looking at hiscollection of treasured objects. Thousands of miles and a strange land separated him from his belovedLa Catrina, but Jose kept her close in his heart. The sugar skulls that he had purchased the morningafter meeting her had survived his travels undamaged, and he treasured them like he would the
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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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