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sergeant started toward the door. Mama<br />
Elena raised the gun, braced<br />
herself against the wall so she wouldn't be<br />
knocked to the ground by<br />
the kick of the gun, and shot the chickens.<br />
Bits of chicken flew in<br />
every direction along with the smell of burnt<br />
feathers.<br />
Shaking, Rosalio and Guadalupe got out<br />
their pistols, fully convinced<br />
that this was their last day on earth. The<br />
soldier next to the captain<br />
shoot Mama Elena, but the captain motioned<br />
him to stop.<br />
They were all waiting for his order to attack.<br />
"I have a very good aim and a very bad<br />
temper, Captain. The next shot<br />
is for you, and I assure you that I can shoot<br />
you before they can kill<br />
me, so it would be best for us to respect<br />
each other. If we die, no<br />
one will miss me very much, but won't the<br />
nation mourn your loss?"<br />
It really was hard to meet Mama Elena's<br />
gaze, even for the captain.<br />
There was something daunting about it.<br />
It produced a nameless fear in those who<br />
suffered it; they felt tried<br />
and convicted for their offenses. They fell<br />
prisoner to a childlike<br />
fear of maternal authority.<br />
"You're right. Don't worry, no one is going to<br />
kill you, or fail to<br />
respect you, that's for sure! Such a valiant<br />
woman will always have my<br />
admiration." He turned to his soldiers and<br />
said: "No one is to set<br />
foot in the house; see what else you can find<br />
here and let's go."<br />
What they found was the huge dovecote<br />
formed by two slopes of the roof<br />
on the enormous house. To get to it you had<br />
to climb up a twenty-foot<br />
ladder. Three rebels At; climbed up and<br />
stood there stunned for some<br />
time before they were able to move. They<br />
were impressed by the<br />
dovecote's size and by the darkness and the<br />
cooing of the doves<br />
gathered there, coming and going through<br />
narrow side windows.<br />
They closed the door and the windows so<br />
none of them could get away and<br />
set about trapping the pigeons and doves.<br />
They rounded up enough to feed the entire<br />
batallion for a week.<br />
Before the troops withdrew, the captain rode<br />
around the back patio,<br />
inhaling deep whiffs of the scent of roses that<br />
still clung indelibly<br />
to this place. He closed his eyes and was<br />
still for quite a while.<br />
Returning to Mama Elena's side, he asked<br />
her: "I understood you had<br />
three daughters. Where are they?<br />
"The oldest and youngest live in the United<br />
States, the other died."<br />
The news seemed to move the captain. In a<br />
barely audible voice, he<br />
replied: That is a pity, a very great pity."<br />
He took leave of Mama Elena with a bow.<br />
They left peacefully, just as<br />
they had come, and Mama Elena was quite<br />
disconcerted by the way they<br />
had treated her; it didn't fit the picture of the<br />
heartless ruffians<br />
she'd been expecting. From that day on she<br />
would not express any
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