K.Esquivel-LWFC

candles.
Juan impressed all the guests with the
wonderful way he played the
guitar, the harmonica, and the accordion.
Gertrudis kept time to the
songs Juan played, tapping the floor with the
toe of her boot.
She was watching him proudly from the far
end of the salon, where a
court of admirers had surrounded her,
besieging her with questions
about her part in the revolution. Smoking a
cigarette, Gertrudis,
perfectly at her ease, was regaling them with
fantastic stories of the
battles she'd been in. She had them
openmouthed, as she told them
about the first firing squad she had ordered,
but she couldn't contain
herself. She interrupted her story and flung
herself into the center
of the salon where she began to dance
gracefully to the polka "Jesusita
in Chihuahua," which Juan was playing
brilliantly on the norteiio
accordion. She lightly hitched her skirt up to
her knee, quite
uninhibited.
This attitude provoked scandalized
comments among the ladies gathered
there.
Rosaura whispered in Tita's ear.
"I don't know where Gertrudis gets her sense
of rhythm. Mama didn't
like to dance, and they say Papa was very
bad at it."
Tita shrugged her shoulders in answer,
although she knew perfectly well
who had given Gertrudis her rhythm and
other qualities. That secret
she planned to take to her grave; but it was
not to be. A year later
Gertrudis gave birth to a mulatto baby. Juan
was furious and
threatened to leave her. He couldn't forgive
Gertrudis for having
returned to her old ways. Then Tita, to save
their marriage, told them
everything. It was fortunate she had not
dared to burn the letters,
since now her mother's "black past" served
to establish proof of
Gertrudis's innocence.
It was a hard blow for him to take, but at
least they didn't separate;
instead they lived together forever and were
happy more often than
not.
Tita knew the reason for Gertrudis's sense of
rhythm, just as she knew
the reason for the failure of Rosaura's
marriage and for her own
pregnancy. Now what she wanted to know
was the solution. That was
what mattered. At least now she had
someone in whom to confide her
problems. She hoped that Gertrudis would
stay on the ranch long enough
to hear her story and give her some advice.
Chencha, on the other
hand, wished just LI I IJ the opposite. She
was furious at Gertrudis;
not exactly at her, but at the work involved in
waiting on her troop.
Instead of enjoying the party, at this hour of
the night she had had to
set up a huge table on the patio and prepare
chocolate for the fifty
men in the troop.
recipe. To BE CONTINUED Next month's
recipe.
Cream Fritter J recipe. CHAPTER TEN.