the sun beating on my back had made me sleepy. I had been thinking how Ultima’s medicine had cured my uncle and how he was well and could work again. I had been thinking how the medicine of the doctors and of the priest had failed. In my mind I could not understand how the power of God could fail. But it had.
“Toni-eeeeee!” the voice called again.
I opened my eyes and peered into the green brush of the river. Silently, like a deer, the figure of Cico emerged. He was barefoot, he made no noise. He moved to the rock and squatted in front of me. I guess it was then that he decided to trust me with the secret of the golden carp.
“Cico?” I said. He nodded his dark, freckled face.
“Samuel told you about the golden carp,” he said.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Have you ever fished for carp?” he asked. “Here in the river, or anywhere?”
“No,” I shook my head. I felt as if I was making a solemn oath.
“Do you want to see the golden carp?” he whispered.
“I have hoped to see him all summer,” I said breathlessly.
“Do you believe the golden carp is a god?” he asked.
The commandment of the Lord said, Thou shalt have no other gods before me…
I could not lie. I knew he would find the lie in my eyes if I did. But maybe there were other gods? Why had the power of God failed to cure my uncle?
“I am a Catholic,” I stuttered, “I can believe only in the God of the church—” I looked down. I was sorry because now he would not take me to see the golden carp. For a long time Cico did not speak.
“At least you are truthful, Tony,” he said. He stood up. The quiet waters of the river washed gently southward. “We have never taken a non-believer to see him,” he said solemnly.
“But I want to believe,” I looked up and pleaded, “it’s just that I have to believe in Him?” I pointed across the river to where the cross of the church showed above the tree tops.
“Perhaps—” he mused for a long time. “Will you make an oath?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered. But the commandment said, Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.
“Swear by the cross of the church that you will never hunt or kill a carp.” He pointed to the cross. I had never sworn on the cross before. I knew that if you broke your oath it was the biggest sin a man could commit, because God was witness to the swearing on his name. But I would keep my promise! I would never break my oath!
“I swear,” I said.
“Come!” Cico was off, wading across the river. I followed. I had waded across that river many times, but I never felt an urgency like today. I was excited about seeing the magical golden carp.
“The golden carp will be swimming down the creek today,” Cico whispered. We scrambled up the bank and through the thick brush. We climbed the steep hill to the town and headed towards the school. I never came up this street to go to school and so the houses were not familiar to me. We paused at one place.
“Do you know who lives there?” Cico pointed at a green arbor. There was a fence with green vines on it, and many trees. Every house in town had trees, but I had never seen a place so green. It was thick like some of the jungles I saw in the movies in town.
“No,” I said. We drew closer and peered through the dense curtain of green that surrounded a small adobe hut.
“Narciso,” Cico whispered.
Narciso had been on the bridge the night Lupito was murdered. He had tried to reason with the men; he had tried to save Lupito’s life. He had been called a drunk.
“My father and my mother know him,” I said. I could not take my eyes from the garden that surrounded the small house. Every kind of fruit and vegetable I knew seemed to grow in the garden, and there was even more abundance here than on my uncles’ farms.
“I know,” Cico said, “they are from the llano—”
“I have never seen such a place,” I whispered. Even the air of the garden was sweet to smell.
“The garden of Narciso,” Cico said with reverence, “is envied by all—Would you like to taste its fruits?”
“We can’t,” I said. It was a sin to take anything without permission.
“Narciso is