shiny propane stove in front, it looked like the home of one well-off.
The townBruja would be well off. Her skills would be well appreciated by the community. Her wisdom would bring gifts of gratitude. I carried a pocketful of coins, which hopefully would be sufficient compensation for the information she would provide.
I walked through the open doorway and crossed the threshold of her home as the pleasing aroma of all those herbs entered my nostrils. I looked up at the ceiling and was amazed by the collection: cloves of garlic, fresh cinnamon, parsley, basil, oleander, more datura, sacks of rice, sacks of beans and large bunches of bananas.
The room was dark, except for a lone kerosene lamp and three candles. I took a few steps toward a figure sitting motionless in a tall wicker chair in the deepest corner of the room, but was intercepted by a plump woman, wearing a lovely embroidered dress, her long black hair tied in a rather effete bun, bright red lipstick and blue mascara clearly visible in the flickering candlelight.
Just short of an arm's length away, the woman stopped, her expression shifting from astonished to frightened, the steadiness and relative grace of her bearing transformed to twitchy nervousness.
Diablo!the woman exclaimed. "Ay! Maria, esta aqui un hombre del Diablo!"
"Claro," replied a serene voice from the darkness. "Nos vemos a la mañana, Leta."
The plump woman crossed herself and quickly left the hacienda. A bony shape, draped in fabric, rose from the chair, using a cane for aid. Once standing, she stood tall and straight, the candlelight all at once illuminating a face deeply creased and craggy. She was very old, yet the long hair hanging loosely about her shoulders was black, marred not by even a single gray hair. She wore a light green dress, covered with many kinds of birds embroidered in bright red, blue and yellow thread. A pair of large, gold hoops dangled from her ear lobes, and a thick, silver crucifix hung from her neck. Like her assistant, she wore bright red lipstick and blue eye shadow.
I stood motionless as she moved toward me, her eyes studying me, peering into me, her expression that of earnest curiosity.
"Diablo?" she asked calmly.
I shook my head.
"Not human," she replied in Spanish.
"Certainly not. But not a threat."
She continued to meet my eyes with a steely gaze. "That I can see. Not a threat, but exceptional. You honor me with your presence. Why have you come?"
"Information. I am looking for a man."
"Does a man really matter to you?Can a man matter to you?"
"This one does."
"You seek the gringo who lives on the other side of Vulcan San Martin, do you not?"
"I seek an American, but I do not know his exact whereabouts. How is it you know whom I seek?"
She smiled broadly, showing perfect white teeth. "All of you from el Norte, you are only concerned with yourselves. We concern you not at all. When the gringo arrived seeking solitude, I knew another would follow, seeking him."
"Will you tell me how to find him?"
With a nod, she took my arm and led me toward the door. TheBruja pointed upward with her cane. Ahead, under a nearly full moon, loomed the silhouette of a small volcano.
"Directly on the other side, on the beach, nearly on the ocean. That is where the man you seek lives. That is where he seeks death."
"Que?"
"You seek retribution, but he seeks death. They bring him mezcal every day, and he finishes all that they bring." Her voice raised a decibel. "They laugh and bring more than the day before. He pays gladly and drinks all that they bring."
"I merely seek satisfaction, señora." Satisfaction indeed! Hopefully, he had not squandered my entire fortune on cheap liquor.
"I wish you good luck in finding it." She turned away then faced me again, a certain sadness in her eyes. I reached into my pockets for the coins within, hoping the offer would not be insulting. Seeing what I was doing, she shook a hand in protest. "Por favor, señor."
"But I wish to give you something."
She shook her head. "Come and honor me with your presence again. There is likely much I could learn from one such as you."
I left knowing the same was true about her.
****
With a shrieking snarl, the jaguar leaped from the darkness. Splintered moonlight flickered off protruding claws and bared fangs, at the last moment betraying the cat's attack, which had been so cleverly masked by the shifting wind. The hunted had become the