words.”
“Chico, you are correct to think that God has made you a protector for those who are good but cannot protect themselves. He has given you this gift along with the knowledge of right and wrong. You have kept yourself uncorrupted when it was very difficult to do so. God is very pleased with that.”
He replied, “Thank you, senora. It was not so difficult.”
The lady smiled. “Chico, I once lived in your world. It was very long ago but I remember how hard life was, and how sometimes it was very difficult to choose that which is right. You are very rare, Chico. You were a Lion of God before this world was, and you remain so.”
Chico wondered at her words. “I don’t understand, senora. How could I be before this world was?”
“Ah, Chico, we all lived with God, who is known as the Creator, before this world was organized. Every person who ever lived, who lives now, and who will live was with God before this world. We were spirits then, but looked much as we do in life. Now, I am what you call an angel and I am here to tell you God’s will.
“Before the world, we lived with the Creator, who is God. There were many other spirits there, spirits who rebelled against the Creator’s will, and were cast out from his presence for that rebellion. They are spirits who will never be born in our world, who are condemned forever to misery.
“During this rebellion, you fought for the Creator’s cause and helped cast out those spirits who fought against us. Chico the Lion, are you willing to keep fighting?”
Chico stopped walking and turned to the lady. He knelt in the flowers on one knee, bowed his head, and spread his arms in a symbol of contrition. “Senora,” he said, “I will do whatever you command.”
The lady almost giggled. She took his shoulders and lifted him to his feet. “Well spoken, Chico the Lion. The Creator is very pleased. But, there is a warning. These spirits who will never be born, to them you are marked. They will try to destroy your mind and body. Your only defense is your purity of soul. Keep yourself pure and you will be successful. If you do not keep yourself pure, this great gift that the Creator has given will leave you.”
“I swear, senora, on the heads of my dead parents, to follow the will of God.”
The lady touched his cheek and smiled. She then took his hands and kissed them. Afterwards, she said, “I give you power in your hands, power to protect the weak, and power to advance the good. As long as your heart is pure, you will never lose.
“You will go to war, Chico. When you do, I will visit you again and give you further instructions. Do not fear for your family. They will be watched over. Tell your grandmother and brother about this meeting. They will believe you. Also tell Carlita and her family. They will also believe you. Carlita dreams about you as you dream about her, in a pure way, which is pleasing before the Creator. Adios.”
Chico woke in the darkness. The only sounds he heard were the even breathing of the recruits and the steady steps of the fire watch walking through the barracks. He thought about the dream and wondered if it was only that, a dream. He soon closed his eyes and fell asleep. The dream repeated itself twice in exactly the same way. When morning came and reveille sounded, he knew it was not just a dream.
Chico kept to himself during boot camp, being very careful, as much as possible, not to subject himself to anything he considered impure. The incessant barrage of profanity from the drill instructors and recruits he shed like water off a duck’s back. He wrote his grandmother often and she wrote giving him news. She told him the Puerto Rican community was very upset that he was charged with assault with such a provocation. The community wanted Detective Luciano fired. Instead, he was transferred to another part of the city.
Chico’s brother was very busy with barber school and would soon graduate. Both Chico and his grandmother knew he would be a very good barber. He was very friendly and everyone, even the gringo businessmen, liked him. She told him not to worry and they were getting along very well.
Chico received his first letter from Carlita the day after his dream. She got his address from his grandmother, who got it off the box of civilian clothes he sent home during processing. She sent several pictures of herself, saying she did not want him to forget her. They were pictures taken in her best clothes, her thick, black hair set back with a red rose. Her dresses were the bright reds, blues, and jet blacks that are so becoming on Hispanic women. Her large dark eyes looked with love into the camera, and her sweet smile appeared like it was only for him. There was nothing provocative about the way she stood or sat, but Chico was still stirred by the contours of her body and the slender gracefulness of her legs and the way the shoes on her small feet turned her ankles. He gazed at the bronzeness of her hands and the dark and perfect polish on her fingernails. Other men would find her attractive but perhaps not beautiful. To him, she was every woman in the world. Some recruits were passing pictures of their girlfriends around for others to look at, but not Chico. He did not want anyone looking at her and thinking impure thoughts.
Chico made acquaintances but no real friends in boot camp. When he graduated, his family and Carlita came down to see it. They all looked very proud as he stood before them in the sharply pressed and immaculate uniform. They brought Chico’s favorite food and Chico ate with gusto and said, muy rico many times. When Chico thought that it was time, he told them exactly what he saw and heard in the dream. His grandmother crossed herself and muttered a prayer. She then put her hands on her grandson and said, “Do what La Senora tells you to do, mi hijo, this thing is truly from God.”
When Chico turned to Carlita, she was crying. She suddenly threw her arms around Chico’s neck and said, “Mi amour, I will pray for you many times every day and night. Do what God wills, and, please, allow me to do whatever I can to help you in this great work.”
When the visiting time ended, he embraced his grandmother and brother. He then turned to Carlita. “Let me look at you. I want to remember every part of you. I will take this image to war with me, and I will return and make you my wife.”
Carlita stepped very close to him. He heard his brother utter approval and his grandmother thank God. Carlita looked up into his eyes. “I am only for you, mi amour.” Then she pulled his head down and they kissed. For both of them, other than family members, that was the first kiss of their lives.
Chapter 6
Biloxi, Mississippi
Lasting, invisible to the mortal, watched the man urinate on the tree. He was tall and strong, with a handsome face and greasy blond hair. Lasting was delighted with what was going on in the mortal’s mind and knew the man was perfect for his purposes. A woman stood close by and watched as the man closed his pants and walked toward her. She was dirty with missing teeth and Lasting sensed small insects in the places where hair covered her body. The man wiped his hands on the back of her blouse and smiled.
“Hey,” she said, laughing. “Don’t wipe your piss on me.”
He grabbed the back of her neck and squeezed. “Ouch,” she said. “That hurts.”
He jerked her to him and kissed her hard on the mouth. “But you like it, don’t you, bitch?”
She tried to push his hand away. “Not that hard, BJ. I don’t like it that hard.”
He let go of her neck and started walking toward the bar. Running after him, she said, “I’m sorry, BJ. You can do anything you want. What do you want me to do?”
He turned around and slapped her. Not hard, but enough to make a clapping sound. Her hand went up to her cheek but she was smiling. “Ain’t no call for that, baby,” she said. “I know you love me.”
He pulled her to him.