Chapter 16

I'm looking for a room for tonight ,-- he announced to everyone.

-- 20 bucks is always a big help,--said one man, leaning against the inside lintel of the bar door, gesturing for him to enter the hotel .

He looked down the street again. It was about 60 kilometers from the main road, and he expected to be there for a maximum of 24 hours. He needed to get to Darwin.

He walked in, the place was pleasantly crowded with patrons and diners. Farmers, ranchers, miners. A place to tread carefully if he wanted to keep his bones healthy. He quickly changed his interest and approached the skinny man in breeches and cap and said to him.

--Hey, buddy. You're right. Let's go have some Emu Bitter.

--Sure "Compadre" ,--said the man cheerfully .....

At 3 o'clock in the morning, with an inclement heat of 38 degrees and a moon fighting he left the bar, going up some side stairs to the hotel.... He had a good time. They sang old war songs, made jokes, and stopped about 19 attempted fights, to finally let Gordo Ville and Madero Stone fall to fisticuffs , until they were stopped by the town policeman. A Scotsman, tall and mustachioed. Sergeant Tony Glenn. A young and strong guy... It was obvious that he had a lot of work to do with the lively bar.

--At 60 years old, I shouldn't be doing this,--he said, with his stomach full from the 27 beers he had drunk, and he already had an idea of how he would dwan .

He woke up bathed in sweat, disoriented and with 2 "tablaos " of flamenco on each temple....

With the patience to endure the heat, he waited for the muddy water to finish coming out of the shower pipe and then...

--I need a cold coke,--- he said on the verge of melting. bathed in sweat, descended the stairs and reached the bar. Clean. Empty. No one...No one... He went out into the street. There was his cadillac.

--You will be glad to have brought me here.,--he said as he walked down the covered sidewalk, it looked exactly the same as the New Mexico towns of his childhood. Everything was the same. The tie-downs for the horses . A Ford diesel pickup...a cart over there. And the sheriff leaning against the wall in the saddle, dozing in the 2:00 p.m. sun.

--Where did everybody go?

-- With this sun you can't expect everyone to be out and about, my friend.

--I'm looking for a mechanic,-- he said, squinting at the sun.

--There isn't one.-- Replied impassively the only policeman in the town, the same as the night before, the tall, mustachioed, square, weather-beaten forty-year-old Tony Glenn.

--Well, in that case, I need to pay for a trip to buy a spare part for my vehicle.

-- There's a truck leaving in a week.

-Hey, I don't have that time.

-Things have their rhythm around here. Calm down. Maybe a patrol car will pass by this week and they'll give you a ride,-- said the man, immutable, still analyzing the visitor.

-When could it be?

--Over the weekend.

--He answered with a snort. He was absolutely stranded in the middle of nowhere.

--Well, it's not that bad. This is a friendly town and I'm sure you'll do fine. Let's start from the beginning. Let me see your registrations. I want to see your driver's license and know where you were heading.--- said the policeman as if nothing had happened.

--I'm just a pensioner trying to get over a terrible divorce,-- he gave his usual introduction.

The other nodded apologetically.

--I know what that's like. It's terrible,-- the man understood, imagining the ordeal suffered by the newcomer.

--Yes. They left me sitting on the sidewalk,-- he said with a pitiful gesture.

--With a Cadillac,--said the other man.

--It was hers,--he explained with a gesture of small victory... at least that much.

--Wow, my friend...The policeman said to him, forgetting the papers he was asking for. He was a survivor of a terrible experience. He had no reason to be angry with him....

He sighed sadly.

The policeman proposed.

--We'll do this. While you wait to get the spare, we'll push the car into a shed. There it will be protected from the sun. I hope you have enough money to support yourself in the meantime.

--No problem. My retirement can afford a hotel.

--Then it's done. Welcome to Spring Rock . Best mining town this side of the Northern Territory. I don't recommend the hotel, though. There are plenty of empty, furnished, fully serviced houses here. A little human presence won't hurt them.

--It's a lot like New Mexico, where I was born, I can acclimatize, at least the heat is the same.

--48 degrees in the shade-- indicated the policeman.

--The other nodded. It was true, a terrible and heavy heat,--said Zacharías Sánchez to the policeman....