Leslie Silko - Gardens in the Dunes

Behind her, representing the past, was the fifth card, the card with the red, white, and green Flag of Mexico, upside down, draped around its pole. A Flag reversed was a distress call; someday the poor would prevail over the government, and not one but many Mexicos would spring up overnight.

The handsome Guitar Player upside down stood for her immediate future; here was another card that was better reversed than upright because its saying was oddly phrased: “The musician’s rubber trumpet doesn’t want to play,” a silly saying about a limp penis. Reversed, this card might not be so bad — maybe the trumpet would play and success would be hers.

The seventh card indicated Delena’s position in the present instance, and here the accuracy of the cards gave her a chill because it was La Mano. The dicho called it “the hand of the criminal,” though luckily it was reversed, which meant the criminal hand was hers!

El Nopal, the Cactus plant covered with red fruit, the eighth card, represented her present home, but the card was upside down, to reflect the truth — she was uprooted like the Nopal, her homeland torn open by war. Its dicho was bitter: “All anyone sees is something to eat.” Plundered lands, the animals, even the people plundered. Even reversed the Nopal card was a good one, because although uprooted, neither the Cactus nor its fruit was destroyed; in fact the Cactus was able to take root again upside down, even broken apart, almost anywhere.

Her hopes and fears were represented by the ninth card, El Corazón, the Heart, with a bloodied arrow through its center. “Don’t banish me, sweetheart,” the saying went; “I’m returning by wagon.” Perfect. The Heart might mean romance but the bloody arrow was shot by a warrior. An arrow through the center of the Heart meant success at the heart of the matter — her sweetheart was the uprising in the south, and they would prevail. Yes, she would return with a wagon, loaded with supplies.

The tenth and last card represented the future, the outcome of the present enterprise, and here was La Sandia, the fat ripe Watermelon; its sliced, succulent red flesh meant success, success! The dicho said, “ La barriga que Juan tenía, era empacho de sandia ”—”Juan’s belly is glutted with watermelon.” Only the best conditions produced big ripe melons or permitted Juan to gorge himself — this card told her the conditions were perfect. Clearly it was time to take the dog circus to perform at the construction camp.

Despite the noise of the camp, and his father’s fear, the little black grandfather was growing. Now Sister teased him and called him Little Black Spider because his legs and arms seemed longer as he grew. He still fretted over the noise unless she held him and sang louder than the outside noise. Hour after hour she sang, and when she ran out of songs she sang sounds that were parts of words — Sand Lizard, Spanish, and English nonsense words seemed to calm him and drown out the noise best.

She bundled him onto her back, secured with her white cotton shawl, and took him for a walk away from the tents. As the earth was heaped higher across the riverbed, the dam resembled more and more one of the monster stories Maytha and Vedna learned from their father. This monster ate up all living things up and down the poor river. Upriver, the backwaters flooded the cottonwoods and willows; now they were beginning to die. The watercress and delicate mosses that used to fringe the river’s edge were submerged, and the silver green minnows disappeared. She sat at the river’s edge for hours and watched the slow currents move through the tall reeds and mosses while the little one enjoyed a deep sleep. She thought about Indigo and Mama then, and about the Messiah and the dancers. She was beginning to think they would not see one another again.

Later, Sister Salt offered to take Maytha and Vedna to meet the woman with the dog circus so they could ask the Gypsy cards about their future. Sister Salt wanted to ask the Mexican cards about Mama and Indigo. But the twins seemed reluctant; it was true the woman gave water to Sister right after the baby was born; still, one had to be careful of traveling strangers. Vedna had to laugh because soon they were going to be traveling strangers themselves. Still, they wanted to see the dog circus perform, and the decks of cards that foretold the future; so they decided to stay for a few more days.

Sister Salt intended to tell Big Candy about the Mexican woman and the dog circus, but she didn’t have a chance because he was so busy. The next afternoon as Sister and the twins relaxed in the shade with the sleeping baby, two black dogs suddenly appeared, dressed in patchwork capes of bright satins with little horned caps decorated with bells tied behind their ears — jokers’ caps copied from a deck of cards. The dogs were quite friendly and bells rang as they wagged their tails.

Juanito called Big Candy out of the brewery tent to watch the dog circus arrive. He was astonished to see a dark woman who wore a white cape sewed with bright red satin figure of the queen of diamonds over her dress; she was flanked by more black dogs that wore satin capes sewn with scraps of satin to form the figures of the king, the jack, the ten, and nine of diamonds. She didn’t notice Sister or the twins under the tree until Sister called out a greeting. Delena acknowledged them with a wave, but remained where she was, talking in a low voice to the dogs.

Slowly the dogs began to canter around the sandy clearing behind the tents, and as they gradually increased their speed, a small crowd began to gather. The dogs began to leapfrog over one another in a dead run; playfully the dogs began to tear at one another’s costumes, and bells and bits of the costumes began to litter the sand. Even the gamblers stopped to come take a look, and they laughed and laughed and cheered on the dogs while the woman in her odd costume watched.

When the dogs finally stopped their tug-of-war with the costumes and gathered around their mistress, Sister and the twins joined other spectators, who cheered to see more of the dog circus, but Delena ignored them. The exhibition was over. Gradually the crowd drifted away to the gambling tents as she praised the dogs in a high soft voice. She patted and spoke to each dog separately as she retied the bells and adjusted the capes, examining the damage to the costumes. When Big Candy approached from the gambling tent, she turned away from the dogs to straighten her queen of diamonds cape before she greeted him.

Sister Salt picked up the sleeping baby and the twins followed. They stood nearby to listen as Big Candy and Delena negotiated a price for the dogs’ performance. Candy said he had to consult Wylie before they had a deal, but he was sure the boss would go for it. Candy hadn’t smiled like that in days. He really enjoyed the spectacle of the playing card costumes — together they formed a royal straight flush, a winning poker hand that would be inspiration for his customers! Sister felt a pang of sadness as she realized the birth of the little grandfather brought Candy worry, not happiness; Candy seemed far happier to see a dog circus than his own son.

Candy offered the dog circus woman empty crates, and kegs, even planks if she wanted them, for the dogs to leap over. A bit embarrassed by Candy’s enthusiasm, Delena nodded, and he immediately called Juanito to bring the items he requested.

“Ooh ooh!” Maytha said after Delena and her dog circus accompanied Big Candy to Wylie’s tent. Vedna squeezed her mouth and eyes shut tight in mock disapproval that made all three break into laughter. Sister announced she didn’t care if Big Candy went off with her — Delena was nice. Anyway, the little black grandfather still refused to forgive Candy for believing he would die. They were better off apart, especially the baby.