It was just the three of them, unless they ventured into a truck stop, or a supermarket. Also, May Lin was able to make some delicious curries using the cooking facilities that came with the camper. It was South Indian, since May Lin had learned all her curry recipes from her Tamil neighbours and school mates in Penang, but that was good enough. That, with pita bread, which they were also able to find in the supermarkets, or flour tortillas that passed for chapati, made Ibrahim feel more at home than did hamburgers and spaghetti. Not that he didn't enjoy an occasional hamburger or bowl of chile in the truck stop restaurants. All three of them were enjoying the trip.
Every so often they passed a field, with a row of workers armed with hoes slowly working their way from one end to another, each doing his or her own furrow.
'I heard someone in the last restaurant we stopped at, they call them "wet backs",' said May Lin.
'I think that's the word for people here illegally from Mexico. Their backs are supposedly wet from swimming the river.'
They were up to the turn off to Madera. Ernie drove down the ramp.
'Why are we turning here?' said May Lin.
'I don't know. Somehow, these migrant workers interest me.'
No one protested, and Ernie just drove on, through the town, and out on a small road that went through fields of more cotton, others of tomatoes, and various other crops.
They just kept driving on and on, turning here and there as they felt the urge.
'Do you think Drovshi is a migrant worker?' said May Lin.
'Quite possibly.'
'I think she is,' said Ibrahim.
More than once, Ibrahim suggested a turn. On one occasion, Ernie vetoed Ibrahim's choice and went straight on, only to turn back to it later when they all felt they were going nowhere.
They were now up to the town of Firebaugh, and the next was Mendota.
'Let's spend the night in Mendota,' said Ernie. That sounded good to all three.
Mendota was only a short drive farther. It was another farming town, and the population seemed evenly divided between Anglos and Chicanos (the local term for people of Mexican descent). The Chicanos were much more conservatively dressed, and appeared more well mannered than the white population. Ibrahim felt at home here.
The main street was the highway that went through the centre, with side streets branching off in both directions. It was a pleasant little town where it looked like hardly anything ever happened.
They were allowed to park in the compound of a convenience shop on the main street. Locally, they referred to it as a liquor store but Ernie would have called it a newsagent.
Ernie and Ibrahim went for a walk while May Lin cooked supper.
After walking a while in silence, Ibrahim said, 'Why don't you and May Lin get married?'
'I've only known her a few weeks,' answered Ernie.
'But on Zuz you knew her a long time.'.
'I'd need to know her a bit better as a human. I don't remember if Zondon even got married.'
'I don't either,' said Ibrahim, 'but I don't think she was married to anyone anyway.'
'Well, if we don't even remember enough of her as a Zondon to know for certain if she was married or not, then I suppose I'd need to get to know her a bit better as a human, wouldn't I.'
'I think you make a good couple.'
'How do you know Drovshi and I won't make an even better couple?' said Ernie.
'I think you won't,' replied Ibrahim.
They walked down the road a short distance and then back to the shop. There was a public bulletin board with personal adverts for this and that. Several said things like, 'Chopping cotton,' or 'Cutting weeds, contact so-and-so,' or 'Meet so-and-so at such-and-such a place at 4:30 a.m.'
One of the so-and-sos caught Ernie's attention, and he took note of the such-and-such a place, and asked the girl at the till where it was. She told them, and they went back to the camper.
'How would you like to work a day in the fields tomorrow?' he said as they partook of curry and pita bread.
'How would I like to?'
'Well, yes.'
'I don't think I'd like to,' said May Lin, 'but I maybe an experience I should try once in my life, ah?'
'Good! Tomorrow morning, four thirty a.m., we meet a Mr. Lopez at the end of the town where the highway leads on to San Joaquin.'
'Four thirty? Ai ya!'
Chapter 22
Along the side of the road was a line of cars. It was still dark, but from the headlights shining on one another's backsides, they could tell that some were old sedans, others were pick-up trucks, one or two were campers a bit like theirs. Each vehicle had its share of passengers.
Ernie drove their motor home to the end of the line and waited for a man who was walking down the row.
'You here for work?' he asked as he approached.
'Yes, two of us.'
'You've done this kind of work before?'
'Er -- I can't say I have,' said Ernie.
'You sound like you not from here.'
'I'm Irish, my wife is Malaysian, and we migrated to Canada.'
'It's very hard work. Can you handle it?' asked the man.
'I think so.'
'I'm Lopez.' He shook Ernie's hand. 'Don't look like we have any more joining us, so we try you for a day and see if you can do it, okay?'
He went to the front vehicle, got in, and drove off with the whole line of cars following.
A few miles out of town, the convoy turned down a smaller farm road, and then again onto a dirt trail. From there, they wove in and out until Ernie was thoroughly lost. Finally they all pulled up beside a field.
In the back of Mr. Lopez's pick-up were a pile of hoes, which he proceeded to distribute to all the workers. As each received his or her hoe, or mangera, as Mr. Lopez called it, they took their places at their assigned furrows and began working.
Ernie and May Lin got furrows next to each other. On the other side of May Lin was a Mexican lady, and next to Ernie was a rugged looking Caucasian. Apart from another Anglo next to him, the rest were Hispanic.
Before them were long furrows full of cotton shoots. The lady next to May Lin showed them how to thin them out by scraping away the extra plants, so that the remaining were spaced one hoe blade length apart. Then, she and the man on the other side of Ernie moved along at a pace that left the two newcomers plodding behind. The other Anglo two rows down from Ernie was moving almost as slow as them.
Ibrahim stood on the side of the road and watched.
Mr. Lopez soon walked down along the rows and saw Ernie and May Lin going at it the best they could.
He laughed, and said, 'You'll soon get the hang of it.'
So they did. They reached the end of their furrow by the time the others were already half way back up their next furrow.
Talking casually as they went, Ernie learned that the Anglo two rows from him was called Bill Hanna. He was staying at the home of the other one, Albert Colette, a native of Mendota. Both were on their summer holidays from the Mennonite university in Fresno. The lady next to May Lin was Rosa Gonzales, a close friend of theirs.
By the time they made their way back to the end of the second furrow, they found Ibrahim had also landed a job, that of going from one worker to another, sharpening their hoe with a file.
'You okay? You want to go home now?' said Mr. Lopez.
Ernie was sore in the arms and back, but he decided he'd had worse, and would make it through the day. So did May Lin. They started in on their next furrow.
Later on, they managed to get furrows beside Albert, Bill and Rosa, and managed to keep up, carrying on some conversation.
When it was lunch time, they invited the three to their motor home, where they could get out of the hot sun. Ibrahim had heated up the curry, and had the pita bread out and ready for them. The other three had brought their own lunch, but tried some of the curry as well.
They told them that Ibrahim was a refugee child that Ernie
and May Lin had adopted. That seemed like a perfectly normal explanation to them, and wasn't far from the truth.
Albert Colette, they learned, was descended from French fur trappers who had migrated into the area over a hundred years earlier. He still owned the house built by his great grandfather. He looked the part with his thick reddish moustache and long side-whiskers. Bill was staying with him for the first part of the summer, but planned to go South later on, and then return for the following school term. Rosa knew Albert well because he was dating her twin sister.
Twin sister?
Rosa had a twin, named Marie. Born to a family of migrant workers on U.S. soil, they had U.S. citizenship even though their parents were illegal. After the family had been deported back to Mexico, they lived there until the two were old enough to travel and work on their own. They had travelled to this area together, and had met Albert in church.
Towards the end of the lunch break, Albert decided to invite Ernie and May Lin to park their camper in his back yard. Ibrahim would enjoy the company of 'Little Albert', his son. When work was over, they followed 'Big Albert's' old red Nissan pick-up truck to his home.
The small green wooden house looked as though it had not only been built by, but still lived in by fur trappers. The steel traps hanging by the back door told that the householder still occupied himself thus when the season was right. The expansive yard still had a little bit of the original wilderness in it, with grass growing in patches, interrupted by a tree stump here, a rusted old car engine there, a half rotted tool shed, and dominated by a wide shady tree, from which hung a tire, presumably 'Little Albert's'. A split rail fence surrounded the whole property. Next door was an empty lot. At the far end of the yard was a kennel with a large furry dog in it -- a 'chow dog', said Big Albert.
It was hard to determine which to call the front and the back of Albert's house. They entered through the kitchen, and from there, into the lounge. Next to the door, as they entered, there was a gun cabinet. A mounted deer's head hung on one wall, a coyote skin on another and there was the usual lounge furniture, as well as a giant evaporator fan,.
Big Albert went to drop Rosa off, and fetch Little Albert, whom Marie had been baby-sitting during the day. Little Albert was a thin freckle faced ten-year-old. He and Ibrahim were shy of each other at first, but soon, Little Albert had all his toys spread on the thick carpet, and they were happily playing and communicating via very simple English supplemented by sign language.
Then it was Little Albert's bath time. With no one to play with, Ibrahim lost interest in the toys, and began looking through the books and magazines.
Big Albert announced that Rosa and Marie were coming for supper, and bringing real Mexican style tacos.
'Pork or beef?' Ernie asked.
'I'm not sure. Why?'
'Ibrahim doesn't eat pork.'
'I'll check.' He went to the phone.
In a minute or so, he came back smiling. 'Beef.'
* * *
Ibrahim's mind wasn't on the menu. He had been leafing through a weekly news magazine, looking at the pictures. There, in front of him was a photo of the Great Pyramid, and the Sphinx. What was it about that picture that grabbed him? Was it a dream? He couldn't remember any right off. He had asked himself that before. Was it a hidden memory? He'd have to try to remember it next time they used the crystal.
Chapter 23
To: Ernie
From: Ernie
Subject: Re: Change of email address
Yo Ernie...
Good to hear from you!
How did you land a name like Scott Jones? ...or is that part of the deal about flying most of the way around the world?
We're all fine. Yes, my dad is still with us. He'll head back to Ireland next month. My wife is okay. She keeps very busy at her office at the NGO. We keep promising we'll take a long rest sometime, maybe back in Ireland.
I do know of a detective. I've talked to him about your doctor. He'll find out what he can. I also popped in to the Dusit, and just happened to hear his name in the lobby. It was a bloke named Sean Flynn, leaving a message that he would meet Dr. Stanovitch at the Irish pub on Convent road for lunch. I thought it would be good if I popped over for lunch myself, which I did about an hour later. I saw Sean Flynn with a couple of others. I got a table nearby, and later on, I saw the one I assume was your Dr., a big Russian bloke. You're right. He didn't look like someone I wanted to know up close. It looked a bit like Sean Flynn was trying to keep him at arms length. When the Dr. finally got up to go, Sean told him he'd contact him if it ever looked like there was room for more.
From what I could tell, the one named Les Armstrong was the one who had brought them together. I got a chance to talk to Les a bit later, and the long and short of it is I got a job at the company where he works, Crayton Securities, as a telemarketer prepping people to consider buying shares. We've been needing an extra income, so this is a God-send, but I have a feeling that the fact I'm Irish also helped. We make phone calls all the way to Australia and New Zealand, would you believe. It looked a bit dubious at first, but they seem to be genuine shares in real companies. Sean Flynn is the boss, and Les looks like he's some sort of analyst. He has an identical twin brother name Len who minds the computers. The company makes a lot of money, so I don't doubt why someone like your Dr. friend would want in.
Anyway, I'll tell you more as soon as I hear from the detective.
After everyone had refreshed themselves and had a rest and Ibrahim had done his afternoon prayers, the girls arrived. Albert introduced Marie to them. She had a son of about two. She needed to talk to Albert privately, so they went outside onto the porch.
Rosa arranged the food on the kitchen table with the help of May Lin, and as soon as they were ready, they called the others.
Big Albert looked puzzled for some reason.
Maria end Rosa showed the newcomers how to fix their tacos by spooning the roast beef onto warm, soft corn tortillas. There was also grated cheese, sliced avocado and dish of fresh salsa made of chopped onions, green peppers, tomatoes and chile peppers.
Ernie commented that this was much different than what they had been served at the fast-food outlet at one of the truck-stops where they had dined. Bill said, 'You probably had "Okie tacos". That's what most gringos think is Mexican, but this here is the real south-of-the-border stuff.'
'I like this much better,' said Ernie.
'I like too,' said Ibrahim, in English.
'This town is not what I pictured California to be,' May Lin said. 'It doesn't even seem like we're in America, with so much Spanish spoken.'
'Fact of life:' said Bill. 'California is a bilingual country, even if some of the local white folks insist otherwise.'
Conversation went on to this and that until the food was finished. They talked about Thailand, and other places they had been. It turned out that Bill had spent some time there as well.
The three boys went off to watch TV while the adults continued to sit and talk.
Big Albert had been silent, his mind somewhere else. Suddenly, he spoke up.
'I want to ask you something. Excuse me if I sound crazy.'
'Go ahead,' said Ernie.
'Do you have any association at all with extraterrestrials?'
'Oh!' responded May Lin.
'Er -- why do you ask?' said Ernie.
'I don't know,' said Albert. 'Rosa has been having recurring dreams about extraterrestrials -- I mean real bazaar dreams -- and we were trying to figure it all out, and now she says she remembers you from some of her dreams.'
'Well -- that's interesting,' said Ernie, 'because the three of us have had similar dreams.'
'We met one another as a result of our dreams,' said May Lin.
'I went to Bangkok to find her, and then we went together to the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan to find Ibrahim.'
'And now, we've come here to find the fourth one.'
Albert said, 'Rosa, what were the
names you got?'
'Phondesh...?' Rosa began shyly.
'I'm Phondesh,' said Ernie.
'...and er -- Saf or something...?'
Almost immediately, Ibrahim was at the table, saying, 'I Tsav, I Tsav.'
May Lin said, 'And we think you might be Drovshi.'
Rosa covered her face with her hands.
Albert was saying, 'Hold on! Hold on! What's the whole story? Did you come from space? What does Rosa have to do with this?'
'Before we were born in our human bodies, we were Zondon,' began Ernie.
'Now wait a minute. I don't believe in reincarnation. "It is appointed unto a man once to die, and after that, the judgement",' quoted Albert.
'Not exactly reincarnation,' said Ernie. 'As far as we've been able to tell, humans don't reincarnate.'
'I could tell you that right from the Bible. So is this about UFOs?'
'I suppose you would call it that.'
'I've heard about this UFO thing,' said Albert. 'It's all occult manifestations. They control people's minds, they're from Satan, and I rebuke it in the name of Jesus.'
'I'd say you're perfectly correct regarding most UFOs that you'd see on earth,' said Ernie.
May Lin added, 'Extraterrestrials aren't permitted to approach this solar system, so the ones that do, the Glaat, do so in violation of the universal order of the Supreme One.'
'So, tell me,' said Albert, 'If that's so, how do you come to be on earth?'
'We were born as humans,' said Ernie. 'Only humans have authority on earth, as the special creation of the Supreme One.'
'Hmm -- what do you make of this, Bill?' said Albert.
'Weird,' he said. His expression looked like he was still looking for words. Albert waited.
'There's nothing directly conflicting with Scripture. It's just that -- well -- there's just no precedent.'
Maria said, 'I feel good about it. I had a good feeling when I met them -- and I've felt good about Rosa's dreams. I just don't understand it. That's all.'
Albert turned to Rosa and said, 'You're the one have'n the dreams. How do you feel?'
'Only, strange. That's all. But I think sometimes, something might not be referred to directly in the Bible, or it might be hidden in some of the meaning, and we just have to follow the leading of the Spirit.'