Bless Me, Ultima(60)

“Ah!” Andrew puffed white steam, “you guys run on to school. See you tonight, Tony.”

“See you,” I waved. The Kid had already bolted away. I ran to keep up with Samuel.

The schoolhouse was quiet, like a tomb frozen over by winter. The buses didn’t come in because of the blizzard, and even most of the town kids stayed home. But Horse and Bones and the rest of the gang from Los Jaros were there. They were the dumbest kids in school, but they never missed a single day. Hell could freeze over but they would still come marching across the tracks, wrestling, kicking at each other, stomping into the classrooms where they fidgeted nervously all day and made things miserable for their teachers.

“Where are the girls?” Bones sniffed the wind wildly and plunked into a frozen desk.

“They didn’t come,” I answered.

“Why?” “¡Chingada!” “What about the play?”

“I don’t know,” I said and pointed to the hall where Miss Violet conferred with the other teachers who had come to school. They all wore their sweaters and shivered. Downstairs the furnace groaned and made the steam radiators ping, but it was still cold.

“No play, shit!” Abel moaned.

Miss Violet came in. “What did you say, Abel?”

“No play, shucks,” Abel said.

“We can still have a play,” Miss Violet sat down and we gathered around her, “if the boys play the parts—”

We all looked at each other. The girls had set up all the stuff in the auditorium; and they had, with Miss Violet’s help, composed the story about the three wise men. Originally we just stood around and acted like shepherds, but now we would have to do everything because the girls stayed home.

“Yeahhhhhh!” Horse breathed on Miss Violet.

“The other teachers don’t have much to do, with so many kids absent,” she turned away from the inquisitive Horse, “and they would like to come to our play—”

“Aghhhh Nooooo,” Bones growled.

“We have to read all the parts,” Lloyd said. He was carefully picking at his nose.

“We could practice all morning,” Miss Violet said. She looked at me.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Red nodded his head vigorously. He always tried to help the teacher.

“¡A la veca!”

“What does that mean?” Miss Violet asked.

“It means okay!”

So the rest of the morning we sat around reading the parts for the play. It was hard because the kids from Los Jaros couldn’t read. After lunch we went to the auditorium for one quick practice before the other teachers came in with their classes. Being on stage scared us and some of the boys began to back down. Bones climbed up a stage rope and perched on a beam near the ceiling. He refused to come down and be in the play.

“Boooooooo-enz!” Miss Violet called, “come down!”

Bones snapped down at her like a cornered dog. “The play is for sissies!” he shouted.

Horse threw a chunk of a two-by-four at him and almost clobbered him. The board fell and hit the Kid and knocked him out cold. It was funny because although he turned white and was out, his legs kept going, like he was racing someone across the bridge. Miss Violet worked frantically to revive him. She was very worried.

“Here.” Red had gone for water which he splashed on the Kid’s face. The Kid groaned and opened his eyes.

“¡Cabrón Caballo!” he cursed.

The rest of us were either putting on the silly robes and towels to make us look like shepherds, or wandering around the stage. Someone tipped the Christ child over and it lost its head.

“There ain’t no such thing as virgin birth,” Florence said looking down at the decapitated doll. He looked like a madman, with his long legs sticking out beneath the short robe and his head wound in a turban.

“You’re all a bunch of sissies!” Bones shouted from above. Horse aimed the two-by-four again but Miss Violet stopped him in time.

“Go put the head on the doll,” she said.

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” Abel said. He held the front of his pants.

Miss Violet nodded her head slowly, closed her eyes and said, “No.”

“You could be sued for not letting him go,” Lloyd said in his girlish voice. He was chewing on a Tootsie Roll. Chocolate dripped down the sides of his mouth and made him look evil.

“I could also be tried for murder!” Miss Violet reached for Lloyd, but he ducked and disappeared behind one of the cardboard cows by the manger.

“Come on you guys, let’s cooperate!” Red shouted. He had been busy trying to get everyone to stand in their places. We had decided to make everyone stand in one place during the play. It would be easier that way. Only the kings would step forth to the manger and offer their gifts.