The Maldonado Miracle Read Online Free Page A

Music came from loudspeakers at the stores that sold records. All the pushcart vendors were out, and the men who sold leather goods and
scrapes
and silver jewelry from Taxco approached strolling
turistas.
    Gutierrez turned at Gastelum, and they left the city, picking up speed as they got to the freeway north. He turned once more at El Sauzal, by the ocean, a place Jose had never seen. Then they were on the road to Tecate. The Chevy hummed.
    It was dark now, and Gutierrez began to talk. He took a drawing out of his shirt pocket.
    Jose unfolded it and held it beneath the pale yellow light of the dash.
    "There is a hole under the fence where I have put the red mark. It is covered with reeds. From the road, the fence looks solid. Just push the reeds aside and go under the fence."
    "Is there water?" Jose asked.
    "No water except when it rains, and that's not likely tonight. It's a drain. That's why the reeds are there. I'm surprised the border patrol hasn't found it."
    Jose's heart began to thud in his ears.
    "Just wait on the opposite side of the road until you are certain no cars are approaching. Then cross it quickly and keep low."
    Jose nodded.
    "You understand?"
    "Yes,
señor.
"
    "I'll let you out in Hidalgo Park in Tecate. Then I'll drive on up and clear immigration and customs. You go to the border. I'll take your suitcase as if it was mine. I brought a few things of mine to put on top of yours."
    Jose's suitcase was in the trunk of the car.
    "Any questions?"
    "No,
señor.
" Jose turned and looked at Sanchez. The dog was asleep.
    The way was mostly downhill now, over Baja No. 3, past open land and small, dimly lit villages. It was farm country, and the only large town was Guadalupe. Once they passed it, Jose knew that Tecate wasn't too far ahead. A half-hour at most.
    After a long silence, he said suddenly, "Suppose the patrol finds me at the fence."
    Gutierrez laughed. "You put your hands up, and be very polite. Very meek."
    When the car stopped by the edge of Hidalgo Park, almost in the middle of Tecate, Jose whispered, "Sanchez, wake up." The dog rose to his feet.
    As they got out, Gutierrez warned, "Act very natural, Jose. I'll see you in about forty-five minutes."
    The door closed again, and Gutierrez muttered, "Good luck," and drove off up Lázaro Cardenas toward the border. Jose watched his taillights until they had vanished in the sparse traffic. It was about ten o'clock.
    Jose stood under a streetlight for a moment, studying the route Gutierrez had drawn on brown paper. Finally, he folded it and stuck it into his pocket. Then he said, "We'll go now, Sanchez. Stay very close to me, just as if we were going to San Vicente to buy flour."
    Though he hadn't thought much about it since dig
ging it out of the yard, the ninety-one dollars—seventy-five of it for Gutierrez—suddenly seemed heavy and hot in his pants pocket. He dropped a hand to cover it, thinking what a catastrophe it would be if he lost it. Or if someone took it from him.
    Walking, not slow, not fast, Jose went on until he saw the lights of the border station. At that point, he looked up at the street sign, checked the map again, and made a sharp left turn, going down a dirt street. Within two blocks, the houses began to be scattered, and the lights faded out.
    Once, a car came up behind them, and Jose said to himself, just look at it, wave, and keep walking. His heart hammered as the headlights washed over them.
    Aside from his breathing, and the slither of his feet over the loose dust and sand of the road, there were only night sounds. Crickets and frogs dinned in the nearby irrigation ditch that paralleled the road. It was warm, and Jose felt his shirt begin to get wet.
    Sanchez kept easy pace, his big head rotating from side to side, nose sniffing.
    In a few minutes, Jose stopped to study a concrete kilometer marker. He said quietly to Sanchez, "Now, we must cross the field."
    He guessed the field was about half a kilometer wide. Trotting,