Tatsu - The Threat

Chapter 7 - A Better Life

The city of Monterrey had been struggling with a shortage of potable water for years. President López Portillo had arrived in the city to promise the residents of Monterrey an end to the scarcity. Everyone was desperate to see water gushing out of their faucets again. They all believed that López Portillo would keep his promises. And why not? Contrary to his predecessors, this sophisticated and educated man was considered to be the one who would end the political corruption and incompetence of the Mexican government. A true breath of optimism to a nation in need.

In the midst of the Monterrey euphoria after the arrival of Lopez Portillo, a meeting was being held at Treviño Elementary to plan a welcome celebration for the president since he was scheduled to drive by the school road that Monday. The proposal was to have all the students, teachers, staff, and volunteers in the plege to the flag formation along the side of the road to show their fervent patriotism, in hopes of persuading the president to stop for a brief greeting. The faculty, staff and volunteers all agreed.

The fervent plan was set in motion and the school quickly transformed into a maquiladora producing banners, signs, and beautiful drawings representative of the community's nationalism. We're gonna the president! thought the children as they made their decorations.

In Mexico, elementary school extends to sixth grade unlike the United States where it only extends to fifth grade. The principal asked the sixth graders to help the first and second grade teachers with the decorative tasks. Brian was one of those students and seeing that many children found it difficult to draw the eagle on their hand-made Mexican flags, he shared a good trick in Mrs. Lopez's class. "I know the eagle is hard to draw, but if you put the white part of the paper flag under this ten-peso coin and scribble with your pencil on the flag, the eagle draws itself." Brian gave them a demonstration and all those kids admired him for that. At the end of the day, each child at Treviño Elementary had a Mexican flag, product of their own hands and good spirit.

After an inspiring collective effort, the day came when the school was waiting impatiently for the president to arrive. They started with great enthusiasm, but the hours passed with no sign of the president. It soon became noon and the burning sun was mercilessly punishing those poor kids. Wiping the sweat from their tiny foreheads, they kept asking "When is the president coming? When is the president coming?"

Faced with the suffocating sun and without something to drink to quench his thirst, Brian cleverly kept his mind occupied remembering pleasant moments in his life. Something he used to do when things got rough. Unfortunately, when life presents constant adversity, good moments are short lived. The few pleasant portraits of his memory were quickly exhausted, and it was inevitable that his mind would drift to the harshness of his reality. He recalled images of his neighbor hitting his wife, "No more. Please stop!"

El Mago (The Wizard), as they called the imbecile, came home drunk almost every night and beat his wife and two children. The boy was Brian's age and the daughter was about five years old. Brian could hear the screams of pain and terror. Everybody could hear, but nobody did anything.

The slump where Brian lived was called El Pozo (The Hole). The name said it all. One could find all sorts of scum bags there, monsters like El Mago. Unfortunately, among the rotten criminals, there were also the poor, victims ignored by society and the government, like Brian and his family.

Francisco was then attending the police academy and Brian hoped that one day his father would put all the scum like El Mago in prison. If only there was a quicker solution, if only Brian could tell the President about El Mago.

The unpleasant scenes from other terrible events at El Pozo continued to play quickly in Brian's head. He hated that place so much. A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead as he recalled the moment when two men fondled his mother. They groped her just half a block from the house and told her the vilest obscenities a dirty mouth could speak.