Desertshore Ch. 02

2. Felt Mountain

"Of course I will." I said.

I got on my knees and he undid his belt buckle. I loved his gentle but determined gaze and his fingers caressing the back of my head to simulate pushing my head deeper even though I was doing that willfully.

His heavy breathing was enough to get me horny even after my orgasm. I was trying to get as much of his cock as my mouth could handle because he would make a small closed-mouth moan when I took all of it inside for a moment.

More than anything else, I wanted his cock inside my pussy and I fantasized about him impregnating me, but what I liked about oral was that I could really show him that I wanted him. His hard cock tasted of his sweat and I liked having my tongue around it while looking at his cute face, his eyes also looking back at me.

"Wait." he suddenly said, and got away for a moment to sit down and then lie on the floor, still stroking his dick. I went down on the floor beside him to keep going. When I did, he got his fingers on the back of my head and stroked my hair. In this position I found I drooled more, but I kept at it without swallowing because he smiled, and it seemed to be because of the look and the sound of me sucking on his cock while it was covered with my saliva.

He made a closed-mouth moan and closed his eyes.

"...coming," he said.

A second after that, while I still had his cock in my mouth and kept it there with my hand, I felt drops on my tongue. His cum was a bit sour, but I enjoyed the act for the idea of swallowing what I made come out of him.

Just as I'd hoped, he smiled at me after hearing me swallow. He kept catching his breath but I wasn't sure what to do, so I sat down beside him and waited for him to say something. He sighed and then spoke.

"Hey," he started "Would you have gone to Russia with them, anyway?"

"Of course not." I said, "I don't even think of them as Russians, let alone myself."

"I did think of them as Russians." he worded it in a way that sounded as if he thought they would never come back. And also, I wasn't included.

"I know you did." I said "They actually once said to me that we were Mexicans, including them. I wonder what happened in those few months before they left."

It wasn't really a question directed at him, but he did try to reply:

"I don't know." he said "They didn't tell us that much, either. It was kinda tense for a little while between us, too."

"Between who? My family and yours?"

He was silent and looked away.

"Adriana wouldn't tell you but," he said "They initially suspected us of capturing you."

"Capturing?" I asked "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, they swore we took you to marry someone here, or what have you." he smiled while he said it. I'm sure it must have become a bit more comical with time, but I didn't know whether he was hiding something more painful.

It was difficult to imagine my own parents entertaining the idea of that, but I guess you were never done knowing someone. And also, people did irrational things when desperate. I should have left some sort of note. But even that was an act too embarrassing for me to face as a cowardly teen.

"I'm sorry" I just said because I could think of nothing better to say.

"Well, they eventually figured out you weren't with us. And gave us some stuff to apologize."

"Maybe I should tell Adriana something-"

"No, don't even mention it." he said "I'm not supposed to have told you. She said it would make the gossip resurface."

"Alright, then." truthfully it was the answer I wanted, since I'd rather avoid the awkwardness.

--

Night had fallen and we'd gone back to where his family was. I was remembering that despite everything that was nice about it, an aspect that Adriana was right about when it came to rural life was that people were always in your business. I had gotten used to the colder but more comfortable city manners of just not caring that much.

The rest of the night proved us right, too. When Elena finished playing the accordion, I walked towards her and she said:

"Hey, sorry about your parents," she said "Just so you know... Marina said you could stay with us while you get the other house fixed."

I didn't want to tell her then that I wasn't planning to stay for a long time, but I could stay that night at least just to show I was thankful for the offer.

"Yes, thank you," I told her.

As soon as I replied, I heard someone else's voice close to us, and Elena walked away after patting my shoulder.

"Hey," a guy approaching me said "Güera."

I didn't recognize him, so he must've been a kumeyaay from another place. He continued when I turned to face him fully.

"You're one of the molokans, aren't you?"

In terms of religion, I could barely say I was. He probably meant to ask me if someone in my family had been one, though.

"Yeah." I wondered why he'd be curious about that. But I guess anyone new was interesting.

"I'm Miguel Ángel."

"I'm Magdalena."

"Oh, you're the second Magdalena I've met here." he said, which was true. I remembered there being another Magdalena before. "So why did you decide to stay here?"

And again I was reminded of that expected closeness. At least it was more common during a party (or 'fest').

"I just didn't care to leave." I said to avoid lifting more curiosity.

"Regardless," he said "I'm an anthropologist from UABC. I was wondering if I could interview you about your family."

"I can't tell you much." I said, and although I'd be contradicting what I'd just said, I continued "I don't actually know why they left in the first place."

"That's alright. Just tell me about what you know."

"Well, ask me anything then."

He took out his phone. "Can I record you as well?"

"Go ahead."

"So..." he started reading, from his phone too "For starters: how would you describe the way your parents raised you?"

I rested my back against a tree as he listened to me.

My parents had wanted me to play the violin, which I never learned to do well. Just to keep them happy I even started learning from scratch again after I fell off the horse. I don't remember much about that time, not much beyond time slowing down as I was thrown off. Then I hit the ground. My older sister was convinced I would never walk again, but my parents knew I would recover. They didn't get to see it, though.

The real problem was the fact that even though I had few talents, there's a few things I did well before the accident. One of those was embroidery. Sometimes I would make things that we would sell to tourists. After coming back from the hospital, I tried embroidering again and as I suspected, I couldn't control my hand's movements that well anymore. Being especially pessimistic in these times, I gave up.

I could still help making certain things. I would cut and burn myself often while cooking, but I could wash fruits and milk the cows. Aside from a few things like those, I could do basically nothing for the home without the help of anyone else. Soon it became clear that I was more of a burden than a contribution for my family. I don't exactly remember my specific reasoning as I left. I just felt it would be somehow better to be anywhere but there.

At that point, I could already walk, so I just went outside at night and walked until I recognized Tijuana's public transport. I was too ashamed to admit to leaving them, so I just made the bed and took a few clothes and money in a suitcase to make it clear I'd left because I wanted to. My only regret is the fact that I wasn't able to face them even indirectly by leaving a note.

--

In the morning, there were a few people around the entrance of Marina's home, and more were approaching them as I also walked towards the threshold.

"What's going on?" one of them asked before I did.

"This bird." Marina said, looking down at a bird's carcass on the ground right in front of her home's entrance.

"Take a close look. It was shot and then put right here by someone." she continued, looking at all of us but pointing at the bird and specifically at its wound.

"No need to pretend." Jorge told her "It's obviously those fucking low-lives who dump trash around the property."

"Yeah, I'm thinking they probably thought the fest meant we were up to something and they wanted to threaten us just a bit." Marina said.

"What are we gonna do, then?" asked Alfonso, also a relative of Fernando. That just prompted silence.

"I'll talk about this with my mother." Marina said "Don't make any rash decisions in the meantime."

Once they'd all dispersed and I left the house for a moment, I saw Fernando around and walked towards him.

"Hey," I said.

"Lena," he said "How was your night?"

I sat down beside him.

"I slept well." I said "Your family is very hospitable."

He made a half-smile that I knew on him was somewhat sarcastic.

"You saw the bird, didn't you?"

"Yes." I said, and remembered I wanted to ask him about it "Jorge said it was some low-lives who dumped trash."

"Yeah, I think he's right."

"But who was he talking about?" I asked.

"Uh... I thought they would have told you. This has been going on for some months now. There's a group of people who apparently work for some Japanese company and they get paid to dump their waste here. That's what we know so far." he said.

I sat down beside him as I thought of something to respond.

"Well," he continued "To be more specific, they probably work for an organized crime group that the company is associated with, I'm guessing. We don't know that much about them."

"So they take trash all the way from Japan?"

"It's electronic waste." he said "I'm guessing it's more expensive for them to pay for proper disposal."

"Electronic?" I asked "Like metals?"

"Yeah, but we don't know what it is exactly. We have to get water sent here because we can't even give the animals water from the river. It would likely kill them, make them sick or what have you."

"Have you seen those guys leaving the trash around?"

"Yeah we've seen them." he said "I know what you're gonna say. We can't just shoot them like that. Next day whoever's behind them would probably send a whole army to kill all of us."

"What is there to do, then?" I asked him.

I was obviously not expecting a simple answer. He looked at me, then just looked at the ground and sighed.

"We're gonna have to be diplomatic at first, I guess." he said "Best case scenario: when it gets bad enough the government might pretend they have nothing to do with it and give us a hand. At least for the sake of not looking like the ones who got the Indians killed."

--

Fernando, Elena, Jorge, Alfonso and I sat in a semicircle in Marina's home. She went inside.

"I spoke with mum." she said "We agreed that we should be careful, but start doing something right now."

We looked at her, waiting for details.

"So, whoever these people are, they already think we're planning something with the other kumeyaay, it seems."

"Right." Fernando said.

"So we should probably start doing that right now. We mentioned it already to the others yesterday, but what about the kumeyaays in San Diego?"

"Wouldn't we be putting them in danger?" Alfonso asked.

"Let's just be very discreet about it." she said, then turned to me "For example, it wouldn't be weird if Magdalena left the day after the fest."

I nodded.

"You have a visa, don't you?"

"Yes," I said.

"But wait a second, what could they help us with? I'm sure they have their own problems too." Elena asked.

"I was thinking they could give us guns or help us get them somehow." Marina said "Or... at least have some other ideas for us. I mean, Elena, anything helps. And it's best to do it now even if there's no real plan."

"But you can't import weapons into Mexico." I said.

"Yeah, I bet you're not going to come back with them." Marina said "We can process the permits and have them imported later."

"Alright, then." Elena said.

"So, as you know, Fernando has a visa too." Marina told me "I'm guessing that's all the documents you'd need?"

I was thinking of the fact that apparently it would just be Fernando and me on a trip.

"Uh... well, if we're just gonna be in San Diego we shouldn't need a permit." I said.

"Good," she said, and Fernando glanced at me "So you two will go tomorrow?"

"If you want us to cross as soon as possible we should leave today." Fernando said "Stay in Tijuana and then cross early tomorrow morning."