George Washington Gómez: A Mexicotexan Novel

A few days later, Maruca returns home from the doctor’s office, having discovered she is pregnant. María is furious and beats her nearly to death, threatening to kill both her and the baby. Her anger moves to Carmen, who knew of the pregnancy and hid it from her, and she beats her as well. María finally attempts to banish both of her daughters from the house, but Feliciano intervenes at the last moment. Throughout the ordeal, Guálinto hides and avoids drawing attention to himself in cowardice.

The family becomes bitter towards one another in the following days. Feliciano is quieter than normal, but kind enough to the children. María almost never speaks, and Carmen is forced to quit her job at Woolworth’s to care for Maruca, who is so ashamed that she hardly ever leaves her room.

Feliciano takes Guálinto to visit Martin Goodnam, the father of Buddy Goodnam, the white teenager who impregnated Maruca and bullied her at the kermesse. Martin Goodnam, known as Don Martín by the local Mexicotexans, is an important member of Jonesville’s Blue party machine and a political partner of Judge Norris.

When Feliciano arrives, Martin immediately tries to buy him off in exchange for allowing Buddy to break from Maruca and his child, but Feliciano is insulted and insists that Buddy and Maruca should marry. He reminds Martin that he once saved his life from a raid by Texas Rangers who shot up a cantina while looking for someone else.

Martin attempts to make excuses, including that Buddy is no longer in the house, but Buddy ends up coming downstairs in his pajamas. Martin finally relents after this and agrees to the marriage.

A few days before the planned wedding, Santiago visits Feliciano at home. He makes it clear to Feliciano that he has only come on a legal capacity representing Martin Goodnam, and not as a personal supporter of Martin. After Feliciano assures Santiago that he will not take anything he says personally, Santiago tells him that Martin has betrayed their agreement. Instead of marrying Maruca as planned, Buddy has wed María Elena Osuna, and the newlyweds have fled Jonesville for California.

That night, Feliciano drinks heavily, staring at his pistol, debating whether to kill Martin for his betrayal. María finally emerges from her bedroom and takes the pistol away, hiding it out of Feliciano’s reach. Feliciano is happy to have the temptation taken away from him but continues to drink through the night.

Over the following weeks, the family is too ashamed by the scandal to leave the house for anything other than work, but they manage to begin healing their relationships with one another. María in particular stops torturing Maruca and begins to care for her as a mother again.

Guálinto is playing a game of dice when a local drunk named Chucho insults Maruca. Guálinto tries to attack him, but Chucho pulls out a knife. Undeterred, Guálinto announces that he will return home for his own knife and fight the man fairly. After returning home to retrieve the weapon, Guálinto discovers that Chucho has fled. Infuriated, he scours the streets of Jonesville in anger, determined to kill Chucho for insulting his sister. Over time, his rage subsides, and he finds himself stunned and ashamed by what he was prepared to do.

Guálinto walks past a Mexicotexan dance party and is attracted to a beautiful woman dancing inside. Another man approaches, introduces himself as the woman’s father, and encourages Guálinto to dance with her, but Guálinto turns him down.

In an alley around the corner from the party, Guálinto runs into Chucho. The two of them engage in a knife fight, and while Guálinto is cut on his cheek, he manages to stab Chucho in the stomach, forcing the man to flee. The partygoers emerge and cheer Guálinto for winning the fight. The woman, who introduces herself as Mercedes, comforts Guálinto and tries to convince him to dance with her, but he again refuses.