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Show All the Variables & Other Love Stories 42 up in his absence. Then a man in flak jacket and smoke goggles handcuffed him and put him in the back of an armored van marked FBI. Word had reached town of what was awry and by this time the men had arrived bent on protecting what they held most sacred. But natural Christian mercy got the best of them when they saw the federalis armed only with guns, and themselves with rakes and shovels, and they decided against falling like murderous wolves upon these invaders. They tore their beards and shirts and wept on the ground. "May God's love go with you," Father Aguilar said, and made the sign of the cross on the side of the van. The federalis drove south toward Santa Fe, and the van was just visible on the horizon when Estefan Windyhill ran after it along the highroad crying, "Don't take him! /love him!" By and by the palpable boundary between husband and wife dissolved and the two groups mingled awkwardly upon the high road. "You look well enough," Esparanza said to Casabon. He drew circles in the dirt with the toe of a broken shoe and said, "I've got by good enough." She wanted to know if sometimes he missed her, which he affirmed, most times, in fact. Most times she missed him too. And she missed the house all the time. Casabon confessed the house was doing not so well on account of the mess and neglect. Esperanza told him if what he missed was a cook and a scullery maid, she'd be happy as could be to stay at the ranch, but Casabon said not to worry, he'd be happy to wallow in filth and scavenge cold vittles if she never wanted to cook or clean a day of her life again, and swore there was ample proof of his resolve at home. She said if she came home, he must renounce hard liquor all his days, and keep a job, and escort her every Sunday to mass. |