down on her bed. She asked in a very soft voice if I would go
to a hill a short distance away and watch from there to see if
the wind was coming. She added in a most casual manner that
I should take her dog with me. Somehow her request did not
sound right. I said that I would climb up on the roof and look
from there. She turned her back to me and said that the least
I could do for her was to take her dog to the hill so that he
could lure the wind. I became very irritated with her. Her
room in the darkness gave out a most eerie feeling. I went
into the kitchen and got two lanterns and brought them back
with me. At the sight of the light she screamed hysterically.
I let out a yell myself but for a different reason. When the
light hit the room I saw the floor curled up, like a cocoon,
around her bed. My perception was so fleeting that the next
instant I could have sworn that the shadow of the wire pro-
tective masks of the lanterns had created that ghastly scene.
My phantom perception made me furious. I shook her by the
shoulders. She wept like a child and promised not to try any
more of her tricks. I placed the lanterns on the chest of draw-
ers and she fell asleep instantly.
By midmorning the wind had changed. I felt a strong gust
coming through the north window. Around noon dona Sole-
dad came out again. She seemed a bit wobbly. The redness in
her eyes had disappeared and the swelling of her forehead had
diminished; there was hardly any visible lump.
I felt that it was time for me to leave. I told her that al-
though I had written down the message that she had given me
from don Juan, it did not clarify anything.
You’re not your father’s son anymore. You are now the
Nagual himself, she said.
There was something truly incongruous about me. A few
hours before I had been helpless and dona Soledad had actu-
ally tried to kill me; but at that moment, when she was speak-
ing to me, I had forgotten the horror of that event. And yet,
there was another part of me that could spend days mulling
over meaningless confrontations with people concerning my
personality or my work. That part seemed to be the real me,
the me that I had known all my life. The me, however, who
had gone through a bout with death that night, and then for-
gotten about it, was not real. It was me and yet it was not. In
the light of such incongruities don Juan’s claims seemed to
be less farfetched, but still unacceptable.
Dona Soledad seemed absentminded. She smiled peacefully.
Oh, they are here! she said suddenly. How fortunate for
me. My girls are here. Now they’ll take care of me.
She seemed to have had a turn for the worse. She looked as
strong as ever, but her behavior was more disassociated. My
fears mounted. I did not know whether to leave her there or
take her to a hospital in the city, several hundred miles away.
All of a sudden she jumped up like a little child and ran out
the front door and down the driveway toward the main road.
Her dog ran after her. I hurriedly got in my car in order to
catch up with her. I had to drive down the path in reverse
since there was no space to turn around. As I approached the
road I saw through the back window that dona Soledad was
surrounded by four young women.
2
The Little Sisters
Dona Soledad seemed to be explaining something to the four
women who surrounded her. She moved her arms in dramatic
gestures and held her head in her hands. It was obvious she was
telling them about me. I drove up the driveway to where I
had been parked before. I intended to wait for them there. I
deliberated whether to remain in the car or to sit casually on
the left fender. I opted to stand by the car door, ready to jump
in and drive away if something like the events of the previous
day were going to be repeated.
I was very tired. I had not slept a wink for over twenty-four
hours. My plan was to disclose to the young women as much
as I could about the incident with dona Soledad, so they could
take the necessary steps to aid her, and then I would leave.
Their presence had brought about a definite change. Every-
thing seemed to be charged with new vigor and energy. I
felt the change when I saw dona Soledad surrounded by
them.
Dona Soledad’s revelation that they were don Juan’s ap-
prentices had given them such a tantalizing appeal that I could
hardly wait to meet them. I wondered if they were like dona
Soledad. She had said that they were like myself and that we
were going in the same direction. That could be easily inter-
preted in a positive sense. I wanted to believe that more than
anything else.
Don Juan used to call them las hermanitas, the little sisters,
a most befitting name at least for the two I had met, Lidia and
Rosa, two wispy, pixie-like, charming young women. I fig-
ured that they must have been in their early twenties when I
had first met them, although Pablito and Nestor always re-
fused to talk about their ages. The other two, Josefina and
Elena, were a total mystery to me. I used to hear their names
being mentioned from time to time, always in some unfavor-
able context. I had deduced from passing remarks made by
don Juan that they were somehow freakish, one was crazy
and the other obese; thus they were kept in isolation. Once I
bumped into Josefina as I walked into the house with don
Juan. He introduced me to her, but she covered her face and
ran away before I had time to greet her. Another time I caught
Elena washing clothes. She was enormous. I thought that she
must be suffering from a glandular disorder. I said hello to her
but she did not turn around. I never saw her face.
After the buildup that dona Soledad had given them with
her disclosure, I felt driven to talk with the mysterious her-
manitas, and at the same time I was almost afraid of them.
I casually looked down the driveway, bracing myself to
meet all of them at once. The driveway was deserted. There
was no one approaching, and only a minute before they had
been no more than thirty yards from the house. I climbed up
on the roof of the car to look. There was no one coming, not
even the dog. I panicked. I slid down and was about to jump
in the car and drive away when I heard someone say, Hey,
look who’s here.
I quickly turned around to face two girls who had just
stepped out of the house. I deduced that all of them must have
run ahead of me and entered the house through the back door.
I sighed with relief.
The two young girls came toward me. I had to admit to
myself that I had never really noticed them before. They were
beautiful, dark and extremely lean, but without being skinny.
Their long black hair was braided. They wore plain skirts,
blue denim jackets and low-heeled, soft-soled brown shoes.
They were barelegged and their legs were shapely and muscu-
lar. They must have been about five feet three or five feet four
inches. They seemed to be very physical; they moved with
great prowess. One of them was Lidia, the other was Rosa.
I greeted them, and then in unison they initiated a hand-
shake. They flanked me. They looked healthy and vigorous.
I asked them to help me get the packages out of the trunk. As
we were carrying them into the house, I heard a deep growl,
so deep and near that it seemed more like a lion’s roar.
What was that? I asked Lidia.
Don’t you know? she asked with a tone of disbelief.
It must be the dog, Rosa said as they ran into the house,
practically dragging me with them.
We placed the packages on the table and sat on two
benches. Both girls were facing me. I told them that dona
Soledad was very ill and that I was about to take her to the
hospital in the city, since I did not know what else to do to
help her.
As I spoke I realized that I was treading on dangerous
ground. I had no way of assessing how much information I
should divulge to them about the true nature of my bout with