greeted them and they answered back. When we arrived at
the house we found the little sisters standing by the door, not
daring to go in. La Gorda told them that although I could not
control the allies I could either call them or tell them to leave,
and that the allies would not bother us any longer. The girls
believed her, something I myself could not do in that in-
stance.
We went inside. In a very quiet and efficient manner all of
them undressed, drenched themselves with cold water and
put on a fresh change of clothes. I did the same. I put on the
old clothes I used to keep in don Juan’s house, which la Gorda
brought to me in a box.
All of us were in high spirits. I asked la Gorda to explain
to me what we had done.
We’ll talk about that later, she said in a firm tone.
I remembered then that the packages I had for them were
still in the car. I thought that while la Gorda was cooking
some food for us it would be a good opportunity to distribute
them. I went out and got them and brought them into the
house. I placed them on the table. Lidia asked me if I had al-
ready assigned the gifts as she had suggested. I said that I
wanted them to pick one they liked. She declined. She said
that no doubt I had something special for Pablito and Nestor
and a bunch of trinkets for them, which I would throw on the
table with the intention that they fight over them.
Besides, you didn’t bring anything for Benigno, Lidia
said as she came to my side and looked at me with mock seri-
ousness. You can’t hurt the Genaros’ feelings by giving two
gifts for three.
They all laughed. I felt embarrassed. She was absolutely
right in everything that she had said.
You are careless, that’s why I’ve never liked you, Lidia
said to me, changing her smile into a frown. You have never
greeted me with affection or respect. Every time we saw each
other you only pretended to be happy to see me.
She imitated my obviously contrived effusive greeting, a
greeting I must have given her countless times in the past.
Why didn’t you ever ask me what I was doing here?
Lidia asked me.
I stopped writing to consider her point. It had never oc-
curred to me to ask her anything. I told her that I had no
excuse. La Gorda interceded and said that the reason that I
had never said more than two words to either Lidia or Rosa
each time I saw them was because I was accustomed to talking
only to women that I was enamored of, in one way or an-
other. La Gorda added that the Nagual had told them that if
I would ask them anything directly they were supposed to
answer my questions, but as long as I did not ask, they were
not supposed to mention anything.
Rosa said that she did not like me because I was always
laughing and trying to be funny. Josefina added that since I
had never seen her, she disliked me just for fun, for the hell
of it.
I want you to know that I don’t accept you as the Nagual,
Lidia said to me. You’re too dumb. You know nothing. I
know more than you do. How can I respect you?
Lidia added that as far as she was concerned I could go
back where I came from or go jump in a lake for that matter.
Rosa and Josefina did not say a word. Judging by the seri-
ous and mean expressions on their faces, however, they seemed
to agree with Lidia.
How can this man lead us? Lidia asked la Gorda. He’s
not a true nagual. He’s a man. He’s going to make us into
idiots like himself.
As she was talking I could see the mean expressions on
Rosa’s and Josefina’s faces getting even harder.
La Gorda intervened and explained to them what she had
seen earlier about me. She added that since she had recom-
mended to me not to get entangled in their webs, she was
recommending the same thing to them, not to get entangled
in mine.
After Lidia’s initial display of genuine and well-founded
animosity, I was flabbergasted to see how easily she acquiesced
to la Gorda’s remarks. She smiled at me. She even came and
sat next to me.
You’re really like us, eh? she asked in a tone of bewil-
derment.
I did not know what to say. I was afraid of blundering.
Lidia was obviously the leader of the little sisters. The mo-
ment she smiled at me the other two seemed to be infused
instantly with the same mood.
La Gorda told them not to mind my pencil and paper and
my asking questions and that in return I would not be flus-
tered when they became involved in doing what they loved
the most, to indulge in themselves.
The three of them sat close to me. La Gorda walked over
to the table, got the packages and took them out to my car. I
asked Lidia to forgive me for my inexcusable blunderings of
the past and asked all of them to tell me how they had become
don Juan’s apprentices. In order to make them feel at ease I
gave them an account of how I had met don Juan. Their
accounts were the same as what dona Soledad had already
told me.
Lidia said that all of them had been free to leave don Juan’s
world but their choice had been to stay. She, in particular,
being the first apprentice, was given an opportunity to go
away. After the Nagual and Genaro had cured her, the Nagual
had pointed to the door and told her that if she did not go
through it then, the door would close her in and would never
open again.
My fate was sealed when that door closed, Lidia said to
me. Just like what happened to you. The Nagual told me that
after he had put a patch on you, you had a chance to leave but
you didn’t want to take it.
I remembered that particular decision more vividly than any-
thing else. I recounted to them how don Juan had tricked me
into believing that a sorceress was after him, and then he gave
me the choice of either leaving for good or staying to help him
wage a war against his attacker. It turned out that his alleged
attacker was one of his confederates. By confronting her, on
what I thought was don Juan’s behalf, I turned her against me
and she became what he called my worthy opponent.
I asked Lidia if they had had a worthy opponent themselves.
We are not as dumb as you are, she said. We never
needed anyone to spur us.
Pablito is that dumb, Rosa said. Soledad is his opponent.
I don’t know how worthy she is, though. But as the saying
goes, if you can’t feed on a capon, feed on an onion.
They laughed and banged on the table.
I asked them if any of them knew the sorceress don Juan had
pitted me against, la Catalina.
They shook their heads negatively.
I know her, la Gorda said from the stove. She’s from the
Nagual’s cycle, but she looks as if she’s thirty.
What is a cycle, Gorda? I asked.
She walked over to the table and put her foot on the bench
and rested her chin on her arm and knee.
Sorcerers like the Nagual and Genaro have two cycles,
she said. The first is when they’re human, like ourselves. We
are in our first cycle. Each of us has been given a task and that
task is making us leave the human form. Eligio, the five of us,
and the Genaros are of the same cycle.
The second cycle is when a sorcerer is not human any-
more, like the Nagual and Genaro. They came to teach us,
and after they taught us they left. We are the second cycle to
them.
The Nagual and la Catalina are like you and Lidia. They
are in the same positions. She’s a scary sorceress, just like
Lidia.
La Gorda went back to the stove. The little sisters seemed
nervous.
That must be the woman who knows power plants, Lidia
said to la Gorda.
La Gorda said that she was the one. I asked them if the
Nagual had ever given them power plants.
No, not to us three, Lidia replied. Power plants are given
only to empty people. Like yourself and la Gorda.
Did the Nagual give you power plants, Gorda? I asked
loudly.
La Gorda raised two fingers over her head.
The Nagual gave her his pipe twice, Lidia said. And she
went off her rocker both times.