Castaneda, Carlos – The Second Ring of Power

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.

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