The Koi and the Fox

Memories of life in Villa de Garcia - 1954-1960 

In the summer of 1954, my cousin; David, came to stay with us for a few weeks.  My uncle Moreno had brought him from Monterrey on a bus that he drove between Monterrey and Villa de Garcia.  I never gave much thought that he had a different last name and many years later I found out that Moreno was not his real name. His name was David Negrete Barrera and he was the son of our grandmother Maria Del Pilar from her first marriage. 

                                                                                                                             
David and I were about the same age, I think he was older than me by a couple of months.   His visit was great because he would help me with all my chores and we had more time in the day to go and explore and play with other friends.  Of course, the first few days that my uncle was there he gave us additional chores and one of them took all day - we had to help clean the reservoir pool in the back yard before the irrigation water arrived the following night.  It seemed that our property never got irrigated during the day; it was always at one or two in the morning – very inconvenient.   

Uncle Moreno needed to make repairs to the reservoir pool so he hired two of the neighbors' kids, that were a few years older than David and me, to clean the pool and get it ready for the repairs, but he told us that David and I had to help.  The plan was that David and I would catch the fish in the pool, four large Koi, and put them in a tub.  Once we took the fish out, the two neighbors, Pablo and Bruno, would take out all the water with buckets and clean up all the mud and sediments.  We also had to help with the clean-up. Once that was done, my uncle would mix the mortar and make repairs on the walls and floor of the pool.  There was about a foot of water left in the four-foot deep pool so catching the fish was not that hard.  The hard part was taking the water out and filling the three large galvanized tubs.  One tub was filled with water for our fish, one was used for washing dishes and the other for general use around the house for the next couple of days.  And the third tub of water, along with some additional buckets, we filled were to be used by my uncle when he made the repairs on the pool.

Catching the fish was not difficult. We used a shirt to corner them and bring them out to the tub.  They were large fish, over half the length of my arm and were colored bright white, red and orange colors.  I’m glad they didn’t bite although they had a lot of little teeth.  The nasty part was standing in the pool in slim and muck that covered our feet because the pool had not been cleaned for many months.  The Poor fish, they had to live in that all that time.  Having to get into that pool with bare feet was disgusting.  We had just seen the movie “The Monster from the Black Lagoon” a few weeks ago and my imagination was running double time.  I kept imagining the monster’s arm coming out of the muck, grabbing me and taking me to the pits of hell.  I’m sure David had his own fears because he did not want to get in the pool either and made the rationale that since he was older, he would get into the pool last.  The pool was not that big, a square pool maybe nine feet by nine feet with steps on one of the walls to get down and fetch water when the water level was lower.  

We did our job and Pablo and Bruno came in and did theirs.  They had to shovel the sediments out of the pool.  My uncle had them wash it and mop the bottom before he went in and started his repairs.  I watched him mix the sand and cement into mortar and patch the parts that needed repair on the walls and floor.  He also had us clean the trench that went to the reservoir pool from the main irrigation channel that irrigated the fruit trees and area where we planted the corn and vegetables.  He was going to let all the “muddy” water that came at the beginning of the irrigation go into the orchard and field and then fill the pool when the water flowed clear.  We were asleep when all this happened, so we did not see any of it, but when we got up in the morning, the pool was full of clean water and David and I went out and grabbed the four Koi carp and put them back in the pool – they seemed happy, I could almost hear them thanking us that we cleaned their pool.  

Uncle Moreno left that day because he had to go back to work, but three days later, Uncle Rufino showed up in the evening and told us that he was taking us out fox-hunting the following day.  We went to sleep very excited that evening thinking about chasing and getting several foxes.  I don't know what I imagined since I had never seen a fox in my life.  My mom was excited about the idea too because we had lost several chickens and they thought they were taken by foxes.  That is why she had repaired the coop and installed a higher fence.  But she did not like the idea of David and me going out with guns and in areas where there might be some rattlesnakes.  

We got up early the following morning, I went out to get the milk like always and by the time I got back my mother had breakfast ready.  Instead of egg punch, we got to eat eggs with chorizo.  She had made some tacos for us to take for lunch and she made sure both David and I were wearing our old play shoes because she did not want us to ruin our school shoes.  The three of us, with our guns, set out to the north of town shortly after sunrise with uncle Rufino carrying a bag made out of hemp (moral) with the tacos, the bullets and a canteen of water.  He did not want us to have the bullets until we were way beyond the town.  David had not shot a rifle before and my uncle had to show him how to use the rifle.  I had become an expert during the woodpecker hunt and felt pretty confident and proud of myself because everyone told me I was a great shot.  We took some time to train David once we got out of town toward the foothills of the mountain that is the symbol of Villa de Garcia, el Serro del Fraile.  He kept repeating that we should never point the rifle at anyone and that it should always be pointed up when not in use.  David got the hang of it pretty quick and was almost as good as me when shooting at targets.

It was mid-July and the day was getting very hot.  We stop to rest several times on the shady part of arroyos and large rocks.  We had eaten the tacos my mother made for lunch just before noon.  We were high enough in the foothills that we could look back and see the village below.  About one in the afternoon my uncle caught a glimpse of something moving he thought was a fox.  We grabbed our rifles and moved toward the area where he saw the movement.  We caught a glimpse of the fox farther west from where he had seen it.  It was definitely a fox.  I had never seen a real fox before and it looked like a small skinny dog.  The only thing I could think of is that it must have been very hard to carry the chickens all the way out here, one of our chickens weigh as much as it.  My uncle took several shots at it, David and I never had time to even aim before we lost him again behind a rock.  My uncle kept saying that he was playing with us taking us farther and farther away.  Finally, we drank the last of the water and my uncle decided we should be starting back.  We could see the town way below at the distance and it seemed like a long way.  I wanted Santiago, our neighbor to come and get us in his ox cart.  We walked non-stop for a long way, my mouth was dry, I was sunburned, tired, sweaty and I was beginning to get a headache.  

At the northern edge of town, we came to a small water hole that was part of an irrigation ditch.  There was some water but it was slimy green and full-floating things.  My uncle said that we should go and splash some water on our faces and heads to cool off.  But don’t drink it, he kept telling us because we would get sick.  David and I dropped our guns and ran to the water.  We could see lots of frogs around the edge, many of them jumping in as we approached.  My uncle kept yelling at us not to drink it because it was dirty.  As we approached, we could see the cow poop at the edge of the water and I think the floating things were actually floating cow patties.  We were so hot and thirsty that we didn’t care about the frogs, the scum or the cow patties.  When we got to the edge of the water, we kneeled down in the muddy water and started splashing water on our heads and cooling down.  I saw David drinking some of the water and I figured if he could do it, I could do it also.  My uncle was very upset when he saw what we had done and told us that we were going to get sick. 

We got home before sunset, and before my mother could talk to us, we had to get a bucket of water from the pool in the back yard and wash down.  We changed clothes and neither David nor I felt sick at all.  We had dinner and we told our stories over and over again of how the fox managed to play with us all day.  My mother had us drink several glasses of water before dinner and after dinner to help wash your stomachs out.  We were very tired and just before going to bed, both David and I had diarrhea attacks almost at the same time.  We ran to the outhouse and luckily it had multiple holes and David and I sat there a very long time until my mom came with a lamp to help us.  I never wanted to go fox hunting again.