CHAPTER 8
Harris said "After five miserable days on the bus, we finally got to El Paso, and Bob called his cousin who lived there--your cousin--Douglas and asked if we could come by."
Vivian said "I only met Douglas twice--he was the black sheep of the family because he married that Mexican girl he met while stationed out there. Douglas was bitter about the way our family treated her when they came for a visit. They came that one time, and we never saw them again."

Harris said "That's why Bob didn't know what kind of response Douglas would have when he phoned, but Douglas said he'd come pick us up at the bus station. He took us to his house, a little tract house in a Mexican neighborhood, with sand and cactus in the front yard, and in the distance we could see the Rio Grande River,with just a bare trickle of water in it. Douglas said they were in a drought.

The inside of the house was colorful, friendly feeling; painted in yellows and reds and blue, color combinations I have liked ever since. Douglas' wife Tina cooked us a great meal while we were showering and shaving. We ate like starving men; piles of tortillas Tina had hand made, pinto beans with chili peppers, and carne guisada, and quarts of iced tea with lime. I've loved those foods ever since. Then Tina made us a pallett on the floor, and we slept like dead men. We woke to find Tina had washed our clothes--they were neatly folded by our side.

How could anyone not love Tina? And she liked the way I looked. She was shy, but ran her fingers through my blond hair, saying it was so pretty. We needed a haircut, and Tina was loathe to cut mine, 'too pretty' she protested, but she gave us both a trim.
We made ourselves as useful as possible by painting the outside of the house--the air was so dry, the paint would dry immediately, but it turned out well; yellow with blue trim. I could have stayed in El Paso maybe for years, but Douglas and Tina really didn't have room for us, and Bob was itchy to get on to California, so one morning after another great meal, Tina packed lunches for us, and She and Douglas gave us $50.00, with Douglas looking at me and Bob, saying "I bet I'm not the black sheep of the family anymore."


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