Last Sunday, a friend and
I drove to San Elizario, Texas for an afternoon visit to an art studio. San
Elizario (San Eli) is a small historic town about ten miles southeast of
El Paso, Texas. The visit brought to mind an unusual evening that my husband
Wayne and I spent in San Eli several years ago. Here is a description of
that evening (the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent,
or maybe me from a lawsuit!)
“Come down to San Eli this
evening with me. I’m
setting up the chuck wagon at the Billy the Kid Cafe,” my husband Wayne said to
me one summer morning.
Several
months earlier, we had discovered a new restaurant in San Eli The owners, Juan and Gloria
Bustamante, soon became our personal friends, and we had enjoyed many home
style Mexican dishes in their small diner. Now Wayne wanted to help
the restaurant attract customers by displaying his chuck wagon there.
photo courtesy of Steven Woods |
It was to be a festive evening in San
Eli. A Hollywood film company was screening a film in the nearby historic
plaza outdoors at sunset. Wayne’s
plan was for visitors to San Elizario to be intrigued enough by the chuck wagon
to stop for a closer look and then visit the cafe.
San Eli chapel and plaza |
The drink of choice was horchata, a refreshing sweet,
rice-based drink, often served in the summer in Mexico. There were small
bowls of tostadas and homemade salsa on the tables. As was my custom
at social events, I quietly drank my horchata and observed my fellow
tablemates. Who were these new acquaintances of my husband’s? And
what might we have in common?
Juan, the restaurant
owner, appeared and gave me a big abrazo.
He and Gloria served plates of beef brisket and corn tortillas. Everyone
ate heartily, and the conversation became even more convivial. Long
shadows were starting to form as the sun went down. When night fell, San
Elizario became transformed into a small Mexican village. Lights went on
in adobe houses, and as a light breeze came up, laughter and music drifted from
the plaza.
My fellow revelers were an
unlikely group, thrown together by special circumstances. The common
thread was that everyone knew the restaurant owners. There was my
husband, Wayne, dressed in full cowboy regalia and joking and telling
stories. There was Sam, a veteran and the owner of the restaurant
property, with his three grown children. There was Juan’s brother-in-law
who left the table from time to time to water down the pavement in front of the
restaurant with a garden hose. His wife was helping Gloria cook
inside.
Our Lady of Guadalupe |
Screening of the film in the plaza ended. A few people drifted over to the restaurant, Hollywood types, conspicuous by their clothes and their haircuts. A husband, wife, and small child, obviously from a more affluent part of El Paso, were sitting at another table. But our table was oblivious to all of these outsiders who weren’t part of our magic. My husband, Wayne, lifted his horchata glass high and proclaimed, “Here’s to friendship!”
Horchata |
Since that evening, Wayne
and I have run into our new acquaintances several times, entering or leaving
the Billy the Kid Restaurant. Sadly, the Ghost of Christmas Present
has moved on to sprinkle another gathering with the magic granules of
goodwill. We say hello,
shake hands, and rush on, almost embarrassed to remember that for one evening,
in a small village, we were, as Dickens so eloquently put it, “Fellow travelers
to the grave.”
Ghost of Christmas Present |
Lovely reading! You have had some wonderful moments, Linda. Glad you are sharing them with us. Love your blog! pc
ReplyDelete!I always enjoy your comments and observations. Thanks for writing!
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