His mother, Dona Lucia, lives just up a little hill. "Good morning, Senorita, or is it good afternoon?"

"Good afternoon, Senora."

"It is hot today isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, but here in your room it is very cool."

"Yes, it is cool." She scoops up a handful of corn meal and slaps it back and forth between her hands until it is thin and perfectly round. Then she puts it on the griddle. "You wouldn't like a hot tortilla with a little salt, Senorita?"

"Thank you, Senora. Do you always make them by hand?"

"No, Senorita, no; when I have time. It takes longer, but they taste better--or so they say." Usually the women flatten the meal in a simple round pressing "machine." Little girls as young as four are accomplished tortilla makers. But the older women remember the day--about twenty years ago--when there were no "machines," and can still do it by hand. Dona Lucia makes tortillas every three days, but younger women with growing families often make them every morning. "And how do you like being here with us, Senorita?"

"I like it very much, Senora."

"But it is very far from your home, no? How do your parents let you come so far by your-self? And our town is very small--there is not much to do..."

Guadalupe Cruz is the oldest grandmother in town. She is Don Leonardo's grandmother. There has never been a happy moment in her life. Her husband died fifteen years ago, and her son died eight months ago. She doesn't get on with her daughter-in-law next door. She invites you into her dark room and hands you some tiny nuts to eat. A grandchild or great-grandchild swings in a makeshift hammock attached to the ceiling over the bed.

"And how are you, Senora?"

The tears begin to well up in her eyes and she dabs them with a cloth. "Life is suffering. The Lord has given us a heavy cross to bear." The child begins to cry, and as she attempts to swing it quiet, you take your leave.

Inevitably, you run into Hortensia. Although she has been in the town only eight days, her presence is well-established. She springs forward in her long black combat boots when she sees you and grasps you by the arm. "Where have you been? You have not come to visit us," she reproaches. She guides you to where the men are drinking in the late afternoon sun. Don Calixto toasts your arrival.

"Senorita, friends, companions--we are all friends here, are we not? (grunts of assent from the gathering)--I would like to welcome the Senorita to our humble town. Senorita: we are humble here, but we are glad that you have come to visit with us. Mario--something to drink for the Senorita." Since you do not want beer, the boy Selso runs to the store to get you a soft drink.

A small blackboard, noted with IOU's, hangs on one wall of the store. If the old Senora is behind the counter alone, and if you buy a few things, then she will have to go out and find the younger Senora, her daughter-in-law, who will go and get her young child, or her husband, if he is home from the fields, to come and figure the sum. Otherwise the Senora adds one more note to the board.