George Washington Gómez: A Mexicotexan Novel

The chapter opens with a history of the city of Morelos, once fully a part of Mexico, which once straddled the Rio Grande. After Texas broke from Mexico, there was a standoff between U.S. troops on the north bank and Mexican troops on the south. In an improbable turn of events, a Mexican cannon fired a shot across the Rio Grande that decapitated the U.S. commander, Captain Jimmy Jones, and so the American half of Morelos was renamed “Jonesville.” Many families still have relatives on both sides of the river, and the border there is relatively fluid.

Feliciano travels to El Danubio Azul to accept his new job under Faustino Bello. Bello is glad for the help and offers Feliciano and the family a small house behind the cantina. Feliciano accepts and one of Bello’s employees, Juan Rubio, shows them the house. Feliciano is so astounded by the men’s kindness and his sudden change of fortune that he wonders if he had been shot by the band of men outside town after all and has entered some idyllic afterlife.

After Feliciano is shown the house, Faustino Bello offers to sell it to him on a rent-to-own scheme for $2/week, as well as a respectable salary for working in the cantina that is far beyond what Feliciano expected.