The Tragic Corrido of Romeo and Lupe

[print edition page number: 225]

Adapted from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Original music and lyrics by Seres Jaime Magaña, Veronique Medrano, and Arnulfo Daniel Segovia

SETTING: Our tale is set in an alternate timeline in a growing Republic of Texas, where events from throughout history are all clashing at once around the love story of Romeo and Lupe.

Characters

MR. CAMPBELL — Owner of the Campbell Irrigation Company
MRS. CAMPBELL — Wife of Mr. Campbell
ROMEO — Son of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell and heir to the Campbell Irrigation Company
NELSON — Romeo’s cousin and son of the Campbell Irrigation Company General Sales Director
STELLAN — Son of the Campbell Irrigation Company General Sales Manager
BALTI — Romeo’s childhood friend and a farmworker born in the Rio Grande Valley
MERCUTIO — Republic of Texas soldier stationed in the Rio Grande Valley and son of the Town Judge
DON DÍAZ — Patriarch of the Díaz family
LUPE — Daughter of Don Díaz
TÍA MARLA — Lupe’s aunt
DELMA — Lupe’s cousin and her most trusted friend
RAMÓN — Lupe’s cousin [226]
PLÁCIDO — Lupe’s cousin and a farmworker and activist
DÍAZ 1 — Lupe’s cousin
PADRE LAURO — Botanist and priest from Mexico
CORRIDO SINGER — Chorus
TOWN JUDGE
PROTESTORS
MODEL 1
MODEL 2
CUSTOMER
POLICE OFFICER
PARAMEDIC
MAIL CARRIER
FUNERAL HOME CARETAKER [227]

ACT 1
Scene 1

CORRIDO SINGER
Damas y caballeros. Ladies and gentlemen. Les traigo un consejo.

(singing)

No le digas no al amor
No hagas tanto coraje
Este es mi mensaje
Don’t say no to love

Here in the Magic Valley
In the Republic of Texas
On these fertile lands
Of opportunity
Covered in blood and strife
Blooms a forbidden love

No le digas no al amor
No hagas tanto coraje
Este es mi mensaje
Don’t say no to love

Sabes de la antigua discordia
Aquí en el Valle Mágico
La gente se levanta en protesta
Contra los visionarios

No le digas no al amor
No hagas tanto coraje
Este es mi mensaje
Don’t say no to love

Only love can free a soul
Take heed of this true story
Don’t say no to love

Rivals equal in dignity,
Civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From the fatal loins of these foes [228]
A pair of star-crossed lovers,
Who could not love freely, end their life.
Now we turn back the clock and revive this
Tragic Corrido of Romeo and Lupe.

Scene 2

CORRIDO SINGER
Welcome to Cage Boulevard,
Here in the city of Pharr.
A big night just ’round the corner,
The Birthday Party they call it,
A display of the valley’s reward.
People are coming from miles around.
They’re looking to know what all the chisme is about.

The TOWN JUDGE enters with MR. CAMPBELL.

That man there is Mr. Campbell, followed by the town judge. He owns Campbell Irrigation. He is respected by most and most detested by some. The locals show their affection, writing his name across cardboards. They tell him to leave, to rot, to die, to never return anymore. You ask, why the reputation? The thing about Campbells is this: they are ambitious dreamers, nothing can stop their visions, as they build their dreams through refugees, as they build their dreams through people’s homes. So as you can see, it’s easy to tell why they dislike him so. The Campbells live across the valley, but tonight they are here in town. That is because the boss is here with us, and he is looking to lure in some buyers.

MR. CAMPBELL
It has worked marvelously. I sent out flyers all over the Republic announcing our land sale. And we have received a fantastic response. It’s going to be a great night.

MR. CAMPBELL and the TOWN JUDGE exit.

CORRIDO SINGER
The Campbells have prepared for so many nights just as the protestors who are about to enter have prepared for today’s protest. Yet regardless of all their preparation, they’ll be too late to turn their wrongs right. [229]

MR. CAMPBELL exits. The CORRIDO SINGER’s guitar is suddenly accompanied by drums, adding a rap beat to the melody. RAMÓN enters.

RAMÓN (rapping)

to my ancestors
Magic Valley fame
since before northern investors
the Republic of Texas
brought the growth and strife
got me feeling life is conflict
so I brought my knife
tried to tear us down like weeds
didn’t know that we was seeds
land of opportunity but the infantry exceeds
our greatest protests
my words are true I confess
we tryna keep our way
but don’t know what it means
Aztec Tejano flow my life is so supreme
like a young Cuauhtemoc destined to be the king
but heavy is the head that wears the crown
kissed by the sun, that’s why my people is brown
we’ve got our own rules, we’ve got our own tools
our own ways of living, and we won’t be made fools
I got the spirits of the ancients,
and they telling me be patient
but I soaked up the old ways,
now I’m gonna make my statement
what is buried is the conflict in the food we pick
breathing in chemical vapors, it make us sick
like two sides to a coin,
I’m calling you to join
in breaking every chain,
in channeling this pain
as it pumps through my veins
and expels in my verse
siphoning my life’s curse
till I’m rolling in the hearse
then return me to the earth, [230]
lay me in the corn fields
cuz even in the afterlife I still be keeping it real
cuz even in the afterlife my people still on the battlefield
so let me tell you the deal:
I bare culture, I bare pain,
both Turtle Island and Spain
I’m like the smell of the earth after a summer a rain
planting seeds like prodigy
is this Tejano’s odyssey
you oughta see like the dreamers we naive,
it’s not exactly how it seems
depending on the version you read of the history
but I would bleed for this land,
I’m extending out my hand
I’m telling you to fight,
till we return to sand.

NELSON, STELLAN, and BALTI enter. RAMÓN is joined by PLÁCIDO and DÍAZ 1.

RAMÓN
Hey, Campbells, I got something for ya! You looked, vato! You looked!

NELSON
What’s wrong with you?

RAMÓN
I get to punch you.

NELSON
Don’t you dare lay a finger on me.

STELLAN
I don’t quite follow you. Why do you say you get to punch him?

RAMÓN
That’s the rule. I make an “O” with my fingers below the waistline — if you look through it, I get to punch you. You looked. Now I punch you.

NELSON
I don’t have time for this stupidity. [231]

RAMÓN
But that’s the rule, vato. It’s the law around here. Right, primo?

PLÁCIDO
The law is on our side.

NELSON
Are you looking for a quarrel?

RAMÓN
Do I hear a voice that tells me not to fight? No, not a voice is there.

PLÁCIDO
Don’t worry, primo. We are not looking for a fight. We are only looking to keep our ways. Because here we have our own rules. Our own way of living. And you want to come here and make this your home. Well, the rule is you get a punch if you look. You looked. Ponte.

RAMÓN
There might have been a voice in my head that talked of peace, but now there is a louder voice, the voice of violence.

He brings out a pocketknife. MERCUTIO enters.

MERCUTIO
Well, I’m glad that voice is speaking, because I’m its best listener.

NELSON & STELLAN
Mercutio?

MERCUTIO
I’ve returned. But more about that later over a drink at the Shamrock. You can also tell me the details of this quarrel, but for now …

They fight. The TOWN JUDGE enters from inside Padre Lauro’s Botica.

TOWN JUDGE
Stop! Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, profaners who stain the streets of our promising Magic Valley with your neighbors’ blood. Will you not listen? Or are you like a beast, quenching the fire of your pernicious rage with the red fountains that issue from each other’s veins? In respect for the law of our Republic, control your tempers and throw down your weapons! Díaz! [232] Withdraw at once to your homes. If you do transgress like this upon the peace of our valley again, I will have to start putting somebody under arrest. Mercutio! With me son.

MERCUTIO
Anything for your majesty.

PLÁCIDO
Vámonos.

The TOWN JUDGE, MERCUTIO, PLÁCIDO, DÍAZ 1, and RAMÓN exit as MR. CAMPBELL and MRS. CAMPBELL enter.

MR. CAMPBELL
That man Plácido is really starting to distemper me. I don’t care who started this. Learn to act civil. Something like this again and I will be forced to start letting some of you go. I don’t care if you are my family …

He is interrupted by a charro yell. ROMEO enters singing “Amorcito Corazón” by Pedro Infante, not noticing his parents.

NELSON
In love?

ROMEO
Out.

STELLAN
Out of love?

ROMEO
Out of her favor where I am in love. Love that is so sweet in appearance, when in actuality it is tyrannous and cruel.

NELSON
Love is blind. And even so it still finds pathways for its lust.

ROMEO
Balti! Oh my dear camarada, my heart is heavy with the love of my life, Rosalina. You’ve seen her. The daughter of Don Pérez. ¡Esta chula!

BALTI tries to direct ROMEO’s attention to his father using his eyes, and clearing his throat, but with no success. ROMEO tries to hand BALTI a drink. [233]

ROMEO
Here. This will clear your throat.

BALTI
No bebo mientras trabajo.

ROMEO
But you must drink. You must celebrate. Celebrate our friendship. Oh, how I thank you for being in my life, dear Balti. You saved my life when we were boys, when I was about to drown, and although my judgmental jerk of a father does not completely approve of our friendship, you don’t know how much I absolutely love you, and you don’t know how much I thank you for saving my life that day. Because if I had died, I would not have drank all that tequila, and I would not have had these lips lay on the beautiful tender pink lips of Rosalina!

MR. CAMPBELL
That’s enough, Romeo.

ROMEO turns around and notices his parents.

ROMEO
Father.

MR. CAMPBELL
Drinking in the morning, son?

ROMEO
Is the day so young? I thought I saw the moon out. What happened here? You all had a fight? Sure it has much to do with hate, but more to do with love. Hateful love, loving hate, anything of nothing first created, heavy lightness, selfless selfishness, chaos of seemingly well-shaped forms, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, reality sown of daydreams. Don’t you laugh at these ironies?

NELSON
Rather, I weep.

ROMEO
At what?

NELSON
At your mind’s loss of sense. [234]

ROMEO and NELSON wrestle.

MRS. CAMPBELL
¡Peleoneros! I don’t even know why I cook for you if you all would just rather be dead. All you Campbells are so impulsive.

MR. CAMPBELL raises his hand with annoyance to indicate to his wife to be quiet.

ROMEO
Mom is right.

MR. CAMPBELL
Both of you, back to the hotel. Now!

ROMEO and MRS. CAMPBELL exit.

MR. CAMPBELL (to the rest)
Get on with your day.

All exit except NELSON and MR. CAMPBELL.

MR. CAMPBELL
Nelson. Come here. Who is this Rosalina?

NELSON
She works out in the fields. Many a day has Romeo been seen there, with tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew, adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs, all the time howling like a mad dog, “Rosalina, let me in your heart!”

MR. CAMPBELL
Black and ill must this humor prove. Unless good counsel may the cause remove. It’s time I have a proper talk with my son.

They exit. [235]

Scene 3

ROMEO and MR. CAMPBELL enter the living room area of their suite.

MR. CAMPBELL
What is the point? What is the point of all this we work so hard to build? There are times, son, that my heart beams with pride when I see your natural talent to be the heir to this company. Then there are times that you make me afraid that I will regret ever handing such a proud achievement to somebody of such low estimation. Your mind gets the best of you. You can’t hold a thought before chasing after a new delusion. You prove to me again and again that I can’t rely on you.

ROMEO
If you would just listen to what is in my heart …

MR. CAMPBELL
What is in your heart has clouded your mind, and I expect you to get yourself in order. Your inconsistency is ridiculous. One minute, you are the best asset to the company. A man worth the name. And at another minute, you are drunk and drooling over some farm girl! You lack pride! You lack dignity! You are the future owner of the Campbell Irrigation Company. You are an important man. You must earn the respect of people and always keep yourself above them, so they will know their place. You can’t be embarrassing yourself as you did today.

ROMEO
That’s the problem, father. That you look down on everyone. Just like you look down on my mother for being mexicana.

MR. CAMPBELL
Enough! I have given you and your mother a better life than anyone could have asked for. You are nobody to judge me. What do you have to say for yourself? Nothing! You’re just a young fool living off your father’s money. You have no idea what it means to struggle for what you want. You have no character, no mettle. I’m sick and tired of this. I don’t care if you are my son, you will not inherit what you have not earned. I will not place the future of this company, of all my hard work, in the hands of somebody so incompetent. More of this [236] and I will be sending you away to the military to earn your honor. Either that, or you can live on the street.

ROMEO
I’m sorry, father. I don’t know what came over me. I will do better.

MR. CAMPBELL
Actions speak louder than words.

MR. CAMPBELL exits.

ROMEO
What’s the point of actions speaking if the world is deaf?

ROMEO exits.

Scene 4

DELMA is at the Díaz house. She hears voices approaching and realizes that it’s DON DÍAZ and TÍA MARLA. She quickly hides to spy on their conversation.

DON DÍAZ
Mi sobrino solo hace lo que hace para defender su hogar. Tan solo la semana pasada esos Campbells sacaron al Pepe y su familia de su casa, que para excavar un canal.

TÍA MARLA
Ambos tú y el señor Campbell son señores muy honrados. El problema con lo que pasó ahora fue un pleito de jóvenes. Alguien tiene que controlar a estos muchachos. ¿Pero dime, hermano, qué dices a lo que te ofrezco?

DON DÍAZ
Mi respuesta es no. Mi Lupita nunca ha salido del valle. No conoce el mundo. Tiene sólo catorce años.

TÍA MARLA
Dos veranos más y será adulta. ¿Qué quieres? ¿Que termine casada con algún campesino? ¿O con algún cholo, o un pobretón? Deja llevármela a México conmigo. Yo la haría tal dama, que un hombre no la escogerá, ella escogerá a un hombre. [237]

DON DÍAZ
Mi Lupita no está en edad para estar pensando en matrimonios. ¿De qué hablas? Más, sus primos la tienen bien cuidada.

TÍA MARLA
Sus primos son unos vagos. Más, ellos no la pueden cuidar a todas horas, tienen sus vagancias que atender. Hermano, hay muchachitas más jóvenes que ella en este vecindario que ya son madres. De eso tienes que tener cuidado.

DON DÍAZ
Tienes razón. Cuando murió su madre, la tierra se tragó mi felicidad, y la poca que me quedo, se la debo a mi Lupita. Odiaría ver a mi muchachita maltratada por algún pelado.

TÍA MARLA
Vez lo que te digo.

DON DÍAZ
Pero tienes que convencerla. Mi consentimiento es tan solo una parte. La cosa es que ella quiera ir.

TÍA MARLA
Vendrá, si sabe lo que es bueno para ella. Yo a su edad me hubiera encantado esta oportunidad. Recibir el consejo de una mujer con experiencia. De alguien que me haya podido guiar y advertir. Más, la casa de mi difunto esposo es muy grande tan solo para mí. Me gustaría la compañía de una mujer. Ya tendría más o menos la edad de Lupe mi hija si hubiera nacido. Eso fue hace tanto tiempo. Piénsalo. Lupe es una muchacha muy atractiva, y necesita una buena educación. Aquí se va a ser una naquita pocha. A menos de que se case con uno de estos Campbells que dices, o algún …

DON DÍAZ
De ninguna manera. Esa clase de gente se cree mejor que los demás. Desde que te casaste con ese ricachón, que descanse en paz, y te fuiste de la casa y lejos de la vida del campo, se te olvidó tu humildad. Lupe se merece el cielo y las estrellas. Que la traten como lo más majestuoso y esencial de la vida.

TÍA MARLA
Pues no se me haría raro que se junte con alguien que la humille, ya que ella se humilla a ella misma. [238]

DON DÍAZ
¿Qué habladurías dices?

TÍA MARLA
Sí, el otro día las escuche a ella y a Delma hablando en inglés entre ellas. ¿Para que hablen en inglés si ellas son mexicanas? ¿Que acaso le da vergüenza ser quien es? Hasta luego, hermano.

TÍA MARLA exits.

DON DÍAZ
¡Lupe! ¡Lupe! ¿Dónde está esa niña? ¡Lupe!

DELMA exits from her hiding place while DON DÍAZ isn’t looking. He turns around just in time to see her by the door and thinks she’s just entered.

DON DÍAZ
Delma, mija, que bueno que llegas. ¿Dónde está tu prima? Ayúdame a buscarla.

DELMA & DON DÍAZ
¡Lupe! ¡Lupe!

DON DÍAZ exits and LUPE enters. She is distracted, folding an elegant dress and placing it suspiciously under a drawer.

DELMA
Lupe, hazme caso. ¿Para qué es ese vestido?

LUPE
Para esta noche.

DELMA
¿No me digas que estás planeando ir a la protesta?

LUPE
No hay de otra. Tú sabes que tengo que ir.

DELMA
¿Y de dónde sacaste el vestido? No me digas que … ¡No!

LUPE
Sí, lo tomé del cuarto de Tía Marla. [239]

DELMA
Que loca estás. Acaso tengo que recordarte que Tía Marla lleva estos vestidos cada año al altar que tiene en su casa para su bebé que perdió en parto. Si aún recuerdo cuando tenía yo doce años y Tía Marla vino a visitarnos, y me enseñó el primer vestidito amarillo de bebe, seguido por otros catorce, uno por cada año. Y cuando su muertita cumplió quince años le llevó un vestido de quinceañera al altar con una corona. Y a la corona le puso velo, ya ves que con sus vestidos siempre lleva un turbante, que para que el sol no moleste el descanso de su muertita.

LUPE
Es por eso que es perfecto, porque esconderá mi rostro. Y no es un vestido que he usado antes, o que usualmente usaría. Nadie me reconocerá.

DELMA
Pero no vas a un velorio. Esta es una Fiesta de Cumpleaños del Magic Valley.

LUPE
Ah nadie le va a importar.

DON DÍAZ enters. They don’t notice him.

DELMA
Lástima que sea verde. Parece moco.

DON DÍAZ (aside)
Escúchalas. Sí hablan en español. Su tía está equivocada.

DELMA
Pero no crees que …

She notices DON DÍAZ standing close to them.

Be careful what you say, your father is here.

LUPE
He is right behind me, isn’t he?

DELMA
Yeah. Tía Marla was talking to him. She wants to take you to Mexico with her.

LUPE
No way! [240]

DON DÍAZ
¿Por qué cambiaron de español a inglés así cuando llegue yo? ¿Están escondiendo lo que dicen? Tu tía Marla tiene razón. ¡Tiene razón! Necesitas que alguien te corrija, Lupe. Desde que tu madre murió, mi corazón es débil, y no logró imponer mi carácter sobre ti como debo. Es por eso que he decidido que te marcharas con …

LUPE
Ay, papá, ¿cómo crees que vamos hablar en inglés para esconder las cosas de ti? Tú sabes que hemos crecido aquí, y el inglés es tan parte de nosotras como el español. Si quieres hasta te enseño inglés. Cualquier cosa para pasar más tiempo con mi papito chulo que lo quiero tanto.

DON DÍAZ
¡Ya, párale, ya! Tienes razón, mija. Que estoy pensando. Yo no te quiero lejos. Más me recuerdas tanto a tu madre, que en paz descanse. Te he platicado el cuento de la carreta y el alazán.

LUPE
Tú sabes que me encanta ese cuento. Platícame de nuevo.

DELMA
Sí, tío, ándale.

DON DÍAZ
Fue cuando tú eras una bebita. Los tiempos eran difíciles para campesinos como nosotros, y vivíamos con el Jesús en la boca por la falta de dinero. Aun así, esos fueron los años más felices de mi vida. Pues tenía el apoyo de tu madre, y mi vida brillaba con la luz de mi chiquitita. En esos días yo era dueño de un hermoso alazán. Pero me hacía falta una silla de montar. Tu madre cuidaba mucho de una carreta muy útil que ella solita armó. Desafortunadamente, ella batallaba mucho con el viejo buey que jalaba su carreta, el cual en cualquier momento iba a estirar la pata. Así que poco antes de llegar nuestro aniversario, yo subí al norte por unos meses para trabajar, pero en realidad buscaba vender mi alazán y comprarle a tu madre una mula nueva y fuerte para su carreta. Tu madre tomó la oportunidad y contigo en sus brazos se dirigió al sur a vender su carreta y comprarme una silla mexicana para mi alazán. Cuando me fui, me despedí de un valle con caminos abiertos y regresé a una frontera cerrada. Lo debimos haber visto venir. Pues poco a poco después de la guerra civil se empezó a construir una cerca, que para que no cruzara el ganado con sus piojos. Después, la República de Texas comenzó a exigir [241] exámenes para poder pasar. Fue así que la frontera nos cruzó a nosotros y no nosotros a la frontera. Para cuando regresé a casa, con las nuevas mulas para tu madre, todo había cambiado, y ahora mi familia no podía poner pie aquí sin que se les diga ilegales. Donde yo anduve tranquilo a pie, ahora mis sobrinos andan escondidos y arrastrándose por la tierra.

DELMA
Tranquilo, tío. No se enoje. Yo se como es eso. Aún tengo las cicatrices de las espinas del nopal en la planta de mis pies, de cuando yo cruce.

DON DÍAZ
Tu madre se había quedado del lado mexicano y yo del estadounidense. Nos empezamos a comunicar por medio de cartas. Cuando aprendí que ella había ido al sur a vender su carreta para comprar mi silla y ella que yo fui al norte a vender mi alazán para comprar sus mulas, nos dio tanta risa. ¿Qué íbamos a hacer? ¡Andar montados en una mula!

LUPE
Me encanta esa historia. Que los dos hayan estado dispuestos a sacrificar lo que más atesoran para demostrarse lo tanto que se aman. Espero algún día encontrar un amor así.

DON DÍAZ
Tú estás muy jovencita para andar pensando en el amor.

LUPE
Ay, ya papá.

DON DÍAZ
Te quiero mucho, mija. Jamás quiero volver a sentir lo que sentí al perder a tu madre. Le diré a tu tía que te quedarás conmigo. Yo quiero disfrutar cuanto tiempo pueda con mi hija. Aún recuerdo el día que el río te trajo de regreso a mí, el mismo río que se llevó la vida de tu madre.

PLÁCIDO enters.

DON DÍAZ
Ah, sobrino. Ya no se ande metiendo usted en pleitos, mijo. Que no ve que lo queremos mucho y no queremos que le pase nada. Ande con cuidado. Los quiero tanto a todos.

DON DÍAZ exits. [242]

PLÁCIDO
Lupita, I came to tell you to please …

LUPE
¿Que no me meta en tus pleitos? Plácido, the judge already warned you what will happen next time something like today breaks out. If you do this protest tonight, tomorrow you will either be arrested or hiding out someplace. Please don’t do it.

PLÁCIDO
I don’t understand how you can ask me to turn my back on my duty.

LUPE
Then let me go with you.

PLÁCIDO
No way, Lupe. It will be dangerous.

LUPE
That’s why I want to go.

DELMA
You don’t fight when Lupe is around.

PLÁCIDO
That’s because I’m scared of my primita getting hurt. But tonight is an important night, so we can’t go easy on them. You have to stay home, Lupita. I’ll be fine. I will be doing what I have to do for mi gente.

LUPE
Nobody should be in danger of getting hurt. These are peaceful protests, remember? Keep that in mind.

PLÁCIDO
If it comes to violence, I’m not to blame. But if they want a fight, we’ll give them one back. Be safe, primita.

PLÁCIDO exits.

LUPE
I must go. Enter the party in a disguise. Once he delivers his protest message, I will reveal myself and persuade him to withdraw. Hopefully he will listen.

LUPE grabs the dress and exits. [243]

DELMA
I know mi prima. She is going to try to cut off the protest before it escalates — that much is true — but I know that’s not the only reason why. Go on, Lupe, seek happy nights to happy days!

DELMA exits.

Scene 5

STELLAN, NELSON, BALTI, and ROMEO hang out in their suite at the Pharr Hotel.

STELLAN
It’s almost time for the birthday party.

NELSON
And we will not go like a blindfolded cupid, or beheaded chickens, frightening the ladies like scarecrows. Let them measure us by what we are. I, Nelson Campbell, future Sales Director of Campbell Irrigation, learning the ways of my father. Stellan Caudwell, son of our Sales Manager. Balti, the musician. And Romeo Campbell, son of our Company Director, future heir to all his father’s land and riches.

STELLAN
Such prolixity is outdated. Let them measure us by what they will.

NELSON
I’ll measure them a measure and be gone.

ROMEO
I’m not up for this.

BALTI
Is there something on your mind, Romeo?

ROMEO
I’m thinking of a dream I had last night.

BALTI
Let go of yesterday’s dreams and welcome tonight’s. [244]

NELSON
Yes, just focus on the party.

ROMEO
I will not be going to the party.

STELLAN
Mercutio will be there.

ROMEO
Mercutio is in town?

There is a knock at the door. NELSON opens it.

NELSON
Speak of the devil.

MERCUTIO enters. ROMEO jumps out of his chair to greet him. The two longtime friends are happy to see each other after so many months apart.

ROMEO
It’s been such a long time, Mercutio.

MERCUTIO
That’s funny. I would say the hours were cut short. I feel like I left yesterday, and I’m already back in this wretched valley.

ROMEO
To me, hours are long. For I don’t have that which, otherwise if I had, would make the hours fly by unnoticed. But what made you come back? And what is this you’re wearing?

MERCUTIO
I did not come back, I was sent back. Yes, as you guess, I’m with one of the infantries stationed here. As destiny has it, there is no escaping my father and this nauseating place. As you know, I left, looking for anything really. I reached the great cities north of our Republic. I was thinking of going into the stock business. But next thing I know, everybody is panicking about a stock market crash, banks are in mayhem, people are going broke. Father told me to come back home, and I, thinking nothing could force me out of the valley more than a uniform, joined the military. Then what happens? I’m stationed right here in the Magic Valley! Under the shadow of my father, my drill sergeant, [245] and don’t forget, dear Uncle Sam. God, Romeo, you’re a mess. All you’re going to attract looking like that is a mule. Since when is dear Romeo so careless and unready for a night to dance? Hurry up and get ready, it’s getting late.

NELSON
I should inform you — our dear Romeo does not want to join us at the party tonight.

MERCUTIO
No? What are you, sick?

ROMEO
I got a hundred tequila worms eating my heart.

STELLAN
This time her name is Rosalina.

ROMEO
What do you mean this time?

MERCUTIO
Now I understand the reason for my friend looking like such a mess. He is being delirious about another of his romances gone astray. No way, we must have Romeo dance tonight.

ROMEO
My heart is heavy, which makes my whole body heavy. I can’t move.

MERCUTIO
You are a lover. Borrow cupid’s wings.

NELSON
Yes. And soar with them above common ground.

ROMEO
I am too wounded by one of his arrows to soar with his light feathers, and, so bound, were I a singer, I could not sing a note above dull sadness. I sink under love’s heavy burden.

MERCUTIO
And by sinking you will burden love: too great an oppression for a tender thing. [246]

ROMEO
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too selfish, and it pricks like a thorn.

MERCUTIO
If love is rough with you, be rough with love. We are wasting time!

ROMEO
No. It would not be wise to go.

MERCUTIO
And why not?

ROMEO
I had a dream.

MERCUTIO
So did I.

ROMEO
What was yours?

MERCUTIO
That dreamers often lie.

ROMEO
In bed asleep while they dream things true.

MERCUTIO
Then I see you’ve eaten a button off her crown. From it blossoms a flower of fair pink petals. It is no bigger than a hand palm and lays on the bronze head of an alderwoman. She is the fairest midwife. Sowing sights and feels with a team of little atoms as it drizzles them over men’s dormant heads. She has a spider’s legs, and whistles like the white noise from a grasshopper. She draws the thinnest spider web made of moonshine’s watery beams; she has a whip made from a cricket’s backbone. Her chariot is unlike an Englishman’s Queen Mab, which is like an empty hazelnut; instead, her chariot is a dripping lemon. She gallops night by night through lovers’ brains and makes them dream of love, and thus, love is but the effects of her dreamlike web on their cerebrum. This is she —

ROMEO
Settle down, Mercutio. You talk about nothing. [247]

MERCUTIO
True, I talk about dreams. And what are dreams, both the ones we sit on and the ones we set after, if not children of an idle brain, conceived of nothing but vain fantasy, which is as thin a substance as the air, and more inconstant than the changing wind that swirls us around in any direction like fallen leaves. In fact, every dream is a nightmare.

ROMEO
You talk about dreams as if they’ve sickened you.

MERCUTIO
And so you hit it right — dreams are a sickness of the brain, for a dream’s nature depends on what we insert in our minds, what’s in our blood, our bellies, and most of all, it depends on the state of our humor. Don’t be so high up in your mind, Romeo, or else your humor turns cold. This Rosalina that you’re lamenting, like a rose she will shrivel up, and at this pace you are shriveling up with her. No, dear friend, you and I are young! And we can’t waste our youth in dreams, in wondering. I’ve wasted enough time that way. I want to live. Feel alive. For while you sit here in the peace of the Magic Valley, in your bubble of dreams, other corners of the world are not as quiet. The depression ravages the North, the world war rises. In one place people starve, in another people are murdered, and in another happy wealthy families sit together rotting in their own hypocrisy. It’s a ticking clock, this train you’re riding called life, and the shadow of death lurks over every second.

NELSON
It’s past eight. We should start heading down to the lobby.

STELLAN
There is a mob gathering outside.

MERCUTIO
Guess I was wrong. Not even the valley is quiet. See what I mean? Wake up, Romeo. Life is but a glimpse, and you are too late.

ROMEO (aside)
To me it appears I’m much too soon. For so much of tonight is so like my dream, where I foresaw Mercutio’s arrival and this protest. My mind misgives some consequence hanging in the stars, which will bitterly begin its fearful turn toward the expiration of this life that beats through me. But he that steers my course directs my sail forward. [248]

NELSON
So will you be coming?

ROMEO
Yes. Mercutio, I am happy for your return, dearest friend. Let me get a change of clothes.

MERCUTIO
Now you’re talking sense. Here, take a button from her crown.

ROMEO
No, Mercutio. Tonight, I keep a clear head.

ROMEO exits into his room. All others exit into the Pharr Hotel lobby, where the party is beginning.

Scene 6

At the party, LUPE wears a dress and a hat with a veil that covers her face. She crosses the party unnoticed by ROMEO.

MERCUTIO
Taste this stuff, it is amazing.

ROMEO
My appetite is not up to it.

MERCUTIO
And does your peon want a plate?

BALTI
No se me antoja. I personally love tortillas, and here there is only bread.

MERCUTIO exits. ROMEO walks across the room to his father.

ROMEO
Dad, I wanted to ask you a question.

MR. CAMPBELL
What is it, Romeo? I’m busy.

ROMEO
Where is mom? [249]

MR. CAMPBELL
She was feeling sick.

ROMEO
I don’t recall her being sick.

MR. CAMPBELL
Enough, Romeo. I won’t have it tonight. Gentlemen, let’s make sure those cabbage crates are ready to catch the train.

ROMEO returns with BALTI.

BALTI
Is everything okay? You look upset.

ROMEO
Father left mother at home. Wouldn’t want people to find out he has a Mexican wife.

BALTI
Pay no heed to it.

ROMEO
What kind of jerk do you have to be to marry a person, and go to the extent of having children with them, just so you could own the land they inherited? Look at him. How unhappy a man. To never love.

BALTI
I daresay he does love your mother. But he can’t help who he is. Your father has chosen a difficult position to uphold.

ROMEO
And what is more important: position or love? What is the point of upholding such an “honorable” position with a hollow heart? I try to see my father’s vision, but he lies, he cheats these people, and he steals from them. Agh! I can’t tolerate it!

BALTI
Your grievance with him is so great. You should join the protestors.

ROMEO
Balti, that is an excellent idea. [250]

BALTI
No, it’s not. Do you know who you are? They’ll tear you apart.

ROMEO
I’ll not be Romeo tonight. I will go in a disguise. Seriously. This is so boring. The real party is over there with them. Lend me some of your work clothes.

BALTI
Are you sure about this?

ROMEO
Of course I am.

ROMEO and BALTI exit.

MR. CAMPBELL
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank everybody for traveling such a long way down to discover the magic of our valley. Welcome to this year’s party and fashion show, celebrating the birthday of our beautiful Magic Valley. It’s an enchanting night. The moon sets high over our beautiful palm trees looming over our rich harvests: cotton, cane, grapefruit, carrot, broccoli. You name it!

ROMEO enters dressed as a farmworker.

A life of prosperity awaits you here. That same life of ensured liberty and prosperity that the founding fathers of our Republic envisioned. Tranquility for your family and the promise of never-ending growth. Once again, I want to thank everybody. And give a big round of applause for our beautiful models.

MODEL 1 enters dressed representing grapefruits.

MODEL 1
This valley here is a grapefruit. Anywhere you make a cut, the nectar from the land spills out like an open wound. You cut deep into it. And you drain it of its soul. Sister, where were you?

MODEL 2 enters dressed representing grapes.

MODEL 2
I was hungry and wandering, when I saw a woman eating grapes. I told her, “Please, give me one for my child.” She said, “Go away. Your feet are muddy, and I despise your stare.” [251]

MR. CAMPBELL (aside)
What is this? Security!

MODEL 2
I saw her husband sucking on a sugar cane like a thumb. All the time he cries, “I want more.”

MODELS 1 & 2
We do not want your segregation, your discrimination, your dreams. Esta tierra no te quiere aquí. This is not your Magic Valley, this is the RGV. This is not your Magic Valley, this is the RGV.

PLÁCIDO enters followed by protestors. He recites the chant along with the MODELS.

LUPE
You’ve made your point. Let’s go home.

PLÁCIDO
What are you doing here? I told you we were not going to go easy on them. Take her home!

Suddenly a fight breaks out. While being taken away, LUPE takes advantage of the distraction and releases herself, managing to get away from her primos while dodging people fighting in the crowd. She is pushed by PLÁCIDO’s opponent, and ROMEO, who is close by, catches her.

ROMEO
Who are you who hides behind this veil?

He picks up her veil and is captivated by her. They get separated. The fight freezes as ROMEO continues to walk about.

Oh, does she teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, as a rich jewel in the skin of the Guadalupana. Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. Did my heart love until now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty until this night.

The fight continues. Lupe returns to where ROMEO is standing. The fight freezes as ROMEO and LUPE talk. [252]

If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine by lifting up your veil, the gentle sin is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

LUPE puts the veil down.

LUPE
Buen peregrino, you do wrong your hand too much. ¿Qué clase de devoción es esta? Saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch. And palm to palm is a pilgrim’s kiss.

She offers a handshake. ROMEO grabs her hand and pulls her away from RAMÓN’s grasp.

ROMEO
¿Y qué acaso los santos no tienen labios como los peregrinos?

LUPE
Yes, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

ROMEO
Oh, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. Rezan. Grant me this prayer, unless faith turns to despair.

LUPE
Los santos son estatuas — they don’t move.

ROMEO
A statue? I see no statue. Before me stands the essence of life itself. Your fingers are the petals of the dahlia, your words a hummingbird’s flight, your eyes a volcano that awakens, like Iztaccíhuatl melting down her snow. If you are like a statue, perhaps it is because you sleep. Then here is my prayer’s effect: con un poco de tu brillo alumbrare la pasión que mueve este beso …

He kisses her.

… y ahora así es como despiertas con la luz que emanas de ti misma.

LUPE
¿Y qué hay de tu pecado?

ROMEO
My sin, from my lips, by your lips, is purged. [253]

LUPE
Then have my lips the sin that they have took?

ROMEO
A sin from my lips? Trespass sweetly urged! Give me back my sin again.

He kisses her again. The action around them resumes.

MERCUTIO
Predator! Can’t put a mexicana in front of you without you trying to eat her.

RAMÓN
Lupe! Let’s go.

ROMEO and LUPE get pulled away from each other and off stage.

ROMEO (while exiting)
Where is she?

Scene 7

The next morning on Cage Boulevard. The CORRIDO SINGER enters.

CORRIDO SINGER
But this will become more than a simple crush,
As you all will see.
Passion lends them power, time means, to meet,
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.

BALTI
Good morning, Romeo.

ROMEO
It’s a sweet Wednesday morning, Balti. Did you see that girl last night?

BALTI
Of course.

ROMEO
Wasn’t she the most beautiful star you have seen? [254]

BALTI
One good thing is that your father will approve more of this romance than the last.

ROMEO
Why do you say that?

BALTI
She is not a Mexican.

ROMEO
She is. Picking up that veil, I saw it right away, el sol de bronce en sus ojos.

BALTI
Ah, no me digas. Está seguro que no era algún foco reflejado en sus pupilas.

LUPE enters from the opposite side of the stage.

LUPE
I wonder who that boy I met last night could be. I’ve never seen him before. Maybe he works for the Smiths or Campbells. Oh, I wonder if I’ll ever see him again. What if he came and went with the party?

LUPE & ROMEO (simultaneously)
Where could (s)he be?

They turn a corner and end up facing each other.

ROMEO
Hello.

LUPE
Hi.

ROMEO closes the gap between their lips. They kiss.

LUPE
You kiss by the book.

DELMA enters.

DELMA
Prima! What do you think you’re doing? Vámonos! Tu papá me mandó. Plácido is looking for you. [255]

ROMEO
¿Plácido? Is she a Díaz?

LUPE
Who is that man? I have not seen him before.

DELMA
Don’t you recognize him? That is Romeo Campbell, one of the men our primo Plácido is fighting against.

LUPE
Campbell? Mi amor florece de donde está mi odio. Lo conocí demasiado temprano sin saber la verdad, y ahora sé la verdad demasiado tarde. Que monstruosidad parece este amor recién nacido, pues me enamorado de un enemigo.

All exit. PLÁCIDO, RAMÓN, DÍAZ 1, and PROTESTORS enter.

PLÁCIDO
Amigos, last night was a great achievement. Though I wish it did not have to end in blood, our message got across, and what happened will not be soon forgotten. ¡Aquí, los que mandan, somos nosotros!

They all cheer.

RAMÓN
That’s right! And what happened last night couldn’t have been done without you. ¿Verdad, amigos? ¡Que viva Plácido Díaz!

PROTESTORS
¡Viva!

DÍAZ 1
¡Viva! Look at these! They are putting them all over town.

He holds up a “WANTED” flyer with PLÁCIDO’s picture on it.

PLÁCIDO
Good. Means that they’re scared.

DÍAZ 1
We must keep our eyes open. Not all are on our side. There are mexicanos who want you to stop doing what you’re doing. They call you a troublemaker. They say that they got good relations with the gringos, and you’re stirring up problems where there are none. [256]

PLÁCIDO
Let their low-wage complacency blind them; it works no charm on us. We want nothing with their coin. We want the gringos out. Let’s move on, lest they find me. I must hide until I figure out my next move.

PLÁCIDO, RAMÓN, and DÍAZ 1 exit. MR. CAMPBELL, MRS. CAMPBELL, the TOWN JUDGE, and ROMEO enter.

MR. CAMPBELL
It will take us a long time to recover from last night. I want that man under control.

TOWN JUDGE
I’ve talked to the authorities, and they are doing what they can to find him.

MR. CAMPBELL
I need to talk to the new arrivals at once and persuade them before they are completely uninterested. Helena, for tonight’s dinner, please don’t make anything spicy.

MR. CAMPBELL and the TOWN JUDGE exit.

MRS. CAMPBELL
Ay, Romeo, siempre andas bien ojerudo.

ROMEO
Me siento de maravilla. Tengo que encontrarla, mamá. Tengo que encontrarla y descubrir quién es.

MRS. CAMPBELL
Recuerda lo que siempre te he dicho. Al hombre se le enamora con los ojos, y a la mujer por los oídos. Dile cosas lindas. Declárale versos de amor. Hazla sentirse querida.

ROMEO
Y mi papá alguna vez te ha hecho sentir esas cosas.

MRS. CAMPBELL
Tu papá es como es para aconsejarte. No lo conoces. Sí, tu papá es bien cariñoso. Impulsivo como todos ustedes. Ahorita porque es el “Dueño de Campbell Irrigation Company,” pero cuando éramos jóvenes, él era muy diferente. [257]

ROMEO
No lo creo.

MRS. CAMPBELL
El amor puede pasar en cualquier lugar. Hay un dicho que decía mi madre, “toda paciencia tiene su límite.” Hace años, un muchacho del norte de la república llegó a trabajar en un rancho del valle. Y parecía que la tierra no lo quería aquí. Las vacas lo pateaban cuando le tocaba ordeñarlas, los perros le ladraban más a él que a las ovejas, y al montar, los caballos lo sacudían. Era la carilla de todos. El dueño del rancho era el que más se divertía, y lo traía como burro. Y él aguantaba y completaba sus tareas. Lo que nadie sabía es que el joven del norte estaba de lo más enamorado de la hija del dueño. Un día vino un señor de mucha influencia a pedir su mano, queriendo usar sus riquezas para atraerla. Y al oír esto, el joven ya no aguantó, y como el dicho que te comenté, su paciencia se agotó. Declaro la verdad. Que él amaba a la hija del dueño. Que no solo la amaba, pero que ella lo amaba a él. Y confesó que llevaban ya meses casados en secreto. El señor encontró la ocasión tan chistosa, y la paciencia y lealtad del muchacho tan sorpréndete que les prometió que usaría su fuerte influencia para convencer al dueño del rancho de abrir su corazón a su matrimonio. ¡Y así fue! Hasta se hizo una gran fiesta para celebrarlos. Un año después comenzó la guerra, el norte de la república peleaba contra el sur, y el joven luchó. Cuando ganó el norte, regresó a casa, pero todo era diferente. A él la guerra lo hizo frío y duro. El dueño del rancho había muerto, y la guerra tomó a su hijo, así que su hija y él heredaron el rancho. Y no pudo ser más conveniente, pues había conocido a un hombre en la guerra quien tenía grandes planes de hacer una compañía de irrigación en el valle. Decidieron hacerse socios. Una gran ambición se cosechó en él, pues la tierra que de joven tanto rechazaba ahora resultó ser un gran tesoro. Comenzó a vender terreno, a construir un pueblo, y enriqueció. Hizo de la tierra algo suyo. Trajo a su gente del norte, trajo palmas, trajo máquinas, y se volvió parte de un sueño que de pronto emergió, ese de construir un valle mágico, que no sea de aquí ni de allá, pero auténticamente tejano.

ROMEO
¿Estás diciendo que el joven de esa historia es mi padre?

MRS. CAMPBELL
Así es.

ROMEO
No lo puedo creer. [258]

MRS. CAMPBELL
No le digas que te dije.

ROMEO
¿Cómo es que nunca me entere de esto?

MRS. CAMPBELL
Nadie lo sabe. Está olvidado.

ROMEO
Pues la tierra aun lo sigue rechazando. ¿Qué crees que son estas protestas?

MRS. CAMPBELL
Romeo.

ROMEO
Nomás digo. Piensa en lo que me dijiste. Toda paciencia tiene su límite. La gente de esta tierra se agota de lo que mi papá está haciendo. ¿Y se casaron en secreto?

MRS. CAMPBELL
Ya vez lo lejos que tu papá está dispuesto a llegar por el amor. Y yo, hijo mío, haría lo mismo por él.

ROMEO
Siempre pensé que mi padre tenía el corazón vacío.

MRS. CAMPBELL
No es que tenga el corazón vacío, es que ha endurecido sus paredes. Ahora, tengo que apurarme a cocinar la cena.

MRS. CAMPBELL exits as the sun begins to set.

ROMEO
I wonder what Lupe is doing right now. Does she look from somewhere in the east at the falling sun in the west, waiting for it to sweep under our feet and rise over her home again … or does she live in the south, looking northward upon that line where night and day blend? Ah Lupe, where in this town do you live? I know an hour on the clock awaits, reigning upon the moment of our reunion. It won’t be an ordinary hour, for it will have shed its fears and oppressions; it will be an hour like a glimpse through the looking glass, into our very souls, an hour to let go and be held in each other’s words, and perchance to kiss as if it were the last time, for anytime it might just be so. I know life tends [259] to go in directions that are not of our own design, but stick around and talk to me for this one hour. I believe that you and I can make it. Yeah, sure, I have my flaws. But nothing that can’t be worked out. We met amidst a storm, and we were blown away. Have you forgotten me? Because I can’t forget your eyes. I’ll search through the valley, whether it be cold and raining, regardless of what others might say. Even if you were an apparition that has left me forever, I will hold on to the hope of finding you. Hermosa Guadalupe, where in the Magic Valley do you live?

The CORRIDO SINGER clears her throat.

Do you know Lupe Díaz?

CORRIDO SINGER
I certainly do.

ROMEO
Where does she live?

CORRIDO SINGER
On the corner of Cage and Polk.

ROMEO
You are an angel who comes where a bridge has gone missing and carries the pilgrims across so they may carry on. What beautiful wings are your melodies! Thank you!

ROMEO and the CORRIDO SINGER exit.

Scene 8

LUPE stands on her patio.

LUPE
Que linda noche.

ROMEO enters, unnoticed by LUPE.

ROMEO
Like morning breaking through the clouds, a light breaks through the starlit curtain. If midnight has a sun, she rises here. Lupe, you are that fair sun! Arise and kill this envious moon that is so sick and pale with grief, wanting nothing [260] more than to be as free and beautiful as you are. Cast off the night — the seeds in the fields won’t spur their roots without your touch. Burn away this veil of dreams. It is like unripe fruit, incomplete and unfulfilled. Rise, querida Lupe, and awaken me.

LUPE moves closer.

Here comes my love! How I wish she knew that she is. She speaks yet says nothing — what of that? Those eyes seem to be saying something. I’ll answer them. I’m too bold. It’s not to me she speaks. Some star in heaven does entreat her eyes, twinkling there with such brightness. And if that star were her eyes, and her eyes were that star, its light would then shine so bright through her head, as sunlight through a lamp. All the birds that cross this yard would be singing, thinking it’s no longer night. Such is the way she encompasses my thoughts, so completely, like sunlight on the face of a full moon.

LUPE
¡Ay me!

ROMEO
She speaks. Speak, bright star, for you are as glorious to this night as a messenger from heaven that over mortals’ heads causes them to fall back in awe as they gaze upon its wings sailing on the bosom of the air.

LUPE
¿Romeo, por qué eres Romeo? Niega a tu padre, y rechaza tu nombre. O si no lo harás, negaré el mío, si tan solo juras que me amas.

ROMEO
Should I speak at this or keep listening?

LUPE
It’s only your name that is my enemy. You are yourself, whether you are a Campbell or not. What is a “Campbell”?  It is not your hand, or your face — it’s only a word. Like the words we give to name flowers: whether we call these poinsettias or nochebuenas, they would still be as red. The same way, if Romeo was named anything else, he would still retain that dear perfection which he possesses without that title. Romeo, cast away your name, and, in its place, take all of me. [261]

ROMEO
¡Así será, querida Lupe! Llámame “amor mio” y seré bautizado nuevamente con el nombre. Henceforth, I will never be called Romeo.

LUPE
¿Qué clase de hombre eres? Cubierto por la noche y espiando mis pensamientos.

ROMEO
By my name, I don’t know how to tell you who I am. Aborrezco mi nombre, porque es tu enemigo. Si yo lo hubiera escrito, arrancaría la palabra.

LUPE
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred of your words, yet I know the sound. Aren’t you Romeo, and a Campbell?

ROMEO
Neither, si ninguno de los dos te agrada.

LUPE
If my primos see you, they will kill you.

ROMEO
There is more danger in your eyes than in twenty of your primos.

LUPE
Someone’s coming!

ROMEO
¡Que vengan! My life better ended by their hate than death prolonged, wanting of your love.

LUPE
Who told you where to find my apartment?

ROMEO
No one — other than love itself. Love lent me its wings. I lent love my eyes. I am no pilot, but even if you were beyond the sea, I would still find you.

LUPE
¡Hay que pena! The mask of night is on my face, or else you would see my cheeks blush for that of which you heard me speak a while ago. Negaría mis palabras. Dime, ¿me amas? I know you’ll say that you do love me, and I’ll take your word for it. But if you swear, you might prove false, or else the tides will [262] somehow take you from me. I’ve heard it said that God laughs at our plans, so God may laugh at our promise. O Romeo, if you love me, si de verdad me amas, dilo. Say it truly. Pronúncialo con toda tu bondades. Or if you think that my heart is easily won, then I’ll end this and won’t speak to you aunque me chilles. But on the contrary, if you do love me, then I won’t leave your side for the world. La verdad, querido Campbell, es que me encantas, y es por eso que quizás encuentres mi comportamiento un poco ligero. But trust me, I’ll prove more true than all those people who act distant. I should have been more distant, but you heard me speak my mind.

ROMEO
Querida Lupe, by this blessed moon I vow, that tips with silver these treetops.

LUPE
Don’t swear by the moon — the moon is always changing. Unless you prove to be as inconstant.

ROMEO
Then what do I swear by?

LUPE
No jures. Or if you must swear, swear on yourself, and I’ll believe you.

ROMEO
I swear, por todo el amor que hay en mi …

LUPE
Don’t swear. I’m happy you’re here, but this exchange of vows isn’t right. It’s too rash, too sudden. It’s like lighting, gone before you realize it lit the night. Buenas noches, dulce Romeo. Estas raíces que aquí nacen quizás crecerán a una cosecha cuando nos volvamos a ver. Buenas noches, que la dulce calma esté en tu corazón como en mi pecho.

ROMEO
Will you leave me so unsatisfied?

LUPE
What type of satisfaction can you have tonight?

ROMEO
The exchange of your love’s faithful vow for mine. [263]

LUPE
I gave you mine before you asked for it. If I still had it, I would give it to you again. The more love I give you, the more love I feel, pues amar es un verbo infinito, boundless as the sky, es una sustancia inexhausta, es para siempre.

DELMA (offstage)
Lupe?

LUPE
Me están llamando. Adiós.

(to DELMA) ¡Ya vengo!

(turning back to ROMEO) Dulce, Romeo, sé honesto en tu amor. Espera, no te vayas, ahora vuelvo.

LUPE exits.

ROMEO
Oh, dear night, don’t let this be a dream. I’m afraid that any moment I will awaken.

LUPE returns.

LUPE
Dos palabras, dulce Romeo, y buenas noches. If your love is honorable, propose marriage. Let me know tomorrow where and when you will perform the rite, and I will be there, to follow you until the end of the world.

DELMA (offstage)
Lupe!

LUPE
A thousand times goodnight.

She kisses him and exits.

ROMEO
A thousand times the worse to want your light.

LUPE returns.

LUPE
Romeo! [264]

ROMEO
What is it, love?

LUPE
Que siempre estuvieras aquí con solo pronunciar tu nombre. I forgot what I called you back for.

ROMEO
Let me stand here until you remember.

LUPE
No, it’s almost morning. You have to go. At what time will I see you tomorrow? I do pass by the hotel on my way back from work. Will you be leaving already, now that the party has passed?

ROMEO
I should be staying a bit longer. Either way, my house is not far from here. I would drive a thousand miles and more every morning to be at your side. At what time should I expect to see you?

LUPE
At one.

ROMEO
I’ll be there.

LUPE
Buenas noches. Decir adiós es algo tan triste, tener que decir buenas noches y no vernos hasta el amanecer.

ROMEO
Descansa, amor mío.

ROMEO leaves and doesn’t see RAMÓN enter from the other side.

RAMÓN
Romeo, you are a dead man. Plácido will know of this.

RAMÓN exits. [265]

Scene 9

At the Botica, PADRE LAURO and a CUSTOMER enter.

PADRE LAURO
I know your prescription said to give you something else, but trust me, this simple remedy will work just as well, and it will cost half as much. It’s a mix of eucalyptus, peppermint, lavender, rosemary, coconut, and tea tree oils. In most cases, a garden will give you most remedies.

CUSTOMER
Tiene algo para el rasponcito que se hizo mi hijo.

PADRE LAURO
Nomás pongale sábila. Tenga. That is why I keep a garden, and because it preserves life. Times are changing, both in terms of industry and in the way we think, and change brings conflict and war as we see with this depression in the north and the war rising across the seas. In such times, innocent things like plants suffer the consequences. And once a certain flower is gone, all it is — its nectar and beauty — is gone with it. That part of life can never be replaced. Listen to me go on. Pay me when you have the money. I pray you get better.

CUSTOMER
Muchas gracias, Padre. Fue un gusto platicar con usted.

ROMEO
Buenos días, Padre Lauro!

PADRE LAURO
Cualli Tlanecic! What early tongue so sweet greets me this Thursday morning? Young son, it argues a distempered head to rise so early from your bed. An old man keeps a careful eye and so he doesn’t sleep. But in your young mind, unbruised, there golden sleep reigns. You wouldn’t be here so early if you weren’t up to no good. I know you were not awakened by some nightmare. You are like the moon that stays awake at night and day. Lo veo en tus ojeras, Romeo has not seen his bed tonight.

ROMEO
That last is true; the sweeter rest was mine. [266]

PADRE LAURO
¿Estabas con Rosalina?

ROMEO
Rosalina! Good heaven, Padre, no! I’ve forgotten that name.

PADRE LAURO
That’s good, son. ¿Entonces, dónde estabas? Did you get yourself caught in that protest?

ROMEO
Yes, Padre, and I was wounded. And only your holiness has the remedy.

PADRE LAURO
Be plain and direct in what you are here to tell me, son. Riddled confessions find riddled absolutions.

ROMEO
Then know my heart is set on Lupe Díaz. As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine, and all combined. Except what you must combine, dear Padre, in holy marriage. While we eat our breakfast, I’ll tell you the details of when and how we met, but I pray to you, you must consent to marry us today.

PADRE LAURO
Is Rosalina, that you loved so dearly, so soon tirada al grano? Young men’s love, then, lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. Jesús María, andabas como cachorrito tras esa Rosalina. Now you tell me you’ve forgotten her.

ROMEO
Yes! Didn’t you chastise me so many times about her?

PADRE LAURO
For doting, not for loving, Romeo.

ROMEO
I love Lupe. No me regañe, Padre. I love her, so I will marry her today. I did not love Rosalina. I would not have come this far for her.

PADRE LAURO
Oh, believe me. She knew that. But I do see a sudden resolution in you, son, which might prove true. I’ll assist you, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love. And in these times, we can’t afford to be divided, for terrible things loom in the horizon: the depression, the world [267] war that escalates. Although it is far from the Magic Valley now, its whip will be felt, as young men are taken from their families to fight and die … but only love can make us strong for what’s to come.

ROMEO
Wonderful. Let’s get started at once!

PADRE LAURO
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.

ROMEO and PADRE LAURO exit. [268]

ACT 2
Scene 1

DELMA is alone on stage.

DELMA
Lupe has done nothing else but talk about that Romeo. ¡Ya me tiene mareada! This whole business sure is bringing her a whole lot of trouble. Plácido found out from Ramón that Romeo was with Lupe last night, right under their very noses. Now he has our primos watching over her to make sure she can’t get out and Romeo can’t come in. He even made her cancel her shift at work! “You stay here until I settle this!” he said, “Or I will tell your father, and you know that this is the last thing my tío needs. It would break his heart.” It’s a very unfortunate love story, this story of Romeo and Lupe. What are the chances you fall in love with your family’s rival? And I say love, because I suspect there really is love there. Just the other night, when we met Romeo at the party, I did see something spark in her eye, and in Romeo’s as well. And I know it was in her eye for certain, because love is blind. When she met him dressed in those clothes, she didn’t recognize him. Given that she can’t leave but needs to make contact with her sweetheart, she asked me to stop by the Botica on my way back to work and have a word with Romeo. Find out if he is really serious about her or not, for he will either propose or withdraw. And I’m sure he will propose. How romantic! I do think this is true love.

DELMA exits. MERCUTIO, STELLAN, and NELSON enter, coming from the Pharr Hotel.

MERCUTIO
Where the hell is this Romeo?

NELSON
Came he not to his suite last night?

STELLAN
I didn’t see him.

MERCUTIO
He must be with that Mexican girl we caught him with at the party.

NELSON
Or with that other wench, Rosaline, Rosalina, whatever she is called. [269]

STELLAN
Have you heard? That guy who’s been leading the protests, Plácido Díaz, is out looking for Romeo. Turns out that girl from the party is Plácido’s cousin, and he is furious.

NELSON
That might explain why our Romeo isn’t here. He is hiding.

MERCUTIO
My friend is no coward. He is a lover, but not a coward. Unless, of course, he is dead, killed by a wench, stabbed in the ear by a love song, making him as dull as a withered corpse. If so, then I doubt he’ll be a challenge for this Plácido. Who is this Plácido anyways?

NELSON
Some protester.

MERCUTIO
Oh, I see. A righteous man! Protesting what?

STELLAN
They say they are defending their land.

NELSON
They are getting in the way of our land’s progress. This land is ours. We earn it fair and square through all the hard work we put into our vision. All we are doing is in fact serving the valley. It’s true! We have brought technology unlike any this place has seen. You wait a couple of years and just watch how much this place grows. It’s soil for promises to bloom. They fight against what is good for this land.

MERCUTIO
And fight against one they’ll never beat.

STELLAN
Here comes Romeo.

NELSON
He looks exceedingly happy, doesn’t he? I don’t like it.

ROMEO
Good morning! [270]

MERCUTIO
Too late for good morning. Where have you been?

ROMEO
Sorry, gentleman, I’ve had great business to attend to.

DELMA enters.

DELMA
Romeo?

ROMEO
Yes?

MERCUTIO
A third wench? At three Romeo is surely dead. Remove the fan from your face, sweet madam, your lips are much better bare.

DELMA
Goodbye, caballeros.

MERCUTIO
You say goodbye as if you’re saying good night. Yet the hand on the dial is on the prick of noon.

DELMA
Who do you think you are?

MERCUTIO
 I am a man God made to be as I see fit to be.

DELMA
Eso ya veo. May I speak to you, Romeo?

ROMEO
Of course.

ROMEO and DELMA step aside.

DELMA
¿Quién es ese grosero? [271]

ROMEO
A gentleman who likes the sound of his own voice too much for his own good. You say Lupe sent you? Where is she?

DELMA
My name is Delma, and Lupe is my cousin. Plácido has found out about your little adventure. He is keeping her under careful watch while he is out looking for you. I’m surprised he hasn’t found you.

ROMEO
I need to go see her at once.

DELMA
Espérate, cálmate. Don’t be so reckless! Now let me tell you this: if you lead her into some fool’s paradise, y te comportas tan majadero como tus amiguitos, that would be a very disgusting thing on your part. Now that we have addressed that — yes, as I told you, my cousin asked me to come look for you. I trust you have news for her.

ROMEO
Tell my dear love that I propose …

DELMA
I will tell her immediately.

ROMEO
But you haven’t heard me out.

DELMA
I know what you’re going to say. Where and when?

ROMEO
At Padre Lauro’s church. At three today. There Lupe and I will be wedded.

He offers her money.

Here. For your trouble.

DELMA
Oh, no, really, not a penny.

ROMEO
Go on — I say you take it. [272]

DELMA
¡Ya! No estoy trabajando, no tienes por qué pagarme. Esto es un gesto entre amigos, o entre primos más bien. Le daré la noticia a Lupita de inmediato.

ROMEO
Gracias, Delma. Es un verdadero gusto conocerte.

DELMA
El gusto es mío, siempre y cuando no me disguste. Pórtese bien, Romeo.

DELMA exits.

MERCUTIO
Done killing yourself?

ROMEO
Love isn’t suicide.

MERCUTIO
All things in excess are suicide. Now let’s go drown at the Shamrock.

They all exit.

Scene 2

At the Díaz House, LUPE waits impatiently for DELMA to come back, pacing back and forth and looking at the time on her phone. Finally, DELMA enters.

LUPE
¿Delma? ¿Qué es esa mueca de tristeza sobre tu rostro? Aunque las noticias sean tristes, dímelas con alegría. Si la noticia es buena, causa pena que arruines su dulce canto con un gesto tan amargo. Ándale, si esto es broma, es de mal gusto.

DELMA
Estoy cansadísima. Déjame descansar tantito.

LUPE
Descansa mientras me platicas lo que pasó. [273]

DELMA
¿Cuál es la prisa? ¿Qué no ves que me hace falta aire?

LUPE
¿Cómo te falta el aire cuando tienes suficiente aire para decirme que te falta aire? Tardas más en dar tus excusas. Solo dime si las noticias son malas o buenas.

DELMA
Pues te diré. Tiras muy bajo. No sabes cómo escoger a un hombre.

LUPE
¿Y tú sí? Si eres más chica que yo.

DELMA
Y eso que. Yo no me ando fijando en hombrecitos como Romeo. Digo, de que está guapo, está guapo. Su cara está mejor formada que la mayoría de los hombres, y sus piernas, y sus brazos, su cuerpo, aunque no valga la pena mencionarlo, está mejor que la mayoría de los hombres del valle. No es tan caballero que digamos, pero ha de ser tan cariñoso como un cachorrito. ¿Oye, que comiste? ¿Traigo un hambre tremenda?

LUPE
¡Hay no! Dices puras cosas que ya sé. ¿Qué dice Romeo sobre nuestra boda?

DELMA
Pero como me duele la cabeza. Traigo náuseas.

LUPE
Lo siento que no te sientas bien. Dime que dice mi amor.

DELMA
Romeo dice, como todo un hombre, caballeroso, honesto, cortés, y dulce, y guapo, que … ¿Dónde está tu papá?

LUPE
Romeo dice, “¿Dónde está tu papá?”

DELMA
¿Dónde está? No quiero que me oigas.

LUPE
Está en su cuarto. No nos puede oír. [274]

DELMA
Muy bien. Pero antes de decirte … ¿me das un masaje?

LUPE
¡Ya! Dime qué dice Romeo.

DELMA laughs. Then, she hears the sound of DON DÍAZ so she lowers her voice.

DELMA
You think Plácido will let you go to confession?

LUPE
He can’t keep me here forever.

DELMA
Then go to Padre Lauro’s, where a husband waits to make you a wife. The fire returns to your cheeks. I’m so happy for you, prima. I’ll keep the boys busy. Don’t worry.

They exit in opposite directions.

Scene 3

At the Botica. The CORRIDO SINGER plays guitar music fit for a wedding.

PADRE LAURO
These violent delights, so rash in their behavior, have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire and powder which, as they kiss, consume. May heaven smile on this holy act, that after hours with sorrow chide us not.

ROMEO
Amen. But even if something terrible happens, it cannot countervail the exchange of joy that one short minute gives me in her sight. Close our hands with your holy words, then let death do what it dare — this love can’t be done apart, Padre.

PADRE LAURO
Here comes the lady. [275]

The CORRIDO SINGER switches to the wedding march with Spanish guitar.

PADRE LAURO
Lupe, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? Romeo, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?

LUPE
I accept.

ROMEO
Acepto, con todo mi ser.

They kiss. BALTI enters.

BALTI
Romeo! Forgive me. I know this is supposed to be the happiest moment of your life, but you must come. Mercutio and the others are heading to Plácido’s apartment. They are there to respond to his threats to your name.

ROMEO
I must break this quarrel apart before it begins. Else, something terrible might happen that will destroy what has been accomplished here. Their adversity might intensify such that a consequence will surface that might render our marriage impossible in the eyes of our families and friends. And though I don’t mind living as an outcast at your side, we must try to seize this chance at a peaceful life together in the Magic Valley. Lupe, I must end this at once.

ROMEO kisses LUPE and exits. Thunder sounds.

DELMA
¡Qué demencia es esta de dejarte así en el altar, justo después de unirse en matrimonio! Vamos.

PADRE LAURO
Go home and wait there.

Thunder sounds again.

I’m afraid heaven disapproves of what has been done here, and dreadful consequences begin thundering the sky like a knock at the door from that most feared visitor — fate. [276]

Scene 4

MERCUTIO, NELSON, and RAMÓN gather outside PLÁCIDO’s home.

MERCUTIO
Plácido Díaz! Come out so I can rip from you the name of day. I am here to shut your flame, and leave you cold and empty.

NELSON
I beg you, Mercutio. Let’s quit this. Our heads are hotter than this day, and on these hot days, the mad blood is stirring.

MERCUTIO
Oh, Nelson. You’re like a man who enters a cantina and puts his blade away thinking he’ll have no need of it. Then barely by the second drink, he’ll be slashing and poking at whatever nonsense, when in fact he was initially right: there was no need for his blade.

STELLAN
Hm, am I like such a fellow?

MERCUTIO
No. If we had two of those, we would have none shortly, because one would kill the other. This one here will quarrel with a man that has one hair more or one hair less in his beard than he has. Yet you will counsel me not to fight.

NELSON
If I were so apt to fight as you are, you could bet on me at the Luchas Libres.

MERCUTIO
Lucha Libre?

STELLAN
Here come the Díazes.

NELSON
They have weapons.

MERCUTIO
I don’t care. [277]

RAMÓN (rapping)

what is a man without a name to his own land
what is a man with no spine to where he can’t even stand
what is a man’s labor that can’t feed his fam
and what’s man’s right besides bronze skin tanned
I remember working this earth with both hands
I remember laying bricks while dreaming future plans
this is our barrio, you are not welcome at our home
cast you out of this place after battering your dome
death before discrimination, dishonor, and discontent
we begin our descent into resistance segments
one hundred percent is this Tejano lament
we worked this earth first you returned it to us cursed
your handshake agreement is but double cross coerce
your logic is rehearsed and your compassion is even worse

NELSON (rapping)

it’s survival of the fittest
what you think we didn’t live it
family destined for greatness,
since birth I always knew it
heirs to the throne,
the future has already come to be shown
the Campbell legacy and empire
will remain beyond us as known
as the beacon the light, right, and might
upon the South Texas strife
the curators of development, growth,
the masters of the elements
bending nature to our will,
our cup runneth over but never spill
so we welcome the chill, frost, freeze,
never labor on our knees
rose up from the ground destroyed the trees
and cashed the cheese
this is the development decree,
cast out resistance enemies
and squeeze resources into surplus
to kick our feet up by the furnace
our policies is stern but fair, [278]
disciplined at a level so rare
so beware with your protests
when they’re broke and turn to confess
retreating back to your nest,
your threats are only beating your chest
and crying out “oppressed”
because you slacked at the get-go
but even so, take note by example
and don’t test us toe-to-toe.

PLÁCIDO enters.

PLÁCIDO
I’ll talk to them.

RAMÓN
I’ll be right here if you need me, carnal, pa’ tirarte esquina.

PLÁCIDO
I want to have a word with one of you Campbells. Where is that coward Romeo?

MERCUTIO
A word? Why not make it a word, and a punch?

He makes a circle with his index finger and his thumb.

PLÁCIDO
You’ll find me ready for that.

MERCUTIO
Tell your friends to back away. Rule is I give you a punch, remember. You must take it without giving.

MERCUTIO takes out a gun and points it at PLÁCIDO. Laughing, he puts it away.

RAMÓN
“Friends”? Ese, we are not “friends,” we are homies. Ready to die for each other. Can you say the same about these vatos backing you up? Here comes Romeo.

ROMEO enters. [279]

DÍAZ 1
Followed by Balti, backstabber of his gente.

PLÁCIDO
Peace be with you. Here comes my man.

MERCUTIO
I’ll be hanged before he becomes any type of servant to you as your people are to him. If he follows you in one of your senseless protests, you may call him “my man.”

PLÁCIDO
That I remember, he did in fact mix himself in one of my protests. But even then, Romeo, I have no better word to call you than this: villain. I know the type of man you are, you are like your father, get with a mexicana just so you can get what you want out of her — her land, the land of her parents — or in the case of you and mi prima, just to get what a pelado wants. You chose the wrong mexicana, cabrón!

ROMEO
Plácido, the reason I have to love you does excuse this behavior. I am no villain. I see you don’t know me. We will leave from here. Farewell.

MERCUTIO
Leave?

PLÁCIDO
This does not excuse the injuries that you have done to me.

ROMEO
I’ve done no harm to you. I respect you more than you can understand. We must set aside our grievances and love each other as the brothers we have become.

PLÁCIDO
¿De qué hablas? You and I will never be brothers.

PLÁCIDO attacks ROMEO.

MERCUTIO
Oh, passive, dishonorable, disgusting submission!

MERCUTIO enters the fight. [280]

PLÁCIDO
¿Qué quieres conmigo?

MERCUTIO
If you were a cat, I would only want one of your nine lives.

ROMEO
Stop, Mercutio! Your father has warned us against this. Nelson, Stellan, stop this outrage.

PLÁCIDO
You always have others fight your fights, Romeo?

ROMEO
Things must not be this way between us.

PLÁCIDO
Cállate, I will not try to reason with you.

PLÁCIDO stabs MERCUTIO.

MERCUTIO
I am hurt.

ROMEO
Mercutio, are you okay?

MERCUTIO
Damn it! Bring me a surgeon!

ROMEO
The hurt can’t be that bad?

MERCUTIO
You’re right. It’s only a scratch. Not too deep, not too wide, but it’ll do. Ask for me tomorrow and you’ll find me a grave man. Guess I’m meant to die in the valley. Ironic destiny: I left the valley so that I would live and was sent right back here to die. Our lives are but a joke to God. A curse on all of you. You’ve made worms’ meat out of me. A curse on all of you. A curse on this valley.

ROMEO
The love I feel for Lupe softened me up, and I lost my courage. But this grievance will not go unchecked. This day’s black fate begins the pain that must be [281] put to an end in the hours to come. If you must die today, dear Mercutio, your blood will not be shed alone. Plácido!

ROMEO picks up the bloody knife that was used on MERCUTIO.

Hasta la muerte — either you, or I, or both, must go with him.

PLÁCIDO
You will be joining your friend on the ground.

ROMEO
This will determine that.

They fight. ROMEO stabs PLÁCIDO. As his adversary bleeds out, ROMEO seems to awaken suddenly from his fit of violence.

I am fortune’s fool.

A PARAMEDIC enters.

PARAMEDIC
Where is the man who hurt this soldier?

NELSON
Plácido Díaz. There.

PARAMEDIC
Take these two to get treated.

A POLICE OFFICER enters and arrests ROMEO.

POLICE OFFICER
You have the right to remain silent.

All exit.

Scene 5

LUPE
Tonatiuh, dios del sol, reposa el xiuhuitzolli en la cama del oeste, esa corona que marca el paso de los días y nuestros destinos. Sumérgete en las entrañas de tu tierra y que despierte el sol de medianoche, el que emerge del pecho cuando los amantes en la oscuridad se sostienen entre brazos y platican con el calor [282] de su alma. Trae a mi Romeo entre mis brazos, para escuchar en su calor el testimonio de sus actos de este día. No me importa lo que digan que él con odio lastimó a mi primo Plácido. Lo escucharé del mismo. Noche, tú que divides el día, como la campana que cuenta las horas, haz que recorra el tiempo hasta la hora del llegar de mi amor. Así es noche, tráeme a mi Romeo. Y el día que me muera, no hagas de el tierra, si no un vapor que flote fuera de esta atmósfera y se desplace por el universo, creando mil y un millón de estrellas en el cielo, embelleciendo la noche de tal manera que el mundo jamás volverá a desear el sol. Noche, dame a mi Romeo. Pues lo espero con la ansiedad con que una casa espera convertirse en hogar. Este anillo es una casa vacía hasta su llegar. Me siento como una niña llena de emoción por un nuevo vestido sin poder estrenarlo.

DELMA enters.

LUPE
¿Qué noticias me traes?

DELMA
He’s been deported. Poor Plácido, my dearest friend, they are revoking his residency and sending him back to Mexico. Anger clouded their minds, and the consequences of this day are costly. All that was accomplished is undone.

LUPE
Can God be so cruel?

DELMA
The cruelty is Romeo’s. Who would have thought it? Romeo! He is dead.

LUPE
What are you saying, Delma?

DELMA
The Romeo you married is dead, prima. In looking to undo Plácido’s life, he undid his own. He destroyed the man who made marriage vows to you this afternoon. That man was free and innocent, this man is condemned and guilty.

LUPE
Romeo is innocent. He went there to break up the fight. You heard him. I was told he yielded and did not attack my cousin until his friend had been injured. [283]

DELMA
Whether he yielded at first, no importa, he did not yield at last. You must bury him, bury his memory.

LUPE
Not until I find out what really happened. I must see him. He is my husband.

DELMA
Here comes your father.

DON DÍAZ enters.

DON DÍAZ
¡Lo deportaron! Nos han arrebatado a nuestro Plácido. Este es el hogar de su familia. Pero desde que estos visionarios llegaron aquí nosotros no tenemos hogar. Hacen lo quieren. Y a aquel gringo que le enterró la navaja, ni lo castigaron. Lo dejaron ir. Fueron ellos los que vinieron a molestarlos. ¡Yo los vi! Esta es la justicia que nos espera en esta que una vez fue nuestra tierra. ¡Malditos! ¡Desgraciados! Deseo lo peor de lo peor sobre todos ellos, en especial a ese tal Romeo.

LUPE (to DELMA)
These words from my father tear at my heart. Either way, I see he is suffering so much I’m afraid his heart might fail him. I shouldn’t leave him. Go find Romeo. He must be with Padre Lauro. Tell him that he must come see me.

DON DÍAZ
¿Por qué hablan en inglés?

LUPE
Anda.

DELMA exits.

LUPE
Ven, papá, vamos a tomar un poco de aire.

LUPE and DON DÍAZ exit. [284]

Scene 6

ROMEO is having his wounds taken care of by PADRE LAURO at the Botica.

ROMEO
How fares Mercutio?

PADRE LAURO
He is being taken care of by the medics at his base. I also have the fortunate news that the young man, Plácido, will recover as well. They both will live. Your hands remain clean of blood, son.

ROMEO
I wonder what verdict will be laid on me.

PADRE LAURO
Here comes your father to answer that question.

MR. CAMPBELL enters.

MR. CAMPBELL
I’ve talked to the judge. Your record and Mercutio’s will remain clean. Your harm to Plácido will be regarded as self-defense, given that Plácido had been looking for you. We found that the simplest thing to do is deport him. That troublemaker has been a real nuisance riling up the mob, and our judge will not have his son go to trial over this. This is easiest for everyone. I doubt that Plácido would rather be behind bars than across the border. Now, about this girl, Lupe. I found out about your endeavor with her. Nelson told me that he overheard you talking to a cousin of the girl and that in your delirium you had even proposed marriage. Although I’m glad fate intervened in that account, I do lament that you haven’t the aptitude not to find yourself in this situation. Therefore, I have decided that you have exhausted your chances at proving your ability to cope and act accordingly, and so I must send you away to the military, where you will refine your character. I myself served, and I have to thank those years of harsh discipline for making me the man I am today. Tomorrow morning we leave to head back home, and on Monday you will enlist. Nelson will accompany you, as his father also sees fit that he be taught a lesson. [285]

ROMEO
Perhaps I’ll bring you back a medal and wear it on my corpse.

MR. CAMPBELL
Only if you honorably earn it. We leave first thing in the morning.

MR. CAMPBELL exits.

ROMEO
This service that I’m forced to give is a disservice to my soul. Sent away from Lupe! I would rather die.

PADRE LAURO
How blind you must be to mistake this blessing for a curse. The young Plácido could have been dead, and you would have been put in jail. That would have ruined your good name, yet in service your name will receive honor. Sent away from the Magic Valley you are. But be patient. The world is wide and the paths are many.

ROMEO
There is no world for me beyond the Magic Valley as long as this is Lupe’s home. Only paths that lead to purgatory, to hell itself! You say my name will receive honor? What honor is there in wearing a name that every time uttered it rings hollow, what honor in living falsely?

PADRE LAURO
Malagradecido. This is an opportunity, and you don’t see it. El alma nace del cielo, y no de la tierra como el cuerpo, y en cualquier esquina del cielo puede encontrar su hogar. Tu alma no es de aquí, ni de allá. Nuestro cuerpo se hace polvo, pero nuestra alma es de Dios. No pierdes nada mientras no pierdas la fe. And there is certainly honor in serving, because although your soul is God’s, your name is your country’s. Once this country registers your name, it gives that name purpose. It gives it background, and your name carries the weight of your nation, as your nation carries the weight of your name. Romeo Campbell is the Republic of Texas, and the Republic of Texas is Romeo Campbell.

ROMEO
Then why is it that now the Republic is my enemy? If the Republic was not my enemy, then I could love Lupe freely. [286]

PADRE LAURO
Your family and her family come from very different universes. The world is yet learning to know itself. God did not make wisdom a given thing, rather a thing acquired. We must suffer and fall into ashes, individuals and nations alike, yet from these ashes we rise and are reborn in freedom. The time will come when your grievances must be amended. The story of the Rio Grande Valley belongs to all whose lives form a part of it. Mark my words, tragedy will strike us if we do not learn to co-exist.

DELMA knocks.

DELMA
I come on behalf of Lupe. Is Romeo here?

PADRE LAURO
Come in. He sits there drowning in his tears.

DELMA
He and Lupe alike. ¡Par de chillones! ¡Párate! Stand up! For hers and your sake.

ROMEO
Delma …

DELMA
Alguien les ha de ver hecho ojo a ti y a mi prima, porque estan bien salados. Les hubiera venido mejor una limpia, que una boda.

ROMEO
You say Lupe also drowns in tears? Tears of what sort? Of hate or sadness? Does she think of me as a murderer, who stained our love with blood from her own? Or does she still think of me as she did before, as her other half, as one to whom her heart opens naturally and overflows with love?

DELMA
She is broken apart. At one moment she’ll cry “Romeo,” at another “Plácido.”

ROMEO
Plácido, that name killed us.

DELMA
Nonsense. You’re paying for your own actions. [287]

ROMEO
Ay, you’re right! I detest the suffering that I bring to Lupe. I’ll set her free from our troublesome fates.

ROMEO picks up a knife as if to stab himself.

PADRE LAURO
Settle down, Romeo! Was I robbed off my senses when I thought I saw determination in you, boy? Muchacho impulsivo. You’ve been doing nothing but acting out of impulse this whole time. Things have become grave. You need to start acting with sense. And now, go see Lupe, for the new-wed wife must be impatiently waiting to hear from her husband. Leave early in the morning so that you won’t be caught. And listen to me closely now, Romeo: do your service, obey, do your time, and patiently wait to hear from me. I will find a solution. Go on, son.

ROMEO
Farewell, Padre.

ROMEO and PADRE LAURO exit.

Scene 7

At the Díaz home.

DON DÍAZ
No puede ser verdad lo que me dices. ¿Mi hija?

TÍA MARLA
Así es.

DON DÍAZ
¿Y mi sobrino ha perdido todo, porque mi hija andaba de aflojada con un gringo?

TÍA MARLA
Así es.

DON DÍAZ
¡Ay! Marla, con estas noticias has acabado de destrozar esa pared frágil en mí, que quedo cuarteada con la muerte de mi esposa, y ahora acaba su colapso total, y se desborda todo el dolor que por años he luchado contra su invasión [288] total de mi ser, lo he dejado reposar, haciéndose bilis en mi estómago, y ahora en este dolor desbordado, me hundiré. No habrá paso atrás. La pena será mía por el resto de mis días, pues los dos amores de mi vida han muerto, mi difunta esposa y Lupe. Pues con lo que me dices, ella está muerta para mí. Jamás podré perdonarla, mirarla a los ojos, y saber que por su imprudes, tanto se tiró a la basura. Llévatela, no la quiero aquí. Que se vaya contigo a México. Es ella a la que debieron de deportar. Pues ella cometió los daños, ella los debe de pagar.

TÍA MARLA
No creo que sea posible. Yo tenía planeado irme mañana. A menos de que estés dispuesto en partir tan rápido de ella.

DON DÍAZ
Entre lo más pronto mejor.

DON DÍAZ exits.

TÍA MARLA
Estoy de acuerdo. Estos tiempos que en la juventud se desmorona la conservación de nuestros principios, no hay tiempo para andarse con rodeos.

TÍA MARLA exits.

Scene 8

LUPE and ROMEO enter the patio outside her room.

LUPE
¿Ya te vas? The sky is still dark. Ese no fue el gallo, el que perforó tu tímpano. Listen, la chicharra still sings, cada noche canta mientras reposa sobre el mezquite. While it sings, time is ours.

ROMEO
That is not the chicharra. That is the green jay, and the great kiskadee, and the crow that waits for our final consequence. I must go.

LUPE
That light isn’t sunlight. It is a light of the night, a comet, a shooting star. To be a torchbearer and guide you in your way. Therefore, stay! You must not leave yet. [289]

ROMEO
No light will I follow that leads me away from you. It would be like following a light into a lightless place, deeper into the night. Yes, you are right, Lupe. That is not the sun, el sol eres tú, and that outside the window is but a lamplight that comes and goes over the ever-sleeping world. Yet into that night I must go, lit with a false sun whilst I will remain nocturnal, lit with the sun of ambitions that aren’t mine whilst I hold to that dream of you in my mind until its time comes to materialize. I must go. Farewell, until that shooting star guides me back to you, querida Lupe.

LUPE
More light and light, more dark and dark our life. Someone comes. Go! Go!

DELMA enters.

DELMA
¡Lupe!

LUPE
¿Qué pasa?

DELMA
Your father is coming. He is furious!

LUPE
Does he know Romeo is here?

DELMA
No, but get him out of here before he finds out.

DELMA exits.

LUPE
¿Ya te has ido, amor mío?

ROMEO
Sigo aquí.

LUPE
I wish you didn’t have to go.

ROMEO
Then I’ll stay and we’ll face the world. I’m suddenly so ready. [290]

LUPE
No, we must not continue to act rashly. Oh, let fortune be fickle, and, as it took you away, send you back to me.

ROMEO wants to kiss her, but LUPE stops him.

LUPE
Guardaré este beso. Y por ahora, sostenme en un abrazo, y así me quedaré con un pedazo de tu calor, de tu alma.

ROMEO (holding her in a close embrace)
I promise you, Lupe. No moriré sin ese beso en mis labios. Goodbye, amor mío, hasta que el destino nos vuelva a reunir.

ROMEO exits.

DON DÍAZ (offstage)
¡Lupe!

DON DÍAZ enters infuriated, crying heavily, sweating, and trembling. He grabs LUPE by the arm and sits her down.

Tu primo ha perdido todo en su vida, porque tú te andabas besuqueando con un pillo. Peleo teniendo que defender tu honor, ya que no lo supiste defender por ti misma. ¡Ya me dijeron todo! Me dijeron que Ramón lo vio aquí. ¡Aquí! ¡En mi propia casa!

LUPE
Papá …

DON DÍAZ
¡Te largas a México! A ser una dama o a ser una mujerzuela, eso a mí no me importa. Yo no te quiero a ti como hija. Te largas con tu tía, y te olvidas de todo. Te olvidas de mí, del valle, y de tu romance con ese pelado.

LUPE
De ninguna manera. Romeo no es ningún pelado. Papá, quiero que lo conozcas.

DON DÍAZ
¡Mocosa estúpida! A la gente como ellos, la gente como nosotros les valemos madres. Te está usando.

LUPE
No es verdad. El me ama. Y yo lo amo. Lo amo, papá. [291]

DON DÍAZ
¡Te largas a México!

LUPE
¡No!

DON DÍAZ
¿Me contestas a mi así? ¿A tu padre? ¿Yo que te he dado todo? Harás lo que te digo, y estarás agradecida.

LUPE
¡Cómo puedo estar agradecida por algo que aborrezco!

DON DÍAZ
Niña chiqueada, ahora si vas a ver. Harás lo que te digo. Se acabó.

DON DÍAZ turns to leave.

LUPE
De menos déjame pedirle perdón a Dios por mi pecado. Dame permiso de ir a confesarme. Niégame como tu hija, pero no me niegues la virtud te arrepentirme ante Dios.

DON DÍAZ
¡Solo a confesarte! Delma, Ramón, acompáñenla.

DELMA
A mí me traen aquí, que para que saque papeles y me haga tejana, y a ti te quieren mandar allá por ser demasiado tejana y hacerte más mexicana. ¿Pues quién les entiende?

LUPE
Somos de ambos lados, y de ninguno.

RAMÓN
Ready to go?

DON DÍAZ exits. DELMA wants to start talking to LUPE, but RAMÓN gets close to them, so they remain quiet. [292]

Scene 9

PADRE LAURO and TÍA MARLA enter the church.

PADRE LAURO
¿Pero el jueves? Sí, eso es mañana. No piensa usted que es demasiado rápido. No le da oportunidad ni siquiera de despedirse.

TÍA MARLA
Su padre no la quiere en la casa. El insistió que me la llevara inmediatamente. Para mí entre más pronto, mejor. Aquí Guadalupe pierde lo mexicana, debe regresar a sus tradiciones.

PADRE LAURO (aside)
¿Regresar a sus tradiciones, dice ella? He aquí que continúa la cultura. Y la tradición, cual es conservativa en su naturaleza, busca atraparla, y en eso cesa de ser cultura, y se convierte en una estatua, inmóvil, melancólica, orgullosa, egoísta. Pero la cultura es algo que crece, a toda hora cultivándose, y descubre en las fronteras nuevos amores.

LUPE, DELMA, and RAMÓN enter.

TÍA MARLA
¿Cómo estás, Lupita? Espero ya escuchaste la noticia. Es por tu bien, hija. Ya verás que serás muy feliz.

LUPE
Quizás así sea.

TÍA MARLA
Así será. Nos vamos el jueves.

LUPE
Lo que será, será.

TÍA MARLA
De eso no hay duda.

TÍA MARLA exits. LUPE turns to PADRE LAURO.

LUPE
Vengo a confesarme, Padre. [293]

PADRE LAURO
Wait for us outside.

DELMA and RAMÓN exit.

LUPE (breaking into tears)
What am I going to do?

PADRE LAURO
Lupe, ya escuché de tu dolor. Hace que se me tuerza el alma.

LUPE
How can destiny pull me and Romeo apart this way? If the future of our love is here? En la frontera. Where his and my world met into this beautiful happening. Must our worlds go on to be separate? Like the sun and the moon are always at opposite ends of the sky. Was this instant we had together nothing but a passing eclipse? Yet, in spite of their distance from each other, the sun and the moon are in fact one. Yes. For they become one over the earth, as their power blends into the mixture of life. So do his and my world blend! When we touch, we create universes with every kiss. Yet our families always treat their problems with one another in isolation. They can never see eye to eye, the way me and Romeo have looked into each other’s souls. I wish I could fall into a deep sleep and wake up to find that the world has moved on and next to me is my querido Romeo, and together we enter a new world where we love one another por toda la eternidad.

PADRE LAURO
Then, Lupita, that is exactly what you must do. Hold on, hija mia.

He looks in his medicines.

I do spy a kind of hope, and desperate times may call for desperate measures. Tomorrow morning, before Delma wakes you from bed to bid you farewell, you must drink this vial, and this distilling liquor will make a cold and drowsy humor run through your veins. There will be no pulse, no heat, and all the color will fade from your cheeks. Your eyes’ windows will fall like death when it shuts up the day of life. Like death you will appear, and in this state you will remain for twenty-four hours, and then awake as from a pleasant sleep. Romeo will not be enlisting until Monday. I will write to his home at the other end of the Magic Valley, and by my letters he will know our drift, and hither shall he come, and he and I keep watch for your waking. That very night you and Romeo will go to Aztlán where I was born. There’s a family to welcome you. This will free you from your present shame. You must not fear. [294]

LUPE
El amor me hace fuerte, y prosperaré en mi propósito.

PADRE LAURO
Lo sé, hija mía. My thought that your marriage could bring peace to this conflict in our valle was infantile. But who am I to say that our circumstances are testimonies of heaven’s disapproval? This can all very well be the devil’s doing. For how can God ever withhold love, love that is as true as it is present here? I will not fall under the errors of our valle, of your parents and your cousins, for I see truth in your love and I place my faith upon it. Save your love, Lupe. Y que no te importe, que te valga, it’s not worth losing so much. Save your love, Lupe. Save yourselves. Le escribiré a Romeo de inmediato. Anda a casa.

LUPE
Farewell, Padre.

She exits.

Scene 10

The stage is divided into two rooms. Half is Lupe’s room, half is the kitchen. LUPE enters her room.

LUPE
¿Qué es más esencial, el ser, o el estar? ¿La realización del alma, o la posición en la vida? ¿Qué es más esencial, darle la espalda al mundo por amor, o negar el amor por lo que exige el mundo? ¿Pero cómo he de estar sin ser? ¿Cómo darle al mundo, sin amar? El alma, sin realizarse, desaparece. Esa muertita a quien Tía Marla quiere que reemplace no soy yo, y ahí no pertenezco, ahí no daré nada. Y que tan sencillo es resolverlo, solo beber y dormir. Dormir, dormir, y quizás despertar junto a mi Romeo. Sé que quizás no estará ahí, pues tanto puede pasar, pero aun así no me atormenta la cobardía. Sé quién soy, y sé dónde quiero estar.

LUPE drinks the liquor and falls asleep. DON DÍAZ and DELMA enter the kitchen.

DON DÍAZ
El segundo gallo cantó, devorando en sí la última estrella de la noche. Y con ella terminan los sueños, y regresa la realidad y nuestro deber a ella. Si ayer soñé que mi Plácido estaba aquí, y que mi hijita jamás conoció a ese Romeo. [295] Pero ese sueño, como las estrellas, los devora el amanecer. Despierta a Lupe. Comprendo su tardanza, pero nada me hará cambiar de opinión. Esto se tiene que hacer.

TÍA MARLA enters.

DON DÍAZ
Buenos días, Marla.

TÍA MARLA
¿Dónde está Lupita? ¡No me digas que sigue dormida! Despiértenla. No cambias, hermano, sigues siendo igual de mano blanda con ella. Su disciplina comienza hoy. Despiértenla, y díganle que la quiero aquí en quince minutos. ¡Ándale, Delma, te debería de llevar a ti también!

DELMA
¡Ay, no! Lupe es la joya de la familia. A mi déjenme. ¡Lupe, despiértate! Lupe, ándale, levántate, que Tía Marla ya hasta me anda queriendo llevar a mí. Anda, Lupe, se cómo te lastima esto, pero ya verás que con el tiempo te acostumbraras al cambio, y después hasta te andas conociendo a otro guapetón por allá, y quizás uno que no sea tan menso. Ándale, Lupe. Lupe.

LUPE is unresponsive.

¡Tío! ¡Tía! ¡Vengan rápido!

DON DÍAZ
¡Hija! ¡Lupita! Despiértate.

TÍA MARLA
¿Qué le pasa?

DON DÍAZ
¡Está muerta! ¡No! ¡Mi hija está muerta! ¡Marla, Marla, mi hija está muerta!

DELMA
No. Lupe.

DON DÍAZ
Qué es esto en su mano. Se envenenó. Se quitó la vida.

In shock, he holds the vial in his hand. [296]

Esto es culpa mía. Su muerte está en mis manos. ¡Maldita muerte! Despreciable sombra que acecha y roba todo lo que amo. Primero mi esposa, ahora mi hija. Ay, Catrina, llévame a mi desgraciada.

PADRE LAURO enters.

PADRE LAURO
¿Qué desgracia ha pasado aquí?

DON DÍAZ
Mi hija se ha suicidado.

PADRE LAURO walks up to take LUPE’s pulse.

PADRE LAURO
¿Porque lo haría?

DON DÍAZ
Por confusión, un güero que le … su cabeza … estoy seguro que él tiene que ver con esto. Cuando lo vea lo voy a matar al maldito. Y quizás al que debería de castigar es a mí mismo. Pues fueron tan dolorosas mis palabras y mi decisión, también tengo culpa.

PADRE LAURO makes the sign of the cross on LUPE’s forehead.

PADRE LAURO
Que Dios la cuide en su viaje.

DON DÍAZ
¿Y a donde ira? ¿Acaso su agresión a ella misma tendrá perdón de Dios?

PADRE LAURO
No es ella la que debe de pedir perdón de Dios. Ella como una flor extinguida, perdida jamás la recuperaremos. Pero ya, paremos esta angustia, y démosle paz al alma de esta pobre criatura de Dios. [297]

Scene 11

PADRE LAURO crosses the stage and runs into BALTI.

BALTI
¡Hola, Padre! ¿Qué pasa, Padre? Se ve preocupado.

PADRE LAURO
Not now, hijo mío. The young girl Lupe Díaz acaba de tomarse la vida.

PADRE LAURO continues on his way off stage.

BALTI
How this news will shatter my friend’s heart. Yet a true friend would not hold such truths back. I must write to him. May the news of her death not destroy my good friend.

 He exits.

Scene 12

NELSON and ROMEO enter.

NELSON
Excited to visit the recruitment office this Monday, Romeo?

ROMEO
I dread the day.

NELSON
I dread the beds. Last night was my first good sleep in a while. Those Pharr Hotel beds are as firm as tile, and once we are enlisted, who knows how long I’ll be sleeping on another terrible mattress.

ROMEO
If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep, my dreams presage some joyful news at hand. I dreamed that mi amada came and found me dead — strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think — and breathed such life with kisses in my lips that I revived and was an emperor.

The doorbell rings. A MAIL CARRIER enters. [298]

MAIL CARRIER
Good evening. A letter for Romeo Campbell.

ROMEO
Thank you.

The MAIL CARRIER exits.

ROMEO
A letter from Balti? I was expecting news from Padre Lauro.

He opens the letter. As he reads, he breaks into tears.

Lupe has died. Is this so? Then I deny you, stars!

NELSON
Things like this happen, and when they do, one must simply forget and move on.

ROMEO
Forget? How to vanish a memory? How to live through, to endure the days that will seem eternal, when God denies us what we love? How? It would be like stealing the sun from the night and leaving the face of the moon dark. In darkness, life withers and great empires are laid under the ice. I must leave at once.

NELSON
You can’t leave. I won’t let you.

ROMEO
Would you stop the river from flowing to the sea, or the moon from beaming with its reflected sunlight over the night creatures? Out of the way. I must return to my wife.

NELSON stands in the way. They fight. ROMEO knocks out NELSON and exits. MR. CAMPBELL and MRS. CAMPBELL enter.

MR. CAMPBELL
Get up! What happened here?

NELSON
Romeo did this to me. He received a letter from Balti with the news that Lupe died. Romeo has gone into a fit of distress and ran off to see for himself. [299]

MR. CAMPBELL
We must go after him.

NELSON
Uncle. I heard him call Lupe his “wife.”

MR. CAMPBELL
Are you sure of this?

(turning to his wife) Did you know of this?

MRS. CAMPBELL
Only that he met someone.

MR. CAMPBELL
If this is true, then my son has lost a wife.

MR. CAMPBELL exits. The others follow.

Scene 13

PADRE LAURO enters.

PADRE LAURO
Returned mail? This is the letter I sent to Romeo. He has no knowledge of the events that have passed. Que patraña a planeado el diablo esta vez. I must drive to his house right away and deliver the news personally.

PADRE LAURO exits.

Scene 14

At a funeral home. ROMEO approaches and tries to break in. Then the FUNERAL HOME CARETAKER enters.

CARETAKER
Where do you think you are going? A esta hora, solo los muertos deben de estar aquí.

ROMEO
He venido aquí a morir. Déjame pasar, o terminaré mi vida aquí mismo. [300]

CARETAKER
Muchacho, tú estás loco. No se viene a la funeraria a morir, se viene muerto. Y usted se ve muy vivo. Largo de mi ultratumba, regresa al mundo, o llamaré a la policía y dejaré que la ley de nuestra república se encargue de ti.

ROMEO
Ni el mundo ni la ley de nuestra república son amigos vuestros. I see that you are poor — take this money.

CARETAKER
I, my friend, am never poor. I’m the richest there is.

(Pointing at the graves) I only take care of the dead. Who am I to say how the living should die? And with your coin I hold off death for another day. I’ll let you pass.

ROMEO enters the funeral home and kneels by LUPE’s altar.

ROMEO
Lupe, you are yet so fair. Should I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous and that the abhorred monster keeps you here in the dark to be his lover? For fear of that, I will remain here with you and never again depart from this dim palace. I have brought this vile poison, a swift canoe to death’s lodging.

He drinks some of the poison, leaving some behind.

My heart skips a beat, my pulse flattens, my eyes begin to close, and my breathing is slowing, stopping. Where will this drift take me? No matter, as long as it lays me on the bed on which you sleep. Ay, Lupe, why did fortune give you to me, then so soon take you? I know you’re here, in the afterlife. I’ve felt its touch in sleepless nights.  I will go there now, and I know, querida Lupe, you are there waiting for me.

LUPE wakes up.

ROMEO
You are alive.

LUPE
Amor mío. Amor? What is this? Poison? No, what happened? Did you not receive the news? I was only sleeping. I was to wake and we were to run away together. [301]

ROMEO
Mi hermosa Lupe. Mi sol. I fall into my sleep too early, and you wake too late.

LUPE
No. Our timing is perfect. This is just as planned. I woke, and you are here, to take me to a world where our love can be free.

LUPE drinks the rest of the poison.

ROMEO
Don’t Lupe. Why?

LUPE
Because I, like you, will give everything up for us.

She kisses him.

ROMEO
It is just as I dreamed. With a kiss, I die.

They close their eyes and enter everlasting sleep. All the main characters enter except PLÁCIDO.

JUDGE
Look at what verdict is set upon your hate. Because of your conflicts. I almost lost a son. Plácido Díaz, by my lawful verdict, lost the life that he built here. All are punished.

DON DÍAZ
Perdí a mi hija dos veces, primero la perdí en el alma y la segunda en la vida. Y ahora en esta segunda vez, ya no la recuperaré. Perdí a mi hija la primera vez cuando cerré mi corazón a ella, la segunda cuando su último suspiro se escapó de su boca. Esa boca que tantas veces sonrió, que tantas veces besó esta mejilla. Bendita eres Lupita, que vas al cielo con los que amas. Descansa en paz al lado de tu madre y tu Romeo.

MR. CAMPBELL
I could not come to see what was in my son’s heart, forgetting that I have loved as he did. I regret my insensitivity. But I can’t regret my severity with him. I’ve only done what was right. I raised him as I saw best. Life is a very difficult place, and it’s eat or be eaten, for life only smiles on those who know how to mind their wealth. I’ve done everything I can in my life to make a good living, yet all I did was try to teach him to live as a Campbell. My son saw wealth in [302] love, otherwise there was poverty. He dies being Romeo, the man who loved Lupe above all other things.

BALTI
It’s true that the way life works is a mystery. I saved Romeo when he was a child and now, by sending my letter, I caused this misunderstanding and therefore his death. Perhaps he wasn’t meant to die back then. I saved him, just to deliver him on Lupe’s deathbed.

NELSON
I see that with Romeo’s death, there might now be a vacancy to take his position as future owner of the Campbell Irrigation Company.

(to RAMÓN) I promise that whether or not I gain that office, I will not dismiss the love that Romeo felt for your cousin. Our cousins did marry, after all, and now we are family. From now on I will persuade our parents to negotiate, and if need be, find other routes for our irrigation systems. We will continue to grow, yet grow as neighbors and brothers.

RAMÓN
Estoy de acuerdo. This Rio Grande Valley is in fact un valle mágico, “Magic Valley” like you call it. Because only in a magical place can love like this happen. And we didn’t see it. We are carnales, and we must work together and learn to see eye to eye.

NELSON and RAMÓN shake hands.

PADRE LAURO
See here that war destroys the most innocent and beautiful of creatures. In these times of change we fight for what we love, yet we focus so much on our hate that when the opportunity for love to flourish shows itself, we miss it. And indeed I know their love has made Romeo and Lupe eternal in heaven, but their love much too quickly to our world is lost. And what is lost, can never be replaced. This flame that was born between them, if it is born amongst us again, may it glow across the Rio Grande Valley.

PADRE LAURO drops a rose before the dead couple, followed by the others, who all also drop roses. MR. CAMPBELL joins the hands of the dead lovers with his rose and exits. The CORRIDO SINGER enters. [303]

CORRIDO SINGER
Now as time returns to its course
May you heed the warning of this old consejo:

The CORRIDO SINGER begins to sing “No le digas no al amor.”

No le digas no al amor
No hagas tanto coraje
Este es mi mensaje
Don’t say no to love
Only love can free a soul
Take heed of this true story
Don’t say no to love

END OF PLAY