Rain of Gold

Socorro goes into labor the night of a full moon, so Doña Guadalupe sends Lupe and Victoriano to fetch the midwife, Angelina. Lupe begs to stay to help deliver the baby; despite Doña Guadalupe’s initial objections, the midwife convinces her to let Lupe stay. Angelina encourages Socorro to let out her pain through screams and grunts. She tells her to imagine she is “going to make love to an enormous watermelon” (53). Doña Guadalupe isn’t a fan of the way the midwife talks, but she deals with it because she knows she is an expert at childbirth. Angelina has Socorro squat on the floor and hold a rope as she gives birth. Lupe is fascinated, but her sister, Carlota, runs out in disgust. Socorro gives birth to twins, an occasion that causes Doña Guadalupe to drink, something Lupe has never seen her do before. The midwife comments to Doña Guadalupe that Lupe will “be a fine woman” (56). Everyone but Socorro and her twins stay up the whole night talking and laughing, making Lupe feel “refreshed and strong” (56).

Lupe’s worries about the colonel’s whereabouts increase when she finds out there is a bloody battle raging in the direction he is supposed to be traveling. Old Man Benito and Victoriano decide to use dynamite to excavate the gold they found. Doña Guadalupe does not approve but realizes she has little power, so she hopes her son is right when he says, “by tomorrow we’ll be rich” (58). She plans to use the money to help the family escape to America so they can avoid the revolution. Old Man Benito asks Manos for some dynamite, and Manos agrees. They hire a physically strong but mentally disabled 14-year-old neighbor named Ramón to help them. Once they get everything set up, they realize they left their lunches behind. Victoriano goes to fetch them, but while he is back home, he hears two explosions. Victoriano and several other men, including Ramón’s older brother Esabel, run up the hill to try and find Old Man Benito and Ramón.

After an afternoon long search, they find their dead bodies; it’s clear Ramón tried to save Old Man Benito. Some of the men keep looking for the gold, but Manos points out that it is only a matter of time before they all get crushed in a landslide. They carry the bodies back into town and prepare them for burial. They get drunk and mourn their lost friends and family. The next day the town has a large funeral and barbecue for the deceased. During the feast, two gunshots go off, and the American soldier Señor Scott announces he and his girlfriend, Carmen, will marry at sunset. Lupe notices that everyone is enjoying themselves except Victoriano, who stoically sits alone.

Lupe and her sisters all wear brand-new dresses to the wedding. Sophia flirts with an older man named Don Tiburcio, and Lupe and her other family members gawk intently at the exchange. Señor Jones arrives with his wife and daughter, and the ceremony begins. Before Carmen and Señor Scott can wed, however, bullets start flying and soldiers start attacking. Lupe manages to hide with Manuelita, but she is upset because her sisters are not accounted for. She rips away from Manuelita’s grasp so she can hide with her mother. As she is crossing to her mother, she thinks she sees the colonel’s horse, but when she looks up, it’s not the colonel riding the horse but a man who immediately makes it clear he is going to snatch her. Doña Guadalupe tries to save her by blinding the horse. This causes the man, La Liebre, to line the whole family up so he can shoot them. Everyone except Carlota, that is, who is screaming manically as she watches her family prepare to be killed. Some of the Americans intervene, however, and they are saved when La Liebre is distracted and sets his sights on the mayor’s daughter, Lydia, instead. Back at home, Carlota is beside herself for not doing a better job of saving her family. Despite her mother’s calming reassurances, she remains inconsolable as “her shame” takes over her (68).