All The Darkness You Need

Chapter 5: New Mexico

They only saw New Mexico in the dark and they wondered about the landscape and if it was much different than Texas. Jesse said he didn't know if New Mexico was like Texas but he was sure that it was nothing like Mexico at all.

"That's right. You been down there." Said Dan and he knew it but he always liked to hear Jesse tell about it.

"Yeah I rode an old Yamaha streetbike up around the gulf-side of Florida back a few years ago. Right after high school really. Wanted to go to Old Mexico so I did it. I got through Texas and headed down through there. They was already speakin' Spanish down in the bottom of Texas to get you ready for it I guess."

"What was it like?" asked Dan as he drove with his gaze fixed far ahead.

"It's a beautiful country in ways. A lot of it's wide open like you see in the westerns. Flat rock valleys with little mountains in the distance. Then when you get up to the mountains they're way bigger than you thought. And it goes on and on. I saw a river once up ahead as I was riding and it looked like a little creek in the flat grey floor. The closer I got the wider it got and when I finally made the bank of it I could barley imagine the old narrow bridge they had there was bridge enough to cross it. Wasn't no one around or I'd a let them go first. I watched the brown water run for some time and all I saw was a branch or a limb or two come floatin' down.

"Finally I headed across the bridge. Wooden boards rattllin' and some boards just missin' and out on it I could feel the water sway the whole affair two and fro. I did make it across though. I don't think they care too much about fancy bridges down there like we do. Some people are real nice. I think because I was on the motorcycle they took to me different. Like they knew I's just on my own. So they somewhat took care of me. Like they'd give me extra food if I let out from a café or such. Never bothered me much. The guys are real serious about the women though. The women are all spoken for, or so I felt. You don't see a lot of single girls milling around. At least where I was you didn't.

"But then you get off in the hills and your ass is fair game. I guess they always had bandits down there. They still got 'em. They stole my motorcycle one night when I was sleepin'. I's camped up under a rock face and I had to leave the bike down from it a ways. Woke up and it was gone.

"I was walkin' along the road the next day with just my backpack and a truck picked me up. Full of Mexicans riding in the back and I rode up in there with 'em. They give me cigarettes to smoke with 'em since we couldn't really talk. They love to smoke cigarettes down there. Man-alive do they. We smoked the whole day and threw the butts out the back onto the road. I didn't know it, but they was heading to a town and we rode in to it. Dirt roads. All the roads are dirt. The truck stopped and all us Mexicans in the back got out. I didn't know what to do so I just walked along and after a few buildings there was a saloon of some kind and outside of it was my Yamaha leanin' on a light pole. I just got on it and rode off and they came after me a bunch of 'em in an old truck. The truck broke down about two miles into the chase and I left it smokin' behind on the road and them hollerin' in Mexican and shootin' pistols at me."

"No shit. But you got away."

"Yeah I got away. But there's plenty of trouble down there for anyone who needs some. I basically made my way back to Texas after that. Then on the road into Texas I had to stop at the border station and they damn near didn't let me back into my own country."

"What happened?"

"Well the man asked me how come I was down there and I didn't have no good reason to tell him. Told him I just went down there to see Mexico. And that the Mexicans stole my bike and I had to steal it back and that they ran me outta there at pistol-shot."

"And he let you back in then?"

"Yeah. Said, Don't go fuckin' around down there anymore then, and I took his advice."

"I guarantee you did," said Dan and they drove on through the night.

They saw moths in flocks that swept around the moving car and they saw what they thought was an owl swoop down ahead of the car but beyond that they saw nothing but road and the night it led into.

Jen slept in the back. She woke one time and sat up to look through the windshield but she did not speak. She watched the dark highway pass and she looked at the guys and they watched it too. The car sailed through the night under the stars and on that stretch of road they were alone.

Jen thought about L.A. and California in general and she wondered where she might live and what kind of job she might find. She hoped to make some good friends and she hoped to maybe get a job at an art gallery or at least an art store. The night grew cold and she went back to sleep.

Dan at the wheel thought about L.A. and he hoped to make it there well ahead of everyone else. He pictured the Hollywood sign and he wondered if you could see that from the old interstate truck stop that was set to be the end of the race. He thought that maybe some girls would be there to see who came in first and he knew that the guys who had set up the race and were in charge of the money would be there regardless of their company, girls or otherwise, and he hoped to be the winner above all things.

Jesse thought about Mexico and the bandits that had stolen his bike. He thought about the little cafes that served thin steaks and eggs at all times of day and tortillas and goat cheese with every meal. He thought about the race as well and he longed to win. He thought about the border guard and he wondered if the borders were the same now and if serious men still decided who got to come back into America and who did not. He wondered if Jen had ever been to Mexico and he wondered if she had heard his story or if that had been a time that she was asleep and he looked back at her curled up on the back seat. He faced the highway ahead and in the dark silence he rode, with his companions, through all the darkness you could ever need.

The windshield fogged up from the cold outside and Dan turned on the defroster and Jesse cracked his window and the foggy glass cleared. The cool air rushed in and it felt refreshing so Dan cracked his window as well. Jen, in her sleep, was glad for the fresh air and she inhaled deeply and slept more and better and she slept through the night. She dreamt that Sage and Rosco had been arrested in Atlanta. When she woke up the Arizona border Sun was rising.