One year after their return:
The quiet whining of Kino roused Juana from her restless slumber, the pale moon light cast contorted shadows in the fairly new brush house, as Juana looked toward her child in his hanging box. She slowly moved her tired and fragile body to her baby. The infant's face was pained, as if knowing what great deal of sorrow his mother was experiencing just by looking at him.
Juana was always in constant mourning. For she knew her son would be assigned to a fatherless life, and she was resigned to a be a widow. Juana never could--or would--love another man liked she had loved Kino. She never again would see his loving and stubborn and strong face.
Only after days of their return--only after hours of Coyotito's burial--had Kino been arrested. Charged with man-slaughter and hanged. And Juana, nor any villager, could fight the courts. No man would listen to the story of a Latino villager-- the vermin they considered to be less than animals--protecting his family, himself, and his property. No, they would rather him be dead than taint the shores with his heritage.
And unbeknownst to Juana--much less Kino--she was pregnant with his child. Only after eight agonizing months did Juana birth a stubborn,strong, and round-faced-looking boy. The baby looked identical to his father, his nose was wide and his cheek bones were high, just like Kino's.
Joy and remorse tangled in Juana like a battle her ancestors had fought. The resemblance, and to honor her husband, were the reasons she named him Kino.
Juana was a widow, a mother, and a villager. Society beyond her village would treat her worse than an untrainable dog. So, she has since been cursed to reside only in her village of La Páz; having fending off of her brother-in-law, Juan Tomás.
So here she stands, nursing her fatherless child, in the pale light of the new moon. Never to have any man, besides her son, to love and care for again.
And here she will repeat her late night feedings over and over again. For, along with the song of the family, the light and joy in Juana's eyes and spirit disappeared long ago. She will only survive to nurture her son, to keep the memory of Kino alive. And once her son is grown, and she is no longer needed, she will die, and turn to dust. Once again joining her husband in the beyond.
Twenty years after that night:
"Mother, please! Do not leave me!" Kino cried as he hugged the old and feeble body of his mother.
"My son--" she began, her aged lethargy skin pinching and twisting as she spoke.
Her voice was shaky, and barely above a whisper as she continued.
"I am no longer needed, I have fulfilled my duty as a servant of God." She said slowly, caressing the tear stained face of her young man.
"Do not cry my son. Hear the song of the family, and pass my story, and your father's story, onto your family. Do not cry, Kino." She repeated, a small smile edged across her face for the first time since the death of her husband.
"Mother."
"Do not cry, I will be united with your father again, in the beyond. I will meet your brother Coyotito again. Carry on my legend Kino, tell your children to be thankful. Tell them of the Pearl, and it's curse. Tell them to cherish everyday with you, My Son." Her eyes closed this time, the shrill screaming and pleading of her son to 'please stay' we're waning.
"I love you my son, I love you Kino."
~~~~~**~~~~~
"I have waited for patiently, my wife." Came a deep and loving voice behind Juana.
"Mother! Oh, mother how we have waited!" A small boy chimed in.
Juana turned her now young body, her deep brown eyes met the eyes of her husband and first born son.
"My family, oh how I have missed you." She said quietly, tears of joy running down her cheeks.
"We are one again, and this time, no power will separate us." Kino said, his voice smooth and calming.
"Never again my loves." Juana said, kissing the forehead of Coyotito and hugging her husband.
Never again....
And as the joy returned to Juana, so did the song of the family, ringing happily in her ears for centuries to come, and longer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many say that Kino, Juana's child, never returned to his normal self. Though he did find a wife, a short woman named Annÿa; and they familied two children. A small girl named Juana--after Kino's mother--their first born, and a boy named Tomás. In thanks for all Kino's Uncle had provided for him and his mother.
Kino still held sorrow, but kept his promise to his mother, although only for the early years of his families life. But that promise soon faded. And on one of his many pearl dives, he saw a light shining from an unusually large Pearl. Kino went near this nearly perfect Pearl, and brought it to the surface, into the boat he and his mother had made together.
He opened the small, and contorted pearls first, then the large Pearl. The knife he carried slit through the muscle like flesh, to reveal a Pearl that most regarded as, as large as a seagull's egg, and as perfect as the moon. "The Pearl of the World" as the villagers remembered it...
