The Milagro Beanfield War (87 page)

Authors: John Nichols

BOOK: The Milagro Beanfield War

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When
Milagro
went into film production, AndrÃ©s was not all that interested. He had never heard of Robert Redford. When the picture had a benefit opening in Taos to raise money for the Tres RÃos Association, AndrÃ©s showed up and even gave a little speech. His eyesight had deteriorated so that it was difficult for him to follow what was on the screen. But he got a kick out of Amarante CÃ³rdova hijacking a bulldozer, and all those water politics only slightly skewed by the Hollywood lens.

Even in his nineties, AndrÃ©s would show up at important meetings in our valley and give his opinion. He would demand that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which had ended the Mexican-American War in 1848, be honored by the current government of the United States. He was a Mormon and a Republican, and yet up to the end he got along famously with yours truly, who was an Agnostic and a Commie. We loved each other dearly.

My aged friend's death occurred in December 1990. AndrÃ©s was ninety-two and still talking about land and water struggles the day before he died.

*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *

No doubt any author would be grateful to have just one book achieve longevity, a life of its own. I am sad, however, that April Delaney and Virgil Leyba of
The Magic Journey
have not touched as wide a chord as Herbie Goldfarb and Ruby Archuleta and JosÃ© MondragÃ³n. And I do wish that somehow Janine Tarr and Michael Smith from
American Blood
could reach my country's soul.

Still, as albatrosses go, I guess this one, ultimately, is fairly benign. I don't know if
Milagro
is a good book, or just one with a lot of upbeat energy that has captured a certain fancy. To be truthful, though, I do have a few minor regrets. For example, given the opportunity to rewrite this novel, for sure I would cut out two thirds of the cussing, which often seems gratuitous. And believe me, only one character, and just
once
during the entire novel, would dare exclaim,
“Ai, Chihuahua!”

Other than that, I still haven't reread the book in its entirety since the galleys were returned to Marian Wood so long ago.

I will admit that it's interesting to have the novel, like a dutiful son or daughter, phone home from time to time. I have received calls from a broken-down theater in Port-au-Prince, and from a prison cell in MazatlÃ¡n.
Milagro
told me once that it was being used for toilet paper by members of the FMLN in the high country of El Salvador. I got notice years ago that a Russian Anglophile waiting in line to see Lenin's tomb almost died laughing while reading about the misadventures of Pacheco's pig. And I heard a rumor that when a noted member of the Weather Underground turned herself in some years back, she carried a copy of
Milagro
to her prison cell.

So, yes, the beat goes on. Naturally, I hope this book will continue to inspire people and make them laugh. And if in the process it should also encourage them to overthrow the capitalist system, well, why not?

As Joe MondragÃ³n once said in a mild fit of revolutionary zeal, “A person's reach should exceed their grasp, or else what's a heaven forÂ â¦ quÃ© no?”

Taos, New Mexico

April 1993

Books by John Nichols

FICTION

The Sterile Cuckoo

The Wizard of Loneliness

A Ghost in the Music

American Blood

An Elegy for September

Conjugal Bliss

THE NEW MEXICO TRILOGY

The Milagro Beanfield War