When he woke up in that Cantina, Andres was groggy and he was aching from head to toe. He did not know what had happened after he went to sleep nor did he realize where he was waking up. Heavy dose of Valium had sedated him dangerously but he came through the night unharmed. In the dark room he cried for only person he knew would come whenever he was sick and that was his Mama.
No one came and then he was frightened and cried loudly for Marrissa. In a moment door opened and a stranger came in the room and said to him:

Tu mam�¡ no est�¡ aqu�­, que se encargar�¡ de ti ahora. �¿Est�¡s bien?"
(Your mom is not here, I will take care of you now. Are you okay?)"

"No, estoy sufriendo en absoluto" ("No,I am not suffering at all").
He responded in a very low voice and fell back in the bed crying silently.
He responded in a very low voice and fell in the bed, crying silently.

The woman came back with warm milk and some pills and said to him,
"No llores, Tomad y bebed todos de la leche y se sentir�¡ mejor". (Do not cry, drink all the milk and you'll feel better".)
She helped him to sit up and he slowly drank the milk and took the pills with it. Then he fell back in the bed and dozed off.

By the time Miguel returned with McDonald's lunch bag, it was almost noon and Marissa was miles away on the road to Bisbee. He took the boy out of that dark room and they sat outside in a picnic table. Andres was feeling lousy but he was ravenously hungry and smell of French Fries made him forget the circumstances he was in. He ate and drank large coke. The Caffeine and sugar in the drink made his hangover go away.

When he was calm and collected, Miguel introduced himself as Cousin and told him that his Mama had gone to take care of his Papa and she was not going to be back soon. He asked "if his Papa was staying at home and why he did not come to see him in so many days? Miguel avoided the questions and said,

" He will come and see you soon and then you ask him. For now I am taking you to a place and you will be staying there for a while; it is a nice place and you will meet boys and girls of your age, eat hamburger, fries and coke and also you will be able to continue your studies."

Andres nodded his head. There was nothing unusual about his Papa's absence. He was used to it but he was bit disturbed that his Mama left him without telling him where she was going or when she was returning. She always told him, whenever she went for shopping or to socialize with her friends. He kept his thoughts to himself. He did not much care for the stranger who called himself his cousin. He had suspicion that Miguel had something to do with the absence of his parents.

When they left for Tuscan; Andres noticed that everything looked different and there were signs in English and he saw the Big "M" on the horizon he remembered his trip to San Diego and he thought he was going to be with Papa on Peter's home. With that thought he settled down and was watching the traffic.
A police car came from behind with its lights flashing and Siren blaring, Miguel became tense and uttered, "Shit" and pulled the truck on the shoulder. The trooper slowed down a bit and zoomed passed the truck. Miguel relaxed and thought, I better calm down and not panic like this.

Andres was so thrilled to see the cop in action that his child's simple way of reverting to the most favorite play scene, came alive. He was acting as if he was in that Squad car and he was shooting at the imaginary villains walking past his truck, like he was playing that Cop and Robber Game with his friend. Every now and then his dad used to take him to the firing range and had introduced him to firing of a ladies Derringer Pistol which he kept at home with Marissa and had taught her how to use it. By the time they reached Tuscan, it was twilight and sun had already set living behind that beautifully lit up crimson --orange sky.

Miguel felt hungry and asked Andres if he wanted another Cheese Burger and Coke? That delighted the child. They went through a Drive Through and he picked the Child's meal for him in which there was a toy Police Car. He pulled the Truck in a secluded end of the parking lot and they eat their last meal together. Andres had fully recovered from his ordeal and remembered his manners. He spoke to Miguel in his usual genteel manners:

"Primo Miguel, gracias por todo; Te quiero" . ("Cousin Miguel, thank you for everything; I love you".)

"That's alright; I love you too" he said to the kid and messed up his hair with bit of emotion in his voice. Then they drove to a Catholic Orphanage and Andres read the board loudly as if to display his skill in English reading, " BOARDING HOME FOR YOUTH".

Miguel pulled up the truck on the side of a multistory brick building which looked like housing the Administration Offices. He told Andres to wait in the truck and went inside. He must have gone in for about thirty minutes and came out with a woman in a Nun's outfit. He opened the door and said to the boy," Come down now and don't forget your toy". Andres got out and the Nun Came forward and extended her hand and said:

"Bienvenido Andr�©s, yo soy la hermana Estela;.. Ven conmigo lo que vas a quedarte conmigo esta noche". (Bienvenido Andr�©s, I am sister Estela;... Come with me; you are going to stay with us tonight.)

Andres turned his face to see if Miguel was coming also but he saw him taking a small suitcase which Marissa had packed for him. He followed them but Sister Stella stopped him at the steps leading to the verandah of that building and said,"I think you better leave now, we will take good care of this handsome boy" then took the suitcase from his hand and both disappeared in the building.

Miguel went back to his truck and sat there in the driver's seat for a quite sometime. The weary feeling which he was fighting all along the mission, finally came over him. Now the journey's end was visible and he had fallen asleep in his saddle with the satisfaction of the Mission Accomplished and the prize was there, waiting for him in Bisbee.

When he woke up it was past midnight. The three quarter moon was out and sky was cloudless. Night looked serene and peaceful life seems to be awaiting to everyone now that they had out miles between the dangerous, crime ridden hometown and the wild open country stretched in front of him. Viva la US he thought and smile broke on his face.

He drove off towards the city and found a Motel with bar. He quickly drank few beers and went to bed. Next morning he drove straight into Bisbee,and headed for that house perched on the ridge, off the Thousand Steps hill. As he was coming up the bend on the road, she saw him. He pushed open the door and she flung herself in his arms. She had not seen or spoken to any one for almost twenty four hours. She was frightened, lonely and lost. For her life's journey had come to a stop sign with three other roads meeting and not knowing what lay beyond or which one has taking her to her destiny.

In his arms she broke and sobbed hysterically. He simply held her to his strong chest and did not say a word. When she finished; he pulled her chin up, gently pushed her soft black hair away from her face and kissed her softly and whispered in her ear,
"Sus m�¡s! Somos libres de amarnos unos a otros".("It's over! We are free to love each other").

A weak smile came on her lips as if she wasn't sure if that is what she wanted but she whispered almost inaudibly:
"Dame un beso m�¡s".(Give me one more Kiss.)

"With pleasure I will give you thousand kisses" he said and kissed her again and again until she pushed him away and spoke in English this time,

"You stink like a Burro, go take shower".
" Not unless you soap my back" he responded playfully.
"No, you not baby, may be later; now let me make lunch for you" She disappeared in the kitchen and he went to get cleaned up.

Next day they moved to his home in the outskirt of San Diego. Finally Marissa found her own dream world and in few months she became pregnant with his child. The wheel of Samsara finally turned in the direction they both wanted. For the next five years, life went on smoothly. Miguel went north and gave full report to his uncle and of course omitting the information about Marissa. He told him that she moved to Washington DC to work for a house hold of a Congressman from New Mexico and that there was no point to reach her because he did not have their address or contact information.

"How did she get that job he asked suspiciously?"

" Well, I paid a woman with some of her Jewelry in Tuscan and she arranged it and I don't know the details" he lied.

Then he diverted Carlos attention to his Son and gave the details of his whereabouts and left. Carlos was happy that he had successfully bit the odds and everyone had found a safe heaven. He missed Marissa for a very short time. There was no real love between them and everything was like a business partnership anyway.

The stressful nature of his job in Mexico had impacted his desires for sexual gratifications and he almost always was late to come home when she was tiredly waiting for him and then he would pack her to bedroom while he sat in the kitchen and drank few beers while eating something. Often he had fallen asleep in his living room with TV going on until she shut it in the morning.

On her part; she kept herself fit, attractive and ready for him if he wanted her and that used to happen once in a while on a holiday or weekend when he was not called off to work and after a Soccer game with his favorite team wining and if she was around to arose him.

She disappeared from his mind and thoughts after he met a middle aged white woman by name Lucille who worked at the Truck dealership. They liked each other. She had moved from California and was used to Mexican men. She helped him get the job and he started helping her with children and then they became lovers and eventually started living together. By the time he became assistant manager, she had quit her job and was a full time home maker and that's how Marissa was replaced and every one settled down in their lives. Occasionally Carlos sent money to the Boys Boarding Home but never disclosed his existence to anyone, not even to Lucille. When FBI showed up and cleared the air; he was ready to trust her and share his life story.

Andres meanwhile grew up without his family but life in the USA was good for him. He was free within the bounds laid out by the establishment and received good care. There were many children of his age and as he was reaching the puberty he started to notice the changes in the bodies of girls he was studying with. They had separate living quarters but the school was coed. Andres in his adolescent years was a handsome child. With mustache line appearing on his well formed lips and the dark eyes with neatly arranged eyebrows which he had inherited from his mother, he looked very handsome and older girls started to pay him attention overtly.He on the other hand was still lingering in his childhood and his dream of becoming a Texas Ranger had not died.

The local Police new him by name and sight. He was there whenever they showed up at the school for any reason. The old Sheriff, Art Wilson became sort of found of this young man. Unlike other boys he was very respectful and saluted them as if he was in uniform also. The other white, Black and Hispanic guys made fun of him. They had nicknamed him, "Oink, Oink ass-kisser and only few befriended him. He did not care and told them yes; I love them all. My father was a great Police Man. Some frustrated girls whose invitation for slumber parties he would decline after the first one he went to, and where he almost lost his virginity,spread the gossip that he was gay. Eventually they all left him alone. It was Susan Wilson the Sheriff's youngest daughter who was a class behind him proved them wrong by becoming his steady girlfriend. They met at the Sheriff's reelection booth and he was invited to the reelection party. His clean looks, innocence and politeness impressed Susan's mother and then they began studying together as he was a Magnet student he could help her with difficult math problems rather easily. She was an attractive but studious looking young woman and most boys ignored her because of her father's job. There friendship turned into a fondness and love by the time he got to the Community college and she came in the next year. The picture was beginning to get better and better as the time passed except for some resentment about Susan dating a Hispanic guy but then Sharif Art had special liking for the young man and most young patrolmen left him alone.

After his fifteenth birthday, he was transferred to a foster home. It was a household of a Salvadoran family with four children. They were very good to him because Carlos started sending money and gifts to him. They gave him what he needed but kept some of it to meet the needs of other children also.
As the time passed and he finished his high school diploma with excellent grades and entered in the community college for a two years diploma in Criminal Justice.

It was in his second and the final year when he had reached nineteen, the Arizona State Police recruiters came to his college for an employment fair t search for suitable candidates for the Police academy. Of course, Andres was there bright and early.

There were two guys and a woman in uniform who were conducting the interviews and doing what the recruiters do. When his turn came to talk to them, he by habit saluted them in the way his father used to receive them. The younger of the two was a young patrolman from the border town of Texas by name Arnold. He hated illegal immigrants coming in from across the borders. He at once recognized that saluting style and his meanness came up instantly. Andres' innocent, raw face irritated him more.

When he opened the folder which Andres had neatly prepared for that event, and glanced at his interim mark sheet and noted the 4.0 average and that disturbed his mental image of a Mexican as "Dumb Bastards". In addition to that, he also remembered that he had barely made through most of the courses and had passed college diploma with 2.25 Average.

He started the interview with a remark insulting the Mexican Police. He said to the young man,

" where did you learn to salute that stupid Chicano Police way?". Andres did not react immediately because he did not get the point of that insult which he had not heard before and responded,

" I don't know what Chicano means, but my father was a Senior Mexican Police and he died fighting with drug dealers and that is why I want to be a Police Man."

The woman in uniform was a senior deputy from the county unit; she had seen Andres many times; Cathy was her name. She was listening to their conversation and was visibly disturbed by the way interview had started. The jerk then asked Andres:
"How did you get 4.0 average; you are dumb Mexican; we don't take Chicanos and Nigger in the Arizona State Police. Go, become a security guard if you want to be in a blue uniform".

That was too much for Andres to take and he reacted;
" I am not dumb and I earned every grade with hard work" and then unlike his passive character, he blurted out,

" It is you who is dumb and unfit to put that uniform on".

The trooper turned red in his face because Andres was right about that and also reminded him of his failures. He stood up and tore up the folder, and threw it on his face. Andres was delicately handsome but he had worked in the Gym to be a strong man, fit for the police physical and also had taken basic boxing training for courage. With that folder hitting on his face, he stood up and hit the police man right on his lip. Before the police man could reach for his gun, Cathy the policewoman took Andres out of the booth and told him to leave. Then she turned around and said to her colleague,

"You better freeze, I heard every word you said and I will testify against you for what you said to him and how you trampled his civil rights; it was a dumb thing to do."

With that commotion, the Senior Policeman by name, Steve Sandasky,came in the booth. He was several feet away on another table talking on his cell. Cathy appraised him about the incident. There were other employers' booths around them and senior Policeman realized what damage the young patrolman had done to their image as other students waiting to speak with them, started to move away and soon, usual derogatory sounds of Pig calling started when Andres told his co-students what happened and showed them his tattered folder. Steve asked Arnold to leave and told Cathy to make a First Incidence Report.

When Andres had turned eighteen, he had received a parcel from Miguel. When he opened, it was a personalized Bible with his Dad's name engraved on it and there was a combination lock on it. He recognized that book instantly. He remembered the combinations because it was his birth date; the month and last two digits of the year he was born. He couldn't believe it came to his possession. That night in his room, he opened the top, ornamented brass plate and then flipped through the pages until middle of the book and there it was, that Derringer Pistol and five bullets neatly and cleverly concealed.

He took it out and as he was trained to handle it by his father,he put his hat and took aim at several objects without loading it. Then he loaded two bullets in the cylinder but did not realize that one of them had automatically aligned with the muzzle. He put safety lock on and placed it back in the carved chamber in the book, did not locked it and when he went to his car, he put it in the glove compartment not realizing that he was carrying a concealed weapon without a permit to do so.

After that incident, Andres went to his car and drove off. As he left the college campus, he noticed a State Police car pulling out of the same exit. Instinctively he knew who was in that car and he made a quick right turn in a gully and pulled in front of one office building. His instinct was right on the mark. The policeman had seen him coming out and leaving the area but by the time he got a chance to pass other cars, he had missed Andres turning into that side enclave and sped away in search of him.

He was infuriated to begin with and now it added fuel to his anger that the kid had hoodwinked him. Andres had planned to wait for about half an hour and then pull out of that gully and get on the highway. However, the pursuing patrolman had not given up his search because after he went few miles on that straight highway, he had realized that Andres was not in front of him but was hiding and there was no other place but to cut in that gully. He knew the place very well as all other police of that county and precincts did.

That was a favorite street for the petty criminals and drugs peddlers. It was close to college and away from any major thoroughfare. It was a one way connecting east side to the west just before the ramp for the highway. The patrolman quickly turned around and went back into college campus and drove to the back exit to get on the street that connected to the same gulley from the opposite end. When he was doing that, the other two officers saw him. They had finished loading of the paraphernalia and getting in the squad car and Cathy said to her boss:

" hay Steve, that is Arnold; he should have been out of this area by now; I wonder where is he going in a hurry back to campus looks like. I hope he is not going after that kid".

"That rookie has a serious problem, c'mon lets see where he is heading" Steve said to her and they followed him. She was reaching for the radio, but Steve stopped her:

"wait don't make him feel like we are conspiring against him. He may be going somewhere else but let's find out; I will catch up with him to have a coffee." With that idea in mind she pulled the cruiser out and exited in the same way Arnold had and headed on the highway Arnold had taken. When he turned around suddenly and headed back; their suspicion about his intentions became more real and they too turned around and headed back to college.

When Arnold the patrolman entered that gully, he did not see Andres' little Ford "LUV" Truck because he was sitting in the office building's parking lot located on elevated ground with a ramp coming down from where one could see the street below.

There was a Drug transaction going on the road when Andre entered the scene. He saw the road blocked by two vehicles, so he had climbed up the ramp and was waiting for the clearing of that narrow road. The drug buyer had parked the car and drug dealer's SUV was behind him.

In few minutes, Arnold in the police cruiser came upon the scene, and stopped. He got half way out of the vehicle to see what was blocking him and at the same time Andres had pulled from the parking area. He stopped on the ramp as he saw Arnold's head emerging from the cruiser. Now the gully was blocked on both ends, he was wondering how he could escape and then in a flash the whole scene changed.

When the Drug Dealer saw a Trouper getting out of a police vehicle from behind and also was aware that there was no escape route for him, as the client's car had blocked his SUV, he pulled a semiautomatic and emptied the clip at Arnold's direction. At the time, Arnold's torso was half out of his cruiser and he had elevated it by standing on the car's floor. He took two or three rounds straight in and because of his position at an angle to the shooter, two of them penetrated from the side opening at the left shoulder, bypassing the bullet-proof vest and entering the body, severing the major artery. He simply collapsed outside the vehicle with his one foot still stuck in the door.

From his elevated position, Andres had seen the man pulling the gun as he was only fifty or so feet from the police car. As if by instinct of saving a policeman, he moved quickly, opened the glove compartment, pulled the Bible out which was not locked, flipped the gun out, jumped out of the car and ran towered Arnold. The drugs dealer had already emptied his gun and Arnold was down in the pool of blood but still conscious, watched Andre approaching him with the little pistol aimed at the shooter. He saw Andres opening fire and hit the gunman in the back of his neck. The small caliber pistol round only injured the man and he jumped in the customer's car who had fled the scene on foot, and took off.

Andres bent down on the fallen officer and took his gun out. As he was trying to figure out how to fire an automatic, which he had never handled before, he had the weapon pointing down towards the fallen officer. Very same moment Cathy and Steve's cruiser pulled behind him and they saw Andres trying to do something with gun and fellow officer was down on the street.

In a second, Steve pulled his gun and fired two shots. Andres fell on Arnold as the bullets penetrated his neck and lower head; in an instant he was dead.
The drug dealer had by then taken off. Cathy the female officer had already contacted the dispatcher and many police and Sheriff's cars converge on the spot. Meanwhile, Steve was holding Arnold in his arm and talking to him to keep him from becoming unconscious. Arnold wearily opened is eyes and said,

"Steve; that kid came to save my life; I saw him shoot at them; tell him, he will make a fine trooper; will you? Tell him how sorry I am. I was a jerk". Then blood poured out of his mouth as he violently coughed and died in Steve's arms.

When old Sheriff arrived, they were loading bodies in the waiting Ambulance. He went over and uncovered the face and bent down and kissed him; " you will be policeman in heaven Andres. I will miss you. I don't know how Susan is going to take this," he muttered to himself.
For the requiem mass the Church was filled to the capacity with officers, their families. Many other law enforcement folks came to pay the last respects and among them was the Senior Ranger from Texas. There were two coffins laid out and both young men were dressed in the Ceremonial Police Attire. One was in the Arizona State Police and the other was in the Texas Ranger's Uniform.
Andres' courage and life story was narrated to the Commander of Texas Rangers by the Sherriff and with the urging of other rangers, he was commissioned as a Honorary Ranger. Carlos came to see his son too late. When he arrived in the church, he was wearing his full Mexican Officers Ceremonial uniform. He stood at his son's body and said to the Sherriff who was next to him,
" He always wanted to be Police Man just like me; I had planted the seed in him for the dream when he was just five and he carried in his heart; look how handsome he looks in the Ranger's uniform. His mother would have been so proud of him". Then he saluted him like a Mexican officer would to his superior.

As he was leaving, Sheriff Wilson came around and gave him a brown paper bag and said this belongs to you and left. Carlos opened the bag and there was that Bible. Arnold and Andres were buried side by side in the Police Cemetery.
A simple tombstone read,
"Andres Menendez. Texas Ranger. Born July30, 1955 --Killed in line of Duty August 7, 1974."

For Andres, our little hero,one way to look at- his dream came true in spite of the Wheel of Samsara dropping him off its spoke unexpectedly. However, those who knew him well, he will always be held in high esteem as one of those brave men and women, who go out everyday into the battlefields when they leave homes. These are the heroes who keep that Wheel Turning for so many others. They deserve the love and respect which little Andres carried in his heart, from all of us.