15.

There are several small towns around the neighborhood of Copper Canyon. I do not remember the name of the one we got off the train at. I do remember the name of the small town we stayed two nights in before taking the train back. Creel. Since my visit, I have asked at least one Chihuaguense here in the US if he knew the town of Creel, who did. It is a very small town. He said it was named after a wealthy American who settled there long ago. I have no idea if what he said was true.

But we got off the train not at Creel, but an even smaller town whose name escapes me. By sunset, we were at a place from where it was easy to descend into the canyon. At least relatively easy; it didn’t seem particularly easy anywhere. There was a man who lived in a house not far from where we were camped, who offered to guide us the next day. We turned him down. The next day, we would go looking for him to take him up on the offer, without ever finding him. That night, his children—two boys—hung around our camp and ate with us. I assumed they were starving and needed food. I kept offering them more until they finally went away. My father told me once they were gone that he was under the impression they had only been eating it to be polite. The next morning they were there again. I tried to ask them in Spanish if they thought I spoke good Spanish. I had been speaking it to them all along, thinking I was making perfect sense. They only laughed when I asked them this, as they did to everything I said.

The night before, Paul had lit a campfire. I thought it was a terrible idea—what if he started a forest fire? He seemed to think there was no concern. I remember the way the fire grew and grew, seemed constantly to become larger and more terrible. The fire was like an evil in my world of perception, something I desperately wanted to extinguish and eliminate. Its very image was a source of anguish for me. What if it spread? What if we could no longer control it? I was terrified of the consequences, and kept telling Paul to put it out. He seemed to enjoy it, and would have nothing to do with my nonsense.