Windows To The World

 June is one of the seminal months of the year. Couples use it to start new lives together, seeds put out shoots and hope for rain, children tie up all the fragments of the of new ideas and facts that have been introduced to them for the past many months and head for the fresh air and freedom, at least where I live there is still summer vacation.  For many, summer has deeper spiritual meaning of renewal that in some cases always has a darker side because of the perversity of human nature.

 

ZIA SUMMER

Rudolfo Anaya

Sonny Baca awakens one morning from a very disturbing dream. The smell of strong coffee that his neighbor Don Eliseo brews every morning under an ancient cottonwood tree in the Old Town section of Albuquerque, New Mexico comes through his window. Before he gets an explanation of his dream from the wise old man he gets a call from his Aunt Delfina telling him that his cousin Gloria is dead and she wants him to take her to Gloria's house.

Zia Sun

Gloria has been murdered in a ritualistic manner. The sign on of the Zia sun has been carved into her body and her blood has been drained and taken away.  The Zia sign the powerful positive image of the sun, symbol of the state flag, giver of life, whose path in the sky was observed was daily observed was now perverted by those who scratched the Zia ring on Gloria Dominic's stomach, now a symbol of murderers.

Delfina has no faith in the police and she wants Sonny to solve this murder. The police want to pin the case on the gardener for a quick fix because Gloria's husband Frank Dominic is running for Governor. Sonny is a PI. After he left University, he taught High School for a few years but he found that teaching was not for him. He was quickly involved in a very high profile case that gave him a lot more fame than he deserved and life had been good. He was also the great grandson of a famous lawman of the territory and he did want to live up to his ideals. He knew that this case was going to be difficult; there were no clues just feelings.

Don Eliseo spoke about these feelings. 'In the old days we called them brujas, men and women who did black magic, fornicated with goats, prayed the Black Mass. Ah, that's what the people said. They are really people who have destruction in their hearts. Things don't change. Now maybe they drive or work in fancy cars, wear nice cloths. They work all over the city. The surface changes, underneath the evil intent remains'.

Cavern

What some people considered evil intent was the intent of the government to bury nuclear waste material in the deep caves and caverns of New Mexico and their aim was to stop this.

WIPP Trucks

What other people considered was the true evil intent so that the government would have to reconsider was that a cult dedicated to stopping the desecration of the South West planned to blow up trucks carrying nuclear waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and to cause a terrific nuclear incident that would never be forgotten. 

Sonny Baca had a perilous path to tread, one that could only be survived with the help of loved ones.

Cottonwood tree

Rudolfo Anaya tells a very modern story that is full of characters that have deep connections to the past, to the place that they live, to history and to the spiritual world. Ancestors are important in this life and are more than our genetics. His respect for the family is strong and translates to a naturalistic approach. He uses the symbol of the cottonwood that although ancient and dying can if treated tenderly still put out one last green shoot at summer solstice and encourage all by living on and becoming just as much a story as a murder.

Rio Grande