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CHAPTER ELEVEN
It wasn’t all tramping and hunting. Part of every summer I devoted to help my father in preparing bills and posting the books of his tax collections, as for a number of years he had shouldered the burden of being tax collector for our town, which was a source of grave responsibilities and inadequate returns. My father’s contract called for his paying into the State Treasury one sixth of the yearly amount set on the tax rolls, every two months, whether collected or not, receiving in compensation two and one-half percent of the taxes and certain penalties for taxpayers’ delinquencies. The taxes were burdensome and the collections difficult; therefore, continuous financial stringencies and no end of trouble and animosity.
My father’s main endeavor was trading in live stock. The raising was done on a partnership basis with several farmers. He would buy young stock (horses, cows and sheep) and place a certain number with each farmer, who would undertake the feeding, with the advantage of fertilizing his land. When it was decided to sell, the profit was divided equally, after deducting the original investment. Barring epidemic casualties, it was a mutually fruitful business. It entailed a number of contracts with the farmers, periodic inspections and running around country fairs and market places. What a little dynamo my father was!
During my summer vacations, I helped my father draw contracts for the cattle partnerships and joined him in many of his tours, acquiring considerable experience, which was to be helpful when the wheels of destiny turned against us.
My father was a fearless man, but at times he would express a presentiment of death. At first, I thought it was intended to impress me and make me take things in earnest, although I never gave him reason to the contrary. When alone on some of our trips, he would say: “Antonio, you have lived up to all my expectations. Your mother and I are making…
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…great sacrifices to put you through school and we are very proud of you. We are envied by all the wiseacres of our town who are trying to live on the fat of the land and are slipping fast, because they lack intelligence and initiative. You know how hard I work and no one can beat me. But, if anything should happened to me, I expect you to step in my shoes, guide our family and never give up your career. You think I am silly to talk in the manner, when you are still a boy, and I am young myself, but who knows what may happen to me?”
His eyes would fill with tears and shivers ran through my spine. I would try to laugh it off and change the subject, but his thoughts were deep and solemn. I would plead not to mention it again. We would spur our horses into a trot and continue our journey in silence.
Once, we went to a fair and having sold all our stock, at favorable prices, we had a great deal of cash. There were still three hours of daylight and, by forcing our horses, we could have made our town before dark. But the road was clogged with returning farmers and cattle and, by sunset, we had covered less than one-half of the distance. We had to cross a forest and, with all that money on him, my father thought it might have been dangerous to attempt it, as on these occasions there had been cases of hold-ups.
We went to a farm house to ask for overnight lodging, but the few rooms were stacked up with corn and there wasn’t a corner available. They offered us a couple of blankets suggesting that we sleep in the open, as they did. It was a warm night and the humble hospitality was accepted. I was then fifteen years old. After sitting around a while, we were offered two large bowls of bread and milk which we relished. Eating bread and milk with a wooden spoon out of a wooden bowl is a rare delicacy of country life.
We conversed for some time about the fair, the weather and the crops until I felt drowsy and excused myself. My father followed. We spread our horse-hair blankets over the stubbles of a clipped wheat field and I fell sound asleep. When I awoke, the firmament shone in all its majesty, the moon was big and bright, the crickets, frogs and toads were holding their concerts with great zest. I don’t think my father slept at all, but I kept quiet, gradually starting to organize and apply my rudiments of astronomy. After a while, the moon had completed its…
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…travel, the stars were dim, some roosters fluttered and crowed, a milky white light began to spread over the horizon. It was dawn at four A.M. We stretched and got up. My muscles were a little torpid. The farmers were already hustling around.
Before leaving my father had bought six cows which, with the help of one of the farmhands, we herded to town, arriving in time for breakfast.
Next: Chapter 12
