Rain of Gold

Working in Santa Ana, Lupe and her siblings decide to take over the responsibility of working so her parents can retire. Lupe returns to the library and soon runs into Mark. He announces he has secured a good job for the upcoming summer, so he is hoping to push their engagement up. Lupe responds that she has not even said yes yet and that because she is busy supporting her parents, she can’t be busy getting married. Mark quickly solves this issue by explaining he got her a job working in an office for his uncle. Lupe isn’t sure if she is being tricked, but later on Mark says she has the job whether or not they are engaged. That same day, she hurries home, hoping to share the good news with her family, but no one is there. She decides to try driving the family truck purchased after months of saving. She wants to prove Victoriano and his friends, who say that women can’t drive, wrong.

As she enters the truck cab, Salvador sees her attempting this dangerous feat. He tries to stop her, but she lurches forward and back, eventually crashing the truck through their porch. She steps out into the damage and asks Salvador to park the truck for her. He does and then finds her pacing inside her home, worrying over how to tell her family. Salvador offers to teach her to drive and to help her fix the damage she caused to the pickup. He tells her that he values educated women. This confession surprises and excites Lupe so much that she spills her whole life story to him. They talk about their mutual love for the sea and their mutual hate of slaving away for other people. He tells her about Don Pío and the city of peace he built in the mountains. He grows tearful as he explains that the whole city is now gone. Lupe says she knows something about this since the same level of desolation eventually tore apart her hometown of La Lluvia de Oro. Salvador tells Lupe she is the only woman he has ever loved except for his mother. Lupe looks him in the eyes and tells him all her dreams and secrets. She eventually starts crying as she admits she no longer wishes for herself to be educated, but for that gift to go to her children. While they are mid-conversation, the family bursts in and sees them talking. Other than Carlota, they are all very welcoming. Don Victor pulls Salvador aside to see if he would be willing to relocate to Mexico with them. Salvador says sure, not putting much stock in it since it’s clear that Don Victor and all his friends have “romanticiz[ed]” Mexico since they left it (363). The family invites Salvador to dinner and he stays, feeling “at home” (363).

At dinner Victoriano asks if there is any work for him and his family in the fertilizer business. Salvador forgets that he said he was in the fertilizer business but quickly recovers, saying he will pick them all up in the morning. That night he talks to God, and God provides Salvador with a solution. The next morning Salvador convinces a friend to hire them to move manure in exchange for some liquor. The man agrees and they go to work. Salvador is now a constant dinner guest, but Doña Guadalupe continues to ask him intense questions every night. Salvador manages to secure the family two more weeks working the manure, but he himself returns to his distillery, where Epitacio is waiting for him. They finish a batch of liquor then head off to hide it, but on the way they’re chased by a police car. Salvador eventually gets away, but not without smashing Epitacio’s face through the windshield. Just as they are starting to feel relieved, they realize they are actually trapped by the cop and several Mexican soldiers. They put their hands up, only to realize it is Archie who has been chasing them. Archie pulls Salvador aside and explains that the pressure is starting to build again. He asks if he can put Epitacio in jail for a few years so that the law has someone else to blame. Salvador would love this but says no because Luisa would be mad.

When his deal is denied, Archie leaves both Epitacio and Salvador with absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere. Later in the evening the Mexican soldiers show back up with food, which Archie had sent for them, and they camp out with Salvador and Epitacio for the night. When Salvador gets back to town, he reports what Archie did to him to Kenny. Kenny laughs and gives Salvador another truck. Salvador then goes to drop Epitacio off at home before spending the evening with Lupe. When he gets home, however, Luisa is beside herself, saying their mother has gone crazy and is at the church railing at God for not delivering Domingo to her. They go to the church as a group, and Salvador confronts his mother, who says she has to go to Chicago to find her son. Salvador tries to point out why this isn’t logistically possible, but it’s not until Pedro calls her too “old and ugly” to be reckoned with that she starts to loosen up (370). They are the interrupted by the priest, who invites Salvador to his office. Once there, he offers to put Doña Margarita in touch with a priest in Chicago and asks Salvador if he can get him liquor. Salvador is hesitant but says he has a friend who can help him in a few days. When they leave, his mom tells him to stop wasting time and marry Lupe. Salvador goes directly to Lupe’s but finds them gone, only an envelope of petals left for him. He wants him and Lupe to be as happy as his grandparents, Don Pío and Silveria. For a second he worries their worlds are too different, but then he assures himself love can overcome these differences.

In the meantime Lupe and her family have stopped along the road to deal with their overheating truck. Lupe heads to a nearby pond to cool off, and her mother follows her, questioning Lupe about why she has been so quiet lately. Lupe is reticent but tells her mom she sometimes “hate[s]” Salvador but never feels that way about Mark (374). Doña Guadalupe says this means she loves Salvador. She tells Lupe she should be excited about the new doors opening in her life and not to worry because the answers Lupe seeks will come with time.

Doña Margarita goes to the church and starts screaming at the Virgin Mary, threatening her with “trouble” if Domingo isn’t returned to her in two weeks (377). A young, new priest witnesses the scene and seeks out Father Ryan, the priest who is a customer of Salvador’s. Father Ryan brushes it off in front of his new employee, but he privately worries about the situation. Meanwhile, Lupe almost dies of an allergy attack that starts in a shed where she is drying peaches. Carlota thinks she is faking and causes a scene, but Sophia tells Lupe to go home. She does and remains sick for the rest of the night while her family attends a dance. During the night, it storms, reviving Lupe. She works with the men in the field the next day, thinking it will be less dry than the sheds where the women work. While she is going about her workday, Salvador shows up and offers to let her drive his car around the field. She agrees and drives like a wild woman, scaring her brother. He tries to get her to stop but she just chases him, making all the onlookers laugh. Salvador finally helps her park the vehicle, and she jumps out of it, feeling exhilarated. Her niece, Isabel, then asks if Lupe and Salvador are going to get getting married. Salvador makes it clear that he likes this suggestion. He spends a lot of time with Lupe that night as Lupe does her chores. She then walks him to his car, but before they can get there, he pulls her aside and kisses her. She kisses him back, to their mutual surprise. They part feeling elated and in love.

Salvador rushes to tell his mother, who is unimpressed. She tells him he needs to formally propose and pursue Lupe more intensely. They decide it should be a big wedding since Doña Margarita saw all her other children married in a rush during wartime. Back in the apricot fields, the men surmise that Salvador is a bootlegger, given his rough edges and recklessness. Victoriano defends him, and Lupe ignores them, both wanting to believe it is just a rumor. Salvador, meanwhile, has some fun with five women at a whorehouse under the guise of trying to a wedding ring. The next day he heads home to get Epitacio and go back to work, but when he gets there the community is having a fiesta as Doña Margarita is preparing to leave for Chicago to look for Domingo the next day. Luisa begs Salvador to help her, but he doesn’t do much. Doña Margarita has everyone gather around her so she can tell the story of singlehandedly saving her formerly imprisoned son, José. She believes that since she accomplished that feat alone, going to Chicago will be easy. Luisa feels badly for questioning her and asks for forgiveness.

They’re settling down and preparing for bed when suddenly a man appears and Doña Margarita faints. It takes a second, but then Salvador realizes it is Domingo. The fiesta resumes, this time celebrating the arrival of Domingo and his soon-to-be wife Nellie. Domingo fills them in on his past and then asks what happened to their father, Don Juan. Doña Margarita explains he drank himself to death in the mountains; he was so overwhelmed by the loss of so many of his children that he could not go on. This sends Domingo into a rage. He blames his family for deserting Don Juan and not doing more to help him. Salvador hits him, angry because Don Juan was abusive to him and because he knows his family did the best they could. Doña Margarita steps in and makes them apologize to each other.