Savages

73

Of course, most Americans are.

Savages.

And this is what most Americans don’t understand—that most upper- to middle-crust Mexicans think that Americans are uncivilized, unsophisticated, uncultured, rambunctious rustics who just got on a lucky streak back in the 1840s and rode it to steal half of Mexico.

Mexico is basically Europe laid over Aztec culture laid over Indian culture, but aristocratic Mexicans think of themselves as Europeans and the Americans as …

Well, Americans.

And the Yanquis can joke all they want about Mexican gardeners and field workers and illegal immigrants but what they don’t get is that Mexicans think about those people as Indians and look down on them, too.

This is Mexico’s dirty secret: the darker your skin, the lower your status. Which sort of reminds you of … of …

Uhhhh …

Anyway, lighter-skinned Mexicans look down their noses at darker-skinned Mexicans, but not as much as they look down on Americans.

(Black Americans? Fucking forget it.)

Yeah, okay, so Elena thinks that this “Chon” is an animale, but a dangerous animale. The “Ben” has his uses, but refuses to use them. In any case, she cannot brook their disobedience.

“So do you want them killed?” Alex asks.

Elena thinks it over and her answer is

Not yet.