Signs Preceding the End of the World

Makina travels through the Big Chilango using its subway system, wishing to avoid being captivated by the urban life teeming on the streets above. She left someone in charge of her telephone switchboard where she works, but only Makina speaks all three languages native to Little Town, so she worries about communication in her absence. She worries, too, about her little sister, wishing she could educate her on how to take care of herself. She thinks of her boyfriend, whose marriage proposals she spurned, and whom she finally told she would give a direct answer to when she returns from the North.  

Three years ago, Mr. Aitch’s men discovered papers that Mr. Aitch claimed belonged to Makina’s long-absent father. The papers said that Makina’s family “owned a little piece of land, over on the other side of the river” (29). Makina’s brother became obsessed with claiming the land, and he eventually left for the North, despite Cora’s wishes. He only sent three notes home after that.  

In line at the bus depot, a young man attempts to grope Makina. Makina knows how to protect herself in such situations. On the bus, the young man and his friend sit near her. He attempts to touch her leg, but Makina grabs his middle finger, pulling it back so far it almost touches the back of his wrist. She tells him, “If you even so much as think about me again, the only thing that hand’s going to be good for is wiping ass” (32). The young man is cowed; he and his friend retreat to a respectful distance on the other side of the bus. 

The bus drives through the night. Makina watches the dark countryside rolling by, wondering what is in store for her. They reach a border town full of hotels around midnight the next day. Makina rents a bed in a hostel and takes a shower. When she emerges, she finds an older woman using her lipstick. She wanders around the streets by the hotels, occasionally using her linguistic skills to translate things for other migrants. Makina overhears two coyotes, people who are paid to illegally smuggle others over the border, speaking in Anglo, planning on using the two young men from the bus as bait. Makina warns them against trusting the coyotes. 

At dawn, near the riverside, she sees a truck across the river signal to her with its headlights. A man emerges and wades into the river with a huge inner tube. As he crosses, Makina sees that he is tall and wiry, with greying black hair. When he gets to her side, he introduces himself as Chucho. He recognized Makina from a photograph he was given by one of the top-dogs' men. Chucho tells her he has the border patrol occupied elsewhere, so it is safe for them to cross. The two get in the giant innertube, but the current drags them chaotically. Makina is pulled under the surface of the river, but Chucho rescues her, dragging her onto the opposite shore.

On the other side of the river, Makina sees “two mountains colliding in the back of beyond” (43). Chucho tells her that there is a truck waiting for her beyond the hills. On the way, Makina sees what she thinks is a pregnant woman resting under a tree. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a bloated corpse of a man. Chucho tells her about a time when he got lost smuggling a couple across the border early in his career. They were pursued by a rancher; the man made it back across the border, but the woman died. 

Makina thinks of a man from her village who went North and made his fortune. He came back to boast, showing off his new cellphone. Gathering the village to show off by making a call, he was chagrined when the lack of a cell tower in the area ruined his performance.  

As they drive to a shack where Makina can clean up and change, a black pickup driven by an Anglo vigilante pulls up alongside them. The rancher gets out as they enter the shack; he is armed with a handgun. On the phone, Chucho says, in Anglo, “Hey, officer, I got the info I promised, yeah, yeah, right, where I said last time, yeah, but be careful, he’s armed to the eyeballs” (46).  

Chucho advises Makina to leave behind anything weighing her down. He guards the door as she changes into a new outfit waiting for her on a cot. Makina strips down to her underwear, neither afraid nor self-conscious. She feels an inexplicable desire for Chucho, but the moment passes. She asks Chucho what he told the police officer. Chucho believes the vigilante has his own human trafficking business, and he is angry that Chucho is “muscling in on his act” (48).  

Chucho decides it is time to end the standoff. Makina hides Mr. Aitch’s package in an inner pocket of her denim jacket, and they go outside. The rancher points his gun at Chucho and Makina just as the police arrive. While the vigilante is momentarily distracted by the police trucks, Chucho springs and attempts to wrest the gun from him. They struggle and the rancher fires wildly. A bullet clips Makina’s side and she kicks the rancher in the jaw. Chucho tells her to leave. The police tell her to freeze, but Makina leaves. She looks back from a distance. The rancher seems unconscious; Chucho is on his back, being handcuffed by the police.  

Once she is at a safe distance, Makina inspects the bullet wound. She sees that “the bullet had entered and versed between two ribs, ignoring her lung, as if it had simply skimmed beneath the surface of her skin so as not to get stuck in her body” (50). The wound barely hurts and is hardly bleeding. She sees many rucksacks abandoned by migrants like her. She packed a flashlight, a blouse for parties, three pairs of clean underwear, a Latin-Anglo dictionary, a picture drawn by her sister, a bar of soap, lipstick, and some snacks. She packed light because she plans to go right back home.