Explore "The Nine Guardians" by Rosario Castellanos on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Whenever the Indians of Chactajal come to the house it's a sign there's a fiesta on the way. They bring sacks of maize and beans, bundles of salt beef and cones of brown sugar. Then the granaries are opened and the rats run about again, fat and sleek.
Lounging in the hammock on the veranda, my father receives the Indians. They approach one by one and offer their foreheads for him to touch with the three middle fingers of his right hand. Then they return to the respectful distance where they belong. My father talks to them about the business of the farm. He knows their language and their customs. They answer respectfully in words of one syllable, laughing briefly when they're supposed to.