The Tamale Letter

By Rudy Reyes

My book, "The Tamale Letter" is based on a true history of my family over three generations. My grandfather, Anastacio Reyes was an orphan at the age of 10 in Mexico. He drifted from other family members who did not have the financial means nor room to raise another child. He never received an education and could barely read or write. At the age of twelve years old, he worked as a storekeeper's assistance for two years. At the age of fourteen years of age he migrated to the United States with a caravan of migrant workers. He worked odd jobs like making fire pits to cook food, working the fields and cleaning dishes. As he got older, he worked for Southern Pacific Railroad, laying down railroad tracks. At eighteen years old, he met my grandmother Maria Gabino. And after a short courtship they married and raised five children, one being my father, Rudy Reyes. The new Reyes family grew up in Houston during the Great Depression Era and through World War 2. Both our grandfather and grandmother were a loving and Christian family who taught their five children how to treat each other and eventually their families as they got married. The title of my book, "The Tamale Letter" came from an actual letter our aunt Mary Allice, the youngest of the five children wrote to her older brother, Jesse Reyes who was at the Battle of the Bulge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886448085

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

About the Author

cover.jpg

The Tamale Letter

Rudy Reyes

ISBN 979-8-88644-809-2 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-88644-808-5 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Rudy Reyes

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Acknowledgments

I want to give my God all the glory for this book, The Tamale Letter. It is based on a true story, spanning when our grandfather Anastacio was an orphan. God watched over him. He came to the United States and met our grandmother Maria and raised five children. One was our father, Rudy. God continued to look after our grandparents and their five children. My brother, Robert; sisters, Rosemary and Sylvia; and I, along with our cousins, heard the story of our grandparents since we were young.

God inspired me to write this true story. My wife, Pamela Reyes, also encouraged me to write.

This is the second book I have written and have plans for several more books.

I also want to thank my five cousins—Marie Perkins, Jesse Reyes Jr., Irene Ruiz Reyes, Barbara Alcaraz, and Anastacio Ramirez, who was named after our grandfather—for their input and knowledge in writing this book.

Chapter 1

The Ring

The year was 1912 in a small town in Central Mexico named San Luis Potosi. It was a major gold and silver mining hub on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a trade route during the mid-sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. There were indigenous native Indians who lived in the nearby mountains. A young boy named Anastacio Reyes was twelve years old and was an orphan. He could barely remember his parents, who died from an illness when he was only five years of age. He lived with distant relatives, who only took him in to give him a place to stay. He bounced from family to family, but they were also poor and could barely feed their own children. Anastacio was not given the opportunity to attend school like the other children his age. He was expected to earn his keep. Anastacio went from house to house and stores, begging for work and food. He was mature for his age, and the pleasure of being a little boy and playing with others his age was not an option. One day, Anastacio went into a local grocery store asking for a job. The local grocery store owner, Juan Mendoza, took pity on Anastacio and gave him odd jobs around his store.

His wife, Maria Mendoza, was getting older and could not keep up with all the cooking, cleaning, and washing dirty dishes in the store they owned. Juan Mendoza would tend to the daily running of the store and restocking shelves with food, supplies, and other items sold to the local townspeople. Anastacio was given the task of sweeping and mopping the floors and cleaning the dirty dishes that Maria would normally do. Anastacio was paid with a small token of food and a place to sleep at the back of the store. The storekeeper, Juan, also gave Anastacio used clothing to wear. All the pants and shirts were too big, and Maria Mendoza would cut and sew Anastacio's clothing to fit his smaller frame. The used clothing belonged to their older children who outgrew their clothes.

The Mendozas live above the store alone since their children moved on with families of their own. Maria would do all the cooking downstairs since the kitchen was below their living quarters. She was pleased that Juan gave Anastacio the chores of sweeping and mopping the floors and handwashing the dirty dishes. It was several fewer tasks she had to do. Anastacio was just pleased and grateful he had a place to sleep and eat. He never had ill will toward his distant relatives. He knew they could not afford to care for him.

He was sad that he had no mother or father to care for and love him. This was a hard time for all of Mexico during this era.

As Anastacio was sweeping the floor one afternoon, a group of Mexican soldiers walked in to buy liquor, food, and cigars. The soldiers ate the food that Maria would cook and drank from kegs of beer and smoked cigars that Juan Mendoza sold in their store. The Mendozas had a long wooden table and wooden benches for the soldiers to sit, eat, and drink. The Mexican soldiers would drop their trash and cigar butts and spill their beer on the floor from their beer mugs. The more the soldiers drank, laughed, and joked with one another, the more trash and beer would be thrown or spilled on the floor.

The storekeeper, Juan, did not mind the gathering and loud laughing noise nor the trash the soldiers threw down on the ground. He just wanted to make sure he got paid. Anastacio just looked at the soldiers and shook his head. He had just swept and mopped the floor, and he knew he was going to clean up again after these drunken soldiers who trashed the floors. Complaining would bring ridicule and a slap to his face from the soldiers and the storekeeper Juan Mendoza.

One day, one of the soldiers said, Where is my ring? My ring is missing. Who stole my ring?

One of the soldiers laughed and said, That ring has always been loose on your finger. Maybe it fell off onto the floor.

The soldiers and the storekeeper began looking all around the floor for the gold ring. They could not find it. The soldier who lost his ring looked at Anastacio and saw him with his broom in his hand and said, You! You swept up my gold ring and hid it in your trash or in your pockets! The soldier grabbed Anastacio by his arm and yelled, Where is my ring? The soldier was about to slap Anastacio across the face. All Anastacio could do was close his eyes, fearing the worst. Juan Mendoza, the storekeeper, did not say or stop the soldier. Anastacio was not his son.

Suddenly, one of the other soldiers yelled out, Look, there is something shining in the cuff of your pants!

The soldier who lost his ring stooped down onto his knee