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Maria, I don't scold me now. Wait till later. Maria. It's treble treble treble treble treble ripaina polio training a musical nuca de de progress. It's quista choto case of the most zealous to solve you'll take care of me, Gusta. It is sombre shakes some rays, smiles

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at you. How do you know it isn't laughter, those sheep's eye roll, be angry with me to eat that. I'll try not to look at him one more time. Well, I'll dance with what you say. I'll be nice to the old men, especially the rich ones,

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and why not? You and your fiddler. Listen to an old woman, Marie Ellie, an old woman who knows. Believe me, music makes very thin tortillas. Since they've been, you've been living in a dream. Oh, music isn't dreaming. Well, it's life and hope and a kind of

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wild happiness. Oh, that's the way I feel about Salvador. Indeed, it's a thing I can't help. Poor little chicken. Oh, that's the crazy chicken got himself wired in the doby. When I found him, oh, he was rocking around like a

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clown. He had clay balls on his feet, weighed more than him. I just saw the rest of them by the irrigation ditch back at the chicken yard. I'll take him back. Poor little chicken. Oh, yeah. Even if the tire wasn't flat, we'd have to walk. Quicksand,

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yeah, quicksand for one, but mostly because we've got to be real sneaky getting down to the willows. Cockfights ain't legal in this country. How far? 4 miles, 6 kg, feet. Enjoy yourselves in there. I'm about ready to take you on a long walk. Hey, my feet

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hurt. My back, ain't my back hurts, my head. Too much celebrating last night. Too much thinking in the sun all day. I better watch that thinking. Liable to get into trouble. You ain't paid for thinking anyway. Peons like us, peon in the daytime maybe, but at

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night, musico, that's me, and you wonder why we don't. Rich, huh, Salvador, you've got an education. Explain to Miguel why we don't get rich. I know why already we pick tomatoes all day. We get paid for picking tomatoes. We get 30 cents an hour, not enough

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30 cents. That's why, Steve, it's not so loud. Most places only get 25 cents, maybe only 20 cents. He's right. And don't let Al Patron hear you talk like that. Remember how hungry we got last winter? Too bad we're about ready to move on. I've been

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working on a scheme. 4 very friendly little hen chickens, Allegria, Ventura, Felicidad, and Esperanza, and every day they come clocking in here and lay eggs for me in a secret place. Soon my little chickens will be big and fat, and every day 4 big fat eggs.

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Ah, a little tomato, a little onion, a little pepper. Puevo ranchero. How about jajito? You left out the garlic. Hey Maria, what are you doing in my barn? Oh, hunting eggs. I found 4 little ones. There goes my omelet, Geronimo, my friend. Our whole scheme is

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scrambled. You're not the river, El Salvador. Salvador, will you be mad if I ask you something? No, chigo. Even if it's none of my business? No, go ahead and ask me. Well, what I want to know is what are you going to do about Maria? That

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little girl loved me the way she loves you, I wouldn't waste no time. I know, but she's as pretty as a speckled pup. Well, do you think she really loves me? Enough, I mean, I know what you're thinking, and yes, I do think she loves you

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enough, but she's so young. I mean, how does a girl like that know whether she's in love with a man, whether she's in love with love or a fancy costume or what? Uh, besides, I'm only a knockabout fiddle player with a no-good heart. How does anybody

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know? Salvador, when you're gonna learn, you gotta take life as it comes. Well, your heart's lasted this long, and you aren't just any fiddle player. Geronimo and Mike, Porfirio and me, we're the knockabots, we're the bums. Well, you're different. Oh, you can make people cry listening

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to you play. It's only bad luck. Or maybe it ain't bad luck you're here with us. Maybe, uh, Maria is your good luck. You coming down to the river tonight? Everybody's gonna be there. Why, last night in town, a fellow told me there was so much

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money bet on this cockfight, you wouldn't even know there was a depression on. Well, everybody's gonna be there but the sheriff. You coming? Papito, hey, Pepe, did you finish loading those tomatoes? Oh, do I have to? Oh, the boss said to load them, to eat a

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promised you would. Well, he's driving into the San Francisco market tonight, and if he gets back and finds you didn't do it, he'll be roaring. Oh, you know how he gets. Oh Maria, everybody else is at the river and I'll miss all the fun. Why can't

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I load it when I get back? It'll be pitch dark by then. Oh, I never get to do a thing. Well, I know you haven't a dime, or I think you had a bet in that cockfight. Oh, listen. What do you give me if I load

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it for you? Oh gee, would you, Maria? Oh, thanks. Hey, Pippi, wait a minute. You better wear your shoes. Not on but um. Need any help? You know, a woman shouldn't have to work like this. Oh, I work harder than this every day. Anyway, we've almost

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finished there. Will you drive back? Well, we don't have to go yet, do we? I mean, for once, your aunt isn't around. The way she stares at me would burn holes through a blanket. Come on up. Mm Oh. What a pleasure it is to let yourself

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sag all over and do nothing. Mm. Do you itch just a little or fuzz? Yeah, just a little. But I feel too good to hold a grudge against even an inch. You know I like it here. Your valley's much like my part of Mexico. Are you

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ever homesick from Mexico? No, not anymore. I sometimes used to get so lonely it was like an illness. When I'd close my eyes and play, I, I could see the home where I live. Oh, it's a beautiful village where I live. It's high up in the

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mountains, and there's a lake there almost as long as well, from here to San Francisco and as wide as this valley. Now, there's pines there just like those on the ridge. You know, to my father, that was the most precious kind of wood. He was a

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violin maker and he carved in pine. Everywhere in the world, the singing parts of the violin are made of pine. That same tree that gives wood for a violin like mine also gives wood, well, for this. The smell of the new wood makes me think of

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my father's workroom. In Mexico, you know, when you're poor, your shop is also your home. My father was a very gentle man. He made my first violin for me when I was very small. It was as little as I. And while he worked with his chisel,

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he would direct me. He taught me to love the violin like I love life. And when I don't have it in my hands, I'm like a man who is lost. I feel like I've left a part of myself somewhere. I sense something like that when I

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watch you play. You weave a kind of charmed circle. With you safe inside, Maria Elena, are you telling me you believe in magic spells? Because if you do, make a wish. There's a first start. Starlight, star bright, first star I've seen tonight. Oh, I wish I

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may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. Finished. My wish is about you. I wish you'd kiss me. Maria, why don't you come with us? I mean, after the work when we all go over to the valley, we could have Christmas together in

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our own house. I'd be very happy to have Christmas with you in our own house, Salvador. With all the houses I can meet you at the church. No, I'd rather stay here tonight alone on Noche Buene. Not really alone. I'll

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listen to your radio broadcast. And after you come home, we can go to church together. Well, it sounds silly. But I want to stay here with the tree. We never had a tree with lights before. Well, after we come home. Well, I'd like to take the

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tree down to that new family living in the tent. Well, when those little kids wake up tomorrow. I'd like them to see the tree. Will it be all right to keep the lights? Why not? Well, they couldn't light them anyway. They used kerosene lanterns. Next year

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we'll buy a much larger tree and many more lights. Their little mother Watch over him. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Well, hello, Mrs. Schofield. No, I didn't come to stay. We're on our way to the tree at the church. Wanted to bring you this for your front

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door. Pine. My young folks brought it down from the fountains today. Still has the smell of the woods about it. Makes me homesick. Nothing deader than a grape vineyard in the winter, and that's all I can see from my window these days acres of them. On

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clear days you can see the hills. That's right. On a clear day I can look across the mountains. Salvador, stand up tall, click your heels, and make me a bow. When I see you all dolled up like that, it quivers at your service. He's like Ramon

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Navarro. He most certainly is. And of all the tenants I've had in this old house, none so grand as he. Now I gotta run. Merry Christmas and God bless you. I'll put these on the door. OK,

00:15:15.400 - 00:15:28.760

I chopped the onions and I mashed the garlic. Now what do I do? Now grate the cheese. Oh, another fine holes. They have moon holes in the side. Oh, if it wasn't Lent, I'd put in some chopped meat. They'll be just as filling without, and they

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won't cost so much either, I guess that's right. That's potent stuff. We call it salsa brava. You'd call it ferocious sauce, and that's just what it is. Ferocious. Ferocious is right. He bit me. How do you eat it? I'm breaking out in a sweat and all

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I did was taste it. We're used to it. You don't even feel queasy? Oh, not even a bit. Oh, I'm just Mexican enough to be relaxed about having a baby. And why not? Oh, this baby will be lucky. We'll have Salvador together, just the two of

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us. In this little house. Oh, I love this house. And the warm sun and your fields and vineyards outside, or and the big tree for shade and friends and neighbors. Oh, what more? He left out music. Almost every night over at our place, we listened to

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the skylarking going on over here. Sometimes I wonder why this old house doesn't burst, it seems. Oh, I didn't live up music, really. I mentioned Salvador first of all. And Salvador is music. Maria It's Salvador. He's very sick. He ran up the stairs at the studio

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and then he fell. Where is he? They're bringing him in. The doctor came and he says it's the heart, very bad this time. Put him to bed. Keep him there, he said. Chico, I think you better take Marie out for a bit until we get him

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settled in here. The doctor came right away, and he says it's the old heart trouble, only this time worse. Will he be all right? The doctor said he had to rest a long time. He'll be out and see

00:17:39.950 - 00:18:05.400

him later tonight. The main thing he said is keep him very quiet. You call me if you need me. This isn't the first time. No, once before. How long ago? About a year. He wasn't supposed to play anymore. What else could he do? The doctor came

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and went. And the little house which had known so much laughter and music was silent. Salvador lay quietly in the stillness. But my ears were full of the doctor's words, hollow at the soul of an echo. He must have at least 2 months of complete bed

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rest if he is to recover. After that, we'll see. Doctor, he's a musician. Well, he, I'm sorry, your husband will never be able to play the violin again. That was the night of the last full moon before Easter. He lived through that day and the next.

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And the next The days that followed lengthened into weeks and weeks into months. And then came the hot June morning. The doctor allowed him to sit up for the first time. It was that day I learned that for Salvador. Merely being alive was not enough. What

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did the doctor mean? He said, Remember now, no funny business with the violin. Well, he thinks you're much better, and in a little while, well, another week perhaps, you can get up if you're careful. But what about the violin? What did he tell you? What did

00:19:25.080 - 00:19:48.370

he mean? Well, he thinks it would be bad for you to play. Well, anything that makes you hold up your arms is bad for you. It strains the heart. But you see Yet you mustn't play. Mustn't play. For how long? Belvador You mustn't play ever. That's

00:19:48.370 - 00:20:00.930

what he meant. But I've got to do it. I've got to do it. That's what I've been waiting for all these weeks. I have to play to live. If they can't make music, I can't exist. Music is all I have. Oh, that can't be true. Well,

00:20:01.020 - 00:20:17.250

our baby will want a father, and I want a husband. You could find something else you are able to do. What? Chico and Mike have been supporting us for weeks. What could I do? Salvador, well, you're an educated man. Well, you could arrange music or translate

00:20:17.250 - 00:20:30.740

or tutor. No, no, Corita, men who know much more than I can't find work. There's nothing. You have to be related to someone important to get that kind of work. I'm not even a citizen. I can work, but what else have I done all my life?

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Salvador I, I'm going out for a while. Good afternoon, Maria. Oh hello, Chico. How's Salvador? Chico Will you sit with me a little before you go in? Is he worse? No, not in body. But the spirit There it suffers He wants the violin.

00:22:57.670 - 00:23:15.200

Well, he's, he's different from other people. He must go back to the music, no matter the cost to you, to him, to the baby. Oh, isn't it better to have a little of what you really want? But then a whole lifetime of just existing. Well, these

00:23:15.220 - 00:23:30.870

last months have been torment for him. You mean if he's happy again, even if it's only for a loved one. Even if it's only for a little while, I don't think he expects to play again. He would if it weren't for me. Well, why he's plain

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old that as a cost to him. Chico You are my friend I can't find the words to tell him. Make him see. Yes, Maria Elena. I am your friend. Salvador, what I'm trying to tell you is that you don't need to

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worry about Maria. If nobody else was alive in this world but her, she could have her baby and raise it. Well, she's not afraid to stand in her bare feet on this earth with that pretty face of hers laughing up to the good Lord. God loved

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poor people like us. He fixed it so we don't need much to get along. A handful of beans and flour, a little salt. What we need most is faith. Maria's got that. Why, if the devil himself walked in that door there and Maria told him to

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get out, he'd turn tail and slink away. Because she's got that kind of courage. But what I want to know is why does she have to have courage for herself and for you too? I'm not afraid for myself. I know you're not afraid for yourself. And

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that's what I've been trying to tell you, is that you don't need to be afraid for Maria. You've got fear in this room with you. I know how it is. When Maria leaves you and closes that door, then fear comes out from underneath the bed and

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lays hold of you. And if you don't watch out, it's going to grab you by the heels and drag you down and smother you. I'm going now. Why don't you come with us to the station tonight? We could use a good fiddle player. Come by for

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me.