The Delgado Cow vs The Train

By kiki

In the Simons Brickyard, most people had chickens, roosters, pigs, rabbits, goats, and cows. Some of the animals were slaughtered for food. Pigs who were killed were soon made into tamales and chicharróns. A stolen goat made great birria on a Saturday afternoon when the men were drinking, and it didn't matter which goat was stolen. Some chickens were saved from having their neck twisted because they could lay eggs. Others were not so lucky as they were made into chicken soup or chicken mole. Finally, the cows were saved from being slaughtered because people needed milk to drink.

The people who lived in El Hoyo (the hole) would take their cows, goats, and other animals to a meadow on a hill by the railroad tracks. You could often see ten or more cows and goats grazing in the tall grass in that beautiful meadow. In late spring-early summer, the grass would rise about 3 feet tall, tall enough for some serious action by the teenagers (know what I mean?) who were supposed to be watching the livestock.

One late 1940s summer day, one of the Delgado girls, I don't remember which one of the girls it was, but it might have been Esther, who had walked the Delgado family's only cow up the hill to pasture. Soon after reaching the meadow, the Delgado girl met her boyfriend Chuy, and within minutes they were romping in the tall grass. 

With nobody to keep an eye on her, the cow made her way to the railroad tracks. I guess she wanted to see how the cows on the other side of the tracks lived, or maybe it was looking for a bull, who knows, but, as the cow was standing on the railroad tracks, a Santa Fe Streamliner passenger train came roaring down the tracks, I still remember that it was heading east. The cow didn't move, and the train didn't stop. A stampede of people was on soon as word got down to the inhabitants of El Hoyo that the Delgado cow had been killed by a train. People by the dozen were running toward the dead cow; some had knives in both hands, sharpening them against each other as they ran to get their steak for that night's dinner…We missed out!