He shouted at the quake now:
"Get me out of bed. All right ... I'll get up. Stop you—sure I'll stop you. I'll stop your rocking. You stone devil of the Indians!"
His quavering hands worked at his sheets. Shoving himself against his pillows, he began to sit up. Groaning and puffing, he reached for his matches but knocked them on the floor.
Finding it possible to swing his feet over the side of the bed, he sat up. Moonlight whitened the tiles near the big window and he detected the light. On the edge of his bed, his arms bearing part of his weight, he gained confidence.
"My wheel chair's nearby.... I'll get out of this place. Raul, Raul," he called, forgetting that Raul was upstairs. "Raul, there's a big quake—the floor...."
He heard shouting and rifle fire but could not, except for an instant, separate the sounds. The blurred noises, growing in intensity, disturbed him and he lifted his head and cried: "What's that? Who's making that noise?"
He tried to rise but crumpled onto the floor. His mind blurred.... Someday ride to Colima, jacket with silver buttons ... ride to Colima ... drink beer. The snake coiled over the fallen log, and the mayordomo shouted: Watch out, I'm going to shoot it! I pulled my .45 and shot him.... There he was ... there my father was, on his white horse, outside the tienda door....
His father and the snake writhed in the old man's brain and the quake returned and red flared through the window. Fernando crawled toward the light. He was trying to find his bed now. The red blurred and faded and he turned and began to crawl in the other direction. A man in a dark blue suit, a neat blue suit, tapped him on the arm and said: "You must stop taking money from the store without my permission." Papa spoke calmly but he was on a white horse, just outside the tienda door.... I swiveled my chair at the desk and shot him, as he rode away.
The quake grew more severe and large blocks of masonry loosened in the inside wall, on the patio side, and fell on Fernando. He died at once.
Outside, men went on shouting and shooting.... They had set fire to the mill and the flames soared high.