Chapter 7

Actually, the problem with Manuel was starting to look like a bigger problem than expected. The brewery in San Juan needed some expensive maintenance, but Manuel continually refused to let Alvarez spend the necessary money because he wanted to use the money on himself.

A few weeks later, Juan received a letter from Alvarez complaining that if he did not soon get the release to spend the money on the necessary maintenance, the productivity of the brewery was going to suffer markedly. Okay, that was the last straw. I was going back to San Juan very damned soon, and I was going to politely sack Manuel.

Juan wrote a letter to Manuel detailing the problems that he was causing and using that as the reason for relieving him of his position as head of the brewery. Sr. Alvarez was promoted to Manuel’s former position as senior manager of the brewery. Furthermore, Manuel was to leave San Juan immediately. Juan did not care where he went, but he had to get out of the estate that he was currently occupying and move to another location.

Once Manuel was situated in the new location, he was to establish a relationship with a local bank, and Juan would see that Manuel’s 7.3% share of the profits would be deposited in Manuel’s account in the bank semi-annually. That was all of the contact that Manuel would have with any of the Mexicali Delight production or distribution. For practical purposes, Manuel was to become a “remittance man.”

In the letter, I was given the power to enforce Juan’s rulings. Furthermore, I was empowered to do anything else that would increase and/or improve the production from the brewery. That was left up to me to decide. However, my first job was to kick Manuel in the ass and chase him from San Juan.

Juan agreed that I could give Manuel one month to make the necessary arrangements. If he had not done so in that time, I was to take over and to make the arrangements myself. My personal feeling was that I had to get Manuel as far from San Juan as possible. I was in favor of sending him to Mexico City. Our company had a relationship with a lawyer in that city who could do the necessary things to get Manuel situated. The more I thought about it, the more I was in favor of that course of action.

The move to Mexico City was the only option that I was going to offer Manuel, unless he had a better idea and got right to implementing it. I was as disgusted with Manuel as Juan was, and I had the advantage of no blood relationship, even though, among the Mexican elite, my marriage into the family gave me that relationship if I wanted to use it. Hell, if it had been up to me, I was so pissed off at Manuel that I would just have shot him and let it go at that!

I was not happy with the choice, but I was going to leave Rosita in Los Angeles while I was gone to San Juan and wherever else this task might take me. All of this meant that we would be separated for up to two months, and maybe longer, depending on the weather.

Fortunately, one of the brewery’s ships was sailing for San Luis in five days, so that was how I would get that far. I expected to purchase a horse in San Luis and use that for transportation to San Juan. I decide to hell with the overnight stay on the trail—I was going to rush from San Luis to San Juan. I could make the trip if I pushed it, and I was pissed off enough at Manuel to do that.

We were carrying a partial load of general freight to San Luis, so we expected to encounter pirates. Well, I had my rifle, my sawed-off shotgun, and my pistols, both in .44 and in .31 caliber. Heaven help a pirate if he came in range. Of course, I had my club and my knife if it came to that.

By the third day of the trip, I was actually hoping for a pirate attack just to break the monotony. No such luck. We got all of the way to San Luis without spotting one. The captain of our ship said, “But Sr. Summinski, the pirates must have known that you were aboard; therefore, they were afraid to attack.” You know, he may have been serious.

Anyway, I found a good horse and set off for San Juan with the rising sun. I made it all of the way to San Juan just after dark. I did not fool around, but headed directly for the estate where I hoped to get some supper. Of course, the doorman remembered me, and escorted me directly to the head butler. That gentleman took me to the small dinning room and had a supper brought out to me.

Of course, it was food left over from the supper for Manuel’s family, and it was sumptuous. The cooks always fixed twice the amount that they expected the family to eat because Manuel badly overreacted whenever he ran short of something that he was eating. The kitchen staff finished it off before throwing the dregs to the hogs.

No wonder the brewery was running low on money if Manuel and his wife ate like this every night. I was caught in the dilemma of being mad because of the money wasted on the food and delighting in the supper I was treated to. I was going to do something about Manuel first thing tomorrow morning. By the way, Manuel studiously avoided me until I looked him up. He was hardly the epitome of a gracious host—obviously, he knew that he was in trouble.

The first thing I did the next morning was to send word to Sr. Alvarez that I would be in to see him sometime before noon, and I would be bearing good news. Following that, I went in to breakfast. I caught Manuel and his wife as they were entering the “breakfast room.” We were barely civil to each other, but we did finish eating before we came to verbal blows.

“Manuel, I have in my possession a letter from your brother, Sr. Juan, to the effect that you are no longer the manager of the brewery as of today. You are to vacate the mansion within one month and move to some other place where you and Sra. Hernandez will take up residence. Your share of the profits from the sale of Mexicali Delight will be deposited in a bank, and you may draw from that account for all of your needs. You no longer have any management responsibility or authority associated with the brewing or sale of the beer.

“He suggested to me that you move to Mexico City, but that is not a requirement. It simply is his plan that you remove yourself as far as practical from San Juan and the company. I am here to enforce that ruling.”

“You cannot do that to me! I demand that you return to Los Angeles and tell Juan that I refuse to cooperate with this ... this travesty. I am a hidalgo, and I demand to be treated like one.”

“You are being treated as you deserve. Were it up to me, you would be thrown out of San Juan today. You have consistently violated the trust that Sr. Juan placed upon you, and you are now reaping the rewards of your failure to act properly. I will allow you to stay in your present quarters until you leave San Juan, but I guarantee that you will be here no longer than one month. I am sure that Sra. Hernandez will enjoy Mexico City. You certainly will have plenty of money to live like a hidalgo there or anywhere else you choose.

I suggest that you start immediately to find your new home. You can feel free to use the services of any bank or lawyer that Sr. Juan approves of, but you need to act immediately. I suggest that you make use of the recently installed telegraph line running between here and Mexico City.

“Now, I have other duties to perform. Good day, Sra. Hernandez, Manuel.” With that announcement, I left the estate and headed to the brewery. I wanted to have a long talk with Sr. Alvarez.

I didn’t set any records getting to Sr. Alvarez. I wanted him to have some time to take care of today’s morning tasks before I interrupted. I rode in a carriage by a roundabout route to his office because I wanted to see the current state of San Juan. San Juan was now a large town, approaching the size of a small city, and I wanted to be sure that my actions did not cause any harm to the residents.

It was about 9:30 in the morning when I was ushered into Sr. Alvarez’s office. After the usual greetings and small talk, we got down to business. “Sr. Alvarez, I am here as the personal representative of Sr. Juan Hernandez to promote you to the position of general manager of all activities of the Mexicali Delight brewery in San Juan. What that means is that you will officially take on the labors that you have been doing unofficially all along, and your salary will increase in proportion.