Brent held up a bottle against the light revealing a fat whitish worm at the bottom.
“Here we have a traditionally brewed mescal from the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Workers hand gather the larvae of a maguey moth for each bottle.”
He poured hefty shots into two glasses, handing one to Barney Trujillo. The city council member took a sip, grimaced, launched his torso forward coughing. Everyone laughed.
“This Santa Fe style Versailles crap is turning my stomach,” said Carter, “and that’s hard to do.”
“Agreed,” said Minoa.
“For contrast, here is a double-distilled one-hundred percent scorpion mescal.” Brent held up a squat round bottle of amber liquid. At the bottom curled the tail of a scorpion. “The venom is not poisonous when ingested. You can even eat the scorpion for an extra burst of protein.”
Minoa stared. “Looking at that is making me flash back to some scary moments in the Ecuadorian rainforest.”
Trujillo waved his hands back and forth. “Find yourself another victim, Brent. I’ve had enough.”
Brent downed the scorpion mescal in one long draught. Set down the glass with a cough.
“That has a bite to it. Robust, high proof, invigorating. Only for caballeros with hoo-eh-voze. It’s better than a shot of testosterone. Real hombres should try it.”
Minoa saw Findley Malbore moving to the front of the room. He accepted a glass from Brent, then watched with a half-smile as Brent guzzled another long draught.
“I can’t believe he drummed up another aristocratic guinea pig,” said Carter.
Brent set the glass down, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, paused. Suddenly a shudder convulsed his body. Was he suppressing the urge to vomit? People looked every which way, embarrassed for their host. When he straightened up everyone sucked thin desert air and stared. Threads of blood trickled out of both nostrils.
Eldon ducked around Minoa and hurried to his side. “Brent, you’ve got a nosebleed.”
Brent grabbed a handful of cocktail napkins, held them to his nose. When he pulled them away to peer at the red stain, burgundy rivulets shot out of both nostrils, running over his mouth, down his chin.
“Maybe you should lie down for a minute.”
Brent looked at him like a puzzled child, then groaned and folded over.
“Brent, are you okay?” Eldon patted his back. “Maybe you should lay off the poison potions.”
Brent struggled to straighten up. An enraged expression passed across his face. He tried to smile but one corner of his mouth didn’t cooperate. Rearing back his head his mouth gaped open, then tipped forward to pour a torrent of blood onto his glacial linen shirt as he slumped to the floor.
New Mexico Curiosities
Of two species of scorpion found in New Mexico, the bark scorpion is the most lethal.Mescal is made from the agave plant. As currently defined, Mezcal can only be made in ten states in Mexico and has to be certified by semi-governmental organizations. But the geography of mezcal changes regularly. The current list of states includes Oaxaca, Michoacan, Puebla, Guerrero, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, Durango and Sinaloa. Everyone expects new states to be included in coming years.The Atrisco Land Grant was established in 1692 when Spanish forces retook New Mexico after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt had driven them out. An enormous tract on the southern side of Albuquerque stretching from the Rio Grande west to the Rio Puerco, this land has a complex history. Atrisco was one of a handful of land grants approved by the US Court of Private Land Claims when the US took New Mexico from Mexico. In a controversial move, the communally owned land was converted to a shareholder corporation in the 1960’s. Then, in 2006, 50,000 acres were sold. Shareholders challenged the sale in court and settled. But Barclays Bank foreclosed on the buyer in 2009. Thus, land dating from a royal decree of 1692 became the distant possession of a British bank. The bank formed a holding company to develop it.The former Atrisco Land Grant on Albuquerque’s West Mesa is proposed as the site of a massive real estate development. The opposition says Albuquerque doesn’t have the water, there is insufficient population growth to justify it and the city doesn’t need more suburban developments that require extensive car transportation and extension of utilities to outlying areas.The West Mesa Murders refers to the killings of eleven women whose remains were found buried in 2009 in the desert to the west of Albuquerque. Several suspects have been suggested, and a couple have either died or gone to jail for other crimes. These murders have never been solved. While initially believed to be the work of a serial killer, the involvement of a sex trafficking ring is now suspected.ICE enforcement is a controversial issue in New Mexico.Santa Fe is a popular tourist destination because of the style and uniformity of its architecture, the ‘Santa Fe Style.’ This is different from historic preservation. Shortly after New Mexico became a state in 1912, a group of officials, architects, artists and residents agreed to promote a uniform style that would give the city a romantic architectural image and boost the economy, in decline since the closing of the Santa Fe Trail, through tourism. Though based on Indian pueblos and Spanish missions, it ironically encouraged construction that simulates rather than reproduces native mud adobe building.When Coronado came to New Mexico 20 Tiwa pueblos lined the middle Rio Grande valley where Albuquerque would later be established. By the time of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, 17 estancias surrounded the Camino Real in that area. In 1706 Governor Cuervo y Valdes chartered Albuquerque. The town passed to Mexico in 1821 and to the United States in 1846. Spurred by the tuberculosis treatment industry Albuquerque grew in the early 20th century. After WWII it became a center of scientific and military research and development. Since that time urban sprawl has proliferated.
