Stony stood up and bent his arms into right angles. "An' De Coco's standin' there an' all the women an' children start climbin' over him and through the passage to safety and the Shalakos are gettin' closer and closer an' every once in a while an arrow lands near them an' the Hondos are tearin' ass to get outta there an' De Coco's standin' up there like the friggin' Rock a Gibralta. All those people climbin' over him an' the arrows are landin' closer an' closer an' the Shalakos are about a hundred yards away an' there's two people left and De Coco's knees are givin' way an he's sweatin' an' bleedin'."

"Hurry!" Tyrone shouted.

Stony maintained that strange crucifix position, spit flying as he talked. "An' just as the last Hondo child scrambles over De Coco's shoulders to safety, the Shalakos get there an' see how De Coco cheated them out of their massacre. An' there's nobody facing the Shalakos now but De Coco, an' he's too damn tired to escape an'just stays in that position against the ledge."

Stony collapsed against the wall, exhausted, but holding his arms in that position.

"Well, the Shalakos are so damn angry, all one hundred of them take out their bow 'n' arrows an' shoot De Coco right where he stands. An' all those arrows pin him to that ledge in that position, an' he got a hundred arrows stickin' in his body, but he dies with a smile on his face because he knows he saved his whole tribe."

"Why didn't he escape?" Derek's eyes were glistening.

" 'Cause he was tired, right?" Tyrone said.

"But the Indian gods were watching an' they thought that De Coco's dyin' was the bravest thing they ever saw, and even though he was dead, they were going to make him immortal ... an' the next morning when the sun came up in the desert, there were thousands of plants, a new kind of plant that stood straight up and had two arms that were stretched out just like De Coco's arms an' that plant was covered with a hundred long needles just like the arrows in De Coco's body an' do you know what plant that was?"

They stared at him blankly.

"The cactus." he answered himself. "And now all over the world anybody wandering the desert can get food from the cactus and he can get water, or maybe some tequila if he's lucky."

"Man, if I was De Coco I wouldajust ... choo!" Derek made a motion of flying. "I wouldajust... jumped away up that rock, man." He fidgeted anxiously in his wheelchair. He looked up at Stony and asked with a strange softness, "Can you tell us more stories?"

"Gimme a break." Stony fought back a smile.

"What's a cactus?" Derek asked.

"They got needles in 'em, right?" Tyrone offered.

"You never seen a cactus?" Stony was taken aback.

"I seen pictures, but I never seen one before," Tyrone said.

"Come to think of it, I never seen one live either."