Cities of the Plain

As Troy and Billy drive back to the ranch where they work, they come across a group of Mexicans standing beside a truck with a burst tire. Much to Troy’s annoyance, Billy insists that they stop to help. They help to change the Mexicans’ tire. Afterward, everyone shakes hands, and the Mexicans drive away. As Billy and Troy drive away, they collide with a large owl. The bird crashes into the window of their truck and dies. Billy drives away, peeking through a piece of unbroken windscreen. As they drive, Troy peers out the window in a melancholy manner. He claims to be thinking about “ever goddamned thing” (25). When they stop and drink coffee in a diner, Billy explains that a “truckload of Mexicans” (26) once stopped to help him, his brother, and his friend, so he felt obliged to stop and help change the tire. Troy accepts this explanation.

John Grady crosses the border into Juarez. He returns to the brothel, searching for the young Mexican teenager he saw previously. When she does not appear, he goes for dinner. He tries to find her again the next day, but she does not appear. John Grady ignores everyone else, from street vendors to tourists. Eventually, he crosses back over the border.

John Grady rides a horse up a mountainside and stares out over the country. He returns to the ranch late, missing lunch. Mac collects him, and they play chess at the kitchen table. JC enters the kitchen and sits to watch the game. John Grady wins easily, and they play again. JC leaves when the game seems to tilt in John Grady’s favor. When Mac debates whether he should concede, John Grady turns the board around, and they switch sides. John Grady wins anyway. As Mac prepares for bed, John Grady admits that he was not interested in joining Troy and Billy on their trip to Elton’s ranch. He also shares his worry that he took his job from Delbert, a previous employee at the ranch. Mac tells John Grady not to worry.

The following day, John Grady discovers Billy changing the car’s windshield. They finish the job and then sit down for breakfast. John Grady is told about a horse being brought to the ranch by a local man who wants it trained as a gift for his wife. Later that day, he meets the man and his wife, who arrive with their “nervous” (31) looking horse. After a short inspection, John Grady tells the man that the horse is lame. He shows how the horse’s broken hoof has been poorly treated. Much to the man’s annoyance, he refuses to take the horse into his custody, knowing that he will have to euthanize the animal. After John Grady refuses a bribe, the man takes the horse and leaves.

John Grady takes a packed lunch and sets off on horseback. Despite his injured ankle, he ropes a limping calf from the back of his horse and inspects a piece of wood embedded in the calf’s leg. After a day working on the ranch, he talks with Billy about the argument with the horse owner. The man has asked John Grady to “look at some horses for him” (35). Billy and John Grady discuss Billy’s trip to Elton’s ranch; neither man plans to leave imminently, but they know that the military is buying most of the local land. Over supper, the men chat about horses and work. John Grady explains that he prefers to train young, raw, or inexperienced horses because they “got nothin to unlearn” (38).

John Grady returns to the brothel in Juarez, searching for the young teenage girl. The older sex worker quietly tell him that the girl is gone, and they do not know whether she will return. Leaving the brothel, he accepts a taxi driver’s invitation to help him find a sex worker. They visit numerous bars and brothels to search for the girl; eventually, John Grady is told to pay a dangerous man named Manolo to learn of the girl’s whereabouts. Manolo demands $50 to tell John Grady about the 16-year-old sex worker with epilepsy who has captured his attention. Instead, John Grady offers $36—everything he has—and Manolo tells him to find the girl at a place called the White Lake.

John Grady returns to the ranch and finds Billy reading a book. He asks Billy about the White Lake and is told that it is expensive and “no place for a cowboy” (41). The next day, John Grady asks for an advance on his wages. Mac agrees. At supper, John Grady listens to Mr Johnson talk about an imminent drought, the military’s plans to buy the local land through eminent domain, and the unsolved murder of a man named Colonel Fountain and his family. Mr Johnson tells a story about when he was caught in a gunfight, then shares his violent memories of his experiences in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

John Grady visits the White Lake. Inside, he notes how much more luxurious it is compared to the brothels he typically visits. He spots the girl and approaches her. They speak in Spanish, and she tells him that her name is Magdalena. During their conversation, she admits that she remembers seeing him at the other brothel. When John Grady takes her into one of the brothel’s rooms, he pays $50 to spend the night with her. Magdalena undresses him, and they lay in bed together. She asks whether he is married, and he assures her that he is not. After their night together, she wakes while he is dressing. He promises to return to her. John Grady leaves the brothel and walks back toward the border.

The one-eyed maid at the brothel finds Magdalena caught in the throes of an epileptic fit. She pins Magdalena to the bed and places a wooden stick between the girl’s teeth. The other sex workers gather in the doorway, speculating that Magdalena is possessed by the devil. They tie her down, pray over her, and gather trinkets and candles around the bed. Eduardo, the brothel owner, sweeps aside the women as he enters. He banishes the women from the room and stares at the naked girl on the bloodstained sheets as her seizure ends.

At a neighboring ranch, John Grady helps to mate Mac’s one-eyed mare with an energetic stallion belonging to Ward. Once the stallion is finished, the men load the mare back onto a trailer and return to the ranch.

Billy and John Grady follow a herd of cattle across the plain. John Grady wonders whether he could live in an isolated cabin. Billy explains that he lived in a similar place once and does not want to do so again, though he admits that he does not know what he wants and “never did” (54). He believes that the war changed everything, but people have not noticed yet.

Eduardo sits in his office while his subordinate Tiburcio counts out the brothel’s earnings. Tiburcio confirms to Eduardo that the same young man has visited again.

In the next month, John Grady only has the time and money to visit Magdalena “but once more” (55). As Tiburcio knocks on the door to signal that John Grady’s time is up, John Grady begs Magdalena to promise him. She agrees, and he leaves the brothel, declining an offer from the brothel’s blind piano player to come for a drink. The old piano player suggests that Magdalena is “favorable” (56) toward John Grady but warns the American about the girl’s epilepsy, admitting that Magdalena does not belong “among us” (58).