The Mechanic of San Martín

One day master mechanic Rigoberto Calderón incurs the wrath of God. He has long had two wives, one openly, one covertly. God and the good folk of San Martín look the other way. That fateful day he boasts to a gringo motorist whose truck he’s mending that two mates concurrently is superior to the US custom of serial marriages. God takes notice of Rigoberto’s boastfulness. Promptly Emma, the clandestine wife, starts making what Rigoberto believes impossible demands on behalf of their children. Then Carmen, the wife of record, dies in the arms of Shula, a gringa motorist whose car Rigoberto repairs. This leaves a second clutch of children motherless. The double dose of pressure unnerves Rigoberto, who retreats to the mountains (leaving the children in Shula’s care) to contemplate his fate. Disabled by a fall, he is delirious enough to converse with a wolf. He is on the point of dying when Cillo, a timid vagabond, carries him to a village where a shaman named Bernardo keeps him alive until Fate delivers Shula, Emma, all the children and all Rigoberto’s young apprentices to the village. Bernardo uses Shula’s allure to restore the mechanic’s will to live. The merger of the two families is effected and Rigoberto returns to his home and trade, but there are costs which may or may not balance the apparently happy ending. You decide.