After the defeat of Chakal, and the wedding of his two best friends, Manolo and Maria, Joaquin returned home and decided to rest. After all, his Mom was returning from her visit to the United States tomorrow and would probably be shocked at seeing he town, and its post-battle condition; not to mention, her son was now wearing an eyepatch.
How was she gonna react? The last thing Joaquin needed was his Mom to be broken-hearted. She already lost her husband to Chakal, and now almost lost her baby boy. Who had now escaped the battle with a badly-damaged eye. If she were to have seen her son's wound, well, she'd never be same.
After all, being a parent, her son, Joaquin'd probably get over it way before his mom would.
Before he dozed off in his own room, he removed the eyepatch and stared into the mirror, gently examining the blurred eye. Wow, it looked really bad; what if there was no chance in saving that eye? What if he'd no longer be able to enjoy the world around him to the best possibility he could?
That's when he realized something. That's the entire lesson he was being taught. Before, he was too absorbed in his own beauty to see the wonders around him; so, in a way, he had to be blinded in order to see. He just hoped that it wasn't too late to save the eye; he learned his lesson.
As he put the patch back on, and thought about the scary situation, he promised that if his right eye pulled through, and healed, then he'd never take his vision for granted EVER again.
Alright, his mom can't know yet. When he picks her up from the train station tomorrow, he'll just tell her he was recovering from a little case of pink eye he caught over the week while she was gone. Yeah, that'll work. And when the time is appropriate, he'll tell her the truth.
With his boots kicked off to let his feet air out, he climbed onto the old, soft bed he missed so much, and snatched a nearby pen and pad to write and prepare a letter to be sent to the famous Dr. Aquino who was a specialist in optometry, and was a total life saver when he had operated on Joaquin's father 13 years before.
He wasn't very simple to reach, though as far as travel went. Dr. Aquino lived in the Yucatan, and that meant it was about a 2,000 mile journey from San Angel.
He didn't know what to say.
"Dear Dr. Aquino, Hi, it's Joaquin. You may no remember me, but I am actually the son of Captain Mondragon. You operated on his sight about 13 years ago, and I was there with my mom. I'm sure you heard about his death that very same year you saved his eye.
Anyway, I am now in the Mexican military, and have suffered a recent injury to my eye, also. I have no idea how bad it is, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd help mine out, now. To be honest, will you keep this next comment in the doctor-patient confidentiality area? But...I'm really scared. Please help me.
Sincerely, Joaquin Mondragon"
Once the last name was written down, a yawn escaped him. The tired soldier then put the writing materials away in a special box that was off-limits to his mom, and set his alarm to wake him up at a decent time tomorrow.