En la Empieza
The town of San Pablo was in a hurry on one particularly warm December day. One of the townsfolk, Lucia, was about to have her child. All the women were at the Schunard household trying to keep the chaos in order. Lucia was a beloved member of the San Pablo community and every effort was being made to maintain her comfort.
"Lucia, do you need anything else?" her sister Margarita asked her.
"No Rita…es vale. I'm okay, relax." Just then a contraction came and Lucia's face twisted with pain and concentration.
"Oh my gosh! I'll call the midwife now! I don't care what you say…this baby is coming and soon!"
As the contraction subsided Lucia's taut body began to relax and she slowly began breathing easier. Then hysteria hit her. She was having a baby! Lucia was only 19 yet she would now be held accountable for the life of a child—who she would bring into this earth nonetheless. She was not much older than a child herself; how could she be competent enough to handle a child? Suddenly being all alone in her bedroom made her very uncomfortable.
"Hello? Rita, donde estas? Rita!!" At the sound of her sister's distressed calls Margarita rushed into the bedroom to see what was wrong.
"Que? What's wrong Cia?"
Tears of sorrow poured down Lucia's face as she thought about what a bad mother she would be. "Rita I can't do it! I'm going to be a horrible mother; this baby is going to hate me!" The expectant mother wailed querulously.
"Lucia, you are going to be a great mother! You're kind, loving, patient…any child would be lucky to get to have you as their mamí." Lucia tried to calm down. She knew being pregnant was hard and having her child was probably going to be ever harder, but she still wasn't used to her capricious moods.
"You're probably r ight…I'm just being crazy. What would I do without you Margarita?"
Margarita shrugged, "Who knows?"
As the sisters laughed together, the midwife came rushing into Lucia's room and all the other women quickly left the house waiting to see what the baby would look like. Helena was an extremely stout woman who looked as if she'd been delivering babies since before Lucia was even born. The elderly woman spoke in rapid fire Spanish as she examined Lucia to see if she was ready to give birth.
"This baby will be here soon! Margarita, go get me some water, a towel and a blanket for the baby.
Margarita squeezed Lucia's hand as a sign of encouragement but the sisterly bonding was quickly interrupted by Helena barking at Rita to hurry up.
Margarita ran around her house freaking out to find everything Helena needed for Lucia. She quickly found everything and frantically ran back into the room to help out as best as she could. When she arrived in the room she was shocked at what she saw. Not seconds earlier, it seemed that the baby was far off, but now Lucia was already pushing!
"Rita, give the blanket and the towel and go help your sister push! She needs all the encouragement that she can get right now…" Rita followed directions and went to her sister's side to encourage her.
"Come on Cia, you're doing great. Keep pushing chica, keep pushing!"
"Rita I can't do it! It's too big, I can't do it! Rita make it stop, make the pain stop!"
Margarita wiped the sweat off her sister's head and gave her a squeeze of comfort. "Ssshh, I know it feels hard sweetie, I know. But you are strong; you're a Schunard girl, I know you can do it." Lucia looked at her sister and smiled. Then, with a look of concentration in her eyes, she furrowed her brow and pushed. She pushed with all of her might; she pushed until her face was purple and she could push no longer. And finally Helena told Lucia to stop pushing and she heard the first cries of her new born baby.
"It's a boy!" The midwife congratulated as she cleaned him off and wrapped him in a blanket. The mother took the child as tears of happiness flowed down her sweat glistening face.
"He's so beautiful…" And he was beautiful too. He had dark curly hair, light colored skin and light brown eyes. His nose was the ideal little button shape and he had the smoothest skin. The baby had ten perfect little fingers and toes and was the epitome of a perfect little boy.
"Como se llama?"
"Angel. His name is Angel Dumott Schunard."
Helena smiled, "That's quite a name for such a little man to live up to…"
But Lucia wasn't concerned. As nervous as she was about having a baby, after the deed was done she could tell immediately that Angel was destined for great things, either big or small.
"Oh," she replied, stroking Angel's hair, "he will; I'm sure of it."
Collins interrupted Angel's story. He was enjoying it greatly and didn't really want to interrupt him but he had a question. "Wait, where was your father in all of this? Why wasn't he there? Angel, I'm confused!!"
Angel sighed, "Thomas dear, you are very impatient tonight! He's coming up soon, don't worry." Angel leaned in and kissed Collins passionately on the lips hoping that it could cause him to calm down a little and listen to the story.
"Mmmm, me likey…me want more…" Collins said smiling at the present.
"Thomas. Can I please finish my story? You got me started on it, the least you could let me do is finish…"
"Oh, okay, well continue then I guess."
Angel smiled, "Thank you, now where was I?"
Helena had finally gone to deliver the birth certificate to the hospital and all of the village women had all come to give their blessings to the newly born Angel. Now Lucia was all alone with her new son Angel. The mother and son sat together quietly as he fed and she gently rubbed his back, taking in every precious moment that she could. It was around seven-thirty now and Lucia's boyfriend—Angel's father—had yet to come home from 'work'.
"Oh where, oh where is your papí little one?" Angel just looked at his mother with his big brown eyes as if there was no care in the world. Lucia smiled at him and then heard the front door open as José finally came home.
Margarita saw José walk in the door and smelled the alcohol all over his clothes. She tried to calm down the loud and clearly intoxicated man.
"José!" she whispered loudly, "Cia just had your baby, you need to quiet down!
"Que? I have a baby?! Where is her? I want to see my son!"
"No you are way too drunk right now. I won't let you in there until you sober up some." Margarita tried to block the doorway but failed seeing as to how José was at least twice her size. He literally threw her out of his way and barged into the room to see his son. Lucia saw him and instantly became fearful of the large man.
"Give me the baby!" José yelled.
"No, you're dunk! Stay away from my son José…I'm not playing with you!" Angel sensed the tension in the room and began wailing. José looked at Lucia and demanded she do something.
"Shut him up!" Lucia too began crying now.
"I can't José, you scared him!"
José was getting angry now. Everything needed to be going his way and to have his own son not listen to him was a problem. "If you can't then I will!" With that José took Angel and shook him vigorously. Luckily Margarita came into the room and saw José so she kicked him causing him to double over. When he was bent vulnerable, she grabbed Angel away from him and rushed out of the room to try and calm down the newborn. Despite José's violent habits, Lucia couldn't help but go and try to help him out.
"José, I'm so sorry!" José would hear none of it and punched Lucia in the face. She screamed and his ego grew. He beat her until every bit of her body was covered in black and blue. Satisfied with is work he fell asleep on the bed leaving Lucia crying on the floor.
Slowly and carefully the battered woman tried to crawl out of the room where her abuser was and went outside where her sister was waiting on the porch for her. Margarita gasped when she saw Lucia's condition.
"Lucia what did he do to you?!"
"It doesn't—"
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Lucia you're black and blue all over!"
"Margarita! I said it doesn't matter! Do you have Angel?"
"Sí."
"Is he okay? He's not sleeping for long periods of time is he?"
"No…he seems fine; just shaken up and hungry. I gave him a bottle for you."
"Gracias Rita…now we need to go. Now. I don't want José to wake up and find us here. Margarita nodded and the sisters walked briskly away from the house to which they would never return. Neither sister had a plan; they just knew they had to get away. Somewhere along the way they would be lead to someone who could help them and Angel get into America as citizens. Where in America did they end up? New York City…Lucia considered it the best place to raise a family.
Angel looked at Collins as he slept peacefully. He pulled up to the covers on both of them and rested his head on Collins' chest. Collins felt that Angel was about to go to sleep and groaned.
"No…finish the story…" he moaned half asleep.
"Ssshhh, tomorrow we'll finish it I promise." Angel kissed Collins' forehead and the two fell into a deep slumber together.
A/N: Just a little public service announcement, if you or anyone you know are being abused by your partner, there is something you can do about it. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. You do not have to deal with that; no one should.
