Humor with Joaquin and the kids.
DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.
"Are you sure?" Joaquin asked when Manolo and Maria first came to him with their request. "It's just the next town over, isn't it? You could probably take her along."
"You know how she gets around strangers," Manolo answered. "She won't be any trouble."
"Couldn't the brothers keep an eye on her?"
Maria raised an eyebrow. "You've got to be kidding."
"Please, amigo," Manolo said. "One day. We'll be back by evening, I promise."
It all happened so quickly that Joaquin wasn't entirely sure of the details. Something about Manolo and the Rodriguez brothers being asked to play at some concert or whatnot, and about Maria meeting up with an old friend from school to visit an art gallery. The important thing was that it had somehow ended in agreeing to watch Ofelia while they were gone.
The reluctance didn't stem from any problems with the girl, for he had none. It was that the twins had just passed their third year, and he and Ixa together could barely keep them under control. He shuddered at the thought of three toddlers under his roof, no matter how docile one of them might be.
Oh, get a grip, he told himself. It's not like it'll be you against them. Ixa can help. They listen to her better anyway.
It was such a shame that his wife had the idea to go to the orphanage in Maria's place that day.
The floor of the parlor seemed more akin to a battlefield moments before the clashing of armies. On one side of the room was Joaquin, his arsenal of weapons neatly laid out at his side: toys, books, blankets, cleaning rags and some spare sets of clothes. On the other side were the children, sitting in a row. Scheming even as they stared up at him with bright, innocent eyes.
He looked around, making sure everything was in its place and not an inch too far to the left. "Okay," he said as he started to pace. "Vin? Gabby? Aunt Maria and Uncle Manolo can't be in town today, so Ofelia's gonna stay here for a while and play with you. Does that sound good?"
They all nodded. "Sí."
"And your mom's out working today, so it's gonna be just the four of us." He took a few uncertain breaths. "But that's alright. Because we're going to have fun! Lots of fun!"
Vicente perked up. "Play!"
Joaquin started to turn around. "That's right, whatever you guys want to play…except that!" He flew across the room and grabbed Vicente, who was trying to tug down the red velvet curtains and the heavy rod they were attached to. "I told you we don't play with the curtains, Vin. We have lots of better games. Right, girls?"
He looked behind him as he heard Ofelia's giggling, just in time to see Gabriela walking towards the cabinet holding his bowie knife collection.
From that moment on, he was never off his feet for more than a few seconds at a time. The children's energy seemed to have no bounds, while he found himself quickly growing short of breath as he chased them up and down the halls of the mansion. They had to be fed, then changed out of the clothes they had stained and kept from making another mess while the first one was cleaned up. They grew tired of the toys and of the games he devised for them, finding much more amusement in squabbling amongst each other and needing to be pulled apart. This, Joaquin noted thankfully, seemed to begin wearing them down. In late afternoon, when he lay them down in a row and put the blankets over them, they did not protest. Before long they appeared to be fast asleep, leaving him to finish cleaning.
"Come on," he muttered, rubbing over and over at a stain on the carpet. "It's just cornmeal. It's supposed to come up. Why isn't it coming up…?"
Somehow he found himself stretched out next to the children, lying on his side. His eyelids were drooping shut, and he was content to let them. Within a few minutes, his snores were echoing off the walls.
Gabriela opened one eye, then the other. Pushing off the blankets, she slowly sat up grinning. "Up," she chirped, shaking her brother and her friend. "Up!"
Vicente was quick to respond, while Ofelia rose slowly with a yawn. "What?"
"Papa not up."
They surrounded Joaquin's head, poking his face and watching him twitch. "He needs nap," Ofelia said, nodding with approval.
Vicente scowled. "No nap. Play!" He pushed his father's head, but the man did not budge.
Gabriela looked at Joaquin for a moment, then smiled. "I get Papa up. Then play."
The other two watched her walk towards the wall nearest the front door, the one Joaquin had always kept his back turned away from. "How?" Ofelia asked.
"Funny toys."
"But he's sleepy."
"He get up," the girl answered, dragging a porcelain doll off the lowest shelf. "Funny toys. Funny Papa."
He thought he felt something brush against his cheek. A soft cloth and a cold surface. He shrugged it off and moved his head, falling back towards his deep sleep. But something was on the other side of him too, tickling his mustache. Now there was a light weight on his chest, followed by another, and several distant voices were chattering in his ears. "Up! Up!"
Joaquin opened his eyes and lifted his head, groaning at how heavy it felt. "Huh? What…?"
Then he was staring into dead, glassy eyes and porcelain weights covering every inch of his skin. And it was then that he learned just how high he could scream.
"Well," Maria said, "the house is still standing. Guess that's a good sign."
Manolo pushed open the front door. "Joaquin? We're back! How was…" He looked down. "Oh, there you are."
The children sat on the foyer floor, the girls playing with dolls and Vicente swinging around his toy horse. Ofelia's face lit up as the door opened. "Mama! Papa!" She ran forward to hug them both, and her father picked her up.
"Were you good for Uncle Joaquin today?" Maria asked. "Where is he?"
"I'm okay! I'm okay…"
They both stopped and stared as Joaquin came crawling - no, simply dragging himself - into the room. He flopped over, then curled into a ball at the foot of the stairs. "It was fun…so much fun. So many…"
"So many what?"
He twitched and whimpered.
Vicente and Gabriela laughed at the sight. "Papa funny!"
"Er, Joaquin?" Manolo asked. "Maybe we could take care of the twins tomorrow. You know, to make it up to you."
His friend's head shot up and stared at them with bloodshot eyes. "Save yourselves."