Hey everybody! I am back with a quick dabble of my second favorite member of the Madrigal family, Dolores! This was inspired by a cute animatic I saw on youtube several months ago, so for whatever reason, I decided to write it out. It's very short compared to my magnum opus which is Camilo and Hanna's story. This might be a little sad too, but I hope it's a little enjoyable all the same. TYSM!
What Madrigals Do
One bright and sunny morning, 15-year-old Dolores was in the kitchen, packing a picnic basket with arepas when she heard a familiar squeaking noise from the floor by her feet. She looked down to see a single rat sniffing the air, looking up at her expectantly. Dolores stared back at this tiny creature and smiled to herself for she knew what it was doing here.
~10 years ago,~
"Dolores!" Pepa called. She was anxiously searching the Casita from top to bottom for her only child, while a cloud began swirling over her head. The one day she cannot find her daughter it just had to be on the day of her Gifting Ceremony.
"Dolores! Where are you?" Pepa called once more before sighing in frustration. Little Dolores giggled quietly as her mama walked right past the wall she had chosen for her hiding place. Once Pepa was out of sight, Dolores skipped along the hall until she saw a familiar figure with shaggy hair and a green ruana. She smiled and happily exclaimed "Tio Bruno!"
Bruno turned around in surprise to see his second niece smiling up at him and raising her arms in the air, indicating for him to pick her up. Bruno smiled softly at her and reached down to take her in his arms. Dolores giggled in delight as he did so.
"Tio Bruno?" she asked.
"Yes?" Bruno replied as he held her.
"Can you tell me…what my Gift will be?" Dolores asked softly.
"Well…," Bruno began to say, "It's…not as easy as me telling you just like that. But…what kind of Gift you get is not important."
Dolores cocked her head to the side, curiously. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Whatever Gift you receive, what's important is what you do with it," said Bruno. "Remember, always use your Gift to help those around you. Because that's what we Madrigals do."
Dolores kept looking at Bruno curiously. "But…Mama says your Gift is unhelpful," she said, bluntly.
Bruno had no response and just gave an awkward smile.
At that moment, Dolores looked up to see Pepa standing in front of her and Bruno with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot impatiently. Her cloud was still hovering above her head as she scowled at her brother.
"Mama!" Dolores said.
Pepa then reached out her arms, took Dolores away from Bruno, and walked off with her without a word.
Dolores looked over Pepa's shoulder at Bruno as he stood there, gripping his arm, and looking down sadly.
Six years after that, something terrible happened. Dolores's youngest cousin Mirabel didn't receive a Gift. Everyone in the house watched the magic door vanish right in front of her. What followed was chaos. There were voices of shock, disappointment, and demands to know why. Pepa could be heard talking to a bereft Julieta. Agustin was comforting his youngest daughter, holding her as she silently cried in his arms. Alma was the most anxious of all. Dolores could hear her speaking desperately to Tio Bruno, begging him to have a vision to see what this could mean for the magic and the family. But the next thing she knew, there was a shattering of what sounded like glass, and Bruno was hurrying out of his tower without speaking to anyone. With no one else around, Dolores descended the stairs and cornered him. It was easy for she could tell which direction the sound of his footsteps was heading.
"Where are you going, Tio Bruno?" she asked in her quiet voice.
Bruno sighed. He then walked up to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "But…please, don't tell anyone where I am."
"What?" Dolores asked in shock and confusion.
Bruno looked into her eyes and said, "There will come a day when you have to tell someone," he said. "But not yet. So…I'm begging for your help. Do you promise not to tell?"
Dolores looked sadly into his green eyes. She was not used to keeping secrets. Abuela Alma was insistent on having her announce anything her Gift allowed her to hear around the village. But her dear uncle needed her help. In the end, she nodded silently.
"Hey! Dolores!" Camilo called.
Dolores snapped herself out of her daydream and looked up to see her kid brother, waving to her from outside.
"Come on!" he exclaimed impatiently. "We're all waiting for you!"
Dolores looked down at the rat and smiled. She then took a single arepa and bent down to hand it to the rat for it to take in its tiny paws. Then Dolores walked out of the kitchen to join her family for the picnic. The lone rat scurried up the wall and squeezed through a small opening to the other side of it. It then crawled on the little wooden table only to climb up an outstretched hand. Bruno lifted this single rat which sat comfortably in his palm. He lifted his hood from his head, looking at the arepa in pleasant surprise. He then gave a grateful smile.
Dolores was walking with Camilo when she turned around to look at the house and thought to herself what Bruno said long ago.
"Remember, always use your Gift to help those around you. Because that's what we Madrigals do."