Sneeze for Attention Part Two:
Julieta sighed as she heard Mirabel coughing and hacking up in the nursery, yet again. Her poor daughter, this was supposed to be her quincenera, she should be having the time of her life, not being stuck up in bed throwing up like she was. This certainly was a nasty flu bug that she got this time.
Mirabel had been rather sickly as a young child, it was expected, honestly it was a miracle that she had survived the first day of life, after being born so early. Yet, she had seemed to outgrow it once she was around two, two and a half. She still got sick on occasion, and it took her a while to recover from each bought of sickness, but for the past three years she seemed to be constantly sick.
It had gotten to the point that she had even pulled Mirabel out of school in a hope that keeping her away from all the other kids would hopefully give her immune system a chance to catch up. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't prevent Camilo from attending school, and he still brought home every little germ from that place and Mirabel still managed to get sick. Even when Camilo hadn't even shown signs of being sick himself.
She couldn't help but feel sorry for Mirabel. It was never fun being sick, and to be as sick as Mirabel was as often as she was, at least once a month. It seemed that she was only over one sickness before she had caught another.
It was so bad that Antonio slept with his parents as much if not more often then he did in the nursery. She was sure that her sister and brother-in-law would sigh a sigh of relief once Antonio got his gift and moved into his own room. If he got a gift. No one really knew what went wrong with Mirabel's gift ceremony and there was a chance that it could happen again.
She sighed as she continued to cook, if Mirabel was sick, then more likely then not there was other's who were sick as well, although she had noticed that recently Mirabel would get sick when everyone else in the Encanto was perfectly healthy.
"Senora?" a deep voice called out as Dr. Ruiz stepped into the kitchen.
Julieta sighed, "Hola Miguel," she said softly, despite the fact that he was old enough to be her father, "What is it this time?"
"Food poisoning," the doctor said, arching an eyebrow.
"Food Poisoning?" Julieta repeated, setting the food she was working with down, "But I can cure food poisoning. Whatever Mirabel has isn't something I can cure. Trust me, I tried."
"I don't know what to tell you, all I know is that Mirabel no doubt has food poisoning. It should get better in a couple of days, if it doesn't… send for me," he insisted, shrugging, as he gathered his stuff and saw himself out.
Julieta sighed, leaning against the counter, "This doesn't make any sense," she insisted, "How in the world did MIrabel get food poisoning, and why isn't my food working on her?"
"What do you mean that your food isn't working?" a sharp voice demanded, as her own mother appeared in the kitchen, "I just saw Dr. Ruiz leave, what did he say, how is Mirabel?"
"He claims that it's food poisoning."
"Food Poisoning?" Alma repeated, shaking her head, "That can't be right, you can cure food poisoning."
"I know, I can't even think of where she could have gotten food poisoning. She doesn't eat out or anything like that."
"Perhaps Dr. Ruiz is wrong, he is getting up there in age, he's almost eighty. He could have made a mistake," Alma insisted, "I mean the other possibility is absurd, that your gift has stopped working, has it?"
"I've healed Agustin twice today since I've tried curing Mirabel," Julieta pointed out, "My gift is working fine accept for with Mirabel."
"See he made a mistake, how in the world could Mirabel had even gotten food poisoning? Everyone else is healthy and you cook all of her meals. Perhaps it is time for him to retire."
"I don't know Mama," Julieta added as Pepa entered Casita through the kitchen door, four year old Antonio on her hip, "It's just one mistake and so many things have the same symptoms, it's easy to get confused."
"Get confused about what?"
"Dr. Ruiz claims that Mirabel has Food Posioning, but I can cure food poisoning and I can't cure Mirabel, yet my gift is working normally."
"Food poisoning?" Pepa repeated, setting Antonio down, "How in the world could she have gotten food poisoning? She eats the exact same things we do, and nobody else got sick."
"What's food poisoning?" Antonio asked, glancing up at his aunt and mother.
"It's when you eat food that's gone bad," Julieta explained, "Which is why I'm confused on how she could have gotten sick, she hasn't eaten anything that others haven't eaten."
"She ate a tamale," Antonio announced, "yesterday upstairs in the nursery. I saw her pull it out of her nightstand drawer."
"I haven't made tamales since… a week ago last Sunday… why in the world did she have one, and why in the world was she storing it in her drawer?" Julieta asked.
Antonio shrugged, "I don't know."
"Maybe that's why your food isn't working, it was intentional," Alma suggested, "I can't believe that Mirabel would stoop this low just for attention."
"She wouldn't have to if you just gave her the attention she needs without her having to get sick first," Antonio argued, causing three pairs of eyes to turn to him.
"Tonito, bebe, what are you talking about?" Pepa asked kneeling down in front of her youngest.
"The only time any of you talk to Mira, or tell her that you love her, or are nice to her is when she's sick, so she makes herself sick. Especially on her birthday and big holidays."
Julieta glanced at her sister and mother, before giving Antonio a look, horrified of what he had just said and what it applied.
"Well then," Alma said sternly, "The best thing we can do is ignore Mirabel when she's ill. That should break her of the habit of making herself sick."
"Or," Julieta snapped, "Instead of punishing her, we address the real problem here. The fact that Mirabel feels like the only way to get our love is to get sick needs to be addressed."
"What are you suggesting?" Alma demanded, "That we award her for this behavor?"
"We need to acknowledge that she's struggling and come up with a situation that doesn't involve Mirabel making herself sick whenever she wanted some positive attention."
"Honestly, the best way to stop this behavor is to nip it in the bud and stop giving in to her."
Pepa scooped up Antonio and hurriedly left the kitchen a cloud forming over her head as behind her Julieta took a deep breath and smacked her hand down on the table. This was going to get ugly, "Dolores, Sweetheart, you might want to go to your room," she muttered, "Tia and Abuela are fighting again."
"Mami," Antonio asked, looking up into his mother's green eyes, "Did I say something bad?"
"No, Tonito, you did the right thing, telling Tia and me about Mirabel eating that tamale. Abuela and Tia just have different ideas of how it should be dealt with."
"Then what should we do?" Antonio asked, "I love Mira, I hate it when she's so sad."
"So do I," Pepa insisted, there was no way she was going to let her sobrina turn out like her brother, "So do I," she paused for a moment, an idea popping up with a rainbow over her head, that was it.
She sat Antonio down, "Go upstairs and ask Mirabel if she's feeling up to going on a picnic with us," she instructed, "I'll talk to Tia."
…
Julieta and their mother were still at it when she walked back into the room. Neither one of them noticed her, and she couldn't insert herself into the conversation. Finally, after a couple of failed attempts, Pepa allowed a single clap of thunder to be heard causing both of them to jump and stare at her.
"I have an idea," Pepa said brightly, "I'll take Mirabel out on a picnic with Antonio, and while we're gone you can put together a quince for her."
"But she won't be able to go on the picnic when she's too ill to get out of bed," Julieta pointed out.
"Exactly, that's why we need an arepa," Pepa said, "She has food poisoning, that's something you can cure unless they are blocking you. By giving her what she really wants, the chance to spend her birthday with us, she'll remove the mental block, allowing you to heal her. If we spend time with her when she's healthy, she'll no longer feel the need to make herself sick to get our attention."