[The aftermath]
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Bruno observed the grains of salt scattered on the tablecloth of the dining room table, feeling frustrated and scared, since neither of his two brothers-in-law, who were having lunch with him, understood the terrible situation.
"Agustín" said Bruno "you knocked down the salt.
"Yes, I already picked it up," Agustín replied, who continued eating as if nothing had happened.
"Aren't you going to do anything?" asked Bruno
"About what?"
" Bad luck," Bruno answered.
"Ah, that," Agustín said, shrugging it , he took some of the spilled salt and tossed it over his shoulder.
"No, I think you did it wrong" said Felix "my grandmother used to say that we should throw sugar over our shoulder, that's good luck".
"No. Mom used to say we should throw the spilled salt to leave bad luck behind" Agustín insisted.
"They are wrong," said Bruno "you should throw salt and sugar over your shoulder. Do it, you are missing the sugar".
"Well, I suppose that superstition changes, there is no need …" Agustín began.
"Do it quickly!" Bruno interrupted him which made his brother-in-law nervous. Agustín without hesitation took the sugar and tossed it over his shoulder.
At that moment, Pepa entered the room with the worst sparkling cloud he had seen in the last four years.
"Please, we have to meet in the living room, something terrible has happened," she said as she gave Agustín a look.
"You should have thrown it faster!" Bruno said to Agustín.
They all went to the living room, where Pepa's family and her mother were around Antonio. The boy had a white-breasted eagle on his arm, while everyone was watching him with eyes full of fear.
"What happened?" Asked Bruno.
Antonio told them he had sent his animals to take care of Mirabel. The story was quite grim. His niece had survived everything imaginable on that trip, from landslides to being bitten by a poisonous snake. However, the most shocking of all was the end of the story.
"She got on a train," Antonio said.
"Where did she go?" Julieta asked, as her eyes were already beginning to fill with tears and her voice to break.
"My birds can't read," Antonio replied sadly.
"Agustín" his mother began, practical and with a cool head in the face of adversity as always "I need you to write a note to Julia right now, there is a possibility she has contact with Mirabel. The train ride to Bogotá takes no more than a few hours. Mirabel must already be there, if she decided to go there".
"Yes ma'am," Agustín said as he stood up and left the room.
"My birds said she was with a boy, he took her to the train station, and they kissed. They told me the roads are already clear" Antonio continued. Hearing this, Camilo rubbed his face in frustration.
"Roberto" said Camilo "it is my friend Roberto, I mean my ex-friend Roberto. He has been crazy about Mirabel for quite some time. She sure convinced him to help her".
"He must know where she is," Isabela said.
Bruno felt real panic. The sands of time were already in motion, and the prophecy he had on the cigarette smoke became clear, that filled him with fear.
"Dolores" said his mom "I need you to put those ears of yours to work, and tell me if the Herrera brothers have already returned, I need to have a couple of words with them, especially with the youngest".
"Yes, grandma" answered Dolores.
A couple of hours later, Bruno heard the Herrera brothers were in the central courtyard of the house, while the family was waiting for them in the living room. Bruno wanted to hear their conversation, since he might find some indication of what happened with Mirabel. He approached the door where he heard them mutter.
"I have no proof, but I have no doubts either. You are not going to tell me lies Roberto Herrera, I know you know where that girl is" said Rodolfo Herrera as he held the elbow of his brother without any delicacy.
"You have to figure out what are you going to say to Mrs. Madrigal, Roberto" another of the brothers intervened. "Dad is going to be furious."
"You are a poor pendejo. That girl is surely a manipulator. She probably gave you a couple of kisses and a few nice words and you fell into it like the pendejo you are. Now, look at the problem we are in because of her" continued another of the brothers.
Bruno was outraged to hear them speak ill of Mirabel, so he did not hesitate to interrupt.
"Gentlemen," Bruno said as he entered the courtyard, "Mom is waiting for you."
The four brothers entered the room while as a sign of courtesy they removed their hats to the Madrigal family. Bruno had the impression this seemed little less than the inquisition, where his mother was the main torturer.
"Gentlemen," his mother began as she calmly adjusted her shawl. She was sitting comfortably in the main chair, while the rest of the family stood behind her. He had never paid attention to that position of power because it was something unconscious that the family did without meaning to.
"My grandson's animals have told us the news, and we want to know what has happened to my granddaughter," said his mother calmly.
Bruno almost felt sorry to see poor Rodolfo Herrera breathing like a fish out of water, while he tried to explain that she wasn't at the hotel lobby when they were going to leave. Then the reception manager explained that she had left several hours before.
Her mother finished hearing Rodolfo's version, so she stood up and walked slowly, as the only thing they could hear was her footsteps on the tiles. She stopped threateningly in front of the youngest, Roberto.
"My grandson's birds have a different story," said his mother. "They said a young man went with her to the train station, and I bet he knows exactly where she went".
Roberto Herrera closed his eyes for a few seconds, took a deep breath and gave a quick glance at his angry brothers.
"It's not my brother's fault, that girl probably did something …" Carlos Herrera began trying to defend his brother.
"Excuse me?" Isabela asked, furious at the possibility that someone could say a word against Mirabel.
"I know where she is" Roberto said "but I'm not going to tell you".
"What?" Asked his mother "How dare you?".
"Madam" Roberto began. He seemed to have found his voice "she is not happy here. Also, what do you plan to do? Are you going to bring her in and punish her like a child? She is almost an adult. You cannot force her to stay in this place forever." He said.
Everyone was paralyzed by the bravery of that boy, since no one dared to speak to Alma Madrigal like that. Surprisingly, his mother only gave him a condescending smile.
"Poor little lovebird," said his mother with a maternal gesture. Bruno hadn't expected that reaction. But that's the thing with tyrants, they can be very unpredictable.
"Gentlemen" his mother began again "I will pay you three times the price. You did a good job. My granddaughter is not an easy person, she is quite willful, I cannot blame you for this terrible news. Not even the little lovebird." She said before everyone's stunned gaze. Bruno saw her take out of her desk an envelope with the money. The Herrera brothers received it and left without daring to say another word.
Bruno felt the anger in the air. The family had not taken his mother's decision well. There was a clear contempt for Mirabel in this decision, as if she didn't care about her youngest granddaughter. Julieta looked at her mother in deep pain, before disappearing through the living room door.
"Mom," Luisa and Isabela said in unison, as they followed her, giving her a resentful look at their grandmother.
Bruno did not speak to any member of the family again until dinner time, which would consist of calentao made from leftovers from the previous day with eggs, since Julieta was still locked in her room with her husband and daughters. Pepa and him prepared the food with great difficulty, but in the end they managed to do something decent.
"Look for mom" said Pepa "I don't want to talk to her right now."
Bruno did what his sister asked him to do. However, his mother did not seem to be in any of the rooms in the house, she had to be in the nursery.
"Mother?" Asked Bruno who entered the room without knocking the door. Just as he expected, his mother was sitting on the bench at Mirabel's sewing machine, while she covered her face with her hands. Bruno assumed she was crying.
"Mom," Bruno repeated. "It's dinner time".
"I don't want to go, I don't want to feel like I'm the villain of the story," she said. Bruno entered the room and sat on Mirabel's bed.
"Well, if you don't want to be treated like that, then …"
"What do you want from me?" Her mother asked "Do you want me to make her come back? Should I force her to live in this nursery forever, like a little girl playing with the toys I buy for her so she has an illusion of happiness?" She said while pointing to the sewing machine.
"Mom, I did not know that …"
"That silly boy is right. I cannot force her to return, if I do she would have an unhappy life, perhaps she would marry that boy Herrera who is clearly also unhappy with his life, and together they would be an unhappy marriage until death brings them apart" said his mother. "Mirabel does not feel complete here, she feels that she does not fit in, and I no longer know how to make her feel otherwise. I can't blame her. She is not a girl, she is almost a grown woman.
"We were so wrong about the newcomers thing. She was furious,"said Bruno.
"I told you it was not a good idea, Brunito," her mother replied in the tone that all mothers use when they know they are right. "I told you so".
"I just hope Mirabel is okay," she said. "Even if she is in the house of that horrible woman, Julia Cancino. I almost can hear her words, proud that Mirabel chose her and not me. How I hate that nasty woman".
Bruno wanted to laugh when he heard the last sentence, because it was almost admirable the dedication and the pettiness of his mother to hold a grudge thousands of miles away with Agustín's mother, despite they had not seen each other more than one couple of times.
"Why do you dislike her so much, mom?" Bruno asked. His mom gave him a grim look.
"She is involved, very involved," his mom said in a stern voice. Bruno partially understood, but he didn't want confirmation. "I don't want any of my granddaughters involved in that. She might want to drag Mirabel as she is dragging that other granddaughter of hers"
"Do you mean…"
"Well, at least Julia choose the least bad side, I would be appalled if she had chosen the other side"
With that, Bruno got his confirmation, and he decided he never wanted to talk about that again.
His mother was right, Mirabel needed freedom. However, she did not know the whole truth, one that he could not reveal. The sands of time were in movement, and they created incomprehensible and mysterious ties.
"Mom" said Bruno "let's have dinner, you have to repeat those words to Julieta".
As expected, dinner was one of the most awkward events the family had had in a long time. The single sound was that of the silverware hitting the china. Until finally Julieta was the first to explode. Her older sister broke down in tears.
"Mom, I asked you, no, I begged you not to be so hard on Mirabel" she said between sobs "she left, I hope you are happy".
"By God, Julieta, of course I'm not happy," her mother replied, hitting the table with the palm of her hand.
"You always wanted her to leave," Juliet said.
"That's not true, Julieta. I know I have many mistakes but that is not one of them" his mom defended herself "I do not understand you. You all wanted to be free, and now that I do the same with Mirabel you are angry with me".
All the other members of the family looked at her in surprise, it was clear that none of them expected that reaction from her.
"Do you remember that birthday when Mirabel had that nasty fight with Isabela?" Asked her mother.
"Please let's not talk about that ..." Isabela murmured, but her grandmother ignored her and she continued.
"Mirabel was eleven years old, and she hid in the mountain for one night. Dolores and Luisa found her. They had to bring her down screaming and kicking. After that she spent three days with a fever and without wanting to taste a single bite of your food" said his mother. "Do you want me to bring your daughter screaming and kicking and lock her in her bedroom like a child?"
"Mom, I don't ...
"Mirabel is a grown woman, Julieta. I cannot force her to stay in this house." His mother began "what I do not understand is why Camilo did not warn us" she said.
"W-What do you mean, grandma?" Camilo stuttered.
"I mean the Herrera boy," said his mother. He nervously looked around and muttered something inaudible.
"speak well".
"Because I didn't want Mirabel enduring the same situation as Isabela," Camilo said as he looked to the family members for help, but it did not come.
"What are you talking about?"
"Grandma, you have always wanted the Madrigal family to join the Herrera family. I thought that Mirabel did not like Roberto. I knew you would force her to accept him, as Isabela with Rodolfo... Please don't kill me.
They all looked at his mother with fear but, apparently, this was the day of unexpected reactions.
"I am very sorry Isabela for being so mean about Rodolfo Herrera. Today has been a terrible day, if you'll excuse me, I want to go to sleep" said his mother.
"Well, now that Mirabel is gone, I don't want anybody singing the we don't talk about Mirabel song" joked Bruno, but absolutely no one laughed, in fact, Julieta cried.
Bruno went to the kitchen where he and Pepa faced the cleaning, since Julieta was still completely devastated. The night had been gloomy at the Madrigal house, and now everyone faced the consequences of Mirabel's departure.
All the Madrigal cousins were sitting in the central patio chatting while Dolores hugged Isabela who would not stop crying.
"That come moco of Roberto," she heard Camilo say annoyed, "is a traitor, he was just a short walk away from leaving with Mirabel."
"And to think that I liked him," Antonio complained.
"She would have left with or without his help" said Dolores "You must have listened to her that night. She was so upset, so furious".
"I'm sorry for everything I told you, Dolores," Isabela said, sobbing. "You were right, and I'm a fool".
"Aw, don't cry Isabela, I understand you, you wanted to be a better sister" Dolores said "Mirabel was way beyond your help or mine".
Bruno walked towards his tower. Then he slowly climbed the stairs to his cavern, and dropped into the center of it. He felt her eyes sparkle, as the sands of time revealed more pieces of the puzzle that had yet to be assembled. Bruno could not help sobbing. If fate took his course, his beloved niece would die very soon.
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Mirabel was doomed.
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Three days before, Mirabel was in the middle of her trip to Bogotá as she saw the change in the landscape through the window. This train stopped at every single station. Which meant that she had a lot of fellow travelers in the chair across from her.
"The first thing you should buy when you get to Bogotá is an umbrella" said the wife of a family with five children who went up and down quickly " you have to use your purse with the zipper facing forward, if they come to realize that you are a newcomer you will be an easy prey for thieves".
"This is the address of a boarding house for young single women who go to work in the capital" said a secretary, who was going to her town to visit her parents.
"You must be very patient, people in Bogotá are very neurotic" advised a merchant who was heading to the city to look for merchandise.
Mirabel received so much advice that in the end she was starting to freak out even more. As the hours passed, the train began to climb the mountains until it reached the Bogotá savanna where the temperature was lower than in Encanto. Mirabel took one of the few sweaters she had in her suitcase and one of her shawls, but that wasn't enough.
"Last station: Santafé de Bogotá" announced the manager as people frantically began to take their suitcases. Mirabel followed them, although she didn't understand why they all seemed to be in such a hurry.
Mirabel left the huge train station feeling confused and scared. The streets were huge compared to what she had seen, and there were too many cars. She wanted to take the trolley bus to the center of the city, but she felt intimidated by the amount of people who were riding on it, so in the end she decided to take the bus.
The bus was progressively filling up. After a few minutes it was even worse than the trolley that had intimidated her.
"Madam" she said to the person who was riding next to her "Is this bus going to the third?"
"Yes, I'll get off there, if you wish I can tell you where to get off,'' said the woman.
"Thank you very much," Mirabel replied.
That interaction filled her with hope. The people of the city did not seem as bad as everyone said, it was an exaggeration. She had not seen anything disturbing. At that moment, the bus came to a sudden stop and all the passengers staggered. Then the driver stuck his head out the window and yelled:
"Hey. papi,What happens? Did you get your driver's license as a prize in a tamal or what?" Said the driver before starting to yell rudely at the other driver.
"Sir, stop fighting and move forward. You are transporting people here, we are not animals" shouted a woman inside the bus to which the other passengers began to nod. Mirabel was overwhelmed and hugged her suitcase tighter.
"Miss" said the woman next to her "this is our stop".
Mirabel followed her with great difficulty down the hall as she struggled not to fall from the movement of the vehicle. She did not understand how these people managed to stand so easily. The woman next to her rang the bell, but it missed the station.
"Hey, where are you going to take us? to your mother's house?" Asked the woman shouting.
Finally, the two got off the bus. Mirabel took out the card the secretary gave her and showed it to her.
"It's very close," she said, "walk about three blocks to the south."
Mirabel managed to find the address, despite the fact that she had to ask two other people for directions, and she passed three times without realizing it. The boarding house was a manor house that must have been very elegant during colonial times. It had been adapted and like all traditional buildings it was painted white with ornaments in green to avoid being associated with either of the two political parties. Mirabel took a room, with a private bathroom and a shared kitchen.
"My place is very comfortable and very safe for young ladies who come to work in the city, especially if they have just arrived from small towns," said the matron of the inn.
"Do I look like a newcomer to the city?" Mirabel asked almost jokingly, since she knew the obvious answer.
"Well…"
"It was a joke." she said. The woman gave her a warm smile and invited her for a coffee.
"Your house has a curious name," Mirabel said, looking at the card over the table. "muyso" she read.
"What does it mean?" asked Mirabel.
"Someone told me it means snake in Muisca language" answered the woman speaking about the original inhabitants of the savanna of Bogotá. " I am one of the few probed descendents of the original tribe, and I am trying to learn as much as I can. I suppose it hasn't any meaning, it just sound cool"
The room was nothing special. It had a bed, a closet and a desk, as well as her private bathroom and a nice view to the hills at the east of the city. However, the best was the electricity. She spent at least five minutes switching the bulb on and off.
Despite her good start in the city, Mirabel felt empty, to the point she went to the bakery on the corner,bought baked goods, and spent the next three days locked in that room. Mirabel had already memorized each of the cracks in the ceiling. She reread a book that she bought at the train station. And still, she didn't want to go out. A strange sadness washed over her, she did not want to dress, or even to move.
She couldn't stop thinking about her family. What if she might have talked to them before making that plan? Mirabel wondered. Maybe she should have talked to her mother, explain her that she wanted to have a life before receiving the candle from her grandmother. Maybe she should have talked to her grandmother, and asked her for a little more time to understand the news. Maybe she should have talked to Bruno and asked him for an explanation of the whole thing with Juan Pablo. Maybe she shouldn't have involved Roberto. That word was repeated over and over again: maybe, maybe, maybe.
On the third day of her confinement. Mirabel decided to use her black cloth coat and her black leather shoes for a walk around the area. She walked to the Perseverancia neighborhood market, where she learned that there was more than one market day in the city. Apparently they had that place open all the time, everyday. Mirabel ordered an ajiaco in the restaurant.
Ajiaco was a typical dish of the capital, it contained chicken, three different types of potatoes, corn on the cob and aromatic herbs. All three types of potatoes were very hard to find at Encanto. However, her mother took the time to prepare it on special occasions. Julieta made that dish since Agustín used to feel nostalgic for his home in the capital from time to time, so the ajiaco was not a simple meal for her, but a true love letter to her husband and the three daughters they shared. Tears welled up in Mirabel's eyes. She had been so wrong, because if she owed someone an explanation, it was her parents.
Mirabel finished her meal and went for a walk under the rain through downtown back to her boarding house. She observed in the stores the different dresses and latest fashions. Suddenly, she saw her own reflection in one of the cabinets. She looked terrible. Her hair was messy, she was not wearing stockings, and it was clear that her coat hid her own mountain attire. Mirabel knew she wouldn't get a job like that. Suddenly, she remembered why she was in town. She couldn't give up so quickly, she had to prove to herself she wasn't completely useless, she had to do something.
Mirabel left the room with a heart heavy with hope. She walked to a passage, where there were stores selling fabrics and goods imported by migrants who were arriving in the city at that time. Her grandmother loved the products of the Turkish merchant who lived in Santa Rita, to the point that despite her age, she often made the trip with Mirabel just to see the new fabrics he had to offer. Mirabel arrived at the stores where she got the fabrics she needed. Unfortunately, her budget was not enough for new clothes which were quite expensive, so she decided to buy fabrics to make them herself, and it was there that she saw it:
"Excuse me, sir," said Mirabel when she saw a sewing machine at the door of a store."What is the price of this machine?"
"Ten pesos, miss".
"How much?" Mirabel asked, alarmed. The machine was almost four times cheaper than hers back in Encanto. Mirabel heard the price again as she reviewed it part by part.
"It is second hand, but as you can see, it is in perfect condition," said the seller.
"Why do you have it for sale?" Mirabel asked him.
"I bought another one, a better model, so I decided to sell this one" he answered. Mirabel was surprised, since everything in Encanto was so difficult. To buy a machine like that for that price was unthinkable.
"I'll take it," Mirabel said excitedly.
Mirabel received the machine a couple of hours later, after she had bought a couple of hats, nylon stockings, a decent leather bag, and two pairs of gloves. Then, she worked all afternoon until dawn when she finished a couple of dresses with a simple cut, a pair of skirts and a jacket.
Despite being the four in the morning, Mirabel observed herself in the mirror of her room, with her new clothes completely finished. She finally had a suitable outfit to stay in the city. A bright smile appeared on her lips, because she could not believe that she had achieved all that by herself.
Mirabel had never felt so strong. She crossed a part of the country, she had survived a lot, she already had a home and a new machine. The next step was a job. Mirabel went to bed full of hope. She still had to fulfill her promise to a poor boy she had left in the mountains paying the consequences for her escapade. In that moment, Mirabel confirmed to herself that she didn't want magic, she didn't need it.
She slept for a couple of hours, until a terrible nightmare woke her: a horrible vision of a pair of green eyes on the ceiling that seemed suspended high above the head of her bed, watching her and judging without the slightest compassion. She screamed as she turned on the light from the lamp on her nightstand.
This was a dream, just a dream.
Hi everyone. Happy new year! Two things, one is a thing I find hilarious or absurd. The second is an historic fact:
1. First, the absurd stuff: I do not read fanfiction while I am on those periods when I write a lot since I do not have time to do both. But, I saw on tiktok several compatriots get very, very, very offended because people are shipping the members of the family. Since I am on vacation, I felt curious. I spended one night reading the highest rated fics on AO3, and I can not be offended. I mean, you motherfuckers need Yisus that's clear, but I can not be offended by it.
I am a veteran in the world of fandoms, I have been in some of the most toxic fandoms ever (Naruto fandom I am looking at you) and these weird creepy ships are such average fandom behavior. On the Frozen fandom we had Elsanna (which is too much for me). On Naruto we had Nejihina. I have seen everything. To be quite honest I am more offended because I saw expressions like "no mames" on colombian lips on some of those fanfictions, or a "ruana" being called a "poncho". We do not use that, absolutely not, but yeah. People who don't know how fandoms work might be really upset.
2. The part when Mirabel goes shopping. Back in the thirties two very relevant groups arrived in Colombia. first, German jews. And cristians and catholics from the middle east, from countries like lebanon,Turkey and Egypt, people generally referred the later group as "Turks" (shakira's family is one of those) every single town had at least one "turk" bussines. These two groups used to have the best fabrics and clothes (the jews still have amazing libraries in Bogotá. I spend all my money in some of these places). They are very relevant in our society, they have industries and a lot of political power. This passage was one of the first places they had for their business, and it was a historic relic. Actually, this area of the city is quite ugly, and I am not sure if it exists anymore.