Show Me Chapter 8

Hi guys! It is time to take a little break from the Land of the Living and head on over to the Land of the Dead for a little bit. Just as a side note, I will not be featuring the lockdown or COVID-19 since the story takes place before all this started. However, some events from 2019 (except for the virus) will be brought into the light.

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the story and stay healthy!

As the living relatives were off to Texas in the Land of the Living, in the Land of the Dead had gotten off to a normal start that morning had gotten off to a normal start. Rosita Rivera and Coco Rivera went about preparing breakfast for their family and keeping an eye on the window. Dante had been bringing news and updates from the living family as often as he could, but it had gotten somewhat difficult. The border guards at the bridge were growing tired of dealing with the crazy dog's antics and wanted the Riveras to limit Dante's "living" visits to three times a week.

Hopefully, Miguel and the others are okay, Rosita thought as she made the finishing touches on her huevos rancheros. Miguelito needs all the support he can get right now.

A few days ago, Dante had delivered a message from Miguel to the rest of the ancestors. Things had not been going well in the Land of the Living, the note stated. The other family involved in the case against the de la Cruz estate no longer wanted to press charges and Miguel had begged Rosita and Victoria not to tell Imelda. Another note directed to Imelda had hidden everything that was going on in the investigation and acted like everything was fine.

She had enough stress on her plate already with having a huge order of dance shoes to work on as well as the anniversary of her death coming up soon and rehearsing with Héctor. At first, the twins disagreed with Miguel, stating that Imelda would figure it out before anyone had the chance to tell her, but they backed down once Rosita said that they needed more facts about what was happening before telling Imelda.

Giving herself a shake to get the thought out of her head, Rosita headed for the stairs to let the other family members know that breakfast was ready to go, while Coco stayed behind to continue cooking. Just as Rosita was about to set foot on the step, she spotted the twins, Oscar and Felipe, looking up to no good. If Rosita had to guess, knowing them, she knew a prank would soon be underway. And judging by the water balloons perched on the top of the door, it meant a prank was going to happen.

"Buenos dias," Rosita whispered cheerfully. Startled, the twins jumped and turned around, grinning sheepishly. Almost immediately, the twins began making denials over what was going on.

"This isn't-," Oscar said.

"What it-." Felipe continued.

"Looks like-" Oscar added on, guiltily hiding behind his apron.

Putting her hands on her hips, Rosita said, "Well, it looks like you two were about to go and play a prank on Victoria. Aren't you both a bit old to be playing pranks?"

Gently tapping the wall with her hand, the water balloons came crashing down on both twins. In an instant, both twins were soaking wet and speechless as Rosita stood over them.

"Buen intento, ustedes dos. Now, do me a favor and help me make sure everyone's up. We've got a long day of work ahead of us." Rosita said as she made her way back downstairs.

Nodding resignedly, the two skeletons headed back to their room to change into their everyday clothes as Victoria came out, remnants of the water balloon falling on her face.

"Lo que en el mundo?" Victoria muttered as her tía reached forward to help her. Victoria still pulling out bits of the balloon from her hair as she made her way to the kitchen where her mamá was busy getting breakfast ready to go.

"Buenos días, Vicita." Coco greeted her daughter.

"Buenos días, Mamá," Victoria answered. "Is no one else down yet? I thought I heard Papá getting up early this morning."

Nodding softly as she handed Victoria a mug of steaming hot coffee, Coco replied, "Sí, mija. Your papá got up early to go get more supplies for the workshop and to get your Abuelito's guitar tuned as a surprise for him before he woke up. Papá said that he and Mamá were sleeping in a bit today."

At that statement, Victoria went wide-eyed. The last time the twins had woken the couple, it had turned out that they were doing more than just 'sleeping in'.

"Ummmm, Tía," Victoria said. "Remember the last time that Oscar and Felipe woke them up when they were 'sleeping in'?" using air quotes for the last two words. Rosita and Coco both nodded, shocked realization hitting them quickly.

Just as Rosita was about to head upstairs to warn the twins, a loud "QUE DEMONIOS?" and "GET OUT!" came from upstairs as the twins bolted downstairs as if their afterlife depended on it, slippers being thrown from the general direction of Héctor and Imelda's room.

The twins quickly shook their heads to get the image out of their scarred minds, as the women in the kitchen tried not to laugh. Definitely not 'sleeping in' Victoria thought to herself as Oscar and Felipe ran in, looking if one could use the phrase "scarred for life".

"I take it they weren't sleeping in?" Rosita asked cheerfully as Victoria rolled her eyes. The twins shook their heads in unison.

Less than 20 minutes later, Héctor and Imelda Rivera came downstairs, Héctor looking a bit embarrassed whilst his wife looked serious. The twins had wisely decided to make themselves scarce and went to work in their section of the workshop on a new invention. Ever since Héctor had come back, he had managed to convince Imelda to let the twins sell their inventions. Imelda agreed as long as it didn't A) set the house on fire or B) anger the neighbors.

"Buenos días, familia!" Héctor said as he greeted everyone at the table. "What does everyone have planned today?"

Smiling softly, Rosita said, "Vicita, Coco, and I are going to help out Ceci today. Her assistant had a new family member arrive at the bridge today and she wanted to get them settled in."

Coco nodded, understanding. Being the most recent Rivera arrival in the Land of the Dead, she understood just how discombobulating it could be for someone.

"What about you Papá Hèctor?" Rosita asked softly. "What are you doing?"

"The usual. Writing songs, visiting my cousins, installing a lock on our bedroom door, driving Imelda loco." Héctor said jokingly as Imelda gave him a stern but loving look at the last one.

"I'll be working, too," Imelda said. "Maria's coming over for a bit and I have to respond to Miguel's note, too. Ah no, wait. He, Enrique, Elena, and Gloria are in Tech-sass, this week. Guess I'll address it to little Socorro."

None of the living relatives (except for Miguel and maybe Luisa) had any idea that the youngest Rivera could hear or speak to anyone in the Land of the Dead. Imelda had suspected it at first and decided to send little Socorro a piece of papel picado. According to Miguel, the papel had not vanished as it did for the other living relatives. In fact, it stayed unwrinkled and clean, astonishing Miguel and frightening Luisa.

Imelda immediately had gone to the Department of Families, but the clerk warned her to be careful. Little Socorro was too little to understand what was going on and having supernatural powers at a young age could be dangerous, maybe even fatal. No more than 3 letters to Socorro or Miguel a week.

"Abuelita? Qué pasó?" Victoria's voice broke Imelda from her reverie. Nodding to her nieta that she was fine, everyone else got to work on their separate errands as Héctor went to the family room. There were two things he had to ask his esposa about.

"Frida's writing a new show," Héctor said as he and Imelda sat in the family room twenty minutes later, breakfast finished, watching a news program. Gauging his wife's reaction as "not about to be whacked with a shoe", he cautiously went on. "It's about Miguel's adventure on Día de los Muertos two years ago. Frida wanted to know if it was okay with you to retell the story, mi amor. And wondered if you would be interested in starring in it." At those words, Imelda nearly fell off the couch in shock but managed to regain composure.

"Lo no se, Héctor," Imelda said uncertainly. "I don't mind performing but not in front of thousands of people. And I don't want to be reminded of what nearly happened to you. I'm not proud of what I did."

Gently embracing his wife, Héctor murmured, "Frida said to take all the time you need to think about it, mi amor. You don't have to make a decision right away and no one will judge you if you say no. Miguel is going through the same thing at home. His teacher is suggesting that he and Rosa try out a music camp in México City, but Miguel's not too sure of the idea either."

Looking up at her husband, Imelda agreed and then, narrowing her eyes slightly, asked, "What else is on your mind, Héctor?"

Taking a small piece of wrinkled paper from his pants pocket, Héctor said "Your mamá wrote to me again, mi amor. She wants to meet up with you and talk."

Scoffing, Imelda said, "Ah ah ah! No! I want nothing to do with that woman ever again."

Putting his arm around her, Héctor said, "I know, mi amor, but she's trying to make an effort to make up for everything and she's—."

Imelda's eyes flashed with anger. "Y ella qué? Where was she after you died? Where was she when I needed help with Coco when she was ill?"

To fully move on from the past, Imelda had started referring to Héctor leaving as his "death", to prove that she was aware of the truth now. She had even written to Miguel and Elena, telling them that's how she would like Héctor's leaving to be addressed.

Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to talk to her about her mamá again without getting whacked in the head with a boot, Héctor settled for pulling Imelda down onto the couch with him as he attempted to calm her down. Imelda turned to look him in the eye.

"I don't want to see her, Héctor." Imelda's firm voice said. "Never."