~ Living Room.
Héctor, and Mamá Imelda missed yesterday dinner, and then came back with the mas raro announcement... Héctor will have his biographical film directed by the Grinding Nemo's director.
"Honestly I'm surprised that Mamá Imelda agreed with this." Said Elena.
"Same." Mamá Coco agreed, "Guess I gotta go back to my 3 years old form too, aren't I?".
"Yes!" Héctor replied excitedly, "I wish you both could see Diego's face when Imelda corrected him after he told us that the company planned to make the film into one of those forbidden love, telenovela tragedia, and add what they called 'steaming sex scene'.".
Both women choked on their coffee.
"No offense, Papá. Your death IS a tragedy, but I'm ok with not having the world see you, and Mamá do THAT on screen." Coco chuckled.
"And your Mamá, and I have quite a normal childhood, mija, not like 'Los amantes de Teruel', and I want it to be child-friendly, so the kids could watch it." Héctor added, "It might turn PG13, because of my death scene."
Is he loco!? Elena thought?
"They're gonna hire Devil Cruz to be in this too!?" Mamá Coco snapped, "No offense, Papá, but are you sure that being in the same movie with your murderer is a good idea?".
"They'll use Ernesto's impersonator for the film, mija." Héctor reassured.
"Phew!" Mamá Coco sighed, "Almost thought I have to use those steel heels again.".
"Same, Mamá. I'd like to hit that culo face with my chancla too.".
Both women laughed as they insulted De La Cruz with every joke they could come up with. Héctor smiled awkwardly forcefully as he remained silent.
"Welp! let's not talk about that man." Héctor said weirdly cheery, "Because you knew who would play young me!".
"Miguel es un buen performer." Elena replied, "But are you sure he's fit to play you?".
Elena gestured her cheeks. Miguel luckily had the mole on the same location with Héctor, but his face was way rounder than Héctor.
"I used to have baby fat, Elena, but they might use some makeup to enhance his cheekbone though.".
"What about his height?" Mamá Coco asked.
"Believe it or not, niñas, I used to be shorter than Imelda." Héctor chuckled, "And then after I turned 16." He gestured to his long legs, "esto pasó.".
Filming Héctor's childhood was nothing like what I imagined. I thought De la Cruz would be more toxic than brotherly, Miguel thought as he looked at the monitor that was showing what he played.
~ Santa Cecilia, 1910 ~
Héctor, and Ernesto sneak out of the bedroom, and climb up into the church's attic. The boys peep down at a música playing the guitar with only one candle placing in front of her.
"It's magic." Héctor smiled as he listened to the sad guitar.
"It is." Ernesto agreed.
He looked at the musician below them, and then at Héctor.
"Hey! Since music is what binds us together, why don't we make a juramento?" Said Ernesto, "To learn how to play music, so we could finally have a family of our own?"
"Sure!" Héctor held out his pinky.
"The world will be our familia!".
The boys made pinky swear, and together they watched the música playing her guitar until Ernesto finally yawned.
"I'm gonna go back now, buenas noches.".
"Buenas noches, hermano." Héctor replied before Ernesto left.
Héctor kept listening until the music finally stopped. He tried to climb down from the attic, but slipped, and fell onto a stranger.
"I'm so sorry Sister Socorro, I'll go back to bed, I swear.".
"Está bien." a girl's voice answered him.
He helped her up, and looked at the girl he fell onto. He can't see much through the dark, but he could tell she was his age, and he was familiar with that black hair, and nightgown.
"You are that música! The one who played the guitar every night, right!?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah, it's La Llorona." she replied nervously, "Can you promise me you won't tell Sister Socorro?".
"Sure! If you promise me you'll teach me to play guitar!" Héctor held out his left hand, "I'm Héctor, by the way.".
The girl looked at his hand, and then at his goofy face.
"Fine." she sighed, and they shook hands, "Imelda Rivera.".
"This is beautiful, Guillermo!" Héctor sobbed as he looked at the monitor, "You're amazing, mijo."
Miguel chuckled shyly.
"You did good too." Imelda said to the girl that played her role, "And you, you've just made the villain likable.".
"Gracias, señora." the boy that played young Ernesto replied.
The kids filmed a few more scenes of the important events in Héctor's childhood year, and toasted their Pepsi at the result. They have brought my childhood to life! Héctor thought, well, I've already lived my childhood, but seeing it again is a miracle! Every moment is magic! Learning how to play guitar, getting to know Imelda, meeting the twins, and finally teaching Ernesto how to play guitar.
"So tomorrow will finally be us, right?" Imelda asked Guillermo.
"Si, 18 - 21." the chubby man replied.
"Who's gonna play Ernesto?" Héctor asked.
Guillermo looked down on his paper.
"Soyel... Mejor." the man appeared right after the director tried to pronounce his name.
Héctor's blood ran cold right after he saw the man's face. It couldn't be! Héctor thought as the memories of that fateful night flood back to him.
The desperate face that looked at him after he said he was leaving, the façade behind a reassuring smile that said 'I will take everything away from you.'.
"Hola." the squeaky tiny voice of Soyel snapped Héctor out of his memories, "I'm Soyel Mejor.".
Soyel held out his hand, and Héctor quickly shook it.
"It's nice to meet you." I need to stop paranoico, Héctor thought.
"The honor is mine, señor Rivera." the man replied with his high squeaky voice.
A little tribute to my most fav film eh?
In the city called Teruel, there were two wealthy families, Diego was from the house of Marcilla and Isabel, Segura. Diego's family went broke around the time they wanna marry, so Isabel's father forbade the marriage. Diego bargained with Isabel's father, promised him that he'll be rich again within five years, so he could marry Isabel. Diego tried to return by the end of the 5th year, but it was too late, Isabel's father married her to Don Pedro de Azagra from Albarracín. Diego sneaked into Isabel and her husband's house and begged her to kiss him, saying that he was dying. She refused, and he died right in front of her. Isabel woke her husband, and agreed on burying him in secret, because the husband feared that he would be blamed for Diego's death. During the funeral, Isabel showed up in a wedding dress, and kissed Diego before she died next to him. Their bodies were later exhumed, and placed into the new tombs in San Peter's Church (Teruel, Aragón, Spain).
Vocab
Culo = Ass
Es Un Buen = Is A Good
Niñas = Girls
Esto Pasó = This Happened
Música = Musician
Juramento = Oath
Buenas Noches = Goodnight