El Viaje de Coquita
El Capítulo Diez
Hector led Coco down the steps leading to Shantytown. The newly dead woman was reminded of just how long she had been alive for by the unstable wooden walkway leading down the rocky cliffs below the city streets.
"How much longer, Papá?"
"We're almost there!"
Héctor hopped off the scaffold and dropped down onto the cobblestone path below. His bones scattered around the impact point before coming back together again.
"¡Híjole! Do you always do that when you come here?" Coco opted to climb down the ladders.
Héctor chuckled nervously. "Sí, I probably shouldn't scare you like that."
They entered the stone archway and were greeted by cries of "Primo Héctor!"
He returned all the greetings as his daughter looked around confused. "Are these people your family?"
"Not by blood. We're all the ones with no fotos, no ofrendas, no family to go home to. We just call each other primos or tíos or things like that."
"And you live here because Mamá still won't let you be part of the family?"
"And because I didn't have a foto on an ofrenda until last year."
"Where was your ofrenda, Papá?"
"In the attic behind the shoe sign. Your great-grandson made it."
"Oh, Miguel?"
"Sí. So, who all is in the family?"
"Bueno, you know Mamá and Óscar and Felipe."
"Sí."
"There's also my husband Julio, his sister Rosita, and our daughter Victoria."
"I got the chance to meet them last Día de Muertos."
"On the living side is my younger daughter Elena, her husband Franco, and their children Berto, Gloria, and Enrique. Berto is married to Carmen, and their children are Abel, Rosa, Manny, and Benny. Enrique is married to Luisa, and their children are Miguel and Socorro."
"And Miguel was the only one you trusted to keep my memory alive?"
"I wanted someone in the family to love music as much as you did, Papá. And Miguel was the only one I was able to sculpt into someone like you."
"You have no idea how happy I am that you were able to keep my memory alive, mija."
As they entered the hut with Héctor's name on it, one of the skeletons suddenly convulsed with flashes of yellow and orange.
Héctor ran over to him. "Arturo!"
He panted as he collapsed on the dock. "It's my time..."
Héctor turned to Coco. "Go get my guitar. It should be next to the hammock. Apúrate."
Coco was confused, but she complied with her father's order.
By the time she returned, the other skeletons were gathered around Arturo.
Coco handed her father the guitar, which she noticed was built in the same way as the one she had seen Miguel playing before she died.
Héctor quickly tuned the guitar with a pair of pliers before playing a gentle tune.
By the time the song finished, Arturo's bones gained a steady glow before crumbling to dust and vanishing in the wind.
Héctor stood up and put his hat on his chest.
Coco looked at where Arturo had been. "Wait - - what happened?"
"He's been forgotten." Héctor returned his hat to his head. "When there's no one in the living world who remembers you, you disappear from this world. We call it the Final Death."
She picked up the overalls draped over the planks. "Where did he go?"
Héctor shrugged. "No one knows."
"Is there any way we can stop it?"
"Not once your dead, mija. Our memories... they have to be passed down by the ones that knew us when we were alive. In the stories they tell about us. But there's no one left alive to pass down Arturo's stories."
Coco gasped. "So, if I hadn't trusted Miguel with your letters and told him what I knew about you,..."
Héctor nodded. "I would've disappeared as soon as you had crossed over to the Land of the Dead."
To say there was dead silence in Shantytown would've been both ironic and a huge understatement.
It was only broken when Héctor shook himself loose. "Hey, the important thing is that there's still someone in the Land of the Living who knows my stories. I'm still safe for the time being. Now, let's get you settled in, shall we?"
The rest of the dead Riveras did eventually learn of Coco's death. Specifically, the following Día de Muertos. They saw the new foto on the ofrenda, and saw her come to the hacienda to join them for the festivities while Héctor snuck up to his own ofrenda in the attic.
Imelda was unable to persuade him to stay clear of the Rivera compound, mostly because of Coco's adamant refusal to leave him. The rest of the family wanted Coco to stay with them at their home, including Imelda, but matters were complicated by Héctor, whom Imelda didn't want to see.
Everyone was against Coco having to choose between her parents, and Héctor didn't seem too enthused about being a literal skeleton in his daughter's closet. The family did ask Imelda why she tried to cover up leaving Coco at the train station, but she insisted that Coco wouldn't join them without leaving Héctor behind as she wanted her daughter to do.
After several hours of discussions, they were able to reach an agreement.
Coco would be allowed to be with her papá on Domingos when the zapatería was closed, and Imelda would stay inside the ofrenda room for the first two hours of the night each Día de Muertos so that Héctor could reach the ofrenda in the attic without them crossing paths. During those nights, Héctor would only be allowed to talk to Coco, and Coco would be allowed to see whoever she wanted. The rest of the family was satisfied with the bargain as well.
And apart from secretly making her papá a pair of shoes as a Navidad gift, the next few years went by without incident for Coco. Although she really did want the full story of what had stopped Héctor from returning home all those years ago, and there seemed to be parts that even her papá didn't know.