Miguel trudges along with his family. He's carrying his shoeshine box and an armful of marigolds. He's still getting lectured, even though they're halfway home now.
"How many times have we told you?" Tío Berto says. "That place is crawling with mariachis!"
"Yes, Tío Berto."
Prima Rosa gives him a sympathetic look, but she doesn't jump to his defense. Miguel can't blame her. If she takes his side, she'll get in trouble, too.
Then Dante ambles up, sniffs the bags Miguel's relatives are carrying, and whines for treats.
"No, no, no, no, no," Miguel says to the hairless dog, because he knows what's going to happen next—and sure enough, it does.
"Go away, you! Go!" Abuelita says, throwing the chancla at Dante. It works. The frightened dog runs off.
"It's just Dante," Miguel explains.
"Never name a street dog," Abuelita warns. "It'll follow you forever.
Now, go get my shoe!"
Miguel stoops to pick it up. It's tricky since he's holding so many things, but he manages to grab the shoe and secure it under his arm. His family has finally stopped scolding him, but Miguel knows it won't last. Lectures usually aren't over until everyone has chimed in, and with a family as big as his, that's a lot of people.
Then he spots another talent show flyer, this one nailed to a post. His family is walking ahead, their backs to him. He can hear their voices talking about Día de los Muertos, and from the opposite direction, he can hear the faint sounds of music. He leans toward it. The music calls him. He feels torn between his devotion to family and his desire for music. There has to be a way to get the best of both worlds. What if he…yes! He pats the flyer in his pocket, making sure it's still there. He will enter the contest, but he'll keep it a secret. That way, he can be a musician and keep his family happy.
As soon as they get to the family compound, Abuelita marches them to the shoemaking shop. Everyone is busy at work, including his teenaged primo, Abel, who's guiding shoes through an automated polisher. Miguel knows the drill. He sets down his supplies, plops on a stool, and braces himself for more lecturing.
Abuelita grabs two wooden shoe stretchers, using them as clappers to get everyone's attention. "I found your son in Mariachi Plaza!" she tells Miguel's parents.
"Miguel…" Papá says, disappointed, and Mamá says, "You know how Abuelita feels about the plaza."
"I was just shining shoes!"
"A musician's shoes!" Tío Berto reveals.
Everyone gasps, including Abel, causing his shoe to zip away from the polisher and fly up to the roof. A few seconds later, it falls and bops him on the head.
"But the plaza's where all the foot traffic is," Miguel explains.
"If Abuelita says no more plaza," Papá says, "then no more plaza." "But what about tonight?" Miguel asks.
"What's tonight?" Papá Franco wants to know.
Miguel hesitates before speaking, but he can't help spilling his secret. "It's Día de los Muertos. The whole town's gonna be there and…well…they're having this talent show."
Abuelita narrows her eyes and crosses her arms. "Talent show?" Miguel gulps and squirms in his seat. "And I thought I might…" "Sign up?" Mamá guesses.
"Well, maybe?"
Prima Rosa laughs. "You have to have talent to be in a talent show." "Yeah," Abel adds. "What are you going to do, shine shoes?"
Miguel hates it when his primos tease him. Why can't they take his side once in a while?
"I do have a talent," Miguel insists, "but…it's…" He spots the quizzical expressions on his parents' faces. "Well, it's…it's a surprise."
"Absolutely not!" Abuelita says. "It's Día de los Muertos, and no one's going anywhere. Tonight is about family." She grabs the marigolds that
Miguel set down and the ones Rosa had carried, and she gives them to him. There are so many petals that Miguel nearly inhales a few and has to spit them out. "Ofrenda room," Abuelita orders. "¡Vámonos!"
Miguel follows Abuelita to the ofrenda room, and when they enter, they see that Mamá Coco is already there. Miguel smiles at her, but before he can say hello, Abuelita orders him to hold the flowers while she arranges them on the altar. He wishes he could be alone with Mamá Coco and tell her about the talent show. She would understand, unlike… He glances at his grandmother.
"Don't give me that look," Abuelita says. "It's the one night of the year our ancestors can come visit us." She takes a moment to adjust the flower arrangement. "We've put their photos on the ofrenda so their spirits can
cross over. We made all this food, and set out the things they loved in life, m'ijo."
Every year, Abuelita stresses this important tradition. Only the spirits with pictures on an ofrenda can enjoy the offerings left in the home and at the gravesites. The pictures are like boarding passes, and without them, the spirits remain stuck on the other side.
While she's preoccupied with the flowers, Miguel takes a few steps toward the door. He needs to practice. The talent show is only a few hours away.
"All this work to bring the family together," Abuelita says, "so I don't want you sneaking off to who-knows-where."
She reaches for a flower, but Miguel's not there. He's halfway to the door.
"Where are you going?" she demands. "I thought we were done."
"Ay, Dios mío," she sighs, exasperated. "Being part of this family means being here for this family. I don't want to see you end up like—" She glances at the photo of young Mamá Coco, her mother, Imelda, and the faceless musician.
"Like Mamá Coco's papá?"
"Never mention that man!" Abuelita says. "He's better off forgotten." "But you're the one who—"
"Ta, ta, ta-tch!" Abuelita will not let him speak.
Miguel's about to push the issue, but then they hear Mamá Coco's gravelly voice. "Papá? Papá is home?"
Abuelita rushes to her. "Mamá, cálmese, cálmese." "Papá is coming home?" Mamá Coco asks again. "No, Mamá. But it's okay. I'm here."
With Abuelita preoccupied, Miguel sneaks away. He doesn't hear Mamá Coco ask his abuelita, "Who are you?" He doesn't see the sadness on his grandmother's face as she tells Mamá Coco to rest while she gently pats the old lady's hands. He doesn't hear Abuelita try to tell him, "I'm hard on you because I care," and he also fails to hear her sigh when she realizes that he's gone.
Miguel can only shake his head as he passes Tío Berto and his papá unloading rolls of leather from a truck. The sun is bright, so he must squint as he makes his way through the family compound. When he reaches a giant cypress tree, he looks around to make sure no one's watching. Then he climbs the tree onto the roof, carefully scuttles across the tiles, lifts a sign advertising the family business, and slips into the space behind it. This is Miguel's secret attic hideout, the one place where he can get away from his family's expectations and just be himself.
In a corner are several pairs of shoes that someone discarded years ago.
Miguel ignores them and focuses on an ofrenda he built to honor the memory of Ernesto de la Cruz. He lights a few candles to illuminate the posters, songbooks, and albums that he has carefully arranged. But the candles reveal something else, too—a guitar! It's not as fancy as the guitar that de la Cruz holds on his album covers or even as fancy as the guitar he held earlier in the plaza, but it's just as special, because Miguel has crafted this instrument himself. He cobbled it from scraps he found in Mariachi Plaza and around the shoemaking shop—a beat-up soundboard, old strings, a bridge made from a comb, and tuning pegs made from bent nails. The instrument is held together with duct tape, leather scraps, and lots of love. Studying one of Ernesto de la Cruz's album covers, Miguel takes a marker and traces the one-of-a kind skull designs from the famous musician's guitar. Miguel's version is slightly off-center and a bit crude, but he decides it's good enough.
He's about to tune the guitar when he hears footsteps pattering on the roof and the sign moving. Someone has discovered his hideout in the attic! Miguel gasps, but before he can blow out the candles, Dante peeks in.
"Oh, it's you," Miguel says, relieved. "Get in here. C'mon, Dante.
Hurry up."
The dog wriggles in and sniffs the entire periphery of the room,
spending an unusually long time on the shoes in the corner. Then he plops in front of Miguel, an attentive audience.
"I just…I just wish I could get someone to listen," Miguel says as he tunes the guitar. "Other than you," he tells Dante, who replies by sloppily licking Miguel's face. Miguel gives a grossed-out chuckle and turns his
attention back to the guitar, strumming a chord that vibrates off the walls. "¡Perfecto!"
He studies the album cover. Ernesto de la Cruz poses confidently with his beaming white smile, and Miguel imitates him. He's a little awkward, but pretending to be de la Cruz for a moment makes him feel better.
Then he picks up a videotape with Best of de la Cruz scrawled on the label. He turns on an old TV set and pushes the tape into a VCR. Like the guitar, Miguel made the tape himself, a montage of his favorite scenes from de la Cruz's movies and interviews.
The first scenes come from a movie called A quien yo amo. Miguel
strums to provide some musical accompaniment as de la Cruz imparts his wisdom.
"I have to sing," de la Cruz says. "I have to play. The music, it's not just in me. It is me."
Miguel nods. This is exactly how he feels, too.
"When life gets me down," de la Cruz continues, "I play my guitar. The rest of the world may follow the rules, but I must follow my heart!" De la Cruz passionately kisses a woman, and Miguel cringes.
Then there's another clip from the film. In this one de la Cruz holds a guitar. "You know that feeling? Like there's a song in the air and it's playing just for you?" Ernesto de la Cruz pauses and begins to strum the guitar. Miguel mimics the hand positions so he can follow along as his idol begins to sing about never knowing he could want something so much.
After a few verses, the song ends, and the videotape switches to another movie called Nuestra iglesia. In this scene, de la Cruz plays a good-natured priest speaking to a nun.
"You must have faith, Sister!"
"Oh, but Padre, he will never listen."
"He will listen to music!" Now de la Cruz bursts into song. He sings
about music, how it has the power to change minds and hearts. He goes on, and since Miguel knows all the words, he follows along. When the song ends, de la Cruz tells the nun, "Never underestimate the power of music." The tape switches again, this time to a romantic scene with de la Cruz professing his love to a woman named Lola. She says, "But my father, he will never give his permission." And de la Cruz replies, "I am done asking permission. When you see your moment, you mustn't let it pass you by. You must seize it!"
Immediately after these famous lines is a clip of an interview. "Señor de la Cruz, what did it take for you to seize your moment?"
De la Cruz does not hesitate to answer. "I had to have faith in my dream. No one was going to hand it to me. It was up to me to reach for that dream, grab it tight, and make it come true."
"And make it come true," Miguel repeats.
The tape ends, but Miguel can still hear the words repeating in his mind. If he wants to be a musician, he'll have to make it happen. When he sees an opportunity, he must seize it, just like Ernesto de la Cruz.
He reaches into his pocket to pull out the talent show flyer. "No more hiding, Dante. I gotta seize my moment!"
Dante wags his tail and pants happily.
"I'm going to play in Mariachi Plaza if it kills me!"