Chapter 9
December 21. Los Angeles, the tavern.
Victoria had risen earlier than usual. Today was the last market day before Christmas, and it promised to be a busy day. Everyone in the territory would come to Los Angeles to do their shopping before the holidays.
She had asked Alicia to bring her younger sister to come and help today. The girl was only twelve years old. But she was old enough to clear tables and wash dishes.
Victoria stoked up the fire and put on a large kettle of water.
She planned to prepare a simple stew and albondigas soup. Both were the favourite dishes of her customers. Easy to keep warm and easy to serve in large quantities in a short period.
Looking forward to the upcoming celebrations, Victoria replenished her wine and liquor stock yesterday.
Victoria glanced at her clock. It was nothing for Pilar to be late. Victoria tied an apron around her waist and started grinding coffee.
By opening time, the back door flew open, and Pilar came walking in, sweaty, carrying a small milk canister in her hand.
"Buenos días Victoria. Mi excusi, I'm so late." Pilar set the milk can on the work table and took off her scarf.
"My mother has been called away to assist Doctor Hernandez. Juan Lopez came to fetch her just as I was planning to leave. I had to finish milking the cows and cook porridge for my father."
Victoria mused. "It doesn't matter. You're here now. So does that mean señora Lopez's labour has started?" Victoria asked, curious.
"Yes, the doctor had already said the baby might be born before Christmas," Pilar uttered as she put on her apron. She looked around to see what remained to get done.
"Shall I start by cleaning vegetables?" She asked Victoria.
"Si, that's fine. I hope everything goes well for señora Lopez and her baby." Victoria mused. She loved children, and sometimes, when alone at night, Victoria dreamt of having her own family.
"Oh, sure it will. Doctor Hernandez is a capable doctor. And my mother has done her share in helping deliver babies. Besides, it's not señora Lopez's first child."
Chatting, the women worked on.
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The next few hours passed quickly. Victoria slipped out before the rush began to make the necessary purchases at the market. Helpers ran back and forth to take all the orders and serve them out. And in the kitchen, Victoria could barely keep up with the hustle and bustle.
Victoria enjoyed days like this. She loved being busy in her tavern. It was a sign that business was good. From the room, the murmur of voices jumbled together. So you couldn't understand anything that got said. Gita, Alicia's sister, did a splendid job of keeping up with the dishes. Those kept piling up. And by the time it was almost siesta, the pan of albondigas soup was empty, and the bottom of the pan with stew also came into sight.
Suddenly, the murmurs in the dining room quieted down and sounded unanimous. "Zorro, Zorro."
Was Zorro in the tavern? That usually meant something was going on.
Victoria walked quickly to the curtain while checking that her hair was still somewhat in shape.
She pulled open the curtain and was just in time to see Zorro fly through the air, grab the chandelier and land elegantly on the ground next to two men with drawn swords.
The men launched an attack, and Zorro parried it.
He fought two men at once. After a quick manoeuvre, a sword flew through the air. The younger of the two men turned to pick up his sword. Zorro grabbed an almost full bottle of red wine from the table and smashed it on the man's head.
The man sank to the ground, unconscious. The other man tried to attack Zorro in the back.
Zorro was too quick for him, which did not surprise Victoria even a bit.
Never had there come a man to Los Angeles able to handle Zorro. Not alcalde Ramon or alcalde de Soto. Colonel Palomarez, feared by many, had tried and lost, as had many other dignitaries and dangerous criminals. Even that lieutenant and Gilberto Risendo had not been worthy opponents for Zorro. Many thought they could win. And all of them eventually got outsmarted by the fox.
Her hero was now fighting a criminal who held out for quite a long time. The fight got more and more intense. Both men were standing on an empty table as one attack after another was parried by the other.
The people in the tavern sought refuge in the corners, gazing in admiration at Zorro. Zorro was enjoying himself.
He had a wide grin on his face. The sword fight continued. Each of the two men stood at a table. Zorro dodged every outburst. The man's face slowly began to turn red, realizing he was on the losing side.
The man who had been knocked unconscious by Zorro began to recover. Zorro somersaulted, landed three yards further on the ground, and cut a rope in half. The chandelier fell exactly on top of the two men.
Zorro approached Victoria. "Señorita Victoria, you are beautiful as ever."
That was hard to believe. Victoria had worked in a hot kitchen all morning. She was sweaty. Her clothes were covered in flour and creased. Victoria did not doubt she looked anything but beautiful.
The doors at the entrance of the tavern flew open. Standing in the doorway were two lancers.
"Zorro!" One of them shouted.
"Warn the others."
The other lancer turned and ran away.
The lancer who had stayed behind stood in the doorway with trembling knees and sword drew.
"Zorro, you are under arrest!" The lancer shouted bravely.
"Arrested? This close to Christmas? That's a shame."
Zorro made a greeting gesture to the two men under the chandelier. "Señores, it is time for me to go. It was an honour to fight with you. Perhaps till next time. I am quite looking forward to it."
Zorro disarmed the lancer and, carving a Z in his uniform jacket, slipped past the lancer through the door onto the patio.
He whistled. Immediately, Toronado came galloping up.
Across the plaza, the cartel doors flew open. De Soto was first on the plaza. He pointed in Zorro's direction and shouted. "Seize him, idiots. Shoot to kill!"
From the saddle, Zorro turned to de Soto.
"In the tavern, you will find two unconscious men. If you look among the wanted posters, you will see that they are cattle thieves. Consider it an early Christmas present from me."
Zorro tapped the brim of his hat.
The alcalde was foaming with rage. "After him, idiots! Shoot him!"
At random, the lancers followed the orders and fired their muskets. Fortunately, none of the bullets managed to hit any target.
Although..., one bullet hit a flowerpot.
Zorro was galloping towards the pueblo's entrance gate. Once there, he stopped his horse.
After a salute, soon nothing was visible but a cloud of dust that moved at lightning speed in an easterly direction.
Victoria was still processing everything she had just seen happen. She was about to let out a cry of relief that Zorro had once again managed to stay safely out of the alcalde's clutches when a screeching, hysterical scream reached her ears.
A crowd had gathered at the fountain. Curious, Victoria turned to see what was going on.
"My poor girl!" Cries a piercing voice. "She fainted because of that dangerous maniac! He nearly ran her over! IT'S AN OUTRAGE SUCH A CRIMINAL IS WALKING FREE! They should HANG him! How dare he hurt my girl!"
It was doña Francisca who shrieked these words. The crowd parted, and Victoria watched as don Carlos walked towards the tavern while carrying señorita Magdalena in his arms. Señorita Juanita walked beside them worriedly. Doña Francisca waved coolness to herself with a white handkerchief and started calling for her smelling salt.
Señorita Isabella saw Victoria standing on the veranda and hurried towards her.
"Señorita Victoria, could we use one of your rooms? As you can see, my sister has fainted."
"But of course. Up the stairs, and then to the second room on the right. That one is free, and the bedding is clean."
Doctor Hernandez was roused from his slumber to check on the young lady. He could do little more than advise señorita Magdalena to take it easy.
Doña Francisca had taken a seat on a chair, screaming how horrified she was at the sight of Zorro.
On how convinced she was that don Horatio must want to go after Zorro to kill the criminal. And how she was clueless about how to prevent her husband from stopping him to go after the dangerous outlaw. Doña Francisca vociferously expressed not wanting to stay in this diabolical pueblo for another second. She was going to demand to her husband that the whole family was to travel to Monterey today. The woman shrieked about how scared for the safety of her family she was. Repeatedly, doña Francisca said to prefer to return to Spain in this instance. Isabella tried to calm down and distract her mother, which was only partially successful. As soon as doña Francisca seemed to calm down, she remembered how scared she had been and complained how her nerves had to suffer at the sight of a black-masked criminal with a high price on his head.
Victoria's ears perked when the ladies had finally calmed down and recovered sufficiently to began the journey back to Rancho Sanchez.
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Victoria had just closed for the evening. The light was still on when she heard a noise behind her.
She was busy scrubbing the floor and was startled and searched around to see what caused the sound.
"Victoria, what are you doing?"
"Don Diego!" Surprised by the unexpected visit, she quickly scrabbled upright.
Diego reached out a hand to support her in getting up. "It is after closing time. Why are you scrubbing the floor at this late hour?"
Diego had been working for the Guardian. He was about to return to the hacienda when he noticed the lights in the tavern were still on.
"Zorro," Victoria answered the don's question as an explanation.
Not understanding what Zorro had to do with her scrubbing the floor at night, Diego stared at her questioningly.
"I had already heard that he was in the pueblo today and caused quite a commotion. But I don't understand. What does that have to do with you scrubbing the floor after ten?"
Victoria turned and started to put the chairs and stools back in place. "Zorro saw it fit to take out one of those thieves by smashing a bottle of wine on his head." Victoria shrugged her shoulders. "It was red wine."
Still, Diego did not see the connection. Fortunately, Victoria continued talking.
"Do you think he has any idea how difficult it is to get rid of that kind of stain? Not even to mention I had to give my client another bottle. And he cut the chandelier rope. Again! Now, I have to find someone willing to renew it. I think that is the fourth time in like two months." Victoria sighed.
"I never thought about that before," Diego uttered ashamedly.
"Why should you?" Reacted Victoria surprised. "It's not like you can do anything about it. I quite understand Zorro sometimes has no other choice. But take that bottle of wine today. I mean, was it really necessary to take an almost full one? Last month, Zorro smashed half my inventory to pieces." Victoria noticed that don Diego seemed upset by her tirade. She, therefore, adjusted the mild exaggeration. "Well, not half the inventory. But I had to buy two new tables and eight chairs. It all adds up you know."
"I'm sure Zorro tried to limit the damage." Diego stuttered, feeling ashamed. As don Diego, he always gives her generous tips. It made sense Victoria didn't consider the reason he did that was to compensate her costs by the damage Zorro did to her tavern.
"He doesn't show much regret. You know, sometimes I believe Zorro thinks I have nothing better to do than sit around. Anxiously waiting for him to stop by. Spending my hard-earned money on ordering new furniture, asking my helpers to clean up after the mess he made, and scrubbing floors after hours."
Diego heard the frustration rise in her voice. "Is there...," He scraped his voice. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No, never mind." Victoria swept a lock of hair out of her face. Diego observed that she appeared tired. "I'm just overreacting. Zorro got away safely. And in the end, that is all that matters." Victoria waved his worries away. "Besides, I am almost finished. Unless..., usually, I ask Demetrio Garcia. But he is visiting his sister and her family in Santa Paula for the holidays. Do you have time to reattach a new rope to the chandelier? You can do it tomorrow if you want. In the storage, I keep some new ones. You know, just in case."
"It's the first thing I'll do tomorrow," Diego promised. He felt guilty. Victoria had a point in accusing Zorro of destroying her furniture and parts of the tavern. It was the reason Diego gave high tips. Till this moment, he never had considered the extra work he gave Victoria by throwing bottles and plates around.
Diego took the bucket off the floor to throw the water away.
Victoria leads him into the kitchen, holding the curtain aside.
"Why have you come here anyway?" She wanted to know.
"I saw the lights were still on. I wanted to ask you what happened this afternoon with Zorro. It seems to me the rumours I've heard are rather exaggerated. Fainted women? Zorro overpowering over a dozen lancers and even more bandits?" Diego summed. "And," he gave her a hopeful glare. "I was hoping you have some leftovers."
Victoria gave him a pitiful smile. "Haven't you eaten yet?"
Diego shook his head. "I forgot the time. It's almost Christmas. I wanted to finish the next edition of the Guardian on time."
"I'm sorry. It was a such busy day, I'm afraid there's nothing left except some bread. I can fry some eggs to go with it if you like?"
"That will most certainly do."
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