Chapter 6
The minute Diego walked into the tavern, he knew something was up. There were fewer people than usual at this time of day, and Victoria was talking to don Pedro in what appeared to be an urgent manner.
He joined them, and as soon as Victoria caught sight of him, a torrent of words came out of her mouth.
"Don Diego, have you heard? It's terrible. Little Dimitri Lopez has run away from home. His parents are desperate and have no idea where he could be."
"Oh dear, what has happened? Have people started searching? Is the alcalde informed?" Diego uttered worriedly.
Dimitri Lopez was a kind, bit mischievous kid about six years old, which Diego liked. He was interested in the many things around him and was never too shy to lend a hand to anyone.
"The alcalde." Grunted Victoria while thinking Diego was so naive. "Do you seriously think he sends his men out to look for a child? Of course not. According to our esteemed alcalde, that boy will return feeling sorrow soon enough. As if there aren't bandits, coyotes and..., Who knows what could happen to him!" Victoria looked at Diego with concern. "He's just a kid."
Don Pedro had also listened and said, "I need to stop by the blacksmith. On my way home, I'll keep my eyes open. And I will ask some of my men to help with the search."
Victoria gave don Pedro a warm smile. "Thank you, don Pedro. More people are searching. I hope he is safe and will get found soon. It gets cold at night."
Diego was also worried about the boy. Many dangers lurked in the area. "I am going to inform my father immediately. He may want to order some vaqueros to go search as well. Victoria, tell others we will search in a south direction."
Don Pedro nodded, approving. "Good idea, don Diego. Since my hacienda is in the north, I will order my men to search in the north."
Diego gave don Pedro a nod that he agreed to this proposal. After he said goodbye, he hurried back to the hacienda, on his way, scanning the surroundings for traces of the boy.
Once at the hacienda, he informed Felipe and asked him to warn his father and tell him to tell the vaqueros to search the south to the southeast. Zorro planned to search east.
Why there? Felipe gestured.
As Diego was dressing up in his alter ego's costume, he said to Felipe.
"It's a child. It walks nicer with the sun at your back than with your face towarrds the sun. So I suspect that he went that way. The Lopez family farm is also in the right direction from here for that." Zorro mounted Toronado, and not a moment later, the secret door opened leading into the cave in the mountain behind the hacienda.
It had not rained for weeks, and hardly any tracks were visible on the rough and dry terrain. On good luck and trusting his instincts, Zorro rode in what he hoped was the right direction, or else one of the other men currently out searching might be lucky enough to find the boy.
The sun was burning high in the sky, and it was not long before Zorro began to feel thirsty. He knew of a small creek nearby that snaked through the landscape and decided to get a drink there.
Toronado also welcomed a sip of the refreshing water.
The idea came to his mind that the boy must have got thirsty too. After all, he was on foot. This thought made Zorro decide to follow the creek further downstream.
Less than four miles after he started doing this, a small figure came into his sight in the distance.
Zorro let Toronado quicken his stride a little and stopped beside the boy.
"So far from home and alone." He asked the boy while feeling relief someone had found him before something bad happened.
The boy had heard Zorro approaching and had stopped walking.
"Señor Zorro, I'm on my way to San Bernardino." Hiccuped Dimitri in an unsteady voice, his face covered in muddy smudges. And he looked like he might burst into tears at any moment. At the sight of the red eyes, he had already cried.
"San Bernardino?" Zorro pondered. "Then you have a long road ahead of you."
"Si, my sister Consuela works there taking care of a rich family. I'm going to live with her." Dimitri shrugged his nose and wiped a hand over his eye.
"Wouldn't you rather live with your parents?" Zorro asked him.
As soon as Zorro had said this, Dimitri's tears again sprang to his eyes. "That is impossible." He cried frantically, still trying to hold back his tears.
Zorro got off his horse and crouched next to the intensely sad boy. To comfort and reassure Dimitri, Zorro placed a hand on the shoulder of the boy. He was trembling with grief.
"Why not? You are Dimitri Lopez, aren't you? I heard you ran away."
Gasping, the boy said. "Is that what pa told you? I didn't run away. Grown-ups always lie."
"Then why are you on your way to San Bernardino?"
With a red face and thick tears slowly running down his cheeks, Dimitri said. "Pa said, get out of my house and you go find another father and mother. You don't live here anymore."
"Did the two of you fight?"
Thick tears rolled dripped off his chin onto the sandy surface. Dimitri nodded, picked his nose, wiped his cheeks dry with the sleeve of a soiled shirt, and whispered benevolently. "Si, señor Zorro." After which, a new flood of tears began to flow.
Zorro uttered. "Is that why you ran away from home?"
"I didn't run away. I got sent away, and pa told me never to come home again. Not ever again."
Zorro smiled reassuringly. "Adults often say things they don't mean. I'm sure your mother is worried about where you are. And your father is looking for you."
Dimitri looked at Zorro. "Grown-ups, first, they promise you something. And then, when the time comes, they forget what they promised. And then they say, I am cheeky and have a big mouth or lie…, And then they get angry, and you get beaten. But I won't do it, not ever. And I said so, too."
This reaction surprised Zorro. He knew the Lopez family a bit. And he couldn't imagine that there was anything his parents could ask that the little boy was so determined not to want to do. "Do you want to tell me what you don't want to do?" He asked, therefore.
"I'm not going to pray for broad beans! I won't. Not now and not ever. And my father says that I should because God provides our food. But even then, I won't do it. And she promised." Dimitri said indignantly.
"Who promised what?" Zorro wanted to know.
"My mother. She had promised to heat some leftover cabbage for me. There wasn't much left over from yesterday. But exactly enough for me. So, I asked her. Ma, will you please warm up the leftover cabbage for me? You see, then I wouldn't have to eat broad beans. And ma said that's fine, Dimitri. You know I can't say no to you anyway.
Well, then she promised I could have it, didn't she? And this afternoon at lunch, she hadn't warmed up the leftover. So I asked her, ma, where is my cabbage? And then she said I shouldn't be so big-mouthed and that she didn't have time to cook for everyone separately." Dimitri momentarily paused before confiding in Zorro.
"And that's true, you know. Ma is always busy with the goats, doing chores, laundry, and caring for the little ones. I help her. But I am not as big as Juan or Maria, so I can only do little things. Like picking beans, feed the chickens and doing the dishes. But if she didn't want to warm up my leftover, she shouldn't have promised, and she did."
Zorro nodded understandingly and tried hard not to laugh.
Dimitri continued his fiery argument.
"Padre Benitez said so in church last Sunday that you must not lie. I heard it. Ma was there too, and she nodded that she agreed with the padre. But today, she lied to me. And when I said she had promised to warm up the leftover cabbage for me, she said she had said no such thing. She said I was lying. But I wasn't, honestly, señor Zorro. Ma had promised me. And do you know what my dad did then?
He scooped my whole plate full of broad beans and said if I didn't finish my plate or I would get a beating. And mum told me to stop whining and eat. Even though she knows I don't eat those things. And then we started praying. But no way, I'm going to pray for those dirty beans. Never will I do that. They look like droppings and taste like grass and mud. Father noticed I wasn't praying and said I had to pray. That's what God wants. God wants you to pray before your food. When God wanted me to pray for my food, he would have helped my ma remember to heat the cabbage.
I am not going to pray for broad beans.
Praying for cabbage, I don't mind. Cabbage, I like it. And for potatoes, corn, or stew, that's not bad either. And if ma bakes cornbread, and we eat it with some butter, then I want to pray ten times to thank God. But I won't go pray for those filthy beans. I just can't do it. I would be lying to God, and that is worse than lying to your ma and pa."
Zorro could no longer suppress a grin. Dimitri was very fierce in his words and had probably had to wolf down the broad beans he despised more times than he wanted to remember. And if his story was true, then he certainly had a point. Zorro could also understand the mother's reaction. Señora Lopez had eight or nine children. And like so many families, this one must also have struggles to get a meal on the table each day. The woman just had to have forgotten what she had promised one of her sons.
"God should never have sent pa those filthy things. Then pa wouldn't have been able to plant them." Dimitri added from the bottom of his heart.
Zorro said. "Good, so your mother forgot she made you a promise. What are you going to do now? San Bernardino is at least a two-day walk. And by the looks of it, you have brought nothing with you. Where do you plan to sleep tonight?"
Dimitri's eyes grew big with surprise at hearing the distance. "Two days' walk!? That far?"
"Sure. For me, it's already two days of walking. For you, since your legs are shorter than mine, it might take three days."
"That's a long way." The boy pondered, worried.
"Do you know where your sister works?"
For the first time, a smile appeared on the boy's face. He had thought it through. "Yes, in a big house with green shutters. She wrote to us about that. Consuela can read and write, you know."
He added proudly. "Our neighbour can also read. When I turn seven, I am going to school to learn. I also want to learn maths. Señor Zorro, can you read?" Dimitri wanted to know.
"Yes, my mother taught me." Zorro stroked his moustache with a finger thoughtfully. "Say, Dimitri, I've been to San Bernardino once. There are quite a few houses with green shutters there. Do you know the names of the people your sister works for?"
"No, that was too hard to remember." Dimitri thought for a moment. "Can't I come and live with you? I can take care of your horse and polish your sword. I know how to take care of chickens."
"Don't you think it would be better to return to your parents? I think, they didn't mean what they said and worry about you."
"Maybe." Admitted the boy reluctantly. "Ma was once very angry with Helena. She had pulled a clean sheet from the washing line and got covered in mud. Ma then said she had to go to bed without food as punishment. But I know later ma gave Helena a piece of bread and an apple."
"Well, then, what do you think? Shall Toronado and I give you a ride home?"
Dimitri's mouth fell open in surprise. "Can I sit on Toronado?"
"Well, you should ask him. But I think he will allow it. Unless you prefer to walk." Zorro added as if he thought that was a serious option.
Dimitri shook his head but seemed unconvinced that he would get welcomed back home because he asked Zorro. "And what if my pa was serious, and I can't get home and should find a new mum and dad? Can I then come and live with you?"
Zorro didn't like making promises he couldn't keep. However, he dared to take on this one and said. "What do you think of this idea? If your parents say you can no longer live with them, you can sleep with me tonight. And tomorrow, I will personally take you to San Bernardino to help you find your sister."
These words were enough to convince Dimitri to return to Los Angeles.
After quenching their thirst again at the creek and letting Dimitri wash his face, Zorro mounted Toronado and had the boy sit in the saddle before him.
On the way, the boy told Zorro about his brothers and sisters. He said the youngest was now six months old and, every day, ate a bowl of porridge. About the cat who gave birth to four cubs in the attic. And how the goat once had run off with the carpet beater on her horns when his mother wanted to beat the animal. The goat had escaped from the chain it was tied to and was eating lettuce instead of weeds. They soon found the goat. The carpet beater had disappeared without a trace.
The boy talked about one event after another. After more than half an hour's ride, the small farm of the Lopez family came into view. The second Dimitri noticed this, he stopped talking, paled, and had a frightened look come into his eyes.
Zorro squeezed Dimitri's shoulder reassuringly and whispered. "It will be fine."
Soon, the front door flew open, and a woman came running towards them. "Dimitri! Oh, Señor Zorro. You found my son. I was so worried. Thank you, señor."
Dimitri jumped off Toronado. His mother embraced him and hugged the boy tightly. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Where were you, boy? I was so worried."
Dimitri mumbled timidly. "Pa said I wasn't allowed to live at home."
"Oh boy." Señora Lopez uttered. "Your father didn't mean that. You say thank you very much to señor Zorro for finding you and bringing you back home. Come inside quickly, and I will make you a sandwich. Are you hungry? Running off with nothing to eat. Thank you, señor Zorro, for returning my son."
Señora Lopez continued mothering over her son while thanking Zorro for his efforts. She asked if he might want to come in for some refreshments.
Zorro politely thanked the woman for her offer and told her he needed to get on his way. After giving a friendly tap to the brim of his hat, he turned Toronado and rode back to the cave.
Later, at the dinner table, Diego laughed at the meal Maria had carefully prepared. The table had a variety of vegetables, including a large bowl of…, broad beans.
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This chapter got inspired by an episode from the Dutch TV series 'Bartje', set in the Dutch countryside in the early half of the 20th century. Bartje was the main character, and he is still famous for never, literally NEVER, praying for food that he really despised. In his case it were brown beans. I couldn't find a good translation as I believe kidney beans (to me red beans) are different from brown beans, at least it is where I live. So I turned them into broad beans instead.
Parents can say painful words to children and forget that they have said or promised something that is meaningful to a child. Even if it is unimportant to the adults, like what there is to eat.
And we all have something we don't like and used to be obliged to eat when we were young. For me, by the way, that's Dutch pea soup. I still refuse to eat it.
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