Camilo put on his new pants and was impressed with the fit. His Tío and Prima definitely knew what they were doing. After being quarantined, Camilo sent a note to Señor Gomez that he'd decided he should wait the full seven days before going over to the school for their meeting. He did not want to take the chance of getting any of the little one's sick. But today was the day, he also set aside his usual ruana for an actual jacket. Mirabel had made it as a surprise to match the pants and he had to admit, he looked good.
There was a knock on the door, so Camilo went to open it. There was a second knock just as he reached it and the door swung open, barely missing his him. "Geez, impatient much?" He cried and stumbled back. It was his sister. She came in quickly and shut the door. Out of habit he automatically lowered his voice, "Dolores, what the he-" he started then bit back what he was going to say, "heck are you doing?"
"Why are you dressed like that?" Dolores asked.
"I have an appointment," Camilo said as he gave her an annoyed look and shook his head.
"Oh, that's right, with Señor Gomez," she took a deep breath. His sister looked excited and irritated about something at the same time, but Camilo didn't have time today to find out what that was.
"Dol, I gotta go, or I'm gonna be late," he said and moved to open the door.
"Okay, Milo. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to almost hit you with the door. Can you come find me when you're done? It's kind of important," she was fidgeting with the broach on her neck so Camilo assumed it had something to do with Mariano.
"Sure," he said, "where you going to be?"
"I'll wait here 'til you get back."
"In my room?"
She looked at him like he'd just said something ridiculous. He supposed it was, then he smiled and said, "See ya later Sis, as your employed hopefully hermanito."
"You're going to do great Milo, just don't forget to find me when you get home."
He nodded and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Tía Julieta was there making arepas and sausages. Abuela was cleaning some blueberries. Mira was peeling eggs and he went to the stove.
"Can't have you interviewing on an empty stomach," his Tía said as she handed him a small plate of food.
"Thanks, Tía," he said and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
She waived him off as she returned to her cooking. Camilo grabbed a glass of juice before sitting down at the table. Mirabel handed him some silverware and a napkin she'd gotten out while setting the boiled eggs aside saying, "You got this, Primo."
His mother came in the dining room with his father and both sat at the table with a plate.
"Good luck today, Corazón," his mother said.
"Fah, he doesn't need luck, mi vida," his father said and waggled a finger at him, "You are well suited for that position. No doubt about it."
Camilo was trying not to eat too fast, but at the same time his nerves were starting to get to him as he almost spilled his juice. His father put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You'll do well, Camilo. Don't forget they asked for you to come."
Camilo paused in his eating and realized his father was right. So, he sat up a little straighter and finished his breakfast without incident and brought his plate to the sink. The rest of the Madrigals were coming into the kitchen for breakfast, they all wished him luck, even Abuela. His mother was standing near the door, small cloud forming, off to the side with his Pa. He knew she was staying back because she did not want to rain on his new clothes. He already missed the year he could have her hang about him with no weather and feeling stubborn went over and gave her a quick hug before he headed to the door.
The tiles above the door clattered and Camilo, feeling more confident, waved to Casita as he headed toward town. He was halfway to the school when one of the kids that would be acting in his project ran up and stopped him by hugging his leg. Alejandra was not in any way shy and tended to be a little blunt, she looked up at him and shouted, "You've been gone for forever! We thought you died!" This sentiment was echoed by both Juancho and Cecilia who now stood nearby. He untangled Alejandra from his leg and knelt down waiving them all closer.
"Nope, not dead. Sorry I worried you. But that's good since I'm on my way to see if I can get a job."
"A real job?" Juancho asked.
"Yes," he said as the church bell rang the quarter hour and Camilo added, "and I'm running just a little behind, so, if you'll all excuse me," he said as he got up and started walking. The three trailed behind him all the way to the school and Juancho asked in a hushed tone, "Is this where you're gonna get a job?"
"I hope so," Camilo said and realized he really did as he stepped up to the door. "Okay you three, off you go." And he opened it and went in. He stopped briefly to adjust his jacket, took a deep breath as he walked to the end of the hallway of classrooms to Señor Gomez's office. He paused before knocking, thinking it was ironic, all the times he'd been sent here because he wasn't behaving. He'd be seventeen in December, time to see what things could be like when he was in charge of his future. He knocked and opened the door. Señor Gomez smiled as he stood, "Right on time, Señor Madrigal," he said shaking Camilo's hand. He waved to the chair on the opposite side of his desk and said, "Please come in and have a seat."
Alma stood in the tower with her three children as they tried to determine the purpose of the doors lining the tower walls. Everyone was over the strep infection, that's what Juli had named it. Alma had already explained that she'd been coming up here regularly once it was built because it was a quiet place to do some thinking. The door she was standing in front of was the only one that had been here when she'd come up her after Casita was revived and Casita did not know where it had come from, so it did not know its purpose. Alma reached out and opened it carefully and found it was her room and Pepa asked, "Doli can you please go to Mira's room and see if Abuela's door is open or not?"
There was no answer until Casita clattered the shutters. "She says it's not even there and that the wall is blank," Julieta said. "Ask her to go back into the hall and close the door."
"You already did," Pepa said with a tilt of her head to her sister and the shutters rattled, sounding a bit like a giggle.
"Right, sorry Doli," Julieta said and walked through it. She turned back and said, "Guess let's see if it comes back when someone's here. Close the door, Mamá."
Alma closed it and there was the distinct sound of a lock turning. Bruno tried the handle and found the door was indeed locked. So, Alma asked, "Casita did you lock this door or did Juli?" Casita clattered its tiles above the door and Alma looked perplexed as she said, "Casita said though it can, it did not lock the door."
Pepa said, "I thought as much, Doli please go back into Mira's room and see if the door is back."
More tiles rattled and Alma said, "She said it is and that Juli is with her."
Pepa nodded then and said, "Doli if the door to Abuela's room is open, please go inside with your Tía and close it."
There came the sound of a lock moving and Casita relayed that it had been done. So Pepa opened the door once again. Julieta and Doli were both there and Pepa let out a satisfied laugh. "Ha! So, it cannot exist in both places at once…weird but I suppose even Casita has limitations. Wait, then that must have been Mamá on the other side knocking the other day?"
Alma nodded and said "There was a knock."
Dolores was walking up and down the path looking at all the doors in amazement and asked, "What room is this?"
"We're in the tower, mi vida," Pepa said.
"I wondered what was up here now that Tío Bruno was back downstairs, but what about all these others?" she asked as she looked at each carefully.
"Don't know that yet," Bruno said, "That's what were up here to try and sort out," and he pulled a folded paper from his pocket and walked over to the stairs examining it and everyone went over. Alma saw it was a sketch of this room that had 'x's over three of the doors.
"Is this from your vision?" Alma asked.
"Yes, well from a few sponty's I had about this room. Anyway," he said as walked over and stood in front of a blue door with roses carved into the door frame, "this one, looks familiar but I can't place it."
Julieta moved closer and said, "If I'm not mistaken, it is the door to the chapel at the cemetery."
Alma agreed. "But why would that door be here?" she asked.
"Guess we should open it," Bruno said and knocked on the frame instead of the door, and started to reach for the knob.
"I'll do it," Alma said and went up to it and found it to be locked.
"Maybe it's open right now," Pepa offered.
"I'll go check, mi vida." All heads turned toward the voice and Pepa smiled to see it was Félix who was standing at the top of the stairs. He shrugged, "You all disappeared so I went looking. Dolores, let them know when I get there, okay?" he asked. She nodded and he said, "And if it's open, should I close it?"
Pepa nodded and added, "But from the inside, mi vida."
Félix nodded, turned, and headed back down the stairs.
"Okay, Bruno," Alma said, "While we're waiting for that answer, show me the next door."
Bruno nodded and moved past three others to the next one. This door was bright yellow with a small hinged and grated window cut into it with a moderately ornate latched handle.
"Anyone wanna guess where this one is from?" Bruno asked.
Alma looked at it with consternation. Where had she seen this before? It wasn't coming to her so after trying the handle and finding it locked, they moved to the last door, which was on the opposite wall. As she approached it, she had a vivid memory from when she was a small child of five or so. She, her parents, and siblings were visiting the Church of San Agustin. They were there for the baptisms of her newest brother and sister. His name was Bruno, hers was Juliet.
The main doors were locked, but they were early, so they'd gone to wait in a nearby park for the doors to be opened. Alma, not satisfied to wait, had gone around to the side to see if there was another way in. She found a likely door. The entrance wasn't ornate, just painted red slats with a relief of stone all the way around it. Alma reached out and touched it and for some reason she could not put into thought, it felt the same as when she was small. Rough and looking like it was ready for replacement. Without thinking her hand moved to the doorknob. It clicked and Alma slowly pushed it open. It squeaked in a way that spoke of years of minimal use or maintenance.
Colorful light and the smells of incense and candles wafted to her, and she immediately pulled the door shut. She took a small step back and said, "Casita, lock this please." There was a click and Alma turned and came up short finding her children and Dolores were right behind her.
"Mama, are you alright? What was that place?" Julieta asked seeing the startled look on her face.
Alma looked back at the door and said carefully, "I believe it may have been a Church I visited when I was a child. Or at least that is what came to mind when I saw it."
"Then not the Church in the Encanto?" Bruno asked incredulously. When she shook her head, he said, "Well, son of a monkey."
"I did not get a good look at anything but, and I am likely mistaken but…the colorful light and the smell was the same…" Alma looked nervously back at the door. If it was in fact in that church, it would be in Bogotá. Perhaps it could be useful. Her thoughts were interrupted when Dolores squeaked. She turned and tilted her head as she said, "Papá says the door was open and he'll be closing it now."
They all moved back to the first door and Bruno stepped up and turned the handle. He gave it a little push and Félix said, eyes wide in disbelief, "Ni de vainas."
Isabela walked along with her father and sister with an armload of material they were returning to her Abuelo's tailor shop. She was hoping they'd run into her Abuela Valentina as she wanted to get her opinion on something she was trying to grow, but so far with only limited success with. She was attempting to grow a particular plant without the aid of her gift, and because she was sorely tempted to do so, she decided it would be better to walk away from that experiment before she gave in out of frustration. Her Abuela Valentina had a way with plants that made Isa just want to learn more.
Luisa showed her the pants Mirabel had finished for her and Isa was excited to think she would soon have a pair herself. The color of material she'd picked out of the pile was what her father called chartreuse. Not quite yellow and not quite green. Something in between, kind of how she felt about her life right now. She wasn't a kid, but no one treated her like an actual adult. Scratch that her parents often reminded her that she was no longer a child and they pushed for her to make decisions. It was one of the primary reasons she talked Mirabel into introducing Mariano to Dolores. She realized she could have done it herself, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
Her mother had taken her aside during the rebuilding as she had noticed she was completely avoiding Mariano and his mother. Once cornered Isa admitted she did not want to, nor would she, marry Mariano Guzman. Her mother took her out for a walk to sit in a small meadow. She sat her down and said then something Isa was going to remember for the rest of her life. "You know, your father was not my mother's first choice of husbands for me. Your Abuela had even gone so far as to set me up on dates with those she thought 'acceptable' husbands for a Madrigal." Her mother shivered and shook her head as she said, "Worst six months of my life, and I did not hesitate to tell Mamá I was not interested in any of them. This was literally the rest of my life, and I already had my heart set on another."
"But that's because she's your mother," Isabela said and her mother tilted her head and an idea popped into Isa's head, "So you're saying I should have told you."
"It would have been helpful," she said, "though it does pain me to think I missed the obvious signs you were not actually happy with that choice."
"Well, to be honest, I spent a lot of time making sure you didn't know and I didn't want to make any more trouble for you and Papá. I mean with Mira not getting a gift, you constantly having to pull Luisa in to rest, ministering to the whole town…It seemed like if I could perfectly do this one thing and keep Abuela happy then…"
"Your happiness be damned?"
Isa shrugged, "Maybe?"
Her mother pulled her closer and said, "Being the oldest child is tough, no?"
"Yeah, but sometimes, when I think about how I treated Mira, it eats me up, that guilt, worst part was I didn't even notice the change. It just happened, like I woke up one morning and decided I wasn't her sister anymore."
"How did that work out?"
"Great, obviously," Isa said waving a hand toward their broken home.
"Do you know why Mirabel came into your room that day?"
"Not really, though she said because she wanted to be a better sister."
"I'll let you in on a secret. After dinner, while we were all searching for her, she was chasing your Tío Bruno through the walls. She somehow convinced him he needed to give her a vision. And you know what he saw?
"No."
"He told her she needed to hug her sister to help La Candela. Perhaps the last thing she wanted to do after that failed proposal dinner."
"I sure it didn't help that I told her I hated her and then demanded an apology."
"Probably. But neither of you were taking the time to listen or even talk to one another. You both thought you knew what the other was feeling and thinking and poor Luisa stuck in the middle."
Isa thought then of the vision her Tío had made for her that she'd been looking at it just prior to Mirabel coming to her room. Isa snorted and said, "Sometimes I think of that vision Tio gave me and think 'Life of my dreams' Not so much."
"There was more in there, Isa. What did I say to you the day you showed it to me?"
"Be kind to Mirabel-" Isa stopped remembering the tiny face of her sister off to one side, eyes full of wonder. All for her prima hermana mayor. "It does not help when you point out how much I really sucked at the big sister thing…"
Her mother gave her a squeeze and said, "No, hija. Just like me, you made a mistake, but it's not our mistakes that define us, but what we learn from them."
Isa nodded then said, "What mistake did you make?"
"Ah, Corazón, let me count the ways…ugh, there are too many."
"You're talking about Tío Bruno."
"Partly, it truly was my greatest failing. I love my brother dearly, and when you part of group from birth you sometimes have unrealistic expectations because it feels like your connected by an invisible string. Like you know what the others are thinking. But there were many times your Tío would frustrate me by not doing quite what I expected. It did not help that he'd been isolating himself from everyone, including his family. It got to the point where he wouldn't talk to us about important things anymore. Just minutia like, how's the weather, how are the kids. It wasn't until after your sister's failed Gift ceremony and he went missing, that it suddenly became all too clear what I had not done. I'd become so wrapped up in my own life that I missed the little things he'd done or said, to try and let me know he was not doing well with the way things were. I lost that string…"
Isabela realized that she'd lost track of her Tío as well. Being busy with her schoolwork and chores she knew there was a gap as her mother continued.
"I can see that I was very dismissive and since he was still there, he must have been fine. I hadn't tried to see things from his point of view. Sound familiar?" Isa nodded. "You at least," her mother said as she gave her a huge hug, "found that string and pulled your sister closer to you. It's a part of what gave her the courage to tell your Abuela what she needed to hear."
"You make me sound so brave, but I didn't stand with her…"
"Isa, you made a mistake, but you're with her now and that's what matters to her."
Isa was jolted back to the present when she heard a familiar voice that made her stumble.
"Isabela, how are you?" Mariano asked as he stepped out of the tailor shop holding a new shirt over his arm.
Mirabel and her father exchanged a quick glance and her father said, "Isa, I'm gonna take the fabric inside," and lifted the load from her, then he and Mirabel entered the shop.
"Thanks, Pá," she said belatedly and turned to face her former betrothed. "Hello Mariano, I'm doing fine. How is your mother doing? Is she feeling better?"
"Yes, better now. She got that throat sickness like your Abuela. I was truly worried, but thankfully your Mamá and the new doctor helped her pull through. She's looking forward to your Abuela coming to visit. I wanted to thank you for sending her those flowers, she really loves them. Your Gift must be improving, the roses are still as fresh and beautiful as the day they arrived."
"I'm really glad to hear that, Mariano, I know how she loves flowers and your Mamá is such a sweet woman."
Mariano smiled gratefully, he knew his mother could be strict and most people were afraid of her. She felt kind of guilty that he'd spent months moping after she'd made it violently clear, twice, she did not want to marry him, all because she was too afraid to stand up for herself. Dolores was so perfect for him and she loved him just as he was. It really was the right thing to do to remind the big lunk, that the person he'd been looking for in her was right there in front of him, in the form of her prima.
"Well, I have to run, going over to Casita for lunch with Dolores and Abuela," he said.
"Sounds like a perfect afternoon," Isa said.
He nodded then leaned down after pulling something out of his pocket he said in a conspiratorial tone, "I think this was yours. I found it when we were clearing Casita last year. Ended up finding it this morning so it's good I ran into you." He winked as he put it in her hand and closed her fingers around it then turned and walked away, humming a happy tune.
She watched him go and thought, he was not a bad person, nor would he have made a bad husband. She just couldn't marry him; she did not love him that way. Though she wondered if there was anyone out there who could put up with her as she truly was. Actually, that almost sounded like work.
Isabela opened her hand and smiled as she held up the small carved flower her Tio Bruno had made for her and given her the day of her Gift ceremony. Back then, she did not know it was a cactus flower that had filled her whole hand. Her Tío was a man of many talents. She laughed at the irony as she entered her Abuelo's shop and at that moment wished she had pants; they would have had pockets.