Piker: A coward

Cut down: to strike down and kill or incapacitate

Chapter 11: Looking for the Love Potion

The police were still talking with the mayor, Natalia, the Riveras and the Madrigals. They were asking them so many questions that the adults had trouble staying calm. The older children had to resist the urge not to fidget. But the little ones became restless. They had to be babysat by Mama Coco who soothed them from the fiasco that happened earlier.

"I still have my doubts," Chief Calhoun frowned. "Can you tell me about the monkey's whereabouts?"

"From my knowledge," Augustin pointed to something behind him. "He went that way, out of the restaurant."

"Thank you Miss Natalia, Riveras, and Madrigals," Officer McBrayer said as he closed his notepad. "No more questions!"

"Let's see if we can track that monkey down tonight," Chief Calhoun said to her partner who nodded.

"Are you certain you don't want my help?" Alma asked, wringing her hands. Her heart was pounding like a drum. "Surely, a monkey would be too smart and quick for you!"

"No, we got our other cops helping us!" Officer McBrayer saluted.

"It's best that you and your family go home," Calhoun mentioned. "That's what I'd do, if I were all of you. You're all already under distress from earlier events."

"Would any of you like to be escorted home?" McBrayer asked, politely.

"No, that won't be necessary," Alma shook her head.

"Very well, then," Calhoun nodded, finding their behavior strange. She turned to her crew. "Let's move out, people!"

Both families watched each police officer leave one by one. The door was shut. Dolores heard each officer getting into their squad cars and driving off. They waited for five minutes until Dolores was certain that the police were out of earshot.

"All right, we can talk now."

The rest of the Madrigals sighed with relief.

"Children, it's best that you all stay home and stay out of things, until your parents and I can figure things out." Alma commanded.

All the children groaned and began to protest.

"Do we have to?" Rosa whined.

"We are not babies anymore ," Isabella chimed in. "We can help!"

"We are strong and able!" Luisa J. agreed.

"I wanna help!" Antonio raised his hand.

"Yo tambien!" Manny raised his hand, too.

"Me three!" Benny added.

"Why can't we help, too?" Abel challenged.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Elena chastised. She took off her shoe and shook it at the frightened faces of Abel and Camillo. "You all heard what she said! Now go home and take Mama Coco with you!"

Frustrated that they can't argue even further, the kids grumbled as they began walking home. Luisa J. offered to push Mama Coco in her chair, which the old lady didn't mind. Rosa held both of Manny and Benny's hands as they walked together. Antonio was carried by Camilo because he was feeling a bit tired. Dolores and Isabella followed pursuit.

But Abel stopped in his tracks. "Wait!" he protested. "What about Miguel and Tio Hector?"

"We'll find them, mijo," Carmen said, gently. "You are in charge. Take everybody to our hacienda." She affectionately kissed him on the cheek. "Now, go."

"Yes, Mama," Abel sighed. Then he left the restaurant.

Once Mama Coco and the children were gone, the rest of the adults except Mayor Smith began discussing what to do.

"Are you sure we will find Hector and Miguel?" Luisa asked, worriedly. "What if we can't find them?"

"Miguel couldn't have gone that far," Berto supposed. "As for Hector, who knows?" He shrugged, at the last part. "None of us know how to navigate the East Side."

"Mayor Smith will help us," Alma said.

"Me?" the Mayor stammered.

"You've been there before," Alma explained. "We could use your expertise."

"What? No way am I going to that hellhole!" Mayor Smith exclaimed.

"Senor Smith!" Alma huffed. "Surely, you've been there before!"

"Yes, but my negotiations with Señor Sanchez never went well!" Smith complained. "Why should it be different with his daughter? Are you leading me to my death?"

"Mr. Smith, we don't know if Frida's product is in the East Side or not," Natalia said, trying to calm him down. "It could be here in the West Side."

"I don't want to take any chances!" the Mayor argued, still panicking from fear. "I'm out of here!" He bolted for the door.

"But Mayor Smith, what about Andres?" Natalia pleaded.

"You go and find him!"

Then the Mayor left and slammed the door, making everyone wince.

"What a piker!" Berto scoffed. The other men nodded as well.

"Well, we're screwed!" Pepa grumbled. She jumped a little when she heard something rumbling in the sky. "Oh great, now, I'm thundering!"

"We have no time to lose!" Alma spoke up. "We got to find that love potion quickly!"

"She's right," Abuelita continued. "We must do this even without the mayor's help. Vadamos!"

"So why do we need to find the love potion?" Berto asked. "Why can't we let the police do it?"

The adults had all exited out of the Visconti restaurant. They had walked to the left of their path because Agustin had recalled seeing the monkey going in that direction earlier.

"Aye Berto!" Abuelita grumbled, bonking him on the head with her shoe. "Haven't you been paying any attention at all?"

"Yea, but-"

"The police can't know about the potion or else we'll be doomed!" Felix interrupted him.

"If the police find the potion before we do, then they will see it is magical," Pepa explained nervously and quickly. "And if they find out the potion is magical, they will arrest us. And if they arrest us, we will be cut down! And if we are cut down, they'll take our children away and-"

"Mi amor, mi amor!" Felix quickly soothed her. He massaged her shoulders. "Calm down, you are creating another storm!"

"Clear skies, clear skies," Pepa murmured to herself. Lucky for her, there was no cloud in the sky above her.

"Are you sure, we're going in the right direction, Agustin?" Enrique asked, a bit impatiently. "I don't see the monkey anywhere!"

"I'm sure, Enrique."

"Knowing how fast monkeys are, that pest could be anywhere," Abuelita grumbled.

"Mira, mira!" Natalia gasped, pointing at something moving in the tree above her.

The others followed her finger and behold! There was that monkey, sleeping on a tree branch, while holding the love potion in its hands.

"That's him!" Natalia whispered to Alma.

"All right," the old woman nodded. "Now that we have found the monkey, all we have to do is capture him."

"One of us has to go up there and grab him, while someone else snatches the bottle out of his hands," Franco whispered.

"No, Papá," Gloria shook her head. "The monkey would notice one of us right away!"

Luisa pondered for a while. "I know! We get a gourd, put a hole in it. Set it on the ground. Lay some honey with nuts next to the gourd. So that when the monkey sees the nuts, he'll put his hand through the hole, pick up the nuts, but won't be able to pull his hand out through the hole, and then that's when we catch him!"

"And then we'll catch him and take the potion!" Enrique beamed, liking his wife's idea.

Everybody else nodded and made quiet noises of agreement.

"Not a good idea!" Abuelita furiously shook her head. "We have no time to get a gourd! Besides, that animal is asleep!"

"And I want to retrieve the potion before the police do," Alma said, fearfully.

"So we go with your plan, then?" Berto asked his father.

"Yes, but we need two people who are fit and strong," Franco clarified. "A big person who can push the tall person up in the tree and get the potion."

"That's me and Agustin!" Felix said, as he grabbed his nervous brother-in-law by the elbow. "We'll do it, right?"

"Um, sure," The tall man said, uncertainly.

Felix pushed Agustin up on the tree. He would get the potion from the monkey while the rest of the adults try to catch it in case Agustin drops it.

Agustin clasped his fingers around the bottle. Slowly and gently he begins to pull it out of the monkey's hands.

Pepa was so nervous that a cloud slowly begins to form way above her head. The woman did her best to think of clear skies.

Suddenly, something that felt like sharp teeth sank into her ankle. The woman shut her eyes and yowled in pain. Had she looked down, the Madrigal woman would have seen that it was a chihuahua that bit her in the ankle. (The dog has also quickly scrambled away before it was noticed). Pepa yelled so loud that her lightning bolt traveled from her cloud to her brother-in-law!

Agustin yelped in pain as he felt the burning sensation on his back.

The monkey's eyes were open and he screeched. Jack looked down and saw a human's hand on his bottle. Angry that someone tried to steal his bottle, the animal pulled it back and jumped off the tree. The animal landed on top of Berto's head who screamed and tried to pull the monkey off him.

The women screamed and backed off. Not only were they afraid that the monkey might bite them but also that they might get sprayed.

Abuelita was the only one who used her shoe to knock the creature off her son's head. She did so repeatedly because the monkey wouldn't let go of Berto's head.

After Abuelita gave Jack one more big smack, the animal fell down to the ground. It was still clinging onto the bottle.

Enrique grabbed a big stick that had fallen from the tree. He attempted to strike the monkey with it. Before he could, the animal turned around.

Screeching, Jack pulled the stick out of Enrique's hands and smacked him hard in the head before the man could do anything. Then the monkey poked the human in the eye with his stick, dropped the weapon, and ran off with the potion.

"Ow, stupid monkey!" Enrique shouted, holding his eye. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad but it still hurt a bit.

"Follow that monkey!" Felix shouted, chasing after the thief. The rest of the men except Enrique, followed behind him.

"Are you all right, mi amor?" Luisa asked as she helped her husband up.

"I'm fine!" Enrique grumbled. As soon as he was back on his feet, he and the women began following the same direction that the other men took.

On the way, Enrique turned to his wife. "Once this fiasco is over, we will go back to Mexico!"

"Go back to Mexico!?" Luisa shouted, stopping dead in her tracks.

The other women gasped, as they bumped into Luisa.

Pepa shook the sky again with her lightning bolt and dark cloud.

"We were in a war!" Alma whispered, hauntingly.

The other women shivered with fear. Even Natalia was astounded.

"Why in the world would you want to go back?" Luisa asked, horrified. "Everything was horrible over there!"

"Everything was better over there!" Enrique argued.

"You'd rather deal with the soldiers, corrupt politicians, and bloodshed over a silly love potion?" Abuelita questioned him. Her hands were on her hips, and her face showed her usual big scowl. The Rivera matriarch knew her second youngest son to be stubborn but not quite like this.

"Yes!" Enrique answered, firmly. "At least, I know what to expect in Mexico! In America, I don't know what to expect!"

"In Mexico, we didn't know what to expect, either," Julieta said sympathetically. "We didn't expect to lose our home."

"We didn't expect to lose everything else!" Alma added, her eyes full of sadness. She couldn't help but think of her dear Pedro.

"Every country has its ups and downs," Natalia shrugged. "I know I'm an American but I have grandparents who came here from Ireland. If there's one thing they told me, it's that no country is perfect."

"That's nice, but I'd rather go back to Mexico!" Enrique barked, before walking ahead.

"Enrique!" Luisa tugged on his arm, trying to make him see reason. "I like it here and so does Miguel!"

"Luisa, this land is not good for us or our son! Once this nightmare is over, we are going back to our real homeland, whether you like it or not!" Once Enrique finished, he left abruptly.

Luisa stood there in her spot, feeling quiet and helpless.

"Does he always act like this?" Julieta asked her best friend, worriedly.

"Yes!" Gloria whispered for her sister-in-law.

"It's okay," Luisa shook her head. She tried her best to smile, assuringly. "He's just in a bad mood, that's all."

"Oh, that plan went well!" Carmen grumbled, shaking her head.

"And we would have gotten that bottle if someone didn't mess up!" Natalia said glaring at Pepa, who glowered as if daring her to say more.

"I can't help it!" Pepa snapped. "Something bit me in the ankle!" A huge black cloud hovered way above her and the others in the sky. Thunder was heard and raindrops fell down on them, as they shielded themselves with their arms.

The chihuahua had turned around the corner and was stroked by someone in the shadows. "Good job, my pet," a charismatic female voice said smoothly. "You are much better than your brothers." She heard her wallow talkie vibrating in her pocket. "Yes, what is it?"

"Tina, we spied Hector and that annoying kid going to the Princesa de Mafia's house!" Helga reported from the other line. "Shall Becca and I follow them?"

"Yes, find out where the gangster lives and then meet up with me at the corner of Main Street and Oakton Avenue!" Ernestina answered before hanging it up.

"Um, Tina," one of the girls asked, confused. "How is this helping us?"

"I do not want any of the Riveras or the Madrigals or that Gringo getting that potion!" the shady woman snapped. "At least, not just yet."

"What do we do?" Penny inquired.

"We wait," Tina said. "Once the time is right and they get the potion, we'll seize our moment!"