Chapter 4: Rivera Familia de Zapateros

Senor Guzman was shocked when he came to the Rivera household to find Héctor, the man who had supposedly abandoned his wife and child to achieve music stardom, sitting in living area with Imelda, eagerly requesting that he take him on as an apprentice shoemaker as well. Having taught Imelda and her brothers the fine art of shoemaking for the past few months, she had remained tight lipped about her husband and so he had stopped inquiring about his whereabouts. But now here she was with him, smiling at him with love and pride as he prattled on about wanting to learn the trade to support his family. Given her fiery temperament, Senor Guzman wasn't going to ask what had happened in the last two days that had warranted such a drastic change. Nor was he going to question why Héctor had two wads of damp cloth shoved up his nostrils.

After a nice lunch, the twins started to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes while Imelda put Coco down for her afternoon nap. This is when Guzman pulled Héctor aside to speak with him privately.

"I know this is sudden Senor Guzman, but I want to thank you again for agreeing to teach me." Héctor beamed. "I guarantee you that my hands are up to the challenge. They're so callused from playing guitar I bet a needle wouldn't even be able to pierce them."

Guzman patted him on the back. "It's no problem at all Héctor. And it's true; you need good strong hands in order to craft shoes. Big, strong… manly hands."

Héctor's eyebrows quirked up a little at that, but he shook it off and chuckled. "Well, I don't know about that. My Imelda has strong hands as well. You've never been on the receiving end of her boot."

"Héctor, my boy." Guzman smiled and held his hands out to his sides, trying to explain. "Let us end this little game. I only agreed to teach Imelda because, basically, it was the only way to shut her up. For three months, ay Dios mio, the nagging! Always with 'Please Senor, I'm the only one in town who is able to do it' and 'Think of my poor daughter, I need to feed her'. I must admit, that's what got to me in the end. I only agreed because she was a poor mother with no husband to provide for them. But I can tell that a tiny woman like her would never be able to craft such magnificent boots by herself, so I made her bring her brothers in as well. And now," he said, slapping Héctor happily on the shoulder, "now that you're here, I can teach you in her place, and she can go back to where she belongs: Taking care of your daughter and feeding her family like a proper wife and mother!"

Throughout his little spiel, Senor Guzman didn't notice Héctor's confused smile slowly fade into a frown, nor the creaking of his teeth as his jaw clinched and his cheeks slowly turning a deep shade of red. Carefully he plucked the pieces of cloth from his nose and slipped them into his pocket and hummed a little laugh. Then he clamped a hand hard on Guzman's bony shoulder and gave him a hearty shake.

"Ah, Senor Guzman, throughout my life me and my amigos would wonder why you never had a wife of your own. See, I always thought it had been because you were too short and had the face of a gecko. But now I can see it was because of your… glowing attitude towards women a little bit stronger than you. That is all women."

Guzman sputtered at that. "What are you?!-"

"You see, the thing is, senor, I am a musician. It is my passion. I think about music and songs and playing my guitar all day long. Shoes, on the other hand? Bah, it's just a way for me to make money. But for Imelda?" Héctor sighed wistfully. "Ay, yesterday she gave me such a speech about shoes with such a reverence it was inspiring! It was beautiful! Now, I thought that it was something you had told her, but after hearing the way you speak I now know that those words came from her heart. Shoes are her passion."

Héctor bent down to Guzman miniscule height and growled, "So, you are going to continue to teach Imelda how to make shoes, everything down to the smallest detail, so that she will build her own business and become the finest shoemaker in all of Mexico. And if you do anything or say anything to make her lose that passion, I'll take one of your magnificently crafted boots and shove them up your-"

"Sorry to keep you waiting Senor Guzman!" Imelda came in, and Héctor straightened up and gave her a glowing smile while still keeping a tight grip on the old man's shoulder. "Coco should be asleep for at least the next two hours. Plenty of time to get started uninterrupted!"

"I can't wait mi amor!" Héctor gushed. "Feels like I'm in school again. Doesn't it, profesor?" He gave the old man a little shake, who whimpered a little and nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Perfecto!" Imelda smiled back, too happy to notice the awkwardness. "This is start of a new chapter in our lives!" She left to go to the makeshift workshop with a skip in her step and humming one of Héctor's songs, something she hadn't done in quite some time.

Héctor smiled and moved to follow her, but not before turning back to the quaking zapatero. "Remember what I said cabrón." He made a circle with his thumb and index finger, and then shoved two fingers from his other hand through it with a whistling sound. "With spurs." He added.

It took two months before Imelda and the twins were deemed ready to start their own business as shoemakers. Despite picking up the craft pretty quickly, Héctor was still in need of some training, but Senor Guzman assured her that she was more than capable of teaching him the rest herself. Imelda was very surprised and confused when the day after he had said his goodbyes and good lucks to the Riveras he had packed up his belongings and moved out of the city. Héctor wasn't.

It was all set up. The shop was stocked with bolts of leather, nails, tools and a beautiful sewing machine that Héctor had bought with his earnings from playing several parties over the last few weeks. Héctor had put out flyers in bright colors all over Mariachi Plaza and the nearby streets proudly proclaiming the date of the store's opening. And the twins had painted a beautiful sign on the outside wall that said Rivera: Familia de Zapateros, desde 1921. When questioned why it wasn't written as 1922 since that was when it was opening, Imelda reasoned that the whole business started when the idea popped into her head. Everyone agreed with that.

And so Héctor, the twins and Coco stood in a line, ramrod straight as Imelda paced back in forth in front of them. "Mi familia, this is it. This is the moment we have all trained for. The start of a family business, the roots of a mighty tree that will grow and branch out into the unknown! We are ready for it! Héctor!"

"Si!"

"You are still learning, but any customer that comes in today, you will get their measurements and get the supplies ready."

"Si, senora!" Héctor saluted.

"Oscar y Felipe!" Imelda barked.

"Si!" "Si!"

"You two will be in charge of cutting the materials. We'll start slow today, so Oscar you will do the left shoes, and Felipe you will do the right ones. I'll be in charge of the sewing and when that's done you two will then tack them together." Both twins saluted.

"What about me, Mamá?" Coco asked.

"Coco, your job is the most important: Customer service." Imelda smiled. "Keep the customers happy, talk to them, show them your dance moves. Just be our adorable little Coco." Coco giggled and saluted. Imelda then went to the window that had been turned into the service counter. "Alright then, you all know your jobs. Therefore, I declare the Rivera shoe workshop open!" She swung the shutters of the window wide to reveal a crowd of…

No one.

Imelda's shoulder sagged a little and she paused before turning back around. "Well, it is still early. Once people have had their breakfast then they will come out to shop."

But hours passed, and still no customers. Several people did walk by and Imelda tried to persuade them to come in, but none were interested and went on their way. After several rounds of 'are you sure you put today's date on the flyers' and 'yes, of course mi amor', it was then the afternoon and no one had had any lunch yet. Imelda's hope started to dwindle.

"I'm sorry." She said to the four of them. "You all should have eaten by now. I'll… go whip up something quick."

Héctor's heart broke a little for his wife. "Imelda, don't be so down. There's always tomorrow-"

"Discúlpame, por favor." A voice asked, and five heads whipped around to see a stocky man standing at the service counter. "Is today the day you open your shop?"

There was a second's pause before the twins rushed out the door, each taking the gentleman by the arm and dragging him into the store. Héctor pulled up a chair and dusted it off for him to sit on, and Imelda guided him to it. All the while a clamor of greetings assaulted the poor man.

"SI, YES we are open!"

"Buenos tardes, senor!"

"Bienvenidos, senor!"

"Have a seat, senor!"

"Would you like a glass of water, senor?"

"What is your name, senor?"

The customer took the glass of water from the adorable little girl and startled at the last question. "Oh! Um… my name is Manuel Fernández."

"Manuel…Fernández." Imelda wrote the name down on her notepad. "A wonderful name. A proud name! Manuel Fernández will forever be known as the first customer of the Rivera shoemakers. You must be so proud!"

"Uh, si. I guess…" Manuel muttered.

Imelda cleared her throat. "Now then, down to business. No offense, Senor Fernández, but your boots have seen better days from the looks of them." She pointed down to the man's boots, which were caked in mud and had a hole worn in one of the toes.

"Ay, si." Manuel sighed. "I've had these for only five months and they haven't lasted well at all. That Guzman was getting shoddy in his work at his age, and I'm glad he retired. I'm hoping you all could do a better job than him."

"Of course, Senor Fernández. We want everyone to know that we treat all of our customers like they were our own familia." Imelda smiled, and then gestured at her husband. "Héctor, please take this gentleman's measurements."

"With pleasure, mi amor." Héctor said as he snapped out a tape measure.

Measurements were taken and recorded, materials were selected and specifications were made for a new pair of boots, with the promise of them being ready by tomorrow afternoon. Manuel was floored.

"Tomorrow? En serio?" Manuel asked. "It would always take Guzman a week to do my boots before."

Imelda laughed haughtily. "Senor Guzman was only one man."

"We are four!" Héctor crowed.

"Senor Guzman was old." Imelda continued.

"We are young!" the twins cheered.

"Once you try on our boots, you will never go anywhere else again, because we are-"

The twins unveiled a banner behind Héctor and Imelda, bearing the store name, little Coco flung out two handfuls of colorful confetti, and they all said in unison:

"RIVERA FAMILIA DE ZAPATEROS!"

The confetti settled on the ground, all of them posing with their arms out and beaming at the confused patron. "A-Alright then." He mumbled. "I'll come back tomorrow." And with that he dashed out of the store as fast as his decaying boots would let him.

Oscar lowered his portion of the banner. "We're not going to do this for every customer are we?"

Héctor waved him off. "Nah, I think this was a one-time thing."

Felipe pouted. "So we made this banner to do this one time?"

"Enough of that, chicos!" Imelda said clapping her hands together. "Let's get to work!"

Héctor and the twins watched anxiously as Manuel walked around the workshop testing out his new boots. They had worked long and hard into the night, only stopping to eat and sleeping very little, to not only make the deadline but to make sure everything was perfect. The finished product, in their eyes, was beautiful. The first real pair of boots they had made as a business and as a family, which they would remember forever. Héctor wistfully wished he could take a foto of the boots and have it framed. Imelda scoffed at such a silly notion, but Héctor could see in her eyes that she felt the same.

Manuel stopped walking and looked up with a big smile. "I have to admit I had my doubts, but I am very impressed!"

Héctor and the twins gasped and grinned at each other. "You mean it?!"

"I do!" Manuel twisted his ankle to and fro. "It doesn't rub me anywhere so I know it won't give me blisters. It's like it was perfectly molded to my foot!" He quirked an eyebrow at them. "You sure that old Viejo Guzman taught you this?"

"Well, we may have made some tweaks ourselves." Oscar admitted.

"But in the end it came out beautifully, don't you agree?" Felipe asked.

"I agree!" Manuel reached into his pocket. "In fact, I'm going to tell all my ranch hands about this place, and all my amigos. I can tell you are all going to be a big success." He pulled out his hand and handed Héctor ten gold coins. "And I am proud to be your first customer."

"G-gracias, senor!" Héctor said as he and the twins waved their first customer goodbye. Then he shuffled the gold coins in his hand at them. "Look at it, chamacos! Our first sale!"

"We're going to eat well this week!" Oscar laughed.

"I can't believe Imelda missed it. This was because of her after all; it's really her first sale!" Felipe moaned.

"Where is she anyway?" Oscar asked.

"I don't know." Héctor said. "She said she had to go wake up Coco from her nap, but she should have been back by now."

"PAPÁ! PAPÁ!" a shriek sounded from across the courtyard, startling the three men. Coins clattered to the floor forgotten as they raced out the door to find Coco jumping up and down from outside the kitchen.

"Mija, what's wrong?!" Héctor asked.

"Mamá's sick! Help her!" Coco cried, tears streaming down her face.

"Imelda?!" Héctor rushed into the kitchen to find his wife leaning over the sink, as heaves wracked her body and she expelled her lunch into the basin. Héctor raced over to support her, rubbing circles over her back. "It's okay, mi amor. I got you." He soothed.

"I'm fine." Imelda moaned and gagged again before wiping her mouth with a rag. "I'm sorry for scaring you and Coco. I'm fine, really."

Héctor's fears weren't abated. "Imelda?" he whispered.

Imelda looked up at her husband, her eyes full of love and a smile gracing her lips. "I think you and I need to go to the doctor."