Chapter 24: Talking
Mirabel led Bruno to his room so he could calm down. After closing his door, the little girl quietly went down the hallway. She was startled when Pepita came out of Imelda's bedroom. She sighed with a smile when the cat only rubbed itself against her legs.
"Hola Pepita," she said, rubbing its head with her hand. "How's Imelda? I haven't seen her since breakfast."
The cat pointed to the room with its tail.
Peeking in, the girl could see that her guardian was sewing something long and white. "Imelda?"
The gangster was sewing something when she felt someone was watching her. She gasped with wide eyes and quickly covered her white silk fabric with her arms. She turned around, fearing that it might be one of the adults. "Oh," the woman said bluntly, tension leaving her shoulders like a balloon losing air. "It's you, get in here quickly!" She gestured to the girl with her hand. "You know I don't want anyone to know that I sew!"
Mirabel and the cat hopped in and closed the door. "Sorry Imelda," she said, meekly. "I forgot."
"It's okay, mija," the woman said kindly.
"I just took Bruno to his bedroom and I wasn't sure whether to go back downstairs to our guests or join you-"
"Oh never mind those idiots!" Imelda said, flipping her hand. She pulled out her needle, keeping up with the pattern on her new dress. "Those guests were getting on my nerves, especially that shoemaker."
Pepita jumped to a high shelf where the sewing materials were kept. They were in little bags so that no one would know what the gangster had been doing during her free time. The cat sat down between a little gray bag and an amber one, curling itself up like a ball.
Seeing the adult sewing inspired Stephanie to finish her project. The girl snatched her gray bag from the shelf before joining her guardian. "Well, while you're sewing, I'm gonna finish my dress!" The girl opened the bag and pulled out her long teal skirt. She laid it on the table. on the table. Seeing the embroidered patches on her skirt made her feel excited. Each patch reminded her of someone that she loved. "Do you think I should make another embroidery for Miguel?"
"No, it wouldn't make sense to add your boyfriend in there," Imelda said. "He's not a Madrigal."
"You're right," Mirabel sighed, nodding. Then she shook her head quickly. "¡Y él no es mi novio!" Her cheeks blushed.
"Sure…," Imelda replied. "You've been spending a lot of time with the boy since he came over." Her countenance showed a teasing smile on her face.
"I was just overjoyed to see him, that's all!" Mirabel answered, feeling peeved.
"Are you sure?"
"¡Es sólo un amigo!"
"Really?"
"Nothing to it!"
"Okay, okay," Imelda giggled, putting her hands up in surrender. "I won't say anything more!"
Mirabel huffed and crossed her arms. Her cheeks were still flushing pink. Miguel's always been a friend to her, hasn't he? Sure she gets warm fuzzies whenever he's around but she hadn't played with him in a long time. Not wanting to dwell on her growing feelings for the Rivera boy, the girl changed the subject. "How about you?" Her smile grew mischievous. "You had fun sparring with your partner yesterday."
It was now Imelda's turn to have her face red. She almost poked herself with the needle. "That shoemaker!? Oh, that man!" She grumbled. "He drives me crazy! First, he jumped in through the window, then he tried to leave without the potion, and when his gringa friend came here with the fake one, he didn't think to check before escaping!" She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Sometimes that man doesn't think!"
"Be kind to Don Héctor, Imelda," Mirabel said while sewing her recent dress. "He just learned that his friends got into trouble, and I think he and Miguel look really scared to be here."
"Of course, they're scared," the woman responded, rolling her eyes. "They think this whole side of the town is a sin city. It wouldn't be so if some people in charge didn't throw us out of their little perfect and pampered town."
"I used to live in the West Side so I know what you were talking about," the girl nodded. "But not everyone is like the old mayor! The new ones, Mayor Smith and Andres are nice from what I heard. Besides, Don Héctor is different!"
"I find that hard to believe!" Imelda scoffed. She squashed down the image of his deep brown eyes from her mind. "He's cute but I do not understand his sympathy for Bruno and his sister's romance. It's so sickening!" With every biting word, she stabs her needle through silk. "He doesn't even approve of it any more than I do!"
"Maybe he didn't want to hurt his sister's feelings," Mirabel guessed, sewing her teal dress.
"That man confuses me," Imelda muttered to herself more than to the girl. "One minute he charms me and in the next minute he annoys me!"
"Maybe you should get to know him better," Mirabel meekly suggested. She could be wrong but she had an inkling that her uncle's boss may have a crush on her uncle's oldest friend. 'Wonder if Bruno knows?' When her guardian gave her an unimpressed look, the girl giggled. "Oh, he's not so bad once you get to know him. Compared to your previous suitors, Don Héctor is an upgrade!"
"Really?" Imelda sounded doubtful.
"Come on, Imelda," Mirabel encouraged her. "Give him a chance, por favor!"
Imelda tried to think of another reason why she should not give the shoemaker a chance. But his brown eyes keep appearing in her mind. She had never seen such sparkling and fiery brown eyes before. "I'll think about it," she chose her words carefully. "Only because he's Bruno's best friend."
"I think I pushed Bruno too hard," Héctor said, quietly. He looked down at the floor with hands in his pockets. "I treated him too harshly."
"We all pushed him," Gloria said, sadly.
"Had I known what had happened, I wouldn't be so angry," the shoemaker continued, his heart being gripped by guilt. "I would have done something!"
"It's not like we could call him," Miguel spoke up. "We don't know where he ran off to. We didn't even know he was here!"
"Well, now you know," Bubo said. He looked sourly at the shoemaker. "And Bruno is not the only one upset because of you, you pushed our mistress!"
"Que?" Héctor asked, confused.
"He means our sister," Oscar and Felipe both answered.
"How did I push her?" Héctor questioned. "That woman was acting way too bossy!"
"Well, she is our boss," Bubo said nonchalantly.
"That's no excuse for her to act so rude and invasive! Why do you all put up with this woman who is so deadly and so beautiful?" Héctor inquired them. His voice sounded a bit gentle on the last word.
"Beautiful!?" Dr. Sweet raised an eyebrow.
"And deadly!" Héctor quickly added, blushing. "Very deadly!"
The twins chuckled to themselves.
"She takes care of us," Audrey explained. "Bruno is who she cares about the most because of his troubled dark past!"
"We all have dark pasts!" Moe said in a spooky tone, wiggling his fingers around his face.
Miguel and Dante both shook in their kneecaps and clung to the boy's uncle.
"Don't let him scare you, boys," Dr. Sweet said, kindly. "We all come from various backgrounds with tragic stories. Each of us was turned away from many places, but Imelda found each of us and let us into her home."
"Imelda took all of you in?" Héctor asked.
"Like stray kittens!" Oscar said.
"Or runaway puppies!" Felipe said.
(Dante smiled thinking Felipe was calling him a puppy).
"I know Bruno was threatened, but what about all of you?" Gloria asked.
"No, just rejected," Bubo answered. "Some of us were turned away from our dream jobs because of our skin tones or "funny accents." I was turned away from becoming a landscape designer because of my thick accent."
"I was turned away from becoming a doctor because of the color of my skin," Dr. Sweet added, sadly. He let out a sigh and his shoulders sagged. "After fighting tooth and nail to become a doctor, sometimes literally, I found out that people weren't desperate enough to give me a chance or a job."
"I couldn't open a flower shop because I couldn't speak English well," Vinny said.
"I have two factors working against me," Audrey lamented. "Being a woman and a Puerto Rican is what kept me from being a plumber."
Mole dug into a hole through the floor and decided to take a little nap.
"What about him?" Miguel asked, pointing to him.
"Trust me, you don't want to know!" Dr. Sweet shook his head. "He told Audrey and she told me and it took me months to forget about it!"
The teenage girl shrugged, guilty. "He came from France, always liked doing dirty jobs-"
"And that's all you can say!" Dr. Sweet quickly covered her mouth with his hand. "The point is that Imelda gave us a home and jobs when nobody else did."
"So, what do you think-" Felipe started.
"-Of our sister now?" Oscar finished.
The two twins looked very eager as they anticipated Héctor's answer.
"Well, I admit that made me grow respect for her," the shoemaker said, slowly.
"Yes, go on," the twins nodded, smiling big.
"But…did she have to bestow you with dirty jobs?"
The twins deflated. They were hoping that their guest would say something about their sister that was romantic.
"Only Mole, Audrey, and Bubo do dirty jobs here," Oscar clarified.
"Yeah, cleaning the toilets, cleaning the sinks, washing Chicharron's feet, installing jewels in the walls…," Vinny listed.
"I mean, must she make you all do anything to get dirty money?" the shoemaker asked, pointing to their bin of cash that was on the table. It had been left overnight when the twins had finished counting money from one of their current robberies.
"Oh that's not dirty money," Felipe said. He and his twin pulled out another bin from a small cabinet. It was full of cash which was quite disorganized. The bills were crinkled with purple lipstick marks on them. The coins were blackened with dirt. Some other bills had mud on them while others had corners ripped off.
"This is dirty money!" Oscar beamed. "I counted them last night."
"What's wrong with these guys?" Gloria whispered to her brother, who shrugged.
"Well, I agree with my aunt's idea!" Miguel said, feeling a bit determined. "Regardless of what Ernestina de la Crud says, why can't we go to the police? Surely, they can help Bruno!" He purposely got the woman's last name wrong.
"No exactamente," Bubo joined in, pointing his finger up. "It is more complicated than it sounds."
"What do you mean 'more complicated than it sounds?'" the shoemaker inquired, annoyed. Someone was being blackmailed and they couldn't contact the police!?
"Well, if Bruno were to tell the Buttons that Ernestina was blackmailing him and his family, the police would ask them questions that he preferred not to answer," the bespectacled boy explained.
"Sí," Audrey added. "Bruno would have no choice but to tell them that it was because Ernestina discovered their family secret."
"The police would be concerned about their spiritual gifts," Dr. Sweet said.
"What would the police do to the Madrigals if they found out about their gifts?" Gloria asked, shivering. She was afraid to ask but curiosity got the better of her.
"Maybe they'll kill them, maybe they'll put them in jail, maybe they'll send them away," Bubo listed. "Who knows? Either way, they're both terrible fates."
"But what about Mirabel and her dad?" Miguel inquired. "They don't have gifts."
"And neither does Felix and his youngest son," Héctor recalled.
"Mirabel and her cousin are also in danger because they may not have a gift but their future descendants will," Dr. Sweet answered. "Their fathers would probably be sent away."
"That's awful!" Miguel exclaimed.
"Yeah," the doctor sighed, sadly. "Welcome to democracy."
"If we can't talk to the police..," the shoemaker pondered. "Then maybe we can talk to the Mayor and Andres!"
Everybody looked at him with scowls and doubtful eyes.
"I know, I know, they're not the brightest lightbulbs," Héctor replied. Though he inwardly cringed at asking the higher-ups for help, they were his only hope if the town needed to be fixed. "But maybe they can think of something."
"The mayor is too scared to do anything," Gloria reminded him. "And all Andres thinks about is women."
"Why not ask Natalia?" Miguel asked. "Maybe she can talk to them and they can help!"
Just then, Natalia came through the front door. She was carrying many bags in her arms. "Hi everyone! I'm back!"
"You got the antidote?" Héctor asked.
"Yes!" Natalia didn't want to tell them that one of the police officers had stopped her for a while for questioning.
"Oh good! I'll tell Bruno and Imelda!"
"Tell me what?" Bruno asked.
Héctor and Miguel almost jumped out of their skins.
So did Dante the dog who jumped and landed on his four feet.
"Bruno!" Gloria exclaimed, turning around with a hand on her heart. "You gave me a fright!"
"I'm sorry, my amor," Bruno smiled, sheepishly. "I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking about me"
"Weren't you sent upstairs long ago?" Héctor asked, annoyed.
"And shouldn't you be upstairs?" Miguel sassed. He was bonked in the head by his uncle. "Ow!"
"Don't be rude, chamaco!"
"Technically, I was only sent up to my room two hours ago," Bruno said, pretending he didn't notice their annoyances. "And it only took me a while to calm down."
"Bruno, I got the antidote!" Natalia said excitedly.
"Fantástico!" Bruno praised her, clapping his hands. "We'll tell Frida!"
"We should tell your boss first," Héctor suggested. "Where is she anyway?"
"And where is Mirabel?" his nephew wondered.
"Why don't you two check-in Imelda's bedroom?" Bruno replied, slyly. He was lucky that the boys and their dog went up the staircase, not seeing the mischievous look on his face
"Bruno," Gloria smirked, putting her hands on her hips. "Why are you looking at them as if you are expecting something to happen?"
"Let's just say I have a vision regarding them," the man smiled, feeling a bit hopeful.
"What is it?"
"I'll have to show you later in private."
"Whatever you want to say to her-" Oscar started.
"-You can say in front of us!" Felipe finished.
"No, it's for her only because it regards her family."
The twins looked a bit disappointed but understood why.
"All right," Gloria agreed. "We can do it after talking to Frida. By the way, how are your shoes?" she asked Bruno. "It's been a long time since I gave you a pair."
"They're still in good condition," he smiled. Then his toes burst out of his soles. "Uh oh."
"Time for new shoes!" Gloria beamed, pulling out her shoe toolbox from behind her back.