Casa Azul (9 page)

Oswaldo dashed across the courtyard and pointed to a giant of a woman with a large round body handing out rifles to the
campesinos
. “I’ve always thought this is what my mother looked liked.”

As Maria caught up with him, she placed her hand gently on Oswaldo’s shoulder. “You never knew your mother?”

“No. I don’t remember anything except Oscar,” explained Oswaldo.

“Is he really your father?”

“I’m not sure. He says he is, but sometimes I imagine that my real father is a rich man who has lost me and is looking for me.” Oswaldo paused. “And someday he will find me.”

“Maybe he’s the great Diego Rivera!” shouted Victor suddenly.

Oswaldo glanced at Victor and looked as if he was about to cry. Then he pushed Maria and ran through the courtyard toward the exit. On his way out, he grabbed the security guard’s baton and lightly whacked the guard on the butt. “You missing this?” he shouted, waving the baton as he dashed out of the building.

“Hey!” shouted the guard, running after Oswaldo.

“He can be such a pig!” said Maria with exasperation. Then she and Victor quickly followed. Without Oswaldo they’d be lost.

Wrestle Mania

“P
rograms!”

Two huge spotlights swept the sky.

“Hot tamales!”

A mariachi band played traditional music. A dozen men dressed in traditional gaucho outfits played guitars and brass instruments. A woman in a beautiful, flowing red dress danced and sang.

“Programs!”

Crowds of sweaty people pressed toward the turnstiles at the entrance to the arena.

“Popcorn!”

Oswaldo hung back by the parking lot with Maria and Victor. They waited between two cars.

A slight chill descended on the early evening. Maria wrapped her arms around herself and suddenly became self-conscious about her clothing. After two days of travel and living in the streets, her beautiful Tehuana costume was dingy and stained. She hadn’t combed her hair since she had left her village, and it was knotted and tangled.
She held it back with a ribbon she had taken from the skirt of her costume. But the way Oswaldo looked at her made her insecurities disappear.

As they waited, Oswaldo took Maria’s hand in his.

Maria smiled back at him. Suddenly she wanted to kiss him. She had never kissed a boy before, and, impulsively, she wanted him to be the first. But she was too shy to actually act on it.

“You know,” Oswaldo said, “I lied to you yesterday.”

“You did?” replied Maria, pulling her hand away from his.

“
Sí
. I am only fourteen, not eighteen. Or at least that’s what Oscar tells me. I’m not really sure.”

“Is that all?” Maria laughed. She squeezed his hand. “I like fourteen-year-olds better than eighteen-years-olds, especially since I’m fourteen myself.”

All around, crowds of people dressed in their best clothes lined up to enter the arena.

“I can’t wait to see what it’s like inside,” said Maria. She tried to imagine what it looked like. “The largest building I’ve ever been in is the church in my village. And that can’t even hold the entire village!”

“It must hold a million people,” blurted Victor.

“Well, not quite, but close,” replied Oswaldo.

“I know we should be looking for Mama, but I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. This has been the best day of my life.”

Oswaldo beamed.

“The bus ride around the city was magical,” bubbled Maria. “And now we’re going to see the real El Corazón and El Diablo, not just a
description in the newspaper or illustrations in comic books.”

“I can’t wait to see El Corazón’s Flying Suplex in person,” Victor said excitedly as he smacked his fist into the palm of his hand.

“Hold on a minute,” said Oswaldo. “First we have to find tickets.”

“You don’t have tickets?” asked Maria, confused. “We don’t have enough money to buy tickets.” Her hopes of seeing a live wrestling match were quickly disappearing.

Oswaldo shot them a marvelous grin. “Don’t worry. This is where the fun starts.” He turned to Victor. “Hey, little fella, you think you could get us some tickets?”

Victor looked at his sister nervously. “I don’t know,” he said hesitantly.

“It’s easy. See that man in the red
guayabera
shirt?”

Victor nodded.

“He’s drunk, and his ticket is sticking out of his back pocket.”

They watched the hugely fat man staggering by a lamppost.

“But he has only one ticket,” objected Maria. “I don’t like stealing a ticket. Let’s come back when we have the money.”

“We only need one ticket,” explained Oswaldo, ignoring Maria’s objections. He put his arm around Victor. “The great Oswaldo can turn one ticket into three.” He slapped his chest proudly and then looked down at Victor. “Now, go on.” He pushed Victor out from behind the car.

Maria panicked. This wasn’t what she thought was going to happen. “Victor, get back here right now.”

Victor glanced at his sister and then at Oswaldo. “I can do this, Maria,” he said, scowling.

He ran across the parking lot and scooted up behind the drunken man. As the man staggered toward the arena, Victor reached out his hand and grabbed hold of the ticket. Just then the man reached back and clasped Victor’s wrist.

“Who is this?” The man spun around with amazing speed for someone so large.

“Victor!” screamed Maria. She turned to Oswaldo for help, but he looked frozen. Then he turned to her and said, “Sorry.” He ripped the silver-and-turquoise brooch off her blouse, and was gone. She could see the top of his head bob between the cars as he ran farther and farther away.

A Good Deed

“H
urry, Frida!” shouted Diego.

“I’m coming.” Frida stood in front of the mirror, adjusting an elaborate headdress to cover her shorn locks.

Delighted with Frida’s change of mood, Fulang sat on Diego’s shoulder. “This is going to be so good. I’m glad you thought of it.”

Diego patted Fulang on the head.

“How do I look?” Frida stepped into the living room wearing a traditional Tehuana costume and a headdress that looked as if it came out of a Renaissance painting.

“Wonderful!” Diego set Fulang on the couch and took Frida’s arm. “We have to go or we’ll be late.”

“But I’m coming too,” said Fulang.

“No, dear,” Frida answered. “Tonight it is just Diego and me.” The two left the house and drove away, leaving Fulang dressed in her own Tehuana costume with no place to go.

“Is she crazy?” cracked Chica.

“What do you mean?” asked the skull.

“Well, this morning she gets divorced and she’s suicidal. Now, she’s happy and going on a date with the man who just divorced her.”

“
Díos mio
!” replied Fulang. “I didn’t think of that. They don’t sound like the actions of someone in control of all her faculties.”

“She’s lost her marbles,” clacked the skull cheerfully.

“Shut up, moron,” spat the cat.

“I’d better follow her to make sure she’s okay,” concluded Fulang as she rushed out of the house.” “Especially since the portrait of Dr. Eloesser said this wrestling match is where we’ll find help for Frida!”

Fulang climbed over the wall surrounding the garden and into a tree with branches hanging over the street. She noticed Caimito de Guayabal, the spider monkey, down the street playing tag with two squirrels, but she was more concerned with catching up to Frida and Diego. The street was empty. They were long gone.

A few minutes later a trolley passed under her branch. She took a deep breath and dropped onto the roof, clinging tightly as the trolley made its way down the street. She faced the breeze as the air whipped through her fur and sent her skirt flapping. It was exciting and more than a little frightening to travel across the city alone. She had never done this before. Whenever she had left Casa Azul, she had been with Frida. Now, alone, she drank in the people on the streets coming and going from buildings and getting on and off the trolley. She passed the National Palace, where many of Diego’s murals resided. Finally, on the other side of the city, the trolley arrived at the arena.

Fulang leaped from the trolley onto the roof of a parked car. From there she scanned the parking lot for Diego’s car. The waves
of crowds were moving swiftly into the arena even though it was still early. Hesitantly, she went from car roof to car roof down the line of parked vehicles. Now that she was there she wasn’t sure what she was going to do or how she was going to find Frida and Diego. So many people, so much color dizzied her. She didn’t know where to look or what to look for. She thought back to the words the portrait of Dr. Eloesser had spoken: “You will find the answer in a wrestling match between El Corazón and El Diablo.”

Well, I’m here
, Fulang thought,
but I’m not sure how I’m going to get inside
. She felt safe perched on the roof of a car. She scanned the parking lot and the entrance to the arena for a tree. With all these people milling about, she did not want to be trampled underfoot.

Just then she heard something land on the car roof behind her. She spun around and smiled in relief.

Caimito tipped his head and chattered. Since the magic didn’t extend beyond the walls of Casa Azul, he couldn’t speak words. He did a couple of flips and chattered his concern.

Fulang nodded back. She appreciated his concern but couldn’t stop and play. She decided to take a chance. Taking a deep breath, she darted between the legs of the people. Caimito followed close behind.

Before they got very far, a child screamed.

“Victor!”

Fulang and Caimito looked over to where the cry came from. They saw a girl in a Tehuana costume just like Fulang’s, but the girl’s was dirty. It was clear she had been wearing the same outfit for a while.

The girl was calling to a small boy who was struggling to break
free from the grip of a huge fat man. She ran to the boy and pounded her fists on the man’s back.

Without thinking the two monkeys dashed after the girl and hopped onto the giant man’s shoulders. Then they stuck their fingers in his eyes.

“
Aaaaggghhh!
” screamed the main in pain. He immediately let go of Victor and flung Fulang off. Caimito hung on and continued to claw at the man.

Screeeeeeeeeeech!
cried Fulang, landing safely a few feet away.

She didn’t know if the children understood her or not, but they did run.

“You dirty monkeys!” yelled the man.

Thump!

The man kicked Fulang, who rolled under a car to safety. Caimito bit the man’s ear and climbed into a nearby car. The man tried to chase the two, but they scooted away under other cars until they were back to the street. Together they hopped the next trolley, safe.

Cold Alley

N
o matter how warm the night, it is always cold in an alley.

Maria and Victor huddled closely together between wooden crates stacked behind a department store.

“Well, at least we’re rid of that nasty Oswaldo,” Maria said, more to convince herself than her brother.