Goin' to Jackson { Jackson Wang Series }

Chapter 7

Jen took a sip of green tea as she looked out the window of the teacher's lounge. She pulled her hair off the back of her neck and tied it up with a scrunchie. The History teacher, Carlos, entered the lounge and poured himself a black coffee. His skin was dark from coaching the school's soccer team in the hot sun. His hair was clipped very short on the sides and was a little longer on the top. He usually spiked the top part. Jen thought it made him look like a frightened hedgehog, but she would never have said it out loud.

"Hi, Carlos, how are you doing?"

"I'm OK, thank you. And you?"

"OK, thanks."

Jen always tried to speak to him in English because he was taking classes at night and really wanted to practice with a native speaker. It might have been easier to just slip into Spanish, but she respected his dedication to learning English well.

"Um, do you have plans this weekend?" he asked, not making eye contact, but keeping his gaze on the contents of his cup.

"Well, usually, I go home to see my family in San Luis Potosí, but I don't have to go every weekend. Why? Did you have something in mind?" she asked as she finished her tea and went to the sink to wash her cup.

"Well, last time we talked, you said you hadn't seen the mummies yet. I was thinking we could go together if you are free," he said.

"Oh, OK. That would be fun. Let's do it," replied Jen as she checked the time on her phone. "I have to get to class, but I'll text you my address later."

"OK, cool," he said. When she was safely outside the room, Carlos let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to admit it, but he was smitten by this honey-skinned beauty, whose intelligence and wit made her all the more attractive.

On Saturday morning, Jen stood outside her apartment waiting for Carlos. She was wearing a white sundress with spaghetti straps. She had pulled her mass of curls into a loose bun on the top of her head. Stray curls escaped along the sides of her forehead which softened the look.

Carlos pulled up in an aging Impala. He got out of the car and opened Jen's door for her. I guess chivalry is not dead after all, thought Jen. After gently closing her door, he walked around the car and got in.

"I'm sorry I have all the windows open," he said shyly. "The AC is broken. I'm really sorry," he apologized again.

"No problem. I'm used to that kind of thing," replied Jen. "When I was growing up, sometimes the AC would be broken in our car and my mom would say we had to use the '4/60 AC.'"

"What's that mean?"

"It means you open all four windows, and you drive at 60 miles per hour," Jen laughed.

Carlos chuckled softly. He had assumed she must come from a wealthy family to do all the traveling she had done. It was a welcome surprise to him to know that she was just a down-to-earth girl. He had to admit that she was becoming more and more attractive to him by the second.

They pulled up to the Museo de Las Momias and entered the dimly lit building. Inside glass enclosures, several mummies had been propped up against the wall in a row. Unlike Egyptian mummies, these ones were naturally formed. So, they had no wrappings on them. Some even had their original clothes on. Jen winced as she saw several child mummies, their mouths open, making them look like that painting, "The Scream." She didn't want to tell Carlos, but she was a little creeped out by the macabre sight.

"What do you think?" asked Carlos, studying her face.

"Um, I mean, it's cool, but it's kind of creepy," Jen replied.

"Yeah, I guess Mexicans aren't as creeped out by death as some other people are. We have a whole holiday that celebrates death and dead people. You know, el Día de los Muertos," he answered.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So, how did they find out that these people were mummified? I mean, they were already buried, right?"

"Yeah," said Carlos. "They imposed this tax on burial sites. So, if the family of the person couldn't pay the tax, they would dig them up. It turned out that when they started digging people up, they found that they had been naturally mummified by the dry soil and natural minerals. It's pretty weird," conceded Carlos.

"Wow, so why do they have these terrible looks on their faces. It almost looks like they were buried alive," commented Jen, wrapping her arms around herself.

"It really does look like that. They say that most of them were dead when they were buried, and those faces are just a natural part of the process a dead body goes through," Carlos explained.

"Wait, you said 'most' of them were dead. What do you mean by 'most'?" Jen questioned him, hardly knowing if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Yeah, well, there was this one lady who was buried alive," Carlos said, watching Jen's face to see if he should proceed.

"What the actual hell?! You mean, she was not dead when they buried her?" Jen exclaimed.

"Right," he answered. "Her name was Ignacia Aguilar, and she had a strange sickness that made her heart appear to stop beating. One of those episodes lasted more than a day, and she was believed to be dead. So, they buried her. They found her later rolled over on her stomach with blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her arm."

"Oh, God," said Jen, retching slightly at the thought of someone being buried alive. "Would it be OK if we step out for a bit. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed."

"Sure," Carlos answered, immediately becoming very solicitous of her health and general mental well-being. "What was I thinking taking her here on a first date?" he thought. Who does something like this? I'd be surprised if she ever goes out with me again after this.

They stepped out into the bright sunlight and Jen put her hand above her glasses to shield her eyes from the sun. After being in that dark building, she felt the sun's rays were even brighter than before. She took a few deep breaths and Carlos brought her a bottle of room temperature water.

"Are you OK?" he questioned as he bent down a bit to see her face more clearly.

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just a little shocking to the system to see death up close like that," Jen observed.

"You'll probably never want to go on a date with me again," Carlos lamented.

"Oh, I didn't realize..." Jen didn't finish her sentence because she saw the stricken look on Carlos' face.

"I'm sorry," he rushed to say. "I just thought... Um, I guess I made an assumption. It was a mistake. I'm sorry," he repeated.

"No, no, it's fine. It's totally fine," Jen assured him.

"Do you have a boyfriend already?" he asked. "I should have asked you that before. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to keep apologizing. It's fine, really," she said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "The thing is that I have a guy I like. I'm not sure if he's my boyfriend anymore or not," Jen responded truthfully.

"Wow, so, I lost out to a guy who may, or may not, actually be your boyfriend," Carlos summed it up.

"Yeah," said Jen gently. "It would be wrong of me to lead you on when I know there's someone else in my heart."

"Well, thank you for your honesty," he said gravely as he opened the car door for her.