Memories of a Life That Never Happened

Chapter 6 - Visits

Since Escobar and Jacira had been together, their visits to Mary's House were always due to her. Mica's mother had been ill for several years now, afflicted by a condition the doctors called chronicle bronchitis. Slowly and steady, the disease was trumping Jacira's efforts to stay healthy. 

The way Mica saw it, her stepfather was a Spartan warrior. Not once did he ever complained, or got sick or, least of all, cried. So it was understandable that when Mica entered room number seven at Mary's House, she was very alarmed. There were two cubicles at each side and Escobar was bound to the last one on the right, by the window.  

"Mica! Mica!"  

She heard as a miniature of Escobar leapt from Jacira's lap and sprinted straight to her.  

"Hey Mom, I think I hear Julian's voice, but I can't see him," she teased.  

"I'm here!" said Julian, jumping in front of her, his chubby arms shot up in the air while he opened and closed his fingers. "I'm here, Mica!" 

His long black hair, trimmed by Jacira in a bowl cut, bobbed along with him. It was their mother's indigenous legacy to both her children.  

"Oh no! I think Julian's gone invisible again!" She kept teasing, but squat to be at his height. As she opened her arms, her half-brother lunged at her, and Mica had to brace herself not to fall backwards.  

"Oh, now I see him!" she giggled.  

His arms wrapped around her neck so tight that they could have been apart from each other for over a decade. That was impossible, of course, because Julian was only four. His glasses made his dark brown eyes look bigger. 

"Papa's doing much better," he said to his sister. "I give him water and he drinks it with a straw."  

"Wow! Really? That's cool!" Mica raised his t-shirt and kissed his belly before she stood up. "Will you take me to him?"  

Julian took her hand and showed her to the corner cubicle where Jacira and Escobar were waiting.  

"What happened?" Mica asked. "You don't look good." 

"Oh, now you hurt my feelings," Escobar joked but Mica did not laugh. "I am good now, cariño," he reassured her in his usual hoarse voice. "Julian has been taking good care of me. Right?" Escobar had a strong Colombian accent and his son's name was always pronounced one hundred percent in Spanish. 

"I think we might have a doctor in the family," Jacira boasted. 

Julian beamed at them, two darling dimples denting his plump cheeks. 

"Do you know how long you'll have to stay?" Mica wanted to know. 

"Just until the nurse comes with my medicine. Then I can go back to work," Escobar informed. 

"What?" Mica glowered at her stepfather. "Are you mad? You need to rest!" 

"See?" Jacira coughed. Her bronchitis was at full force these days. "What did I tell you? We should go home, all of us." 

Escobar shook his head in denial. "I cannot, cariño. You heard what Señor Chuster said. His party depends on me. He needs me." 

"What are you talking about?" Mica turned to her mother. "Does he have a fever?" 

"Nicholas Chuster was here to see your father. He left a few minutes before you arrived. Didn't you see him in your way in?"  

"You're kidding!" Mica gave her them an unconvinced look. "He was here? In the flesh?"  

"See how important it is that I do my job?" Escobar thrust his chest out. "I have to go. Señor Chuster cannot do this without me."  

Dragging a chair closer to his bed, she asked, "What did he say?"  

"He wanted to check on Escobar and begged him to go back to work." Jacira answered, staring down at her hands, folded on her lap.  

First, she had spotted Theo on the beach. Then, her stepfather got a visit from the man himself. All on the same day. Curiosity was boiling inside Mica. Nothing could stop it now.  

"What's he like?"  

"Very insistent," her mother replied with a raised eyebrow. 

"I don't know why you don't like him," Escobar chided. 

"Neither him nor his family ever did anything for us," Jacira said and coughed some more. "Why should I like any of them?" 

"Cariño! The job he gave me pays better than anything I do the rest of the year. Besides, they did not do anything against us, either." 

As Jacira kept silent, Mica gave it another shot. 

"I meant physically."  

"He's a lot like the photos. Black sleek hair," Jacira described between coughing fits. "Pale skin, green eyes."  

"He smells funny," Julian, who had been silent, added. 

"That's right," Jacira agreed. "He's very confident, but shorter than I thought." 

"Ha!" Mica slapped her thigh. "It's the same with his son! I saw him on the beach this morning. Isn't that a coincidence?"  

This whole day was almost as if her family was friends with the Chusters, she thought. 

"Yes, it is," said Jacira, much less excitedly than her daughter. "If you're serious about going back to work," she turned her eyes to Escobar. "At least take Mica with you. Sandra will not mind." 

"Cariño-," he started, knowing upfront that the argument was a lost cause. 

"I won't have it any other way," his wife threatened. "Unless you want me and Julian to be there instead."  

"I can give you water," Julian offered, smiling broadly. And as if there had been a decision, he grabbed the straw from Escobar's cup. "I will take this for you."  

Everyone laughed at him and Jacira took him back on her lap.  

"All right," Escobar conceded. "Mica will come with me." 

"Really?" She did a little dance. "I get to see where the party's going to happen?" 

"Now wait a minute young lady. You're not going there to play," her mother warned. "You'll be there to make sure Escobar is ok. Right?" 

Mica felt like a small child again.  

"Of course, mom. I know that."  

Jacira always got defensive when wealthy people were concerned. She believed Mica was too drawn to their lifestyle, which was a blatant truth. As Mica got older, the infinite possibilities that surrounded the rich had a strong appeal to her. Nothing her mother did or said could change that. Jacira, on the other hand, had deep roots in Buriti.  

Right after Mica's father left, the word out on the street was that Angelo had left her mother because Jacira refused to move somewhere else. Whether this was true, Mica did not know, but she was determined to look past her mother's fears.  

If being a guest to Nicholas' ball was a dream, visiting its grounds was now a reality. Getting a glimpse of this fascinating world where celebrities paraded was her childhood fantasy. Just being there, where everything would happen, was sure to be the most exciting event of the day.