Fly High, Butterfly

Chapter Seven

Casita was looking as full of wonder and life as it had been before, restored by the Madrigals and their village just that morning. The family were preparing for a celebration now that their gifts had returned, and Camilo had been called away from the flurry of activity by his tia Julieta, who was indulging in her love of cooking once again.

Julieta's magic wasn't usually considered one of the more showy types, but that was because not many got to see her work. When perfectly in tune with Casita as the kitchen and with access to any herbs and ingredients from her pockets, Julieta's baking looked more like a dance and the flourishes like magic.

"You called?" Camilo swung himself in, holding onto the doorframe. Noticing the arepas steaming a plate on the counter, he snuck towards them.

A wooden spoon slapped across his knuckles, "Not for you."

Camilo rubbed his hands, pouting sarcastically. Julieta continued, "Could you find your tio Bruno and take that to him, I noticed he's looking a little thin." She shuffled around the kitchen, "Oh, and he'll try to sneak away, but make sure he at least takes a bite from something."

Camilo was hesitant, he'd not interacted with his uncle much since ... well at all. Bruno had left when Camilo was five, and by that point he'd become distant to the family anyway. It'd been so easy to characterise his uncle like a boogeyman, turn him into a story-tale villain for children, and Camilo hadn't apologised for any of that. He didn't know if he needed to. Had Bruno seen or heard, and was that even Camilo's fault?

"Well, go on." Julieta shooed Camilo out.

"Si, si." He gave a cursory glance back at her spoon, and hurried.

He wandered out of the kitchen, into the dining room but there was no sign of his strange uncle. Weaving through his family members, Camilo found his uncle outside, helping to direct the bunting. From behind, Luisa had a table over her shoulder and turned to put it down, only at that height the table swung out towards Bruno's head.

"Tio, watch out!"

Bruno looked his way, and the table missed the top of his head, by actually quite a bit. His hair slightly ruffled with the air displacement. Camilo straightened himself out from how he'd flinched instinctively.

"Oh, I thought you were taller." He mumbled to himself, walking over to Bruno with the plate extended. "Tia Julieta sent this for you."

"Uh, thanks. But actually I'm not hungry." Bruno turned to the house. Camilo intercepted him,

"I've been told not to take no for an answer."

His mami was walking by with more decorations and caught onto the conversation, "heh, Bruno, you know there's no fighting when Julieta's trying to feed you. You must remember it's easier to give in."

"Yeah..." Bruno rubbed the back of his neck, and Pepa continued outside, "I remember."

Then he turned tail and walked off.

"Wait!" Camilo stumbled after him, "Bruno, come on."

He caught up to him upstairs, realising at the top how quick but short Bruno actually was. In his head Bruno had always been tall, but having climbed the stairs, Camilo realised his uncle might actually be shorter than he was. The ruana he played with was also big enough to make him seem ominous when his arms were outstretched, but here with his arms awkwardly clasped in front of him, it made him almost overwhelmingly small.

"What are you looking at?" Bruno asked, realising his nephew had paused behind him.

"Oh," Camilo shook his head, "nothing, I was just thinking about how you're smaller than me. Please, eat."

"Oh, ha. Yeah I guess I am shorter than you now. Not seven feet like you used to think."

Camilo was taken back by that. "You..."

Bruno moved backwards towards his room, "Heard everything, yeah, don't miss much when you live in the walls. Saw every arepa you ever stole." Bruno laughed, stepping up. "Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock on wood."

Camilo felt the need to correct this, to untangle the parts of their relationship that had been frayed over the years. "Lo siento!"

"You don't have to-"

Camilo stood below Bruno, feeling like a kid again. But this time he wasn't confronted with the image of an uncle who was evil and hunchbacked, grinning mischievously like a warning story to keep Camilo himself wreaking too much havoc on his siblings. This Bruno was tired, worried, a little lost, and had cute rats snuggling in his hood.

Bruno stumbled back.

"Is that... is that me?" Bruno knocked on wood again, then tossed salt over his shoulder. Camilo looked down at his ruana, which was now green.

"Oh, lo siento." Camilo felt bad for not warning him. "A better image of you though, don't you think?"

"Uh, well. Am I that grey already?" Bruno put a hand to his head. Camilo laughed,

"A sign of maturity."

"Yeah right." Bruno huffed with a smile. "But as far as acts go I'd say that fits."

"Well, gracias. I put work into my roles." Camilo lifted his chin with a smirk. "But I do think that you could do with a little to eat, even if it is just to get tia Julieta off your back."

Bruno dropped his gaze, sitting on the step. Camilo shifted back into himself and sat beside him.

"Not used to such big portion sizes, huh?"

Bruno shook his head.

"Well," Camilo looked down at the full plate, he doubted Bruno would have had much energy to burn before, and even so not much to eat for ten years. Forcing food on him was gonna be difficult. "Since I love food, and need to eat a lot of it anyway to keep up my gift... how about we share. Tia Julieta doesn't need to know, and neither does mami."

Bruno accepted an arepa,

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Camilo grinned, holding the plate between them. "Also, I heard about your telenovelas from Dolores, you'll have to show them to me sometime."

Bruno lit up, "you'd be interested?"

"Of course! I love theatre! Maybe we could even get Antonio to translate."

Bruno nodded enthusiastically, lifted a crumb to the rat on his shoulder and then took a second helping for himself. Camilo felt a warmth in his chest he hadn't felt since he was five.