Mama's Boy

Part 2

Camilo woke up at 5:00 AM with a wide smile on his face. It was March 16th, and it was finally his thirteenth birthday. He was guaranteed a day at home, free from his long list of responsibilities as his annual birthday present from Abuela. Everyone else got another present from Abuela in addition to the day off, but Camilo decided not to dwell on that. He was too excited about the plans he had for the day. He jumped out of bed and changed clothes quickly, throwing on his ruana before bolting for the door. A voice stopped him in his tracks and made him walk back to his bed.

"Papá?" Antonio mumbled from the side of Camilo's bed that touched the wall. "Adónde vas?"

"Go back to sleep, mijo," Camilo whispered before placing a kiss on his little brother's forehead. "I'm just going to fix breakfast with tía. I'll be back."

"Puedo ir contigo?"

"No, you need more sleep. You don't want to miss my party tonight, do you?"

"Mm-mm."

"Good. Vuelve a dormir. I'll come get you for breakfast."

Antonio's eyes fluttered closed again, so Camilo snuck out of his room and ran downstairs to the kitchen. Julieta was already hard at work making arepas and buñuelos.

"Feliz cumpleaños, sobrinito," Julieta said as she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Gracias, tía," Camilo replied with a smile as he started the first pot of coffee of the day, one just for him and Julieta.

"Are you excited about your day off?"

"Yep! It's gonna be great. I'm gonna take Antonio to the river. Mirabel promised she would give me pineapple empanadas as much as I wanted, and mamí said we could spend the afternoon together once she's done watering the fields!"

"Don't forget, I want to take you to the cafe for a treat."

Camilo beamed. "Maybe she'll put more coffee in it this time!"

"You don't need more coffee, sobrino. You get all jittery and hyper. It's like you're Juancho but bigger."

"But it's my birthday!" Camilo whined.

"And you need to be awake for it. You don't want to take a nap in the middle of the day because you're coming down from a caffeine high, do you?"

"No."

"Then we should keep the drink as it normally is."

"Fine." Camilo washed his hands and started kneading dough for his aunt.

"Wait, you aren't dressed correctly for that," Julieta said.

"What do you mean?"

"Stay right there." Julieta disappeared into the dining room and reappeared with a box with a blue bow on top in her hands. "Happy birthday, mi corazón." Camilo gasped and smiled widely.

"Can I open it?" he asked eagerly.

"Of course. This isn't my only gift for you today, so you can open it now."

Camilo untied the bow and opened the box. He squeaked happily when he saw what was inside and beamed at his tía. "Can I put it on?"

"It wouldn't be much use to you in the box." Camilo put on a turquoise apron with a chameleon in the center and on the pockets. Herbs lined the sleeves and the bottom hem, just like Julieta's. "I figured if you were going to help me make my arepas and breakfast all the time, you deserved your own apron."