Mama's Boy

Part 4

Mother's Day was a busy day in the Encanto. Isabela was never in more demand. Her beautiful flower arrangements were highly desired all over town. Lucky for her, Camilo was there to help. His Christmas present to his oldest prima- no, wait, they were hermanos now after Dolores and Mariano's wedding- was one of his awesome magical scarfs. He made sure never to carry more than one scarf at a time after the fiasco on the triplets' birthday, but he was more than happy to give them to Isabela, Luisa, and Dolores as their Christmas gifts with a promise to help if they had busy days. Today was a busy day, for sure.

Camilo started the day by waking up at 6:30. After the events of the last year, Sundays were guaranteed rest days for the family. Camilo did his morning routine of a shower, lung capacity check, and an allergy pill. The routine was a new development after he had an asthma attack while helping Isabela move into the Guzmáns' guest house. Her pollen was too much for him to handle. After that, Camilo started the coffee and made a huge breakfast while wearing his apron so Julieta could get some sleep. The leftovers would be the emergency supply of food for the day if someone was badly hurt.

At 9:30, the Madrigals went to church. This was one thing on Sundays that was nonnegotiable. La familia Madrigal and the entire Encanto itself existed because of a miracle. Abuela insisted that the family take the time to worship and thank God for the miracle that kept them safe for so many years. Camilo could do without it, but Abuela not only insisted that everyone attend, she required the next candle holder to sit next to her. After mass, Isabela walked over to Camilo, her handmade blue scarf with embroidered flowers on it in a bag.

"You're sure you don't mind helping?" Isabela asked. "It's our day off."

"Of course not," Camilo replied with a smile. "I watched you exhaust yourself for fifteen years in a row. We don't do that anymore."

"Don't tell Antonio, but you're my favorite hermanito." Isabela ruffled Camilo's hair before producing a list of thirty names.

"You have thirty orders?" Camilo asked in disbelief.

"Of course not. This is your half. I have the other thirty."

"Isa, I can only maintain five arrangements at a time."

"Me too. That's why I space them out. Everyone on this list knows that their arrangement will last for about an hour. After an hour, you drop all five and move on."

"Okay, that makes more sense. What do we do in between?"

"What do you mean?"

"Arrangements only take a minute to make."

Isabela thought for a second. "I have an idea."

Fifteen minutes later, Camilo and Isabela sat in the deserted plaza stretched out on blankets. Camilo had the blue scarf around his neck and orange flowers surrounding him. "This is nice."

"Yeah, it is," Isabela replied. "Mother's Day typically keeps me on my feet all day."

Camilo looked at his list of thirty orders. The top five were crossed out, but it was still huge. "If I wasn't helping, how long would you be doing this today?"

"Until 9:00. I would shorten the time the bouquet lasts and go until people went to bed."

"Isa, that's nine hours of constant use."

"Yep. But it's what I had to do to make Abuela happy. The one time I complained, she scolded me. I didn't like that feeling."

"Welcome to my world before last year." Camilo reached for a big bag he grabbed from Casita when they got the blankets.