The Swap

The Idea

It was a beautiful November day in the Encanto. The fall was always nice inside the valley, but there was something special about today. The reason became apparent as the Madrigals gradually streamed out of Casita for another day of helping their community. Everyone seemed a little bit more cheerful than normal. Isabela had moved into the Guzmán guest house after Luisa's birthday and tried just joining the family after breakfast for a couple weeks, but that didn't feel right. She joined the rest of her family for breakfast that morning, which automatically made the day better. One thing Isabela realized about herself in those two weeks was that she enjoyed the romance novels her tía Pepa was always reading. She had no desire to start dating again any time soon, but the novels were fun and kept her connected with Pepa, something she was afraid of losing by moving. So when Isabela walked with Pepa toward the fields with a newly arrived novel in hand, it started making more sense why the day was brighter.

"I'm so excited to spend the day with you, sobrina," Pepa said as she walked next to Isabela. "It's been so long since we had time together just the two of us."

"I don't know when that even was," Isabela replied. "Did we ever do chores together before?"

"I don't think so. I'm just happy you don't have any arrangements today. I'm excited for this book! What's it about again?"

"I don't know, I just asked Mariano for a romance novel next time he went on a trading run."

"What's it called?"

"The Notebook. Mariano says it's really popular in America."

"I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before. I've been reading these books for ages."

"I never thought I would like these books, but they're fun. It's nice to see an actual romance build for once."

Pepa gave Isabela a sympathetic look. "You'll find your own romance soon, I know it."

"I know I will, I just don't want one. Not right now, at least. Two years of being forced to date the love of my prima's life kinda soured me on the whole dating thing. It'll happen when I find the right person, though."

"Good for you. Now let's get started." Pepa waved her hands and created a rain cloud over the field. "It's your book, you read the first chapter." The two women sat underneath a shady tree and settled in as Isabela opened the book. "It's so nice to have someone to do this with. I missed seeing you every morning."

"I missed you too, tía. I'm glad we can do this together. Chapter one."

Up in the plaza, Camilo was setting up Julieta's stand while she rested in the shade. Julieta was on the back end of a three-day migraine that even her sleeping pills couldn't cure. She was finally feeling like a person again, so although Camilo made the food for that morning, she went with him to distribute it. Camilo insisted on going with her to make sure she was okay, so he put on his blue scarf that gave him her abilities and set up the stand. A grin of satisfaction spread across his face as a third of the line disappeared for the third day in a row. He was so sick of people taking advantage of his tía's Gift, and now the people were finally getting it. At least when he was around, there would be no one showing up to the stand just looking for a snack. Once all the food was laid out, Camilo looked at the man at the front of the line, Osvaldo, and gestured to him to wait for a minute before walking over to Julieta.

"How you feeling, tía?" Camilo asked.

"I'm fine," Julieta half-whispered, her blue earmuffs securely on her head. "Just trying to calm down and get my head to stop pounding."

"How bad is it?"

"It's nothing, corazón, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. Do you need to go back to bed?"