Without You: A Story about Pedro Madrigal's Life

The New Rooms

Today was the day, the triplets' birthdays, and Pedro was still struggling with Bruno's dress. That was okay, though; he knew Bruno would love it anyway.

On their walk the day before, Pedro was able to get the new silk and fabrics that they needed, as well as some new cookbooks for Julieta. Even though he already knew some recipes, it felt unfair to not get her something new like he did her siblings. He swore that he had to fight off hundreds of abuelitas to get them, and they were fierce. It was a nightmare come to life.

The kids laughed at him for saying that, but they were there too, and they saw it happen. Even they couldn't deny that it was at least a little scary.

Pedro continued to work on the dresses as the children played. He had fed them cake for breakfast cause they complained that their tiny little bodies had never felt such anticipation, and he gave into the puppy dog eyes like they always did.

The children played some more, and Pedro struggled some more, until finally the eldest of the three triplets entered the room, confidently strutting. "Pápa! We have to cook now, pleaseeeee!" And so the puppy dog eyes had returned. Pedro sighed and accepted his fate as he was dragged out of the room by the 5-year-old.

"Bruno, Pepa, get your butts over here," Pedro looked shocked at his child for a moment before she turned to him and shrugged. This was typically how dynamics with his children went. Julieta was in charge, Pepa thought she was in charge, and Bruno simply went with the flow of things. That was how it always was.

"What are we doing?" asked Pepa.

"We're cooking," replied Bruno before Julieta or Pedro could respond. "What? I overheard," he shrugged.

While he was talking, Julieta had somehow acquired a knife, and Pedro's heart felt like it dropped 20 feet. He carefully walked over and took the knife from her grasp gingerly. "Don't pick these up without help from me, okay? You could seriously injure yourself or someone else, and that could end up really badly."

She looked remorseful, "Sorry, Pápa."

He smiled sadly back at her, "That's okay, mi amor. Now, let's cook, shall we?"

It was pure chaos in the kitchen for what felt like hours to Pedro but what was in reality only 30 minutes. By the end of it, Pedro had almost three heart attacks, Bruno was covered head to toe in flour, Pepa had broken 3 plates, Julieta had a smile that could have lit up the world, and they ended up with 9 somethings that sort of resembled arepas.

They sat and ate their dinner on a table with too many chairs for the 4 of them. Pedro hoped that one day he would get to see all of the chairs filled. Pedro also hoped that Pepa would remember her food wasn't going anywhere and would actually chew it, but some things are just dream material.

"Today, I was playing with Angel," Bruno started, "and we saw a Máma duck with her baby ducks." Pedro would never admit this, but he always got a little anxious whenever any of the triplets brought up a mother. It was something they hadn't had in so long, and they didn't remember her- only stories.

"Yeah?" Pedro asked, schooling a smile onto his face, and Bruno nodded, giggling. This of course made the other triplets giggle as well. Once one started, none could help themselves."
"You're like our Máma duck," Pepa added, still giggling.

"No, he's like our Pápa human," Julieta argued back, and Pedro threw his head back and laughed.

"That, I am."

They stayed there and laughed and talked till the moon shone brightly in the sky, way past when they were done with their food.

Pepa and Julieta told stories of their adventures that week, seeing as Bruno had gotten to, and Pedro listened as intently as you could to a five-year-old. Pedro made sure that his children always felt heard, and he let them know that with responses of his own about the adventures he had.