Boscha Noceda

Chapter 3: Playground

A couple weeks later, Boscha's injury healed, with only a faint scar that went around her leg. Luz and Boscha were on a playground, playing on the swings. Boscha had a small baseball hat on... which she drew an eye on. Yeah, anything they got Boscha to cover her third eye she would customize with an eye. Manny was pushing Boscha on the swing, while Camila was pushing Luz. Both toddlers were having the time of their lives. The Noceda parents, on the other hand, were starting to tire when they moved on to the seesaws, and more so at the monkey bars. Chasing the kids through the jungle gym didn't help matters. Finally, they had to take a rest on the park bench when Camila flew off the merry-go-round.

"Heck of a fortnight, huh?" Manny asked his wife as he watched Luz and Boscha digging near the sandbox.

"Has it been that long?" Camila stared into the sky as she massaged her aching side. "No calls, nothing from the police, no sign of her parents. I hoped you were wrong, but maybe she was..."

Manny put his arm around her. "Hey, we still don't know for sure."

"But if we can't find them, what then?" Camila worried. "That poor girl has been through too much as it is. How could we break it to her that her parents can't be found, or if they were in an accident, or-"

Their discussion was disrupted by screaming kids running past them, apparently from Luz holding on to some snake skin.

"Don't be afraid!" She shouted to the fleeing children as Boscha tried on some more snake skin like a scarf, "It's not a real snake, just its pajamas!"

Camila couldn't help but laugh.

"She called the skin pajamas."

"Looking good, Princesa!" Manny called to Boscha as she fashioned some crude snake skin bracelets.

"Ugh, how unsanitary." A woman's comment caught the parents' attention.

"Those two must have been raised by wolves." Another woman replied to the first.

"HEY!" Camila shot up from the bench to face the two women, oblivious to the pain in her side. "Wolves happen to be great parents!"

"Ugh, right." The first woman scoffed. "Great parents don't let their children play in the dirt."

"You don't wanna anger this mama wolf." Manny warned. "You wouldn't like her when she's angry. I mean, I kinda do, but you definitely wouldn't."

"To bad she doesn't teach those kids the tenets of basic hygiene." The other woman chided.

Camila's eyes brimmed with anger. "One thing I will teach them is how not to be uptight putas like you! Now stop badmouthing our kids and let them have their fun!"

"We... we were just about to leave anyway." The two women walked away at a rather brisk pace.

Suddenly, Camila could feel that pain in her side again. Manny smiled, proud of his wife, as Luz and Boscha ran up to them.

"Mami, are you okay? We heard you yelling." Luz asked her.

"Estoy bien, mija." Camila assured her. "Just had to straighten some things out with those... ladies."

Luz seemed to be relaying what she learned to Boscha. Manny took the opportunity to tease Camila a little.

"So..."

""So" what?"

""Our kids," you said?"

Camila realized what she said before.

"Wha- I mean, it was... I don't know who her... i-it was just for the sake of brevity. Just a slip, is all."

"Was it, though?" Manny grinned wider than she thought possible.

Boscha walked up to him and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Mister Manny?"

"What is it, Princesa?"

"Wha's a "poo-tah?""

Manny could only stutter as Camila chuckled. It would seem that maybe she didn't misspeak after all.