Quenito the Bastard (On going)

Chapter Two: Quenito at Age Three

Three years had pass since Aldredo’s family split. coming to terms, Aldredo has turned to his work and at nights he would pour himself a glass of brandy or he would go to Quenito. He still clings to his wife and every time Evita drops or pick up Julia in his house, he would beg her again and again to take him back.  For Julia the constant bickering of her parents has become the norm of her visit in her papa’s house. Their voice of throwing knives and tears of remorse numbs her from the very cause of their separation. She would walk away from the arena of verbal tussle, be it infront of the house, in the living room or in the kitchen. If she found solace in the kitchen  Julia would stare at basement door. She knows the devil is being kept down there and instead of the child she first saw in the confrontation of her papa and her great grandparents which she faintly remembers except for the extreme anger of two wringkly individuals. Aldredo would not let her go there telling her that it is dangerous as the devil might eat her. From her past visits she would pass by the door and would hear a cry, she would saw her papa as containing the devil by going down to the basement not with blessed salt or water but with a bottle of milk, diaper and sometimes small clothes. The devil would stop crying when her papa is there and will cry again when he goes back. 

Quenito has stayed in the basement long enough that he could stand and walk by himself but he could only utter a few words. His hair has grown blond which comes from the western roots of his father. Aldredo would always dye his hair to hide the gene Quenito inherited from his family however Aldredo himself has a natural black hair. With an amateur skill of being a barber he cuts and flattens his hair to save time and money in grooming him. His body is thin for his age and his complexion is pale and sickly, his ears has shrunk, proportionate to the size of his head. In education Julia attends pre school while Quenito stayed most of the time in the basement, Aldredo did not bother in enrolling him to any school.   
= = = =

Quenito was waiting for his papa to bring him a new box, much bigger from the two that he used to sleep on as he out grown the old ones. He flattens the cardboard boxes so that he could lay on it and protect himself from the cold cement but in one of his sleep he peed on it. Aldredo was mad at the bastard when he visited in the morning. He pointed at the chamber pot on the other side of the basement that he could use. Quenito apologized but he was not in the mood to forgive him. He almost punched his little face but the bastard block it with his left arm then Aldredo continued hitting him. He cried for his papa to stop as he shielded his face with both arms. Aldredo’s hand were humongous he could feel every knuckles hitting his bones. One time, Quenito hides in one of the box when his papa was not in himself; it’s always at night that Aldredo was not in himself. His face is red and the smell of his clothes is different than in the morning. His papa saw him looking at the space between the box flaps. He struggles to go back upstairs and when he returned he was holding a duck tape. He sealed the box with it.The bastard cried for him but he carried the box and started slamming it to the floor. He kicked it and spins it countless times as he screams from fear and pain. After the hitting and slamming he opened the box. The bastard was in a haze and something trickled in his forehead. It was blood oozing down. He was terrified and called his papa for help but Aldredo ignored him. That is how there relationship mingle, the punches he gave was a normal thing, Quenito hopes for a bigger box for him to sleep in.   

When he could firmly walk and could do chores his papa brought him upstairs. The place is beautiful, it has more lights and stuff that he did not know. Aldredo taught the bastard the things that he has to do like putting plates on the table and mopping the marble floor. He told him not to go upstairs unless he calls him. In one of his chores he told Quenito to bring the trash outside, near the big green gate. It was the first time that he was going outside of the house. The lot was beautiful with perfectly trimmed grass, the pebbled pathway, the clear sky and the small shed in the garden. He was excited to explore it but his papa pointed the direction where he should go before going back inside. He reached the big gate and placed the trash beside it. He could hear things beyond the green partition. He thought the gate was talking and making strange noise, curious, Quenito examined it and saw a small space underneath the big gate. He bent his body with his head resting on the ground. Infront of the gate he saw  his papa’s car and countless feet walking by, he could not see them wholly. His eyes where observing everything, delighthing his imagination but Aldredo caught him, when he look back he saw how mad his papa is.