Chel & Tulio

Chapter 2 // Reunited With Miguel

One day, I was walking to another play; "The Princess and the Bullfighter". I had tickets for 3 months, and it was apparently very good. But, as I was just around the corner from the theatre, I came across a familiar face.

"Miguel?!" I exclaimed. "Is that you?"

The man looked up at me, with squinting, faded eyes. "Tulio?" he said, through a raspy voice. He stood up and wiped his dirty hands on his ragged pants, then pulled me into a hug. "How are you doing, partner?"

I wasn't quite sure what to do. Miguel look very poor, he had long, blonde hair and a large beard. He was dressed in rags, and seemed in very poor health. How did he even get back to Spain, anyway?

"Why...how....?" So many question were jumping around in my brain, I couldn't get them out. Miguel could sense that I was confused, so thankfully, he explained it to me.

"Courtés found El Dorado, and the city didn't even put up a fight. So, Courtés and his army took all of the gold in the entire city and left us all with nothing. Tzekel-Kan was giving 1/10 of the gold, for leading the army there. Though it wasn't much, it was more than what the city had. So Tzekel-Kan took over El Dorado, giving one sacrifice a day and making everyone live in fear. I escaped, thankfully, and I brought a beautiful woman with me, too, and we bought a house together. But she left me for another man, so she kicked me out and left me to live on the streets. Here I am, many months, later, still roaming around, scraping up anything I can find in the dust in the road."

"Wow, Miguel, I'm sorry your life has been so rough." I apologized.

"It's okay. How has your life been?" he asked.

"Chel and I got married, an..."

"Wow, wow, wow, you're still with Chel?" he cut me off.

"Yes..." I nodded slowly.

"Really? You married her?" he asked.

"Yes." I replied.

"Wow."

I cleared my throat. "As I was saying, Chel and I got married, with a large, lavish house, two maids, one butler, and five children." I said smugly. Who cared if I was bragging? It was Miguel's stupid choice to stay in El Dorado, and plus, I was proud of my new life.

"Sounds pretty nice." He stared at the ground, and I began to feel bad for bragging.

"Would you like to stay with us, for the time being, until you get back on your feet?" I asked.

He nodded enthusiastically and thanked me graciously at least 30 times. I ended up skipping the play, and had to walk Miguel back to our mansion.

I opened the door with Miguel, Chel was at the oven, baking something that smelled absolutely delicious. Catarina seemed to be helping her bake. Diego was in his chair, playing his flute, while Rosalina was dancing to music with Lilliana. Luna was in the very back of the room, nursing Maria her baby food.

Chel looked up and sashayed her way over to me. She grabbed the back of my neck and began to smooch me. "Honey." I mumbled between her kisses. "Not in front of the children." She pulled away, slowly, and looked back up at me with innocent eyes. "Sorry, my love. Who is this?" she asked, looking behind me.

            "Oh, it's Miguel. You remember Miguel, don't you?" I asked.

            She squinted her eyes at him and thought for a minute, then shook her head. "No." she said, in her cute little accent.