Cocooned

A Day with Mariano

Today the kids were going to be spending time with their tío Mariano and his two kids. His wife had to go do a delivery across town, so Mariano had the kids for the day. The man walked up to Casita, waving at the house, his two little ones following close after. He soon entered the house, and was greeted by his younger honorary family members. Yes, he was their big brother. And yes, his two kids were their niece and nephew.

"I'm here!" Mariano called out, and the six kids immediately ran from different parts of the house running up to Mariano and hugging his legs, Luisa easily picked up his oldest, Catalina, tossing her into the air, the 4 year old giggling wildly.

"You took your sweet time getting here!" Camilo huffed and Mariano chuckled, shrugging.

"My bad," he said. "Cat wouldn't put her shoes on, she was so excited to come here that she kept running around," he explained and Camilo shifted into the aforementioned child.

"I can't believe a four year old out ran you," he laughed, before shifting back into himself, taking Catalina from Luisa's hood. "But we're glad you're here too!"

"Milo!" Catalina exclaimed, clinging to Camilo, practically hanging from his ruana.

"Did you bring Matias?" Mirabel jumped, her butterflies fluttering around in an excited frenzy. Mariano nodded, laughing again as he held his arms down, revealing the small baby. Mathias looked up at the children who had gathered to look at him. His small fingers reach up to grope at the air, him babbling as he does.

"You're so cute," Isabela cooed, dangling a honeysuckle in front of him. The baby giggled, grabbing the flower. "I remember when you were this small too," she continued, handing Catalina a honeysuckle as well.

"And I remember when you were this tiny," Mariano said. "All of you actually. It was...definitely a surprise," he said,his face faltering before he bounced back. "Anyway, are you all ready to go out?" He asked. The kids nodded before Mirabel suddenly stopped, sprinting up the stairs and to her room. She came out a moment later with her bag around her shoulder smiling.

"Ok. Now I'm ready," she smiled, the other kids laughing at her forgetfulness.

"Alright then!" He said, walking out of Casita. "¡Vamanos!" The kids all followed behind him in a line, singing a song as they marched behind the man.

It didn't take long for them to get to the town square. They had passed by the other adults, giving them a quick wave as they passed by them doing work. After learning that they had yet to eat lunch, Mariano decided to buy them all some food from one of the stands. Sitting down at the benches, Antonio offered to feed Matias while Mariano helped Catalina eat her food.

"Ahhhh," Mariano said and Catalina copied him, biting down on the soft, meat filled pastry.

"Hey Yano?" Luisa asked, biting into her empanada. Mariano hummed, guiding Catalina's mouth to the food he had gotten for her. "What was it like? Before we were born?" Mariano paused, swallowing his own food as he looked at Luisa, seeing the other kids' faces, all having the same curiosity.

"W-Well, uh. It was different. A lot of the things about the Encanto, they were...how do I say this...I don't know. I can only really say it was different," Mariano shrugged and the kids seemed to take that answer, going back to chattering and eating.

Mariano sighed deeply, his heartbeat slowing down. He hadn't even realized it had picked up. "Papá?" Mariano looked down, smiling at Catalina. "Are you ok?" She asked, her wide brown eyes looking up at him.

"Papá's fine mija, just a little nervous," he replied, and the small girl pouted, then shoved a pastry into his mouth, rather unceremoniously. Mariano choked for a moment before barely swallowing the food. He knew his daughter only meant well, and he loved her for that.