Part 1: Nueva Casa
Christian and Andrea win the scholarship; Jesus is bitterly disappointed; Christmas celebration; the orphanage is destroyed by arson, killing Juan; Christian gives his scholarship to Jesus; Jesus and Andrea board a bus on January 1st, 1969.
Sophia stopped classes and shut down the bakery, except for a few special orders, from December 22nd until January 1st. She would restart business as usual on the 2nd of the year, but she thought it was important to give her children time off during the holidays. On the 20th of December, five days before the holiday, she brought Enrique, Christian, Andrea, Miriam, and Jesus together in the classroom to bring them the long-awaited news.
“Baja Leai University sent us the results of our scholarship application, and I am very pleased to announce that not one, but two of our very own were selected for the prestigious scholarship,” She said.
The five sat in silent reverence, awaiting the fateful decision. Jesus crossed his fingers, praying that he would make the cut, “Congratulations, Christian and Andrea, you have both qualified for the scholarship!
I’m very proud of both of you,” As the other jumped up to congratulate the winners, a volatile mixture of emotions rose up in the pit of Jesus’ stomach.
How could he win? What does he have that I don’t? And Andrea doesn’t even want it.
Jesus feigned happiness as he congratulated Christian.
“Good job Christian, I’m really proud of you,” Jesus said with a wide, fake smile.
“Thanks, Jesus,” He said, “I know you really wanted this. I wish it could be you instead of me,”
He said. Jesus had begun to despise him despite their close friendship. Part of him was happy that he got the scholarship. In the past months, there were more instances when he would see Miriam and him close together. Part of him was glad for them. It was clear that they were seeing each other. Miriam seemed happy with Christian, and why wouldn’t she be? Christian was an honest and loyal friend, one of the best soccer players in Nueva Casa, and now the recipient of a prestigious academic scholarship. He was Jesus’ closest friend and now hateful jealousy welled up inside of him. He choked out a response and watched as Miriam hugged him and Enrique patted him on the back. “Congratulations, Andrea,” Jesus said, considerably more genuinely.
“Thanks, kid.”
“Are you going to actually go?”
“Of course I am. Can’t pass up an opportunity to get the hell out of this place,” She said with a note of humor.
“I wish we could all go.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Jesus resigned himself to accept the loss. At some level, he was happy for Christian. He had truly deserved the award. It wasn’t his fault. Still, he couldn’t deny the growing envy that had planted itself inside of him. Sophia had somehow sensed the resentment in Jesus and confronted him after the others had left.
“I know you really wanted the scholarship. Don’t take this too hard,” She comforted him.
“It’s all right. I’m glad that Christian and Andrea got it,” He lied. She bought it.
“There are other scholarship and opportunities. We can help you sign up for those later, but for now, just enjoy the holidays.”
Jesus took Sophia’s advice and tried not to let it bother him. Over Christmas, he took dozens of photos with the camera that Winston had gave him of the students of the orphanage, places, and people around Nueva Casa and whatever else he could find. Rodrigo had not shown up again, and Juan was following along in class with Jesus help. Things were well in Nueva Casa. They had put up Christmas decorations outside of the orphanage, and the whole town seemed to be basked in a lively holiday cheer.
The church had erected a life-sized nativity scene, complete with the Virgin Mary, baby Jesus, and Joseph. The whole school went to service on Christmas day, and the preacher, a short, balding devote Catholic who was one of Nueva Casa’s eldest residents, preached a sermon of forgiveness and led the congregation in songs of worship, which Jesus unenthusiastically sang along to.
Osito’s wife and children joined the orphanage for Christmas, and there was an exchange of gifts.
Rico, the youngest orphan, barely six years old received a stuffed teddy bear, which he hugged with childish glee. Osito’s daughters both got new shoes, long overdue after they had outgrown the last pairs.
Carmen’s gift was a ruby red wool scarf. It was of excellent quality, and she was overjoyed to receive it.
Miriam got a small, silver bracelet with the word, “love,” inscribed on a small plate. Andrea’s makeup pallet came as no surprise; she used the stuff religiously. Enrique and Christian both got two long sleeve, button up shirts with dark, neutral colors. Finally, Sophia gave Jesus a first edition copy of Of Mice and Men. To end the day, they had a hearty dinner of roast lamb, corn, potatoes, bread, and a rice pudding for dessert. Everyone went to bed happy and full that Christmas day, lulled deep into pleasant dreams.
The dancer stood in the center of a candle-lit studio. The flickering bare flames cast reflections and danced over the shiny hardwood floor. She was alone in the narrow, low ceilinged room except for the Spanish guitar player. He was a dark-haired, middle aged man with a nylon-string classical guitar. His left foot was propped up on a block on the floor, allowing him to cradle the instrument close to him. Dust particles floated in the air. All was still except for the steady rise and fall of the dancer’s chest. The guitarist began playing a soft, rolling melody on the high strings. The dancer skimmed and floated on the tips of her toes and the balls of her feet to the corners of the room, commanding the space with graceful, eloquent hand gestures. Her blonde hair moved and swayed across her toned back and arms, her muscles rippling under her skin.
She was wearing a tight purple tank top and white shorts that cut off midway through her cream-colored thighs. The music began to pick up speed and volume. The musician’s thumbs plodded across the strings, brandishing a jaunty, exciting melody. The dancer’s movement become dynamic and expressive. She twirled herself into leaps and lunged across the floor, sliding low to the ground like a snake. Smoke encircled her limbs as she twisted and turned faster, the guitarist’s fingers slicing through the air at breakneck speed, moving impossibly fast to keep up with her fiery, erratic movements until the floor began to blister and burn with heat. Wisps of flames encircled the dancer as she became a tornado of hot, burning embers. The heat was intense. The smell of smoke was thick in the air. The sound of burning, cracking inferno drowning out the music in a thundering cacophony of noise.
The grim, terrifying realization hit Jesus at once, and his senses were suddenly fully activated as the floodgates of adrenaline opened. It wasn’t just a dream. He was in a burning room. The walls of the orphanage were exploding with flames. In an instant, he was on his feet, his heart beating double barrel.
At the same time, he assessed the situation, his senses blasting into overdrive. The wall was burning from the outside in. A hedge of fire rose outside the window, like a gate to hell. Voices indistinguishable from one another were screaming and shouting. The door! His attention fixed on the exit, Jesus didn’t even realize his feet were moving as he sprinted alongside Christian and Enrique to the exit into the kitchen.
“Wait!” Christian yelled, and turned around, “Get him!” He said, pointing at Rico, who was too dazed by the shock and heat to respond. Jesus scooped the child up from his bed with manic strength and swiftness as Christian and Enrique ran into the kitchen. There, the women were already rushing out the back door. Jesus ran out into the airy darkness of the night, the cool air hitting him at once. He turned around at a safe distance and watched as the orphanage and bakery exploded into flames. Shock racked Jesus’ brain as his mind reeled, searching for an explanation. It must have been arson. There was no way the building could catch fire so quickly without making any of its inhabitants.
“Carmen!” Sophia screamed.
“I’m here!” Carmen responded. Jesus began to make a mental tally of everyone present. He spotted Andrea, Miriam, Carmen, Sophia, Enrique, and Christian. For a split second, his heart skipped a beat when he didn’t see Rico, but then he realized that he was clutching the crying child to his chest in a vice grip. Miriam and Carmen were crying. Sophia was frantically checking to see if anyone has sustained injuries. Christian and Enrique dashed off in search for help.
“Where’s Juan?” Someone shouted. Jesus looked around, not seeing him anywhere. His gaze turned to the orphanage, where the fire burned white hot in rolling bellows of flames that tumbled up the walls and licked the sky. No, it couldn’t be possible. Juan must have made it out. Jesus remembered seeing him on his bed, eyes wide with terror. Had he been too paralyzed to respond, like Rico? The inferno was too hot to stand any closer than twenty feet away. The wood cracked and shattered as the structure collapsed. Everything that they had held dear was being reduced to dust before their eyes, and all they could do was stand and gape at the awesome fury.
“Juan!” Jesus screamed, “Juan, where are you?” He was powerless to stop the mighty firestorm.
In minutes, it had consumed all but the whole building. The bakery wasn’t spared either. The fire destroyed both buildings with ease, but failed to spread to nearby trees.
Jesus watched in horror as he realized that Juan had been trapped in the blaze, suffering a horrible fate. Sophia was searching for him, but to no avail. The overweight student was nowhere to be found.
Andrea was crying, tears staining her cheeks. Jesus held her and comforted her just as much as he needed to comfort himself.
“Juan! Juan, no, God, no!” Jesus shouted. He couldn’t believe it- no, it couldn’t be true. Juan couldn’t be trapped inside.
“What’s going to happen to us?” Asked Carmen to no one in particular.
“I don’t know, Carmen. God will provide.” Sophia said prophetically. Jesus wondered if even she believed it.
Within a few minutes, other residents of Nueva Casa came running to their aid, shortly followed by the police and the fire brigade. They successfully extinguished the remained of the fire, but the damage had already been done. The orphanage was destroyed along with the bakery, and all of their possessions were laid to waste. The police talked to Sophia and Andrea about Rodrigo. When Osito arrived, he talked to the police as well.
As the commotion died down, Osito led the girls to his house, where he and Rosa would make room beside their daughters for the time being. Oscar opened his home to Jesus, Enrique, and Christian.
Sophia and Rico went to the church.
Dawn was breaking over the trees, and the fire had finally been reduced to a smoldering wreck.
They agreed that they would get some rest and a decent meal, and return to the scene later to pick through the remains. Jesus hoped that he wouldn’t have to find part of Juan’s charred body in the rubble.
“I’m going to kill that bastard,” Said Enrique, referring to Rodrigo, “It must have been him that did this, that crazy asshole.”
Christian and Jesus made no attempt to calm Enrique’s ranting. “I’m going to get my hands around his throat, and-” He made a squeezing motion and grunted furiously. His face was contorted in pain and anger, “He took everything away from us. He killed Juan. And what did he ever do to deserve it. Juan never did anything to him or anyone else. Rodrigo deserves to rot in prison,” Enrique continued on and on until they arrived at Oscar’s house. He had a guest room where two people could sleep. There was also a couch in the living room that would hold one. His wife stood by with grave concern painted on her face as Oscar showed them the house. Their children peered curiously from behind her.
The trio thanked Oscar repeatedly for their hospitality and took turns showering and retiring to get some rest. The woman provided fresh towels and Oscar gave them new clothes. They could wash their soot-covered clothes while they slept.
When Jesus woke up on the couch, the sun was high in the sky. Enrique and Christian were also rising. Oscar’s wife cooked them a meal, and they changed back into their own clothes. Finally, rested and recovered, the trio went back to the ruined orphanage.
The building looked disturbingly alien in the clear daylight. It was hard to believe that this was the place they had called home for so long. It looked unfamiliar, as if it didn’t belong there. Osito was searching through the charred remains with a shovel, carefully, pulling out the few items that had survived the blaze. Andrea and Miriam stood by, watching the search. When the boys arrived on the scene, they greeted them and told them that Sophia had been there earlier. Miriam hugged Christian tightly and kissed him on the cheek.
“I’m so glad that you’re not hurt,” She said to him lovingly.
Jesus and Andrea exchanged a quick glance, and Jesus took that as his cue to join Osito in picking through the rubble and ashes. There was little to be recovered. A couple dinner plates that might be salvageable, silverware, and a lone shoe left intact were pulled from the pile. Jesus found the remains of his record player and camera, both nearly burned beyond recognition. The doctor that had treated Jesus’ leg arrived on the scene, aghast. The girls gave him a run-down of what had happened in the early morning. He called Osito over and spoke to him in a hushed voice.
Over the next few days, the site of the fire was cleared out. Sophia and Osito discussed at length as to what would become of the orphanage and its inhabitants. Eventually they concluded that it would be rebuilt, and with the help of the church, and with Osito calling in quite a few favors, they could secure funding for the construction. In the meantime, however, they would have to rely on the good will of the people of Nueva Casa to open up their homes for Sophia and her orphans. Jesus and the two older, more capable boys continued to stay with Oscar. Carmen and Andrea remained with Osito and Rosa, and Miriam, Sophia, and Rico rotated through the good graces of several households, spending a few days here and a few days there.
Jesus began working at Oscar’s restaurant beside Enrique and Christian. Oscar didn’t actually need the help, but Jesus felt indentured to repay him in some small facility for his kindness. He scrubbed the grills down, swept the floors, and took out the trash, thankful to have a place to lay his head, and moreover thankful to be alive, instead of perished in a fiery death.
Jesus and Christian were hauling heavy bags of food waste and trash out to the dumpster behind the taquiera when Christian spoke up.
“You know, my friend, I’ve been thinking,” He began, “Osito talked to me a couple days ago and said that he would send me and Andrea north to live with Layla until school starts.”
Jesus nodded, listening as he heaved the garbage into the uncovered bin.
“Well it got me thinking about what is really important to me. I really want to go to Baja Leai and study medicine. You and I talked about this here,” He pointed with his thumb back towards the building they had exited, “Just a few months ago,” He sighed deeply and kicked the dust off the ground with his shoe.
Jesus leaned against the dumpster and affixed his gaze on Christian, sure that he was about to reveal something important.
“Do you remember when I first came to Nueva Casa?” Christian asked.
Jesus nodded. Of course I remember, how could I forget?
The runty kid that had arrived six years ago on the back of a truck bound in from Mexico City barely resembled the self-assured man that stood before him. The Christian he knew now was a far cry from the half-starved child he had known before. In his eyes, Jesus saw remnants of that scared child peeking out from beneath the veneer.
“I was a wreck. My mother dead, my father nowhere to be found. I don’t know what I would do without Sophia and Osito. And now that I should move on … it just doesn’t feel right.” Christian said.
“After all the time that we’ve shared, I’ve never been so scared. I love this place. It gave me refuge, and now something that should feel like a chance to move on just feels like a debt that I’m not prepared to pay. I love Nueva Casa.”
“You should feel happy about this, not scared. You’ve got the opportunity to move on. I know you like it here, but it’s really a shit hole. You can do better than this.”
“No,” Christian said, “You can do better than this. Maybe this is the place I belong.”
“Don’t be sentimental.”
“I’m not being sentimental. Or maybe I am. Either way, I’ve given this a lot of thought.”
Jesus smiled ironically. He knew that when Christian had his mind made up, it was next to impossible to change.
“And Miriam,” Christian said. He hesitated before he continued, glancing at the ground. “I see the way you look at her. I’m sorry things worked out like this, but I really love her. And I want to stay here with her.”
Jesus swallowed hard. The statement stung, but it was honest. “I know.”
“Thanks for understanding. Well, the thing I want to tell you is that I finally realized that I can’t go to Baja Leai.”
“I think you’re making a big mistake, Christian,” Jesus said. “I mean this is a huge opportunity.
This might be your only chance to do something like this. Don’t let it go to waste.”
“I’m not going to let it go to waste.” Christian said.
“Then what are you going to do? You can’t go and not go.”
“Jesus, I want you to go in my place. I don’t want this chance wasted, and I know that you, more than anyone else, deserve to go. So go in my place. Take my papers and become me. I know it will work.”
Jesus stared at him in awestruck disbelief. He was at a loss for words. Finally, he found them, “You’re crazy, man. No one will believe that I’m you.”
“Why not? We look like brothers, and we practically are. Do you think that they’re going to remember what I look like from one visit? All of our identification records were destroyed in the fire.
We can start anew. Look, I know it’s a lot to consider. Just let me know what you want to do tonight. I had to ask you before Enrique, because,” He leaned in close and check around him, “I don’t know if he’s cut out for it.”
“No, I want to go! Thank you man, I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe you’re doing this for me. I really do want to go,” Jesus replied.
Christian beamed, “I hope that you were going to say that. I was sort of counting on it. Sorry that I waited until the last moment.”
“The last moment?”
Christian smiled, “The bus leaves first thing tomorrow morning,” He said. “Osito wants us to go live with Layla. Apparently he wanted to send us off without telling anyone else. I had to tell Miriam, though. I couldn’t leave her like that. And when I talked to her,” He grinned sheepishly, “I realized I just couldn’t let it go.”
“Why did you wait so long?” Jesus asked.
“It took me a while to decide what to do. I felt torn between what I wanted and what I felt someone else had set out for me,” He put his hand on Jesus’ shoulder, “You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember. I’m happy that I can do this for you. But, I’m not really doing this for you; I’m doing it for myself.”
“I think you’re making a mistake, but I’m not going to stop you,” Jesus said.
The two young men hugged, then Christian said, “Come on, let’s finish work so that we can eat.”
In the morning, Jesus took a backpack full of secondhand clothes that had been donated by various members of Nueva Casa. He carried a bus ticket and walked to the stop near the center of town.
In the quiet early morning peace, Jesus wondered what the dusty, unpredictable road ahead would hold in store for him. A few minutes later, Andrea appeared, face painted with an expression of amused puzzlement.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m taking Christian’s place.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am,” He said definitively.
She glared at him for a moment and then laughed. “Well, looks like I’m stuck with you, kid.
Beats staying here.”
They waited in the early morning light for the bus that would sweep them away to a new life.
The date was January 1st, 1969.