The Misbegotten

Those of us still at the house decided to move the still woozy kids to the Theatre room on the second floor of the house. The plan was to lay them down in over-stuffed chairs, while they watched cartoons. With them distracted and unaware, we could talk. We had them each of them on the chairs closest to the huge 75-inch Plasma TV my step-dad had installed on the wall furthest from the door.

I made sure they were comfortable, had cold water and toast now that their Muto sickness was passing. I had given them both a hug and a big sloppy kiss.

Martín pushed it away.

But tiny Lucia squealed with delight and hugged me so tight I thought my neck was going to break.

I had just settled down with the girls for no more than ten minutes when my cell phone chirped with my default ringtone. This was a chime indicating a number not inputted in “my contacts” file. It was an unknown number.

I fingered the answer icon and stepped away from the girls and the background noise of the movie. I walked through the archways into the Multi-media room, immediately beyond the Theatre room. This space filled with a huge circular table upon which stood no less than eight high definition monitors. Each connected to as many extreme graphics PC’s. It was an online gamer’s wet dream that room.

But I wasn’t thinking about the 500 Mbps pipe feeding the network or the deca-core processors that ran each computer. No, I was curious about who would be calling me from a number I had never seen before.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“It’s me, deeeeck,” answered Jacob.

Fucking Jacob!!!

“Whose fucking phone are you calling me from?” I asked. This wasn’t Jacob’s cell number.

“It’s not really a phone, bitch ass, but that’s not important. I need you to listen, okay?” he said. He was more serious than I heard him speak in quite some time.

“Ok, shoot.”

“Uncle Roberto wanted me to tell you guys not to use any landlines to make calls. He says they’re all tapped - the NIA has wired entire neighborhood. Something big is about to go down. So, he wants to make sure you guys are completely off the grid, ok?”

“Yeah sure, no problem,” I said, nodding into my cell phone.

“Also, if there is ever a time where all your cell phones don’t work, he said, run.”

It was when he said the last few words, I realized my cousin was speaking much faster than normal. Something was wrong. There was urgency about his tone I had never heard before. Jacob was never in a hurry to do anything. He was typically so fucking slow, he was beyond annoying.

I didn’t like this one bit. “Jacob, what’s going on, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t have the time to tell you, just remember what I said, okay? He sounded like he was talking away from the phone or the headset, or whatever the fuck he was using to call me. The volume of his voice decreased for a few moments. Then, it came back blaring in my ear. “Remember what I said! Everything is moving very fast now. The stand-off in El Sereno has made everything super-intense. Even Uncle Roberto is acting more cautious than he’s used to doing. And you know that’s saying a lot. Someone is compromising is informants by the hour. So please, Eff, pay attention to everything and everyone around you.”

“Ok, Jake, I got it.”

“Good, remember what I said – no land lines and if all your cell phones go off at the same time - run!”

I was about to give a sarcastic reply for repeating himself, but he hung up and that was that.

I walked back to where the others were lounging. My two youngest siblings were dosing off toward in front of the LCD TV. Sandy, Jolene and Tirza were still sitting further back. The girls weren’t paying any attention to the movie. They were talking instead, intense, heads together.

I sat next to Sandy, knowing full well my face bunched up with concern. There was this sense of trepidation growing like a vine around my neck about to choke-off the air at any second. It was too pervasive to hide. I didn’t bother trying.

“Who was it, Eff?” asked Sandy, flippant, in a “going-through-the-motions” sort of way.

“Jacob,” I answered, unaware my reply made them all come up and gaze at me. It must’ve been the look on my face.

Tirza dragged her tiny, bubble-butt to the edge of the over-sized chair she, making her look even smaller. “What did he say?”

I felt my frown deepen. “He said to stay off the house phone. And, he said if our cell phones all go dead at the same time, to run.” I looked over at my ex-girlfriend. “He said something big was going to happen and soon.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” mumbled Jolene. She was barely audible over the raucous noise of the animated feature the little ones were watching.

Martín and Lucia were still trying to watch it, fighting their fatigue.

“No, it didn’t.” I scratched my head. “And he sounded rushed, like he couldn’t stay on the line more than a minute.”

“You think he might’ve thought someone was monitoring him?” asked Sandy nudging forward as well.

“Sure sounded like it,” I said.

Jolene sat deep into her seat. She folded her arms across her midsection, much like a girl three or four years younger might. “Did he say what might happen?”

“No, he didn’t give me a clue.”

“I don’t like this, Estefan. It gives me the creeps,” conceded Sandy, her body shaking as if she got the chills.

“I know what you mean, girl. I hate these feelings of someone watching us or wanting to look over my shoulder to make sure no one we don’t know is in the room with me.” It was Tirza, shivering too.

“I wish I could hold my mom. She’d tell me everything is going to be okay,” murmured my brother’s fourteen-year-old girlfriend. Her eyes already brimmed with tears.

Sandy walked on her knees toward the younger teen, and leaned forward to give her a hug.

Over her shoulder Jolene continued, yearning the way only a broken heart might. “I don’t have a family anymore. What am I going to do without a family?” The tears fell.

Tirza stood and stepped to the two hugging girls, her hand tracing the edge of Jolene’s face. “We’re your family now.”

I think I fell in love with Tirza for the third time – all over again.

“We will never leave you,” added Sandy as Jolene continued to cry.

I came to my feet nearing my ex-girlfriend. I reached out to touch Jolene upon the crown of her head, letting my hand rest upon it. “And I will make sure nothing ever happens to you.” My heart was full, which was a good thing. It held at bay the muck of the surrounding world closing in on us. I could feel carpeting beneath my bare feet disintegrating, threadbare with each beat of my heart. At any moment, I knew the entire floor would fall out from underneath us and we’d be on our own, vulnerable, facing death.

She glanced up at me, grateful. Her eyes were full, dripping and sorrowful. “I believe you,” she said like she wanted to believe it so badly.

Tirza turned and wrapped a diminutive arm around me.

I stiffened in her clutch, still unaccustomed to our renewed intimacy.

She didn’t seem to take notice. She was staring at Jolene, who was peering back. “You can count on Estefan, Jolene. He won’t let anything happen to you.”

She nodded, her eyes dropping, her head resting upon Sandy’s shoulder.

I looked down at Tirza, an tentative arm of mine encircling her.

Her eyes were only for me.

I bend downward.

She rose to meet me.

Our lips touched, soft, a brushing and then something more. Time froze.

“Ramona was right,” she mouthed against me.

From below, Sandy snickered, expression playful. “This is going to be one wild ride.”

Even Jolene grinned at that.

We stayed that way long after the little ones had fallen asleep. We were almost afraid to break-up our sphere was warmth and security. We were waiting. Full with dire thoughts, we waited. We knew why, though we didn’t say a word. We didn’t have to.

There was a fight coming, whether we like it or not.