[Paths]
[Note: Blaise may be home alone or may be with his family]
1) You found the messages you were looking for and got surprised to learn that your two grandmas would be coming to visit together. Usually it was only one of them at a time. You wondered if there was a reason for this, but then again you knew the two very fond of visiting. Besides Sheila and Dolores, your grandmas played quite a large role in helping raising you up, specially in your early childhood, and not because your mom couldn't handle the responsibility, but to honor your family's cultural traditions.
To get things off to a proper start you decided to go to the bathroom and take a shower before stepping out of your room...
2) In your mom's conversation you found that it was Grandma Regina, or as she insisted to be called "mamá Regina", was coming over to see you and Ariadne. It was always nice to have her for a visit, but at the same time you felt a little nervous, even if she was just super nice to you and your sis, it was sometimes a bit scary how she kept both of your parents in line, more similar to the Latina mom stereotypes you knew, even if that wasn't how your own mom was. There was something bizarre in seeing two fully grown adults flinch at the sight of the infamous chancla [Spanish for flipflop].
"Oh boy, this is gonna be quite the day" You wiped a tiny sweatdrop off your forehead, you knew you'd be in for quite the ride, hopefully you and your sis, if she's at home, can keep your grandma's mind off your parents. Of the two, it seems that your mom might fear her a bit more, but your dad shows reluctance and hesitance to her at times as well.
As a result of your grandma Regina's involvement in raising you, her knowledge as a nurse stuck with you pretty deeply, so you'd learned to be very hygienic, not to a pathological level mind you, but you were always careful to wash your hands after touching something dirty and, in true Mexican fashion, you weren't to enter your home wearing shoes, switching them for flip flops to walk around while inside. Plus, you never missed taking a shower every day, though with how hot the climate could be, you suspected you'd still do that yourself. In any case, you knew it'd be best to take a shower and be dressed in clean clothes before meeting her...
3) You raised an eyebrow. What you found wasn't exactly what you expected. Rather than someone coming over to visit you, your mom had told you that your grandma Xóchitl [Náhuatl/Aztec language for "Flower", pronounced "Shaw-cheetle"] wanted you to visit her, she said she had a surprise for you. Now these were really good news, even without gifts, grandma Xóchitl was about the sweetest person you'd ever known, but the gifts she got you were of the kind that simple money couldn't even buy.
Bringing the knowledge of her ancestors, she turned her backyard into basically a small botanical garden, and just about every plant there either gave fruit or served an useful purpose. She even brought cacao seeds from her home village, many years ago, and successfully cultivated and grew 4 of the trees in it, a task that baffled everyone, including yourself and your entire family. Even notorious botanical experts had come to interview her, asking how she managed to cultivate a tropical tree so far from its homeland, though when she actually explained the ways she did it they couldn't believe it, they didn't believe that things like planting on a certain moon phase could truly have some kind of effect, and yet those trees were there, strong, fruitful and healthy.
She also had several pots with Mexican oregano, which you'd learned firsthand, or more like first taste, that was vastly superior to the oregano you'd get elsewhere, and you absolutely loved it when she sent you or brought whole bags full of its leaves to use in your homemade pizzas. She also had a bunch of special citrus trees, hybrids that gave lemon-limes, a fruit whose lemonade was surprisingly similar to Sprite and 7up while it also gave marinated meats a superb taste.
In addition to having all these tasty, natural things, she also was fond of growing beautiful aromatic flowers, befitting to her name. She always enjoyed seeing hummingbirds and butterflies come to visit to take a sip of nectar. One time, when you were a kid, you saw a singular one, it was blue, but in a metallic tone that shone brightly with the sunlight, and its wings had multicolored feathers, almost like a rainbow. Your grandma jokingly told you that it was a guardian, sent by the old Aztec gods to watch over their children, though something about the way she said it always made you think she wasn't entirely joking.
In any case, you knew visiting your grandma would be a treat in and of itself, and so, you eagerly took a shower and dressed but chose to forgo breakfast because you knew she'd want to feed you anyway, and it'd be worth it...
4) Your eyes widened. The entire family was coming over, which made you wonder how you missed such an important piece of info. You probably were tired when your mom told you. You were sure your parents had taken care of the details, but still, this probably meant that you were bound for the day, so no chance of seeing your friends... though then again Lillian and her family often got invited as well since they were pretty much family too, and the same went for Dolores.
Seeing your grandmas or Aunt Betty would be nice, but you also groaned and pinched the bridge of your nose, as you could tell you'd also have to deal with the massive walking headache known as Celeste. And if Dolores showed up, you'd also add Carmen and Maya to the mix... You didn't even know which one was the lesser evil to pick, both made you groan and cringe for reasons that were in part similar and in part wildly different. Incidentally, dealing with Aunt Karen was also a bit of a headache with how clumsy she seemed to be, but at least she was that way with everyone and not just you in particular.
'God, please give me patience... because if you give me strength I think I'm gonna end up strangling frickin' Celeste' You thought with a slight chuckle. After giving it some more thought, you decided that maybe Carmen and Maya might be the safer option to stick around, even if just for the sake of keeping Celeste off your back, but still, it was like just choosing a different kind of predator, you'd still be in trouble with them around. At least if you stayed within Dolores' sight and earshot maybe you could keep things under control.
This is when another thought came to mind... if Aunt Betty showed up, this likely meant Arianna would show up as well! Your entire body shuddered and went slightly bluish for a split second, as the sole idea terrified you. She was scary enough to deal with at school, and you were pretty sure she absolutely hated your guts, that maybe just her being so busy was the only thing that kept her from showing you how much she despised you... Here, without such constraints, you might be in trouble, but then again, Celeste was much more of a troublemaker, so maybe if you played your cards right you could get two birds with a stone, so to speak.
5) [This chapter is intended to branch out more choices beyond the 4 I presented, so you can have any individual family members come visit, or be accompanied]
302 views
·
May 12, 2023
Sign in to comment