The Secret of Zorro This Is Your Family Chapter Four by Ella Christian @1999-2002 Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com CHAPTER FOUR What is Missing, What is Found Sergeant Garcia sat in front of the jail cell, dozing in the bright sunshine. Inside the jail just beyond him, Juan Bottega and Rosario were also half asleep in the shade, as the warm afternoon progressed. The cuartel was otherwise empty of all but a pair of guards at the gate. Horses stood on three legs in their stalls, swishing their tails to discourage flies. "Ohhhhhh, noooo, dear...." Garcia muttered, snuffling in his sleep. Rosaria's eyes opened and she looked at him through the bars. "That is not what I meant...." Garcia snorted. He was frowning. He wrinkled his nose. Rosaria nudged her husband, who started. "What?" he asked, now wide-awake. "The Sergeant is talking in his sleep," she whispered. "But Clementia...." the Sergeant protested. Juan Bottega looked at his wife. "How can he sleep in that hot sun, much less dream?" "He can sleep through anything," she replied. Juan Bottega nodded. He looked at the Sergeant again, and saw that the keys to the jail cell were hanging partly out of his pants pocket. He looked at his wife, back at the keys, and then at his wife again. "Do you think he can sleep through anything?" he asked. Rosaria considered where the keys were and looked at her husband, nodding. They both got up off the cot they were sitting on and quietly turned it over. Juan Bottega pointed at a cross bar that ran from one edge to the other, holding the cot together. "That would do it," Rosaria said, after gauging the distance to the Sergeant's pocket. "But how tightly is it attached?" Juan Bottega shrugged, and gave the bar a yank. It creaked but did not yield. He stuck his booted foot on the sidebar of the cot. "When I say three, just give a little cough," he instructed his wife. He peered around. "I hope that the other prisoners will cooperate with this plan.... shhhh, shhhh!" he hissed between the bars, trying to clue the peons in the cells on either side to stay quiet. Then he looked again at the sidebar. "One, two, three!" Rosaria coughed as her husband yanked the bar, holding the opposing bar down with his boot. With a metallic squeal, the bar came loose. They both looked at the Sergeant. He snuffled at the sound but did not awaken. They smiled at each other. "Make sure no one else is watching," Juan Bottega said, as he aimed his new acquisition between the jail cell bars and towards Garcia. "Wait!" his wife said, putting her hand on the bar he held. "What?" he asked, annoyed. "What is our plan?" she asked. "If you do get the keys and we do unlock the cell door, then what?" "Then we get horses and ride away!" he exclaimed in a whisper. "We will release these others too." "Ride to where?" she asked. "This is our home now." Juan Bottega frowned. "We cannot stay here, Rosaria," he said to her solemnly. "If we stay here they will make me cut my hair and shave my beard and go back into the army, where they will re-commission me and..." he shook his head. "I gave up the uniform, I do not want to wear it again. I do not want to lift the sword or command men again. I do not want to fight any more battles, unless they are with him..." he nodded at the Sergeant, "...when he does not pay his bill!" "But you were a good Colonel, Juan," his wife said gently, patting his arm. "It was a long time ago," he sighed. "And no one here knows about it. It must stay that way! And that..." he continued, turning again to the Sergeant and re-extending the bar towards the keys, "is why we must get the keys and go somewhere else." "Ohhhh, Clementia...." the Sergeant sighed. "Ohhhhh..." "It sounds as if our Sergeant..." Rosaria said, watching as her husband manipulated the bar, "...has improved his standing with his seņora since his dream began." Juan Bottega managed to slide the bar under the key ring and ever so slowly slip them onto the bar. He carefully lifted them and then let them slide down the bar and into his hands. "And we have improved our standing with these keys," he said, grinning at her. He looked around to see that no one had spied their deed. "Rosa," he said, "here is what we must do. We must wait a little while, until the sun begins to set. We must persuade him to feed us, which will get him to leave. I will open the door, and we will work our way to the stall over there," he nodded, "closest to the gate. Then I will chase a few horses into the middle of the garrison yard and it will cause a stir. The lancers will start chasing the horses, and that is when we can slip out. I can open the gate quickly. We must run like the wind across the square, to our own stable behind the Tavern. Then...." he continued quietly to give her instructions, to which she nodded as he spoke. Then she frowned. "But we must be at Don Diego's tonight, for Esperanza's party!" she exclaimed. He paused, thinking about it, and then continued to whisper. Rosaria smiled. When he was finished, she giggled. "You may not be Colonel Esposito any longer, but you still have his cleverness, my Juan," she said. ****** Back at Rancho de la Vega, Conchita was making a last batch of tortillas when she saw the master of the house charge into her kitchen. "Don Alejandro!" she exclaimed. He raised his hands in the air. "I know I am not supposed to come in here, Conchita, but..." "Out!' she said, pointing at the door. "The children are about to sing for Esperanza and there are no refreshments out yet!" he told her. She frowned. "But Maria and Bernardo carried many things out a few minutes ago," she answered. "Just after you brought Esperanza downstairs." "The table is empty," he said. "That makes no sense," Conchita said, putting down her tortilla and nodding at her young daughter to continue. The little girl took her mother's place, stepping up onto a wooden stool and resuming the work. "I sent Maria, Bernardo and that big young priest to the patio not five minutes ago," Conchita said, as she and Don Alejandro walked towards the patio. They stepped out into the sunshine, passing the piņata where it dangled from the tree branch. Approaching the table, which should have been laden with small cakes, sweets, and sugared water, they saw that the food was gone. They looked at each other. "This makes no sense," Conchita repeated. "Well, find the food!" Alejandro said. He then took off in the direction of the stable. ***** Happy day, happy day, Esperanza's happy day Full of friends and full of fun All because you've just turned one We are here to give you cheer And wish you many happy years! So the final chorus of Esperanza's birthday song ended. The baby clapped cheerfully at her mother's urging, and all the children huddled around to pat her and give her kisses. Elizabeth tried to manage the minor chaos that resulted when Rufino shouted "Happy birthday, Esperanza!" inches away from Esperanza's head, causing the baby's eyes to widen in alarm. She looked at her mother anxiously. "Rufino, Rufino!" Elizabeth scolded. "You do not need to yell at her, she is just a little baby." "She is getting to be a big baby!" he replied. He looked at Diego. "Where is the food? Where is Sergeant Nephew? When can we beat the piņata?" He looked at Elizabeth. "Can I hold her?" "No!" Elizabeth and Diego both said at the same time. Diego picked Esperanza up off the hay bale for good measure. Rufino shrugged. "She is not that big," he said. "I am going to the patio." He peeled away in a run for the patio, only to crash into Alejandro. "Oh, Rufino, must you never look where you are going?!" Alejandro exclaimed, annoyed. "I am sorry, Don Alejandro, I did not see you!" the boy answered, spinning around and then continuing on his track. "Rufino!" Alejandro said. He reversed directions and followed the child. "Here Moneta, you give Esperanza a birthday kiss and then we can all go to the patio," Elizabeth said. Moneta stepped up onto the hay and gave the baby a kiss on the cheek. As she stepped down, Elizabeth noticed a rip in her dress. Diego looked down and saw it too. "You may go and play with the others," Elizabeth said to her. The little girl grinned and then went off towards the patio, following her friends. "These children need new clothing," Elizabeth said to her husband. "Her dress is falling apart. Frederico's shoes are too small for him; did you see how he hobbles? And Rufino..." she rolled her eyes. "He has never liked shoes much," Diego said. "But you are right, they are all looking ragged." He looked at Esperanza, who was wearing a pale blue dress with yellow flowers embroidered on the bodice. "You, my little angel, are utterly beautiful though," he smiled at her. "Dah!" Esperanza said to him with a smile. "It is not right, that we have so much and they are so ragged," Elizabeth said, as they began walking towards the patio. She peered at Esperanza. "Are you all awake now, sweetheart?" she asked. "Did that pretty song Daddy wrote for you make you feel happy? You did such a good job clapping!" She clapped her hands lightly. Esperanza did too, giggling. "We must do something about this, Diego," Elizabeth said quietly. "We are very generous to the church, Elizabeth, you know that." "Not generous enough, if the peon children of Los Angeles are barefoot and tattered," his wife replied, reaching for their daughter. "Mah! Mahma!" Esperanza said. "You are so excited this afternoon!" Elizabeth said to her. "But that is only right, it is your day." She looked at Diego. "We must make sure those children are properly clothed," she said. "We can make it a gift in honor of Esperanza's birthday. My father will help." Diego raised his eyebrows. "That will inspire my father to help," he said. She glanced at him. "Si," she said. They stepped into the patio courtyard to see the children, Alejandro, Father Felipe and Bernardo standing in front of the piņata, next to the empty food table. Rufino had the piņata bat in his hand, though he was not blindfolded. Diego sensed something was wrong. "Wait here," he said. Thus Elizabeth held back some yards while he went to find out what was happening. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, striding up. "Someone has stolen our food," Moneta said mournfully. "Stolen...?" Diego said. He looked at his father. "Bernardo and Maria brought all the sweets out and put them on the table," Alejandro sighed. "Our thief has left the sugar water and nothing else." Diego frowned. "But no one has been here except all of us!" he said. Alejandro shrugged at his son. "I want to find whoever did this!" Rufino said, stepping back into a fencing pose, and lifting the piņata bat as if it were a sword. "If El Zorro does not come and find our food for us, I will do it myself!" He jumped to and fro, dueling with an imaginary opponent. "Someday I shall be El Zorro!" he shouted, stamping as he thrust the bat into the air in front of him. Elizabeth watched all this, with a smile. Then as Rufino continued his antics around the courtyard, her eyes widened. She gasped to herself, staring. Esperanza wriggled and bounced in her mother's arms. Elizabeth looked at her daughter. Then she looked back at Rufino. "Oh, oh my..." she said softly to herself. She looked at Diego. He, too, was smiling as the boy bounded around the patio. He folded his arms and laughed, the dimples in his cheeks deepening. "Diego!" Elizabeth said loudly. "Si, darling?" he asked, coming over to her. "Oh, how could you?" she said, thrusting Esperanza at him. With that she raced across the patio and upstairs, disappearing into their bedroom and slamming their door behind her. "Elizabeth?" Diego said, completely baffled. Esperanza watched her mother run away and looked at Diego, confused. Alejandro dodged Rufino and came over to Diego. "What is wrong?" he asked. "I have no idea," Diego answered. Esperanza began to whimper. "No, no, sweetheart, it is your birthday," Diego said to her. The gate to the road opened. Everyone looked to see who it was. Esperanza bounced suddenly in Diego's arms. "Chocho!" she shouted. Carlos Matteo entered the patio, a big, wrapped present under his arm. He saw his granddaughter and came over right away, putting down the present and reaching for her. "Buenos tardes, my pretty birthday muchacha!" he said, giving her a big kiss as Diego handed her over. "I am so sorry to be late for your party with all your little friends! What have I missed?" Alejandro sighed. "Well, you missed the children's song, and the disappearance of the food, and..." he looked up at the door of Diego and Elizabeth's bedroom. "The food disappeared?" Carlos said, making a face at Esperanza. "How can that be?" he asked her. He looked around. "Where is your Mommie, Esperanza?" "I...she has gone upstairs, I will see what she is doing," Diego said. He nodded briefly at his father. "Surely Conchita has more food," he said. Then he turned and went upstairs two steps at a time, wondering what awaited him beyond the heavy wooden door. ****** In the cuartel, Sergeant Garcia woke up when the sun disappeared beneath the garrison walls and he felt a sudden chill. He shook briefly, and then sneezed, which caused the chair he was sitting on to teeter precariously. He managed to catch himself before falling, and jumped to his feet. He dusted himself off and then looked around to see if anyone had seen that he had been asleep. The coast seemed clear. Then he turned around and saw Juan Bottega and Rosario standing at the cell door, looking at him solemnly. "Juan, Rosaria," he said, smiling feebly. "I...." "We would like our dinner soon, Sergeant," Rosaria said to him. "Si, soon," Juan agreed. They nodded at him soberly. "We are very hungry," Rosaria told him. She looked as hungry as she could. "The food from your soldiers' kitchen is not very good," she added. The Sergeant sighed. How well he understood hunger. And how often these people had fed him despite his inability to pay for his meal. Or the drink that always accompanied the meal. "I will...get you some dinner," he vowed. "A very good dinner," he added. "We could use a good dinner," Juan Bottega agreed. Rosaria nodded. The Sergeant turned and started towards the office to talk to the commandante, but then stopped in his tracks. He stood there considering his options. Then, resolutely, he walked towards the garrison gate. Juan Bottega and Rosaria watched as he exited. The rest of the cuartel remained quiet. They looked at each other and smiled. "Perhaps I shall not even need to scare the horses," Juan Bottega said softly. *** Diego pushed the door open and entered the dark bedroom. "Elizabeth?" he said, stepping into the room. He looked around. At first he could not see anything, but then he realized that Elizabeth was stretched across their bed on her stomach, weeping into a pillow. "Elizabeth!?" he said, going over to her and sitting beside her. "Sweetheart, what is the matter? What ever is the matter?" "Go away!" she sobbed. She was speaking in English. This, he knew, was a very bad sign. "But.... what is the matter?" he asked again, switching to English. He put his hand on her back. "Don't touch me!" she said into the pillow. He removed his hand, startled. He sat there for a minute looking at her as she wept, completely at a loss. She had not done anything like this since early in their marriage. "Are you...tired?" he asked cautiously. "No!" she snapped. "Then...why are you upset?" he asked. "Oh, Diego!" she sat up, her voice nearly shaking in anger. She faced him, pointing out the window towards the patio. "Look at him!" "Look at who?" he paused. Then he added, "Can we speak in Spanish?" "Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed in exasperation. "It is so terrible that I have learned this on our daughter's birthday!" "Learned what?" Diego asked, changing back to Spanish. "Him! Him!" Elizabeth exclaimed, again pointing at the patio. "Who?" Diego asked. "There are a lot of 'hims' out there!" "Rufino!" she shouted. "Rufino?" Diego repeated. "What about him?" "Oh, Diego!" she wailed, throwing herself back onto the bed face-down. "I don't know how you could let this happen," she sobbed. "And then go on for so long!" Diego sat there for a minute, still clueless as to what had so set her off. He thought for a moment. She kept crying. He tried to touch her again and she snarled. "Elizabeth," he said, "sit up and tell me what you are talking about. Now," he said. "We have guests, young ones I admit, but this is ridiculous. We must go back down and be with Esperanza and those children. Your father has arrived. What about Rufino?" Elizabeth sat back up. "Look at him!" she exclaimed. "I look at him all the time!" Diego said. "He is around all the time, he is impossible not to look at! We have all been looking at him for years!" "How many?!" Elizabeth asked loudly. Diego frowned. "What do you mean, 'how many'?" "I mean how many years?!" she cried. "Look at him! I can't believe you never told me about him!" Diego stared at her, still lost. "Told you what?" he asked. Then his eyes widened. "You think that.... you think that he is mine?" he asked. "Of course he is yours, look at him! I cannot believe I never saw it!" she exclaimed, her face wet from her tears. Diego shook his head. "He is not mine," he said. He took her by the arms. "Sweetheart, he isn't mine. He was born after I left for the university in Spain." "How long after you left?" she asked. He sighed. "At least a year." "How do you know?" she asked. He shook his head. "Elizabeth, I am telling you it is impossible." "How can you know that?" she asked, still not believing him. "Liz, I had never been with a woman when I left for Spain." Elizabeth stared at him. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Yes!" he laughed. "I believe I know that!" Elizabeth stared down at her lap. "He looks just like you." He pushed a lock of hair away from her wet face. "Look at me," he said softly. She raised her face reluctantly. "He is not mine," he told her. "He really isn't." She shook her head. "But he... he looks so much like you, and the way he behaves, the moves he was making when he was fencing...it is...uncanny." "He isn't mine." "But if he is not, then whose is he? What coincidence could possibly make the resemblance so clear, if he is the orphaned son of an unknown lancer?" Diego shrugged. "I do not know, darling, but it would not be the first time such a coincidence of looks has happened. I have never really thought about it. Rufino is a confounding and often annoying and brave little boy, and I am glad that he helped Zorro once, but...he is not mine." She took his hand, insistent. "Diego, I am telling you, I watched that boy today. He is a de la Vega." She held his gaze, a look of utmost certainty on her face. Then her eyes widened and Elizabeth gasped, her hand coming to her mouth in astonished realization. Diego's eyes widened as well, as what she was thinking dawned on him. "Impossible," he said. "Oh, no, that is impossible." Elizabeth's eyes narrowed. She got up and walked out the door, going to the balcony rail. Diego followed. Together they looked down at the scene on the patio. Rufino was still holding the piņata bat and whacking it at the air, while the other children looked on making comments. Don Carlos was holding Esperanza, who was flirting with her Chocho. Alejandro stood near the entrance to the kitchen, clearly awaiting some solution about the missing food from Conchita. He took a step backwards and collided with Rufino, who whirled around and looked at him, holding the bat in the air. "Shall I attack the piņata, Don Alejandro?" Rufino asked. "No!" Alejandro barked. "We must save it for after the party!" "But this is the party!" Rufino replied. "And you have given us no food! Doņa Elizabeth promised sweets!" "Doņa...." Alejandro started. "Well, this is just going to take some time, Rufino, Conchita will bring us something very soon." He looked over to see Carlos with Esperanza and scowled. Elizabeth looked at her husband. Diego was still staring at the scene, looking from his father to the boy and back. "Lord," he said. ****** Clementia was attempting to settle on what to wear to Rancho de la Vega for the early evening party when her husband lumbered in the front door, removing his hat. He looked dusty and sleepy. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, "Hello, dear." Then he looked at the pile of dresses on the love seat in their sitting room. Bonita, Clementia's handmaid, walked in with three more in her arms. He started at the pile on the love seat and then the pile in Bonita's hands. "I cannot decide," she told him. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. "What about the violet one, Seņora?" Bonita asked, nodding at the one on the top of the pile she held. "It is so lovely for your eyes." Clementia looked at the Sergeant. "Surely you will dust your uniform off for tonight?" she asked. Garcia looked down at his jacket. "Si, dear," he said. "What is the matter with you?" she asked him. "You look as if you just woke up." He shrugged helplessly. "How do you know these things?" he asked. "Because I am not blind," Clementia replied. Garcia gulped. "Clementia, I... there is something I must do, but I need your help. Juan and Rosaria should have some supper, you see, and the food from the garrison is not to their liking...." "Sergeant! Sergeant!" came a voice pounding on the front door. In the time it took Garcia to turn around, Clementia raced to the door and opened it. Corporal Reyes and another lancer stood there, agitated. "The prisoners have escaped! All of them!" "Escaped!" Garcia cried, coming to the door and looking out. "But I just saw them a few minutes ago, they were all in their cells!" "They aren't there now," Reyes reported. The Sergeant felt for the keys in his pocket and then groaned, "Ai...and the keys are not here." "And the commandante, he is looking for you," Reyes continued. "He is not too happy." "I suppose not," the Sergeant sighed. He felt once again for his keys, only to find once again that he did not have them. He looked at Clementia. "Go!" she waved at him. "Come to the party after you have found them!" "If I find them," he sighed again. With that he replaced his hat and followed Reyes back towards the cuartel. He could hear Vilaro shouting in the distance. "Ohhhhhhh," he muttered. "I do not think I like the Mexicans. Not the old ones, not the new ones."