Caray, Caray!

Aldo's new book is out. "I can't ask more from life!" (But as we know, he does.) Lety dodges his most ardent embraces, there in the kitchen with the poofy hats on.

The cuartel wonders if Lety will invite them to the Expo - it begins tomorrow. "We've been so supportive she has to invite us!" "Have you forgotten what jerks you were about the Aldo gossip?" asks Irma.

Lety drives up; when the creepy cuartel asks why she's alone, she says Tomas has gone to get his new car and Aldo has to go to the publishers, then says "tomorrow is very important here at Conceptos." "We've worked so hard for you - but we'd work harder if you'd invite us to the Expo." "Of course I invite you." "Fern's coming back today, y'know."

Aldo and Julieta are still in the kitchen. She confides: "My husband's not an easy guy to get along with, he doesn't warm to folks, he criticizes the whole world, he hates all Lety's male friends but Tomas - he's jealous. But he fell for you right away." She hints at the tough stuff they've been through and says Erasmo invited Fern into their home "because he was Lety's boss," but then the bad stuff happened.

Erasmo shows up, Aldo teaches him to say "chefs" instead of "cocineros" and suggests he stay and help Julieta cook since he (Aldo) has to leave. Erasmo says he doesn't cook or do kitchenly things and instead asks to drive Aldo to the publishers.

Tomas drives up to Conceptos in "Cornhair's" car. Lety: "Where did you get this? You can't have been enough of an idiot to get the Airhead's car back for her?" "Well, I did, but not for her - there were problems so I got it at a good price."

Meanwhile, Oxy is on the meeecroboooss. While the cuartel is musing on the sidewalk ("First the cellphone, now the car, with Tomas she's won the lottery!") Alicia spots her car and barks at the microbus drive to let her off. She sobs and breathes all over it, stroking it, crooning to it. Celso says maybe it isn't hers, the glove compartment is different. She ignores that. "My precious little car, but why is it here?" "It's Mora's." "Oh, no, it's mine, I recognize the smell..." They tell her again that it now belongs to Tomas and she frowns, commercial impactada.

After the commercial, Omar is sleeping/drooling on Luigi's shoulder while Luigi finishes the commercials. (Babearse = dribble, drool, slobber on yourself.) Alicia is still discussing the car with the cuartel (sigh). "What happened to Marcia's car?" "None of your business." "She (Alicia) probably hocked it to pay her debts." "No, I didn't, because I don't have debts. It's safe." "She doesn't have money to buy gas." "No, I just like to experiment with new things. I took the microbus to see how ugly poor people like yourselves get around."

They say it's not that she doesn't understand that the car is Mora's, she just doesn't WANT to understand.

Alicia goes into the office and marvels at the new colors of the secretaries' area (sigh). "These are divine colors, and Divine Justice has brought my car back."

Tomas, in his office, talks to his photo of Alicia, asking "would you like to go out for a spin?" - she barges in and he hurriedly turns it so the Einstein side is facing outwards. I think we're supposed to notice his haircut resembles Einstein's.

Alicia: "I died of pleasure to see my car back, not even a scratch on it, how'd you do it?" "The lawyers hadn't been able to sell it and wanted to close the case so they accepted my offer."

Alicia assumes he did it for her and says, "oh, I'll give you a little something for it each month, you'll be very flexible of course because we're such good friends." His cellphone is plunged deeply into her cleavage - only its antenna is showing. "I never stopped appreciating you."

"You don't have to pay me anything!" "I can't take it without something in return, I'll give you a token payment, not right now of course because I have bills to pay..." He repeats she doesn't have to pay anything. "Ay, Tomy!" She grabs his head and thrusts it down into her bosom, the cellphone antenna is probably sticking into his ear. "You're GIVING it to me?" "No, I can't." "Why?" "Because I bought it for myself."

She drops him on the floor. "First you promised me money for the car and took advantage of my innocence. Then you gave me that check with the bad signature. You've ruined my life and taken what's most precious - my car! No, Mora, it's MINE. I paid for it with the sweat of my - well, with the sweat of my ex-husband's brow." "Well, I could take you for a spin." "No way, you're not even getting me to the street corner." She slaps him.

The phone rings, it's her dad. She says, "This is going to be a long phone call, hope you have time - remember that cockroach who deceived me? He's swindled me again. (Estafar = swindle.)

In one of this show's ever more vapid and hopeless attempts to make the cuartel amusing, they goosestep into the office. They admire the redecorating (sigh). They find out from Alicia that Marcia will be back in time for the Expo.

In Tomy's office Lety asks acerbically why he brought so much trouble on himself by buying Alicia's car. Eventually he abandons the "it's a good investment" line and admits he just wanted his chica's attention. "I thought I'd share it with her, but she didn't like the idea." "You won't get anywhere with her unless you flat out give her the car, and that would be the biggest mistake of your life."

(Sobar: handle, suck up to.)

Annoyed, he parries - "You're nervous because Fern's coming back today." Annoyed, she parries: "Maybe I'm nervous looking at your hair which is the same color (orange) as the walls."

Tomas calls Fern "Mandiola" (bossy) again and taunts Lety for not being over him. "Tomas, the difference between you and me is that I learned my lesson, but you're still hung up on a lost cause." She marches out as Tomas says: "Don't march!"

In the publisher's office, Aldo is handed the first copy of his book, hot off the presses. Erasmo is impressed and reads the introduction out loud and yadda yadda about food and sacred familial sharing blah blah blah.

Simon brings Tomas the Conceptos water bill. Tomas says it's pretty cheap and delivers a little PSA about public water systems.

Lety queries her diary: "Will Don Fernando come back ready to show how much he loves me, the way he promised before he left?"

Fern arrives. He's nervous and asks if Marcia is back. Alicia says "she wanted to be back, but no airplane wanted to take her." "Those pilots, how temperamental they are" he jokes. There is forced laughter. "I'm waiting for a VERY important call" he squeaks like Luigi, and again forced laughter. "My joke wasn't that funny. But really, I'm expecting a very important visitor." [Oh dear, I suppose this is going to be the NYC chica -- ed.]

He leaves and the cuartel gossips: "Did you notice, he didn't ask about Lety?"

Lety, in her office, asks PM for the guest lists and when she hears Fern is back, asks hopefully: "Did he ask after me?" "No, he didn't ask about Marcia either." "No little message?" "No."

Simon dances in with the day's mail, expecting applause. "I have the usual tragic notices from the bank for [Alicia]." He sidles up to PM but then rebuffs her. "We're still mad at each other?" she asks. "Yes." "OK, then starting today I declare myself completely at liberty. There will be a lot of real sexy guys at the Expo."

Alicia grumps that people of PM's low level won't be invited to the Expo so of course we have to hear how Lety invited them all.

Simon says he doesn't care, and after he leaves, PM cries. He then gives Lety the statement from the credit company which is financing her car; she holds it up to the camera and says they have the best rates in town. Simon is oh so interested because he might want to buy a car some day. The camera lingers on the letterhead of this mortgage company. [I fear this is the future of TV. - Ed.]

Erasmo asks Aldo, "Is it hard to write a book? Because I have a great story to tell, it would be a bestseller, it's about my Uncle Lazaro Solis."

Simon gives Tomas his cellphone statement. He opens it - the size of the bill makes his hair stand up on end (that's a little joke). He is dizzy and staggering as he shrieks, "That woman never stops talking!" Simon says he'd have thought a Vice-President of Finance of Tomas's caliber would never have lent his phone to somebody like that. "I have to get it back! oh, but then she won't have the phone or the car... I know! she promised to give it back when I paid her salary, so I'll pay her."

Fern and Omar embrace, then race towards the Seat of Power. Fern says, "With the redecorating this has to stop - we can't go leapfrogging over the desk and breaking things. We'll seat ourselves in a democratic, civilized manner." They play chinchupu for the honor of the Seat of Power and when Fern loses he mutters about the short straw.

They tell each other "I missed you." Omar: "You stopped calling me!" "I was busy, airplanes, meetings..." "And that bonbon you met in NYC?"

Fern tries to talk about the Expo, but Omar says "This is not your priority of yore. Aren't you going to ask me about your little gargoyle and Domensain?" Fern ignores the jab and continues trying to talk about work, but Omar persists. "Are you serious?" "Do I have my joking face on? "You've grown up?" "All I care about is that the campaign goes well and we pay our debts."

"You don't fool me, I know you better than you think, I changed your diapers when you were a baby..." "OK, Carvajal, it's true - I'm dying to know about Domensolin." "DomensaEEN. OK, welcome back." They rise and embrace and then Omar slips into the Seat of Power, citing the "you snooze you lose" rule.

"My intention, Carvajal, is to convince Lety I don't care any more. I'm doing pretty well, eh, a good actor?" "I don't want to worry you but all this time, Aldo and Lety have been together upstairs, downstairs, everywhere, enchanted with life."

The Golden Circle of Goodbye zeroes in on Fern's impactado look of dismay.

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