Caray, Caray!

• In the Presidential Suite the meter's running, the pesos are dwindling at an alarming rate; Frankie is spending what remains of Isa's stash in bars, while telling her he is taking business meetings.
  
  Isa moans, "Everything is turning out rotten, my life is a castle of diapers and misery." She's still getting the pro forma "Ma cherie," but behind her back Francisco tells us, "She's become very tiresome, I'm losing my patience here."
  
  Isa coos to li'l Ricky: "If Rod really loves you, he won't let you starve - and your Real daddy will get work, we'll have a nice big house and all three of us will be happy." [Saying it don't make it so, sister. --Ed.]
  
  A slice of life at the Presidential Suite: Frankie is asleep, it's past noon, Isa wakes him by pulling off his black silk sleep mask and says his meeting with the VIP must have been an invention; he denies it. She says she doesn't believe him and leaves.
  
  He calls the front desk: "There's some problem with our phone, I've been expecting important calls but it doesn't ring, will you try it for me?" In a moment the phone rings, Isa rushes into the room, and Frankie invents a conversation with the VIP, Milton Fontanet. "Oh, we should take a meeting? Where and when? OK, you know how punctual I am."
  
  Then: "Isa, he and I are meeting at La Normandie, you know how expensive it is, I need more money." "I gave you so much yesterday!" "My dear, it's an investment." "OK, li'l Rickie and I will come with you." "Oh, no, I told you yesterday, big important business meetings are no place for a wife and child, and he might cry. You wait here. Please prepare my blue suit and the matching shirt."
  
  
• Av* is setting the wheels of justice in motion. Convinced by Pammie's father's documents that the Montalvo Corporation has been making illegal exports, he suspends their certificate: they can't produce any more tequila. Since Aaron and Rod are both absent, the anvil is being applied directly to Bruno's head.
  
  Somewhere, Aaron and Oñate are celebrating a contract to supply turquoise tequila to a carnival in Nubatu, no, make that Lubatu; back home Bruno is saying no puede ser! more often than Clarita says como asi! and he's heading for another heart attack.
  
  Bruno thinks there must be a mistake, Av* says there's no mistake and scolds: "You should have paid more attention to what was going on around there."
  
  Videgaray comes in. He admits he's been hearing rumors about Aaron and dastardly deeds. Bruno's heard the rumors too but at least is pretending not to believe them. They realize if Aaron has transferred his own, private, money to the Corporation it, too, may be lost (since the accounts are frozen).
  
  Aaron calls. He denies all. Patricio arrives, he's shocked, simply shocked: "I'm as surprised as Aaron" is his careful contribution. He's charged with studying the documents. He gives up not only Rod and Mariana Franco as the people who signed the illegal shipments, he gives up his own girlfriend Lluvia!!! He looks like there is a NEST of cockroaches inside his mouth as he betrays these people he knows to be innocent.
  
  Minerva and Fedra, indignant that Aaron has fallen under suspicion of fraud, jump all over the idea that Mariana Franco is to blame for this mess.
  
  
• On the rural front, Mr. James is also doing the no puede ser! thing. There are three kinds of agave crud going on, and the third fungus is fatal. He's told he must burn all the six-year old agaves and the organic ones are a total loss, too, because there is no organic remedy for these cruds.
  
  "Where's Basilio?" James shrieks. "Well, he's gone -- his, uh, wife is, uh, indisposed, but really - you're barking up the wrong tree." James figures out instantly: it's not Basilio's fault! Francisco must have sold the copper sulfite instead of putting it on the agaves!
  
  Not wanting to watch the way James' horrible moustache is quivering during his queasy fit, one sorry batch of extras slinks out stage right. Instantly a second batch of extras, escorted by Roman, enter stage left. They are? The bank's goons. Oh dear.
  
  James calls Sophie at Pilar's place and shouts the whole story to her: "We have to burn the agave because Frankie stole the chemical, the bankers' dogs are here, there won't be any loan! It's my fault, I should never have trusted him!"
  
  Sofia sobs and tells him she'll be there on the next flight, they can figure it out together. Dani comes in and gets the Cliff Notes version (i.e. "We'll lose the hacienda!"). The sisters are hugging desperately when Elvis enters and says the sisters make a pretty picture. He has just noticed they're crying when Pilar enters asking, "who's going to the airport? what's all this?"
  
  Pilar forces the truth out of Dani and almost faints when she hears how bad the situation is. She is comforted by sweet Elvis. They agree Rod must hear what's going on, but they can't reach him. They also need to talk to Videgaray - but he's busy with Bruno.
  
  
• Gaviota and Rodrigo, in their elysian hideaway, are blissfully unaware of the disasters at home. They do a lot of kissin' and huggin' and have sex, we presume, for the third time in four years. Enjoy yourselves while you can, I say.
  
  Rod is worried about going to London and closing his Mexico offices, the difficulty of running the hacienda from across the ocean, etc. and he's also worrying for little Ricky, trying to figure out a way to keep him securely in Zwieback and diapers without Francisco filching the money for his aventurillas...
  
  At least he's not worried about the hacienda - he tells Gaviota there are some minor problems with the agave crop but James is handling them (see above). The bank has agreed to give him the loan with the current crop as collateral - the money is guaranteed subject to their inspection (see above). Gaviota muses, "I should have kept Las Mirasoles, we could have sold the place to get you out of debt. But I really wanted to stick it to Aaron -- and you were with that psychologist ... oh well, it will benefit a lot of worthy people..."
  
  "Heh, it will give Aaron a heart attack to find out we're back together." "Do you think the new baby will change him?" "Only death will change him."
  
  Gaviota wants to go back to the city early, Rod says no. The many things which must be worked out can wait a bit longer.
  
  They find a lovely waterfall and Rod says "This would be the perfect place to get married." **As a wedding musician I instantly objected: It's so noisy! Not a word will be heard! The wedding musicians will be wasting their lovely music! We played a wedding last year in a park right next to a highway; the preacher's mouth opened and closed pointlessly as cars whizzed by.**
  
  Oh, it's a private ceremony for two. Rod holds out the shell necklace and makes Gaviota swear to love, obey, and respect him blindly and docilely, and be very faithful in mind, deeds, and thoughts. "Now say, 'If I don't, may Tlascualtitli curse me.' " He explains Tlas* is goddess of the earth and eats women who don't keep their promises. Gav agrees to all the conditions, so it's "Good girl, you get your necklace."
  
  He's about to just put his necklace around his own neck but she stops him and makes him promise to love and dote upon her 24 hours a day, not to be jealous or make scandals in the street, not to be proud ("or a clown," he adds). "Now say, 'If I don't may I be trampled by elephants and be cursed by the goddess Gaviota.' " She hasn't decided what the curse will be, yet, but it will be worse than his, she promises.
  
  Eventually there's a minor glitch: Rod finds his precious trophy in Gav's purse and is surprised to hear it was a regift from Erika. There ensues a stupid conversation about whether (a) Gav kissed Blandie ("He kissed me, ok on the mouth, but I didn't kiss back, and then I set him straight and he transferred to Madrid"); (b) Rod kissed Dr. Erika ("Yes, but it was the night Isa left me and nothing happened...").
  
  Gav scratches the scab: "Was the kiss passionate, did she kiss you or did you kiss her?" His answers to both questions being wrong, she runs off to the bar and sucks down booze... Rod comes and finds her (gee, I wonder how he figured out where she was?). Sweet and calm, he gently reproaches her: "You shouldn't have done that, you promised to be with me 24 hours a day." She apologizes, they kiss and make up.

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