Caray, Caray!

• Yesterday's uncomfortable tete a tete between Fr/Ed and Fern continues, see below.
  
  
• Barb's equally uncomfortable meeting with Artemio continues as well. He has told her to whack Father Bosco so "... he'll take Fr/Ed's secrets to his grave! Do it like you did to Montserrat! [with a pillow?], I don't want to have wasted 15 years of my life to see my vengeance ruined!"
  
  Barb tells him about Fr/Ed and the Power Meelk deal, Artemio asks if she believes in Fr/Ed. "Seems he is a serious guy." "Seems? That's not the kind of answer I expect from you. Find out everything about his past. Is he gonna mess up my vengeance? Maybe you'll have to knock him off, too."
  
  
• Gardenia and Jacinto walk and talk, she's afraid Fern is visiting Fr/Ed to make her, Gardenia, come back to work for the Elizaldes - back to that awful gross Camila and the Hyena! Jacinto reassures her: Fr/Ed is not afraid of any of them. "Oh, but maybe 'Mr. Santorito' will put me out on the street! You know how the rich are!" Later, she stops Fern on the way out to make sure she's not in trouble. All of this was expendable.
  
  
• Santiago has managed to get inside Dominga's house. He butters her up and asks her for Aurora's hand in marriage. Dominga is butter-resistant, she yells rude things and tells him to leave. But Santi says to Aurora, in a cheerful loud stage whisper, "She's right not to trust me, she doesn't know me. But we must EXPLAIN I'm a FAMOUS PAINTER going to a FAMOUS ACADEMY and my FAMOUS PAINTINGS are selling for MILLIONS OF DOLLARS and you will NEVER BE SHORT OF MONEY and SHE WON'T EITHER."
  
  This works like a charm. Dominga gives them permission to leave the house, and Santi sez he and Aurora will bring back dinner. "And BOOZE," adds Dominga, and as the door closes she chuckles, "that little blondie's gonna be good business."
  
  Santi drags Aurora right off to the church. "But I told you, the priest is not interested in helping me find my baptismal certificate." "He'll be more interested when he realizes we're getting married, and you'll need it!"
  
  The secretary says the priest will be back "later, or maybe tomorrow." Santi plops down on a bench and tells the secretary they'll just sit there and wait till the priest comes back and can marry them! He plops a big fat kiss on Aurora, pointing out to the sec that it's a sin! Aurora is not really with this program.
  
  
• Vlad is, yes, still stalking Prisila. To make a long story short, she wants him to go away forever, he loves her blah blah, he finally admits he knows she's pregnant and he read Anibal's doctor's reports and even took them to a doc friend to confirm that (a) Anibal is sterile and therefore (b) he, Vlad, is father of the future baby, "and you and I are going to have a lot to talk about till the end of our lives."
  
  Pris just keeps saying she never wants to see him again and throws him out of the car and drives away. Between her repulsive black scare wig and his rank greasy locks, they are the worst hair-couple of the show.
  
  
• Anibal has just gotten the recent rotten-milk reports and tells his dad they're worse than expected - "we wouldn't have enough money to cover this even if we sold our souls to the devil. Only Fern can save us from total ruin." The wimpy dad cries. They just wait for Fern to come home from this trip and tell them they have found salvation with Power Meelk.
  
  
• Fr/Ed just gets as close and cozy as can be and sorta whispers to Fern that the reason the whole Power Meelk deal depends on her is that his employers are philanthropists and that her plans for the community center are the only thing that makes them want to work with Lactos. No social investment, no deal. "So simple?" asks Fern suspiciously. "Yes, the founders think riches should be shared." "So simple?" "I like that you're so suspicious." "Well, a biz as big as Power Meelk doesn't give something for nothing. What do they want in return?" "You're the key. They need to know who they're dealing with - who are you?"
  
  He asks her to call him Franco, and to use "tu" with him (be less formal). She points out it's not she he's doing business with and says, "It's hard to believe you work with such angels, out to help the common man." "Are you so surprised there are still generous people on this earth? Generosity does exist - are you generous?"
  
  "You'd have to ask somebody else." "No, I'm asking - are you generous with yourself? Since we met, two things have drawn my attention. One is your great beauty. The other is your absence. You're like a beautiful, well-appointed house with nobody living in it. I expect you love your husband, but you seem to be longing for (missing) love in your soul." She starts to cry and goes to the bathroom.
  
  Boy, Ed is really asking for it. [There are a lot of songs about guys who leave their sweethearts and go off to war and are gone so long they are unrecognizable when they get back, and they lie to their girlfriends and say "your boyfriend is dead," just to see if their women would be faithful and properly grief-stricken, and then when they're satisfied with all the sobbing they happily say, "just fooling," and the girls fall into their arms, but if it was me, I'd sock a guy who did that to me. --Ed.] What a liar: "Oh, Fern, I am so sorry I hurt you. I could see those flowers at your wedding really put a damper on things." "It wasn't just that, it was the guy who sent them, my nana's son." "The one who died?" She cries. "Despite all that's happened, you are so affected by his death?" [GRRR!]
  
  She asks, did you really have to know all this to do biz with my family? "No, I ask for myself- because your sadness pains me."
  
  She pulls herself together and gives him the files she brought. "One more request," he asks, "don't go on your trip till this business is settled." 'The nerve!' is what her look says. He says he'll send the info to Steve Nor-Ton today and have a "verdict" in a few days.
  
  
• There's a knock on the door! It's Erica! She and Fern are unpleasantly surprised to see each other. "I thought you were on your honeymoon. Did I come at a bad time?"
  
  Err tells Fern she's organizing a parrillado (is it another horsey thing?) because she wants Fr/Ed to officially meet the parents. "Oh, Demian and I prolly can't come cause we'll be on our trip." Err wheedles and wheedles, they can delay a few more days, it means sssooooo much to me! "I'm not in the mood for a party." "It's not just any party. Invite everybody even that swine Camilo."
  
  Fern's had enough. She says goodbye. She tells Fr/Ed not to see her out but he follows her to the door anyway.
  
  After she leaves, Err sheepishly reveals she invented the whole thing on the spot, and sort of apologizes, but then suggests that their farce of a relationship could be made real - she'd like that. And would he please come to this dinner with her parents? He asks, "Can I think about it?" "Think about which: our relationship, or the dinner?" Just the dinner, he'd prefer to let destiny take care of the other... She kisses his unresponsive face and tells him he's a total gentleman.
  
  
• Fr/Ed sits holding the big white king from Cero's chess set. "The head of the king must be ready for battle," said Cero, and "The white king must lose his head so I can get my liberty back," said Lili. Suddenly, Fr/Ed pulls the head off that ol' white king! He fishes out a rolled up piece of paper and Jacinto comes in promptly to hear the important information: "When circumstances require that one behave like a beast, it's best for the prince to become a fox and a lion, because the lion doesn't know how to protect himself from tricks and the fox doesn't know how to protect himself from wolves." Jacinto is confused, I know he is because he says: "I don't understand."
  
  "At the very end it says to give it to Isaac Newton." Condescendingly Fr/Ed explains that Newton was Mr. Gravity but has been dead for centuries. "But this is the weapon." "Why don't you just ask Cero, then you wouldn't have to guess?" "Cero is dead."
  
  
• Before going home, Fern stops at Margarita's to ask, again, if she and Jacinto really had no more dealings with Eduardo after the first phone call. She tells Margarita he's dead, he committed suicide. I thought maybe at first Margarita thought this was true news, but when she hears about Ed being buried next to his mother in the crypt, realizes it's just part of his whole racket.
  
  Fern's sobs really tugged at my heartstrings though they did not dislodge her mascara. "I think Eduardo came back so he could be buried with his mother. Now, I think you knew about this already!" (denials) ..."then," muses Fern, "nobody knew but Father Bosco? I'd hoped Eduardo would forgive me - it was my fault that he suffered. I really want to build this community center so kids can study and don't have to leave..." sobs inconsolably.

Labels: manana

Permalink posted by melinama @ 5:41 PM