Caray, Caray!

Gather round mis amigos and let's see what transpires tonight in our manic madcap Mexican millieu. You might want to pour yourself a Tequilita or pop a Xanax 'cause it looks as though we've got some pretty rough terrain ahead for the next hour or so. We rejoin our intrepid assortment of nacos consisting of a rather frantic Rafa, an oddly placid Nelson, and the volatile de la Parra brothers, who are there to protect the interest of their daddy, butcher don Gastón. It's evening and they are standing outside the police impound yard that is surrounded by a tall steel fence topped off by strands of barbed wire. They are discussing ways to enter this seemingly impregnable fortress in order to retrieve that suitcase filled with cash from the recent truck sale. Impossible, you say? Not so fast. Consider the assembled geniuses that we are dealing with here.

First let us look in on a lugubrious lady, the dejected and rejected Vicki Vicki Vicki. She is seated on the side of her bed clad in lavender PJs wearing her wedding veil atop her head as she ponders and strokes a photo of her ex novio, Rafa. She was this close to fulfilling her dream but... well you all know what happened. Don Gastón softly knocks and quietly intrudes, "Hijita (little daughter), Hijita, may I come in?" "Sí, Papi." He is a coarse, burly man, but his gentleness with his little girl is endearing. With warmth and concern he softly suggests that perhaps it would be best if she were to see a psychologist. Weakly and meekly (totally out of character for our Vicki) she tearfully replies, "¿Qué? No... Pajarito, Pajarito, Pajarito," and then openly weeps. Breaks my heart.

Suzy is following Ale into her office at Auto Siglo and wanting to know what happened in her meeting with doña Arcadia and Beltrán. Ale tells her that surprisingly she was asked to stay on but of course she can't because of Rafa, who also is staying. Oh yes, Rafa. Susana finally is able to get through to Ale, "Rafa no se casó con Vicki (Rafa didn't get married to Vicki)." "¿Qué?" Ale is shocked and rapidly traverses a full range of emotions. Her friend explains that because Vicki was pregnant... this disturbs Ale who rudely interrupts... but she continues explaining, "Not by Rafa, well not really pregnant..." finally getting through to Ale who is a bit confused but manages to grasp the salient point, "¡Rafa no se casó!" She reflects, "That explains why I saw him standing outside the club after the wedding." (Vivi, you were right the first time.) Of course this is good news and Ale briefly rejoices until the aguafiesta (killjoy) points out, "but you married Marco."

Mientras tanto, Vicki has returned to earth and asks her papi why she should see a psychologist. He tells her that she is taking her loss of Rafa very badly and she responds by asking him what she should do. Does he want her to laugh? She laughs ruefully. Calmly she asks if he want her to act as if nothing happened, or does he want her to cry like crazy? She cries pitifully. She asks again, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?" He admits that it's not easy but he's sure that a specialist can help her cope. "Will you go?" "Sí... BUT I'D BETTER BE HELPED, BECAUSE IF NOT, IF NOT, I DON'T KNOW HOW I'M GOING TO PUT MY PAJARITO OUT OF MY HEART, I DON'T KNOW HOW, PAPÁ, I DON'T KNOW HOW!" She then breaks down into inconsolable weeping as her Dad helplessly tries to comfort her. Whether one likes Vicki our can't stand her, this was heartbreaking, not to mention dang convincing acting.

Speaking of consoling, back at Auto Siglo, Susana is ministering to a sobbing Ale who is trying to come to grips with her irreversible loss of Rafa, by whispering platitudes and deftly massaging her temples. Ale concedes with a smile that she is happy that Rafa had not married Vicki, but bemoans her
hopeless situation. Suzy can't resist the opportunity to remind her that she told her a thousand times...

None too soon we rejoin little band of bumbling bandidos who are still puzzling over a way to retrieve the funds from the caged Pantera. Felipe is an obvious choice and of course Rafa should go in with him. Conveniently someone has planted a tree next to the fence. Problem solved. Our pair of cat burglars climb the tree and enter the compound as Nelson and Pancho wait behind as sentinels. They search the lot, find Rafa's pride and joy and extract the suitcase from the trunk... so far so good... Felipe goes for the gold, but Rafael's Pantera objects to a stranger's caress, sounding her alarm and flashing her lights arousing several other slumbering autos who join in the complaining. The guard has been alerted and a token chase ensues terminating with an easy escape through a handy exit which conveniently opens from the inside. All our boys flee into the night leaving the guard confused and wondering what they could have taken.

During a few commercials, we refill our caballitos (little glasses for shots of Tequila) or pop another Xanax.

We rejoin our fugitives as they make their escape in the butcher's truck with Pancho as the wheelman. Rafa's cell phone rings. It's Marian. The brothers are impressed. She wants to see Rafa... now. "OK." ¿QUÉ?... OK? You've got a suitcase full of money, accompanied by two feral nacos and a blissed out ascetic and your going to drop by Marian's place? In fairness to Rafa he did resist ever so slightly. He takes this moment to broach a delicate matter with the Blade Brothers. Turns out he's going to be a little short on his refund of do Gastón's money. "¿QUÉ?" Well he owes a little here and a little there, surely they'll understand. Well, unfortunately, it looks like they do... they pull off the road to discuss this new development.

Tia Rosario is sitting on the sofa in Marco's apartment absently thumbing that book as Ale arrives... alone. Gifted a keen sense of observation, Tia is instantly aware of this, "Where's Marco?" "Marcos had a little problem." "What happened?" Ale continues her explication in a way that must be seen and heard. It defies description and verbatim is incoherent, but she gets her point across ending with Marco's hallucination of Rafa when he began to kiss her. "¿Qué? Surely he had too much to drink." Nopis. "Marcos esta mal (Marcos is sick). Marcos is incapable of carrying out a normal married life. That's why I chose to come here." Nonplussed, Tia comforts her with a hug.

Elsewhere, somewhere on the side of the road, Pancho is interrogating Rafa in a hands on fashion as Felipe bounces up and down to the tune of cartoon boings while Dandy offers up a taciturn explanation to no one in particular. Pancho releases his grip on Rafa's neck, giving him a chance to explain that he owes money to a lot of people and though he can only pay part now, he will pay the rest later after selling more trucks. "Agreed?" "¡No!" The brothers aren't happy that Rafa used the money to buy trucks. Rafa admits that in retrospect that it wasn't wise, then crossing a bridge too far, asks them to explain it to their dad. Yikes.

Across town in the Oasis, over whiskies,Marco is filling Chavez in on the finer details of his noche de boda. "Sigo mal (it didn't go well), Chavez, muy mal." Chavez gently observes, "your going crazy," pointing out this is not good for the greater good... aquiring and selling the hacienda. At the moment Marco is more concerned about his mental well-being and wants Chavez to help him find help... and not Molongo. He desperately grabs Chavez' lapels, prompting him to complain that he pulled out three of his five chest hairs. We've wanted to see Marco suffer... well, he's suffering.

Somehow, Rafa must have placated the de la Parra sibs, because he's arrived at Grupo Celeste clutching the valuable valise to his bosom. He can only stay a moment... lots of things to do... She offers him a drink. He declines. She flirts. He squirms. He tells her that he has sold some of the trucks. She's impressed. "And paid in cash, how strange." She flirts. He squirms. She is concerned. He must be upset about the failed wedding with Vicki followed by the successful wedding of Licenciada Álvarez de Castillo. they exchange awkward small talk. How did she know? Julieta told her. Julieta needs to concentrate on her studies... you get the picture. She asks if Ale's wedding troubled him. Well, yeah. She flirts, "Things can change." He squirms, "How?"
Like a cougar staking a quivering fawn, she moves in for the kill. ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Besoooo!

We go to commercial. Boozers, refill you caballitos. Xanaxers... XANAXERS! No more Xanax for you. Hey! Lleno de Amor looks fun.

Yikes! The KISS continues. She seems a little more in to it than he is. Guess he has a lot on his mind right now. He waivers. She persists...

AS we are back in the Oasis with Marco and Chavez. Chavez tells of the exorcism in which an extra headless ghost appeared and frightened Molongo who fainted dead away (good psychic help is hard to come by these days). This is going to interfere with the sale of the hacienda. Marco is suspicious. "Hmm, that wasn't our ghost. This needs further investigation," he muses.

Recovering from THE KISS, Rafa sits on the sofa with Marian. She bluntly offers him the money needed to solve his financial bind... a loan of course. This makes him almost as uncomfortable as THE KISS. He stammers. Owing money to Ale and Vicki has already created his problems. "I wouldn't be like them." She smiles that bee stung smile. I think Rafa's starting to sweat. I know that I am. No, indeed she is not like them. "Well sleep on it." Some how I don't think that Rafa'll be getting much sleep for awhile. Time to go, cowboy.

Rosario is silently holding a sad Ale as a dejected Marco slips in. Alertly, Tia Rosie spots him. He would prefer to fade into the woodwork. Instead she asks him where he's been. He mutters that he was attending to some things that Ale asked him to attend to. Ale rescues him by thanking him for that. He asks if she got the money from Medina. Well no, but doña Arcadia and Beltrán invited her to come back to work. "¿Qué?" She thinks that it would be a good idea. He? Well not so much... Next!

I thought Rafa had escaped but nope. "Sit!" There's more. Sems as though there's a truck convention in Monterrey(Haven't we been down this rabbit hole before?).

Ale pleads her case convincingly. She would never deceive him. Tia R excuses herself to go make coffee. Changing the subject, he announces to her that he will seek help and end up being the best husband in the whole world. Ale is thrilled.

Outside the Medina fortress, A twitchy Jaime babbles incoherently to himself. He accosts Julieta who is returning home. "We need to talk." She is in no mood . "I HATE YOU!" And to emphasize her point, she administers a violent slap sending his glasses flying off in the direction of Chiapas.

Another commercial, but no more drinks or drugs. Sorry. We've had enough for this outing. Wow! Macys is having a sale.

Jaime is persistent, if not very bright. Frantically he pleads forgiveness. Adamantly she resists. This is ugly. She slams the door in his face... and on his thumb... Next!

Marion wants Rafa to come with her to Monterrey for a couple "Be a chance to sell some trucks." Well, since you put it that way. Rafa needs to wait until the afternoon after turning over the money that morning. "Fine." More good news, "We'll be flying in my plane." Rafa is thrilled.

A dejected Jaime futilely knocks on the door. He looks awful. He hasn't shaved and for some reason his several days of stubble is not nearly as attractive as say, that of Lobo (Gancho). What do you think Julia?

Speaking of persistence, Marco presses his case for Ale not to return to the dealership. Abruptly, she agrees. After all, soon they'll be going to Brazil to open up the branch for Urdiales... Marco interjects that there is of yet no firm date for that. Ale siezes the moment, "Then I'll go back to Auto Siglo for awhile." He reluctantly returns a high cinco and a fist bump which she concludes with Rafa's signature scooer victory pose and quickly scurries off to attend to pending matters. He simmers, he steams, and then he boils, deciding to renew pursuit of his quest that will send Rafa and his mom to jail. A wounded and cornered Marco can be extremely dangerous.

Rafa still hasn't left Groupo Celeste. Now it occurs to him that he must make a call. Beltrán. Relieved to hear from Rafa (the heart of his checkbook is revived...boom boom... boom boom), he instructs him to wait until morning to deliver the cash. ¿QUE? Well, Judy, I guess it will be up to you to see that the money is safely delivered. Good luck! We've managed to get it this far. Learning that Rafa is with Marian, he sends bechas. Now Rafa, Get out!

At Marco's, time for bed. Oops, until Marco is cured, probably best that they sleep apart. Could Marco's really bad day get any worse? Glad you asked... yes it can! Ale's cell phone rings. Need I tell you who it is? Marco seizes the phone and demands that Rafa show up tomorrow with the money. All of it! Then he hangs up. AS Marcos glowers, Rafa glows. Tomorrow he will see his licenciada.

Entering Rosario's bedroom Ale utters and gestures a silent but loud, YES! Tia Rosie thinks it strange that Ale is joining her instead of going to bed with her husband. Ale explains that Marco prefers it that way until his little problem is tended to. Rosie shrugs. As Tia toddles off to brush her teeth, Ale sinks down on the bed, thinking of Rafa and softly whining over the hopelessness of her situation. Across town, in his on bed Rafa does the same, but not so quietly. "¡MALDITA SEA! ¡MALDITA SEA!"

Judy, porfis, bring us a little joy Monday.

Carlos

Labels: dinero