P.1 -- The Sick and the Lying
Capítulo 27
As Viewerville eagerly dials in to see what shenanigans Teresa might pull tonight, Ruben del Bigote Cáceres is making a serious play for her in his office; Armando and Johnny have gotten the boot by the new owner of the mechanic shop; and Refugio has stopped to chat with Esperanza on the sidewalk in between loads of laundry.
Teresa makes quick work of putting Reuben, who’s just told her he’s wanted her from the first time they met, in his place. Tere’s up front about what she feels also. Sure she wants the world with a ribbon tied around it—what self-respecting female wouldn’t--but it better include a wedding band and married life “como Dios manda” [the way things are supposed to be / the proper way] or nothin’ doin’. He snickers. (Like my first boss used to say knowledge is what you know, but wisdom is how you use it—and she knows firsthand from Espe what to expect from Aida’s three-timin’, wick-dippin’ daddy.) He can’t believe she’d hold out to marry the likes of boring Arturo de la Barerra. She not only turns El Big-ego-te down flat, but she does a Mexican hat dance on his oversized ...er...family jewels as she struts out the door and waives adios.
Back at the barrio, Armie breaks into Refugio and Espe’s boring conversation to tell her he’s out of a job as of this morning due to the sale of the shop. Ref has an attack and nearly passes out. Espe and Armie get her back to the house and lay her down. Espe checks her over and tells them to get her to a doctor, but in the mean time to have Mariano check her out as soon as he gets home.
Teresa gets to the prof’s house and seeing Luisa, turns on the waterworks and plays the victim for her. Oh, the scandalous things the realty agent, Paulo’s mother, has been telling people about Tere and El Profe! Tere tells Lu about the apartment search carefully sidestepping who it was purchased for, and how they all think it was her brother setting up house for Teresa! “—Please don’t tell Arturo! Just know that I appreciate having somebody to get it off my chest with, ok?” (Ha! She knows Lu tells Artie Everything with a capital “E”!) Art comes into the room at that point and gives Tere a new palm-top and phone combo “for work”.
Back at Bigote’s office, matronly Maira stops by unexpectedly, to invite hubby to lunch but he’s not in the mood. She complains that they haven’t had sex in quite a while and wonders what’s up—or rather why El Bigote’s hasn’t been. He puts on a big act and says hey, they’re getting older and …things…change. He pointedly refuses to kiss her on the mouth. (Yep, if anything makes him feel his age right now, it’s got to be her. What a drag!) Anyway, he tells her he’s got a big meeting and can’t make the dinner date, and then essentially pushes her out the door.
Fito makes a play for Espe and asks her to go out with him. She takes a call from Rubigote who wants to meet her at the love nest to discuss his ailing wife and a big decision he’s supposedly made. She says fine. Fito asks if the caller was a guy she’s interested in or not. If she is still on the market, Fito says, he won’t stop asking her out till she says yes.
At the hospital, Aurora’s daddy, Hector, tells Dr. Ledesma that he wants to meet Mariano. He also mentions that he knows Teresa, his girlfriend. Ledesma mentions that he’s been giving Mar extra shifts to earn more money since Mar is thinking of getting married.
Johnny and Espe run into Nachita and tell her about Johnny’s losing his job.
At lunch with Aurora, Tere mentions Genoveva’s badmouthing her and El Profe. Espe’s call comes in but she refuses to answer it. Tere does call Gen to confirm a meeting with her over the paperwork for El Prof and then tells Aurora that she and Mariano “have done the deed.” Tere pretty much gushes over their relationship, all the while seeming to purposely rub Aurora’s nose in it. Aurora politely listens.
Speaking of Genoveva, she and Aida conspire to have Paulo at the closing on the apartment so he can see up close and personal what a gold-digger Teresa Chavez is.
At their love nest, Rubigote tells Esp that even though Maira has cancer, he’s going to ask for the divorce. Espe refuses to allow him to add insult to injury, literally, considering that his wife’s disease is “advancing”. She’ll forgo this condition to their getting back together again as a couple. He invites her out to eat with him. She declines because she’s got to get to work. Once she’s out the door El Big Ego-te gives himself a pat on the back for the smooth way he maneuvered himself out of his divorce dilemma with Esperanza. He decides to call Maira and accepts her lunch invitation at El Joy Restaurante after all.
Armie keeps Refugio on the couch and tells her he’s going to find another job, but she’s not working again till the doctors or Mariano tell her that she can.
Back at their lunch, Tere assures Aurora that she’s too smart to let herself get pregnant in this day and age. Aurora says she hopes she can find as perfect a relationship as Teresa and Mariano’s. Tere suggests her getting back into circulation again by throwing a big party. Aurora says the house at Cuernavaca would be perfect and asks her for her keys to the house.
Gen and Tere meet to discuss the papers for the apartment. Gen gives her grief for supposedly still going after Paulo and warns her off her son. Tere tells her she was only at her house the other day to help with a school assignment and snickers at the way Gen seems so frightened that Paulo still loves her/wants her over Aida. Gen denies it. Tere asks her then why is she making a point of spreading rumors about her and El Profe setting up house together in that apartment??? (Viewerville loves the way this gal toys with her prey. Teresa is such an Ace at playing Cat and Mouse! Brava!!! It’s mighty refreshing to see this in a telenovela heroine, mighty refreshing!) Gen is tongue-tied impactada.
Lu, meanwhile, is chatting with Arturo. She mentions the incident with their realtor, Paulo’s mama, and the way she’s been spreading rumors about Art and Tere over some apartment he’s buying for somebody. Art is angry and says he won’t let them get away with that kind of thing.
Later that day, when Tere returns from lunch, he mentions that he heard from Lu what Genovesa’s been saying about the two of them. Tere says she’s had to endure this for forever, so what’s one more time matter? She doesn’t care as long as he doesn’t have that impression of her also. He says not at all! He won’t let the woman get away with it though and sully her reputation like this. Besides, he flirts, they’re both single and it shouldn’t matter; and if it were him, he wouldn’t be buying her an apartment. No, it would be a huge beautiful house and they wouldn’t be lovers. No, it would come with a marriage proposal. They could marry each other, right, Teresa? Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Arturo has just hit the daily double and peso signs light up in Teresa’s eyes. $ $ Oh, any woman would be proud and happy to marry someone as distinguished and wonderful as he is, she fawns. He’s a real catch [partidazo]!
Tere asks Artturo why he hasn’t married yet. Art starts to explain but she doesn’t let him finish his sentence. She brings up Paloma and he tells her that, thanks to her, Paloma is ancient history. Any gossip, though, better not reach her parents. They wouldn’t understand and they’d have a conniption fit. She and he then reconfirm their contract and their commitment to follow its stipulations till she finishes school. Their eyes meet and she gives him a look that has him believing she’s secretly sighing and pining away for him.
Across town, at the hospital, Dr. Ledesma brings Mariano in to meet the new hospital director. Mariano and Hector are surprised to see that they already know each other from the emergency the day before. Mar apologizes for not knowing who he was or thinking that he might be a doctor since he didn’t have on a white coat in there. Hector tells Mar he did the right thing and handled himself perfectly, the entire time and then welcomes him into the world of the medical madhouse. They shake on it. Afterwards, Hector tells Ledesma that Mariano is an impressive young doctor who is everything his daughter told him he’d be. In fact, he reminds him of himself at that age.
Later on, Aurora visits her daddy at the hospital and tells him she’s not sure whether to attend Univ. del Sur or the government university. He’ll be teaching at the government’s university, he says, so he’ll be happy with either one.
Tere finds out about her mother’s attack from Espe on her way home. She puts Ref to bed and tells her she doesn’t want to deal with Mar right now because she’s still mad he didn’t tell her about running into Aurora or, rather, that she “was back in town”. Juana calls Mar to tell him about Ref’s attack because Tere won’t speak to him.
Juana comes back to say Mariano’s on his way and then she mentions to Tere that he left her a rose earlier. This seems to soften up Teresa. Tere goes to find the rose and then tells her little sister’s photo that she’s sure the prof has a thing for her now also. She’s confused as to who to choose.
Meanwhile, Luisa and Artie discuss the “positive” conversation he had with Tere and how she told him to his face that she thought he was a great guy and how anybody would want to marry him. He admits he didn’t have the right opportunity to declare himself to Tere, though. Lu encourages him to tell Tere’s parents about his intentions so that they see him as a serious prospect.
Back in the barrio, Juana gives Cutberto grief for his continual drinking and womanizing. FF>>
Aurora shows up at Tere’s for the keys and promises to bring a blood pressure monitor for her parents to use daily with Refugio.
On their way out of the barrio, Aurora and Tere run into Mariano on his way back home. She greets him with a sensual kiss and thanks him for the rose. Aurora looks like she’s ready to puke. Mar’s still pissed and doesn’t react. Aurora leaves.
Aida suggests to Paulo that he shows up at her daddy’s office for the signing and see for himself that the contract gives the apartment to Teresa. He agrees.
Mar asks Tere why the big show of a kiss. Did she suddenly have a change of heart or was it she magically was transformed into a good humor cuz it was obvious to him that she only did it out of jealousy to mark her Tere-tory. Tere says sure she’s jealous. She figures she’s feeling the same way he did when she first started working for El Profe. He tells her fine, but he’s not going to play those little games of hers any longer. They kiss and make up.
Mariano examines Refugio and tells Tere and Armie that she needs tests done at the hospital.
The next morning Tere urges her daddy to find work and to make darn sure this time that it pays better or she’ll be forced to ask the professor for a salary. He tells her he won’t hear of it and assures her he will be looking for a job that very day. She heads off to work.
Outside, Fito runs into Johnny and offers him a job.
Armando goes to answer a knock at the door. Arturo pokes his head in to see if he and his wife are available to chat.
===============================================================
P.2 Aida and Genoveva Eat Crow; Mariano Gets El “NO”
capítulo 28
Fito won’t tell Johnny what kind of work he’s offering, just that it’s going to pay a lot more and he won’t have to work as hard at it.
When Art finds out about Tere’s mom being seriously ill, he says it’s not the right time to discuss anything with Armando and Refugio. Tere comes back home unexpectedly and so Art lies that he only came by to tell them he’s thinking about giving her a salary now that she’s so close to graduating. Tere makes a big show of not going along with the idea unless her daddy agrees, but she knows he has to accept because they need the cash coming in. She also is quick to emphasize that this was all the prof’s idea and not hers.
At Rub-Ego-te’s, Maira is still hot to trot, despite having had a passion-filled night with the hubby. He fights off her advances and says again that he’s not as young and spur-of-the-moment as he was in the old days, and that he really needs to get into the office ASAP. No, it’s not that he doesn’t love her or doesn’t find her sexually attractive, but they’re going to be abuelo’s sooner or later and he’s got problems with seeing himself as a horny young stud any longer....or that’s at least what he’s leading her to believe. (Actually, if Maira would find a decent friend at that club, somebody other than Genoveva who still wants the Big Guy for herself and has managed to keep it goin’ on when it comes to looks, they might tell poor Maira that her do-over is long overdue! The Brazilian plastic surgeons, fat-farms and haute couturier designers are beckoning to you, dearie.) Maira says that, speaking of Aida, she doesn’t think Aida and Paulo should be thinking of marrying since Paulo doesn’t seem that into Aida. Rube disagrees and says if she’s happy, then leave her alone.
Tere lies to Art that her mother is asleep right then so that she doesn’t have to be any more embarrassed than she already is at the dump--er, humble abode--she lives in.
Hector tells Aurora he finally met Mar. He mentions Mar’s idea to put up a store-front clinic in every barrio and that he wants to test his idea in his own vecindad first. Hector seems excited about tsuch a worthy idea. She asks if Mar realized they were related, but Hector doesn’t think so. Aurora says she thinks Mar and Tere have a great future ahead of them. Papa Hector tells her eventually, the love of her life will arrive.
Back at Tere’s, Mariano tells Ref she’s got to take tests still, but that she’s doing better. He mentions to Tere and her mom that he met the new hospital director the day before and that he’s interested in the project Mar proposed to him. Tere is excited for him and tells him he really needs to work that connection, hard. Mar is obviously not on the same wavelength she is and looks at her like she’s from Mars instead of Mexico.
Later that morning, Maira has a mother-daughter chat and tells Aida she shouldn’t get engaged or married right out of college. She has her whole life ahead of her and she should consider all sorts of alternatives. Aida tells Maira that she’s always been in love with Paulo and that the sooner the better if she gets engaged to him.
Ref wants to get out and give catechism instruction to the kids in the vecindad, but Mar and Tere tell her it’s too soon yet for her to be out and about. Once Mar goes back to the hospital for the morning shift, Ref gives Tere grief for going on about how to press the flesh and take advantage of his new contacts. Tere says she doesn’t see anything wrong with it. That’s how things work in the real worl outside. Refugio says that her attitude scares her, and that it makes Tere seem she’d do anything to get ahead. (I wouldn’t have jumped quite to that conclusion, but Ref, being from the barrio, shows how little she values Teresa’s social perspicacity.) Armando walks in to check on his wife. He and Tere tell Refugio about Art’s visit and that Tere’s now going to be paid. Mama objects till they explain that Armando will look for another job and work also. (With that kind of backward thinking and/or misplaced pride, it’s no wonder they’re all still struggling to survived in that damn barrio! What do these people think is going to pay the electric bill and keep the toilets flushing? Pride? Dios has just sent a sh!t load of mana from the heavens and Tere’s parents are blind to it. If you didnt’ know better, you’d have to think Teresa owes her smarts to the milk-man!)
Johnny tells Expe about Fito’s offering him a job. From the look on Espe’s face, she has the feeling that whatever it is, it can’t be good, let alone honest work.
At the same time, Fito runs into Mar on the stairs and asks him to take care of a guy who Mar soon realizes is dying from an overdose. Mariano saves the kid and finds out he was Fito’s “customer.” He angrily tells Fito this is the first and last time he’s ever going to help him out of a jam like this, cuz he’s not covering for any drug dealer!
Esp admits to Tere that she went back to her married boyfriend, and that since his wife supposedly has cancer, she wasn’t going to be so demanding with the poor guy. Tere lets her know she thinks that’s about as dumb a reason as any to get back with him. She says like his wife’s cancer is her problem, or what? Has she no self respect that she thinks more of “the other woman” than of herself? (Tere gets no complaints from me!) Let him dump the woman and be done with it! He can of course, offer to pay for her treatments and leave a way open to marry Espe finally. (Being practical is definitely one of Tere’s strong suits.) “Esperanza, think about it! This is your chance to break out of this barrio and have it all! You wouldn’t have to choose like me then, between love and money.” Espe asks her just who is offering her money. Anyway, warns Espe, she’d have to have relations with the guy and that could be difficult for her. That gets Tere talking about how right Espe was that making love with the man of your dreams was. Espe realizes then that Tere and Mariano have been getting busy for a while. Espe says if she can just hold out for a while, she and Mar will have it all. Tere says she feels she’s been waiting an eternity already! She agrees though, that there are doctors who do make loads of money. Espe says hey, it’s really so little time now till they both graduate. Tere mentions she’ll still need support from the right kind of people to make a success of that law degree.
At Art’s place again, he and Lu are discussing Tere’s personal problems with her mother’s health and how he got her to accept a salary finally after he showed them all they could trust him. Lu says trust is the least of it. It’s really a matter of pride for her.
Tere takes Ref to the hospital to have her tests done. Tere strokes Mariano’s ego while at the hospital. He mentions that he’s going to graduate soon. He tells Tere he’s planning to marry her as soon as he gets opens his office in his specialty.
Teresa arrives back at the de la Barerra’s and gives Lu a graduation present, Luisa’s diploma with her name on it. Luisa nearly gives away what her brother really was at her home for that morning, but catches herself in time. Art walks in on the two of them. Well, now that Lu’s gotten Tere’s gift, he says, all that remains is the one he’s giving her. They head for Lic. Cáceres’ office.
At the her daddy’s law office, Aida tells Paulo she’s added Tere’s name to the document already and that she plans to upload it to the internet to blast it all over creation, des[pite her daddy’s warning not to mess with either Tere or El Profe. Jealous.Paulo’s all for it. Rubigote and Gen join Aida and Paulo to wait for Tere and Sugar Daddy de la Barerra’s arrival. She reads the document with Teresa’s full name aloud for them all and confirms with Gen that that was how she’d told her to fill it out. “--Exactly!”
Tere walks in and says she’s there to quickly check and assure herself [cerciorarse] that there are no errors in the paperwork. “--Ah he’ll sign and you’ll take the keys.” “--Yes.” Aida hands her the document and tells her she’ll find that there are no mistakes. Tere starts reading through it. “--Oh, Aida, you’re not as efficient as you think. There is definitely an error.” El Bigote, with a grin as big as his hat size, asks what is wrong. Tere starts to explain that it has to do with the name of whom the apartment belongs to, but she’s interrupted by her jefe’s footsteps as he enters into the room with kid sis, Luisa. “--I am here to sign the mortgage papers for the woman I adore and who deserves this and more. “ Gen picks up on that remark. “--The woman you adore?” He looks over at Tere and they share a huge knowing smile. “--Yes!” He suddenly turns back around and looks at his sister. “--It’s for Luisa!” Luisa wasn’t expecting that --but from the caras de impactado on the other four in the room, they weren’t either.
Aida and Gen suddenly look like they just bit down on the biggest sour pickle this side of the Rio Grande. While the Fatuous Gang of Four take a moment to regain their composure and to wipe off the massive splattering of egg on each of their smut-mongering mugs, Tere reminds them she warned them they’d been mistaken in putting her name on that document! Art adds that it should serve the others there who’d improperly misinterpreted the situation that they’d better watch what they do and say in the future. Bigote makes some idiotic remark about at least they were able to clear up all the confusion. Tere gloats and chalks up another one as red-faced Aida asks for Luisa’s I.D. so she can correct the paperwork. Paulo gives Tere a big grin that fairly screams “Atta-girl!”, and then walks out of the room.
Tere reminds the others, who consider themselves well-meaning, decent, and properly brought up [educado], that they’d better think twice before putting somebody else’s good intentions into question [ponerse en entredicho]. Zingo! Tere has just raised the specter of illegality and put them all on notice. Yowza! El Bigote is in awe of the little lady’s legal prowess. All that and great T and A, too! (Viewerville is thinking how unfortunate that neither Paulo nor Aida were there to take note, but then who really give a flyin’ fig about those two, anyway? They’ll never be more than clerks in her daddy’s law office.)
Gen blames the confusion on Tere’s letting her suppose it was the case. Tere gets in her face and says hey, I don’t see why! I’ve told you all along that’s not what I’m all about! “--I’m going to rise to the top, but by my own bootstraps!” Gen sneers and starts to bring up Paulo but Lic. Bigote interrupts the approaching verbal catfight, obviously sensing that it would be an unfair fight for Gen who is no match at all for a tigress like Teresa! He offers a toast for the occasion, but Art refuses. The three of them are going to celebrate immediately after the signing.
Paulo tells Aida he’s pissed cuz he thinks it was his mother’s idea to have him there at the signing. He thinks he can use this incident to his advantage to get around his mother’s threats to cut him off financially every time he disagrees with her.
Back in the barrio at lunch, Ref tells Juana she’s been allowed to work again.
Art signs and hands over the check. Gen now realizes she’s forced to apologize to avoid a professional scandal connected to her. Art tells her to apologize to Tere, not him and not to jump to conclusions next time. Tere is a good, intelligent person whom he’s extremely proud of and he warns Gen and the others that he will not allow them to make up or spread things about her.
Outside, Mar’s papa drives up but remains unnoticed as Art tells Tere share a couple of minutes away from Luisa and he tells her how much he thinks of her and that she’s all a guy could want in a gal. One day she’ll make a great wife. They go to Lu’s apartment and share a toast to love. Lu notes with a degree of satisfaction how the other two seems to only have eyes for each other.
Rubigote gripes at Gen for letting him trip on his own wick and her nearly getting them all sued over what she told him and the others. Gen tells him that Tere purposely allowed her to believe the apartment would be hers.
Aida warns Gen that Paulo’s going to (OMG!) look for a job on his own so he can cut the apron strings. Horrors! If he isn’t shown that the errors of his ways traipsing after that slut will keep him in the poor house they’re sunk! Gen’s got to do something!
Fito tells Johnny that he’s going to be a delivery man and a messenger for him.
Tere comes home and tells her daddy that the prof does have intentions towards her so that he can’t let the guy know Mario is her steady or she’ll lose the job and salary. He agrees.
Gen insistst that Teresa let her purposely believe that the apartment was going to be hers. Paulo’s sick of her obsession with Teresa Chavez. He tells Mama he’s sure she had Aida bring him to her daddy’s office on purpose. He’s determined now to find a job cuz he’s sick of her sticking it to him every time he disagrees with her and wants to do things his way. She can keep her crummy credit cards and stuff ‘em.
Hector El Director tells Mar that he’s interested in his social work project and will be in contact with him about it.
Aurora stops by Tere’s to give her mother the blood pressure monitor. Aurora and she start to chat. She mentions she can’t make up her mind whether to go to the National University or University of the South. Her father, she adds, will be teaching at the government’s university. Tere notes it’s where Mar attends and immediately tells her that if she makes good grades there they will tell her it’s because of her daddy, so she should attend University of the South! (Of course, the last thing she’d admit to Aurora is that she couldn’t risk Aurora and Mariano running into each other there on campus all the time unsupervised!)
Tere also finds out that Aurora’s daddy is the director at the hospital where Mariano works. She asks Aurora if she’d speak with her dad so he would consider giving Maria a hand up on the career ladder. Aurora doesn’t mention she’d already told her daddy about Mariano, or how impressed he told her he was with him. She seems a little snitty and like she feels put upon. No, she says, she won’t have to intercede because her father recognizes what a great doctor he’ll be and Mariano did it all by himself without anyone interceding for him.
Later that evening, Mar shows Tere the giant piggy bank of his that he’s literally been saving his peso’s in. (OMG! The last thing Tere needs to have shoved in her face! Bad, bad form, Mar.) She manages to hide her disgust long enough for him to get down on his knees and propose. Pobre de Mariano. Teresa’s answer is “NO”!
Labels: Teresa
© Caray, Caray! 2006-2022. Duplication of this material for use on any other site is strictly prohibited.