Qué Bonito Amor #10 (Mex 14.2-15) Friday 4/26/13 ¡Qué Bonita Sorpresita! O La Gran Entrada [What A Nice Little Surprise! Or, The Grand Entrance]

Caps 14.5 – 15 

Lo del Pasado:

Amalia lets Mancia read her tarot cards and there’s a nasty warning in them: either she or her daughters are in for a lot of pain.  Meanwhile, Maria and Snooty Bargirl Babes are on their way to computer class when they notice Santos/Jorge Alfredo walking through the plaza towards them.

Lo Del Nuevo:

Maria can’t take her eyes off moping Jorge Alfredo.  He noticed her and has walked over to speak on a serious matter with her, namely to tell her the truth!  Like the rest of us, he’s piqued Maria’s interest.   He tells her, during a walk in the nearby park, that he’s leaving because of a moral duty to do so.  Otherwise, if it were up to him, he’d stay there in the D.F. permanently.  “—Sure, you told me that already; that’s why you don’t want to see me again.  OK. You were right.”  Seeing him kissing some other woman, though, is eating at Maria and she can’t help but put it out there.  “—I saw you kissing some woman last night.” Point of clarification here.  “—That was Elvira, and I wasn’t kissing her.  She kissed me!” Same thing, whines Maria!  No, of course it isn’t, argues JA!  Why?  “--Because I don’t love her!  And, at this point in time, there’s only one woman I would kiss.”  

Maria wants to believe Jorge Alfredo, but Snooty Bargirl Babes show up and tell her break is over.  Time to get back to classes.  JA stares into Maria’s eyes and tells her she’s his only angel.  Snooty # 1 who’s in love with Fernandlo, aka, Mil Amores intervenes and drags Maria away.  “—Aw, get off it, hot-stuff!” [¡Bájalo, chulito! = ‘Tamp it down, cutie-pie.’]  Maria and he exchange longing glances,as she walks back to class.

Lots of local, native color ensues as Viewerville is entertained by native dances and feathered finery.  Suddenly we see Santos sitting in the plaza [zocalo=main square] while waiting to be given a bit of low-wage work for the day.  Two of the would-be workman mention “the killing train”, La Bestia [The Beast], which is the train that takes the would-be illegals through Mexico and drops them off near the Mexican-America border so they can cross over to look for work, aka, the “American Dream”, as the carpenter calls it, “—or Hell.”  It’s hard because there are others who fight, who are the competition they are constantly battling, always taking their opportunity away from them and getting the job instead.  Backasswards Ball-Cap Guy explains to Santos that its risky because the “would-be émigrés” can be killed and dragged along when they try to grab onto that train (or, I think it’s what he’s referring to).  Santos and a long line of his descendants haven’t gotten where they are by   doing it like that.  (Plus we and he all know he’s got a special talent which will let him earn the dough he needs the smart way, if he’d just give in and do it, already.)  Realizing this, he tells himself that he’s got to get hold of some cash quick or else!    Maria walks back through the plaza after classes, alone, and watches JA, still sitting and hopelessly waiting for what she knows will more than likely never come along.

Night comes to the city.  At the Cold Feet Bar (No Te Rajes Bar = Don’t Get Cold Feet Bar, I know, but considering the storyline, that Santos has cold feet when it comes to singing in this place and has hot-footed it out of L.A., then ended up needing to hot-foot it back by singing for his supper here and having to be cajoled into it, Cold Feet it is.) Maria has told Snooty Bargirl Babes what JA told her and why.  They tell her not to believe it; he’s hurting for money for sure, and/or he’s in a mell of a hell of a hurry to hot-foot it back over the border to L.A. again.  Either way, he’s a major waste of her time.  He could make much more and more quickly by working there, but he doesn’t want to see her again, so just give it up, they advise her.  They leave to get ready for the first set.  Maria, though,  stays back in the dressing room and thinks back to his telling her he doesn’t want to burden her with his problems or to be taking advantage of her good will any longer. 

At the same time, sitting in his darkened bedroom (where Maria’s name is scrawled all over his sheets in a silly love-sick Jr. High kind of way that even Rodrigo would shake his head in disgust over) Santos is remembering Amalia’s visit asking him to forget her daughter when agreed to comply, as well as his father begging him to turn himself in to the authorities, and the discussion about the Killing Train which he learned would be his quickest means of returning home to L.A.  He rubs his eyes and his forehead in frustration.  “—I am not free to love you, Pretty One.  If I don’t get out of here quickly, I will end up running to you to declare my love for you!”  He picks up his duffle bag and heads down the stairs to the street. 

Santos takes a quick look at the painted shrine of La Virgen de Guadalupe and then notices Maria’s costumed appearance on the stairs as she slowly walks towards him with a charro suit in her hands.  He smiles feebly at her.  She notes the duffle bag and figures correctly that he’s leaving for good this time.  “--Oh, so you’ve finally gotten enough money together to make the trip back?”  Not exactly, he answers her.  Then how is he going to leave?  With a lot of pain in his heart, he replies evasively.  “—That doesn’t answer my question, Jorge Alfredo!”   “—Er…there are plenty of ways.”  She offers him her daddy’s Charro suit and says she wants him to use it.  She understands he and she are no longer able to get chummy, but at least, if he puts the suit to good use then she’s helping him to get back where he wants to be that much quicker.  Right?  This is an honorable way to do things and above all, it’s the safest way.  “—Ay, Bonita!”  Don’t call her that, cuz she isn’t his Bonita anymore.  From here on they are simply strangers!  He doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore—didn’t bother to discuss it with her, so.  Ok.  Well she didn’t bother to discuss this with him either!  Do what’s most convenient and they’ll both be happy and he can get going that much sooner!  “--Just take the suit, sing and earn your money and then leave.”

Santos tells her that first of all, she’s always going to be his Bonita.  Secondly, if she doesn’t trust him, then why the suit?  No excuses, already.  It’s her father’s and means so much to her.  He can’t do that!  “—What better use?  With that divine voice of yours?”  No, he admits he feels like an empty shell, and voiceless right now.  He hasn’t the heart to sing.  (QTH?  Viewerville feels like scratching its collective noggin.  What better time for a person to sing,  than when emotion runs high????)  Naw, argues Maria, JA has a huge heart and it’s full of sorrow, so much so that it’s about to kill him.  She wipes away the tears running down his cheek and begs him not to cry.  “—I’d give my life to keep you from crying.” 

The next morning we are back in L.A. at the police department with Det. Deshecho Derecho and his lovely sidekick, Lt. Curtis.  They’ve traced Santos’ last phone call to his daddy as going to his lawyer, Guiliano  Gusano’s cell phone.   It came from Mexico City, his hometown, of all places!  Aha!  DD says he’ll contact one of his cop buddies there to get right on it and track the criminal down!  Unfortunately, his cop buddy tells him it’s in the wrong district and he won’t be able to handle the case or the request.  On the other hand, his sidekick in M.C. realizes who the Young man DD wants them to locate and pick up for him is a political hot-potato and politically too well connected to mess with.  Sidekick must check things out around the barrio where he was calling from.  There’s a great bar there which is known for its Mariachi musical entertainment and food.  Might as well have dinner there.   

~~end parte 1~~

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~~Parte 2 ~~

Santos decides to write a letter to Maria to read once he’s gone.  It will have the truth (#110 and counting) the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

Junior High time again.  One of Vanesa’s school chums tricks Rodrigo into giving her his phone number for some supposed charity or school project??  Anyway, she gives it to Vainy who keeps dialing it during class so that she and Rodrigo have to share detention after school together. 

Somewhere along this timeline, Maria comes looking for Jorge Alfredo, but he’s not in.  Dona Prudencia greets her and mentions that next time her mother comes to the pension that she should stop by to visit her instead of Jorge Alfredo.  Jorge Alfredo?  Maria does a quick double-take and suddenly, it hits her like a Mariachi’s lead maraca that her meddling mama must be at the bottom of all this misery!!

Maria and Amalia have a heart to heart about crying over Jorge Alfredo.  How could Mama stick it to her devoted daughter like that?  Oh, but she is the devoted daughter and a good girl, so she understands and believes that Mama was only doing it for her own good, to avoid the suffering.  Too late, Mama, Maria says.  The pain is permanent cuz she’s fallen hopelessly in love with Jorge Alfredo—worse, she’s doubled up in pain, thanks to Mama’s meddling!  Isabel doesn’t like seeing her big sis shedding so many tears over JA, either (but she’s not the cause for it like meddling Mama is). 

During this disagreeable discussion, Ruben, looking as wolfish as ever despite his expensive lambskin loafers and merino wool suit, is knock-knock-knockin’ at their door.  Why, he’s there with great news for Maria!  He’s gotten her an interview for a job at his company that will pay her twice what she can make singing at that nasty old bar, he tells her with a sneaky side glance towards well-meaning Amalia.  He even promises not to see her again, just so long as she’ll go to the interview with him and accept the job.  While Maria is making up her mind, Isa has snuck out of the apartment and run the distance over to have a talk with Jorge Alfredo to give him a piece of her baby-doll mind!

Santos opens up, surprised and pleased to see her.   She complains to Jorge about the way he’s been making her sister cry and feel miserable all the time now.  He explains that sometimes things happen which prevent people from being able to be with each other.  He suggests then that he take her back home before she gets everybody worried about her being gone.

Maria has agreed to go to the job interview, but makes it clear she’d have rather gotten the interview on her own merits and not because of him.  It’s about then that Amalia realizes Isa isn’t in the apartment or in the colonia and she starts to freak.

Isa and Santos are skipping merrily toward the colonia when he spies a police car and freaks.  Nope, he doesn’t like police cars, he admits. Then a couple of blocks later, he spies Ruben’s mack’nshackmobile.   He stops short and tells Isa that it’s probably better if he doesn’t go to the door with her because Maria’s obviously got another of her would-be boyfriends visiting and they always get jealous of him and cause problems for her.  On the other hand, it’s not that important cuz he gets jealous also.  Maria, Ruben and Amalia walk out onto the street looking for Isa and then see her and Jorge Alfredo skipping back towards them.  Amalia scolds Isa for scaring the living daylights out of them and running off like that without a word.  Ruben greets Jorge Alfredo stiffly and crows to Maria about not forgetting their appointment for the job interview.  Then he struts off with a slight and polite nod to JA and leaves. 

Sometime during the afternoon also, Paloma gripes to Mama about the dirty trick Vainy played on Rodrigo.  Surely with her rich girl's car and money she'll win Roddy over to the dark side.  Somehow talk turns to Isa and she tells Amalia that she doesn't remember Isa being born.  Why not?  Sure she was born in the D.F., somewhere during the flashbacks, Viewerville --this part of Viewerville--doesn't catch whether the truth about Isa being a foundling is skipped over or not.

That night we see a man dressing in a black Charro suit, but nope, it isn’t Santos.  It’s El Celoso de Coloso and he checks himself out in the mirror before telling Mil Amores that he’s certain tonight’s gonna be his lucky night.  He’s going to win the beautiful Maria over with a terrific surprise.  Mil says well, he doubts it, but seeing is believing in cases like this.

In her dressing rooms Maria is getting grief for hanging on to a couple of stale mazapane candies (yep, worse than a crummy tee shirt, I know) just because JA gave them to her as a gift.  Get over it, says Leticia.  He’s never going to set foot in Cold Feet again because priority numero uno is to forget her and viceversa.

Com. Malo’s lieutenant Baldy makes it to the bar and gets a front row seat for the evening.  The band is already on stage and El Coloso states he’s going to dedicate this first set and song to the lovely female star of their show,  La Perla Taptia, aka, Maria, who is absolutely ravishingly romantic in raspberry but feeling very mauve and maudlin.  Mil strikes up the band and plays the intro, but before El Coloso can sing the first note, Jorge Alfredo enters from the back of the room, dressed in her daddy’s Charro suit, singing Maria Bonita.  Coloso is pissed at having been one-upped by el Pochito Ese once again, and he doen’t mind showing it.  Now Lewd Lourdes and La daughter Desira de Elvira walk in on the performance in progress.  Their smiles do an immediate 180 and a nose dive in triple time.  El Concho, however, is mentally piling up the pesos and grinning from ear to ear.

On stage, Maria is all tears of happiness.  No need to act the part of the happy maiden to El Coloso’s cheese-whiz cantata now.  She is consumed with true emotion on stage as he kneels before her, singing the love song—his personal serenade, filling the room with major romantic momentum.  Once the song is ended the audience (including Viewerville) stands and cheers, but neither of them hears.  They are caught in a meaningful embrace, seized by their own personal, magical moment.  Ay, que bonita sorpresita!  Que bonita entrada! Que bonito es el amor!