Abismo de pasión #61 6/5/12: In Which Carmina Rattles her Jewelry ... but Ends Up in the Cheap Seats*.

*In a 1963 London performance attended by the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Beatle John Lennon famously addressed the audience: “For our last number, I’d like to ask your help. Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry.”

Our dear Elna June has the night off. I like to think of her poolside, sipping Tequila Sunrises with sympathetic friends and practicing her flex and point technique ...

The old:

Padre Lupe won’t budge. The only one who can reveal the name of Gael’s father is “that woman”.

Thanks to Florencia’s expert Wheedle, Simper and Whine technique, Guido agrees to be her beard for a few more days in Casa Harango. The Eurotrash Landucci clan won’t be going anywhere for a while.

Lolita and Elisa (who is still dressed for the Baton Twirling Event in the Junior Miss Chile Pepper Pageant) greet the head(case) of the family with more warmth than he deserves.

Carmina, who was conspicuously absent from the “Free Augusto” Conga Line is now nowhere to be seen in the “Welcome Home Augusto” receiving line. Augusto confronts the rotten citrus in her room. He wants to see those “family jewels” she was supposedly going to sell to raise money for his bail. Reluctantly, she pulls out the small coffer from its hiding place ...

Tonight:

What is the Orange one doing with Estefanía’s jewels? Didn’t she tell him her sister had taken them all when she left with Rosendo?

Carmina babbles that Steffie left the jewels with her because she expected Rosendo would buy her new ones. Augusto treats her absurd lie with the contempt it deserves. When he stalks out of the room, her face contorts with self-pity and she throws the little chest across the room,: “¡Para lo que me han servido!” (For all the good they’ve done me!)

(You think Augusto will beg Ramona’s forgiveness for his bass-ackwards accusation of theft earlier? Oh yeah. What have you been smoking?)

Paloma returns from her coffee date with Enrique and fends off Ramona’s questions. Enrique is a good guy but Paloma only has eyes for Gael. Besides, Enrique has his own amor imposible. Who? Paloma’s not saying.

LOTS OF FOLKS COME CALLING TONIGHT:

When a chastened Begoña comes knocking on their hotel room door, the doc and his son and daughter refuse her unexpected invitation to come back home. When she leaves, obviously hurt, Doc T reams out Enrique and Sabrina for clinging childishly to their grievances. Don’t they realize how hard it was for their mother to ask them back? Are they waiting for her to get on her knees and beg? As for his own choice to live apart, that is a different matter...

Maru stops by don Lucio’s to ask after Damián’s recovery. Lucio ends up inviting Maru to join him for supper. And she accepts. (This makes me nervous. Two nice people hanging out make a bigger target than either one alone.)

Are You My Father?

Paloma is thrilled to see Gael on her doorstep. Unfortunately, he’s there to see Grandma. Bummer. Paloma is sent out of earshot and then Gael peppers Ramona with questions about Ingrid. Does Ramona know who his father was? No she doesn’t, she says, and in her firm but not unkind way, tells him not to pick fights with Lupe about this.

Paloma wants to know what the conversation was about. Ramona’s not saying.

PAJAMA PARTY

Casa Castigo

Elisa has finally changed out of the pageant costume though has wisely left her fake eyelashes in place (you never know). She remembers accepting Damián’s proposal as if it were only yesterday. (Um. Maybe it was only yesterday.) She kisses the photo of Steffie and Blanca, kisses the love amulet, and tucks both precious relics in a drawer:

“Ay, Damián, te voy a querer toda la vida.”

A tear streams prettily down her face. (I think she must have a no-snot crying clause in her contract. Very prudent, I say.)

Hacienda Harango

Damián, now in his jammies, hobbles around the bedroom obviously looking for something. Florencia, in robe and nightgown, ever-helpful, ever-present and ever-so-annoying, offers to help. He’s looking for the amulet? What’s so important about it? He had it for so many years? Ah well.

She kisses him on the mouth and wishes him goodnight. Why did she do that? he asks. Habit, she answers. Damián thinks she should find Enrique and kiss him. And he’s not reproaching her; he’s just thinks she’s barking up the wrong tree. Flor is undeterred.

Casa Tovar

It’s morning now but Begoña answers the door in robe and nightgown. The kids are back – they didn’t use their keys because they wanted their mother’s permission to come home. Begoña smiles with real warmth. The smile fades momentarily when she realizes that Edmundo isn’t with them. But she keeps it together.

AND THE NEW DAY BEGINS

Hacienda Harango

Alfonsina sits before her mirror and applies her warpaint. Toña knocks, enters meekly and delivers a message: Don Augusto is here to see her. “Why did you let that man in my house?" fumes Alfie. "He nearly killed my son!” (Well yeah, if you want to get technical about it.)

She storms into the office and orders him to leave. He won’t go until they have talked. He wants to negotiate for Elisa’s land. But why did Alfonsina offer the money to get him out of jail in the first place? What use does she have for the land?

Alfie tells him the real price Elisa paid for his Get out of Jail at a Jacked-up Bail card – she agreed to give up Damián. Apparently:

Su amor de hija fue más fuerte que su amor por Damián – y francamente, no entiendo porque tú siempre la has tratado con la punta del pie. (Her love for her father was stronger than her love for Damián – and frankly I don’t get it because you always treated her like dirt).

How can Alfie be sure Elisa will keep her word and stay away from her son? Alfie turns her dead black eyes on him: “She’s terrified you’ll try to hurt him again.”

"Perdóname", replies Augusto, abashed but also satisfied. (The Black Widow seems to have accomplished what he was unable to do – separate definitively Dam Stupid from Miss Junior Chile Peppers.) “I never meant to hurt your son.”

Casa Castigo

Elisa wears another Junior Miss pageant costume. She is not yet crying. She is still insisting that Lolita screen her calls – she’s not home to Damián. But the call that comes now is from Dam’s dam, that is Alfonsina, with a not so friendly warning. She knows that Augusto is free so Elisa better not try to pull a fast one on her (tomar el pelo). If their agreement is breached, Augusto goes back to the pokey!

Her message delivered, she hangs up abruptly.

La Iglesia

Gael apologizes to Padre Lupe for his angry words of the day before. Apology accepted with grace and affection, of course.

Gael heads off to work but is stopped at the foot of the church stairs by Kenia. When he tells her he has had no luck in his search for his father, she tells him not to give up. They’ll figure it out together. (Although she knows, right? She’s such a convincing liar, I get confused.)

They hug. At that precise moment, Augusto walks up. “You make an attractive couple” he remarks and then continues on his way.

Gael realizes that Augusto doesn’t know that he Kenia is his half-sister and he picks up on Augusto’s jealousy.

Hacienda Harango

Alfie smarms over Guido and offers to take him on a tour of the Pro Ce. Guido’s anxious to see baby bro at work.

Pettish Paolo languishes in bed, the only audience for his bare chest his none too sympathetic niece. He’s too depressed to care about Guido and Alfie. Hah! Flor gets it! He’s in love! Is it Elisa? No? Then who? He's not saying.

She smirks. For the first time in his life, Paolo is in love. And he’s suffering ...

Casa Castigo

... While the citric source of his affliction offers a cheery orange greeting to Augusto, now back home and grouchy as hell after seeing Gael and Kenia together. She leans in to kiss him and he recoils.

“Are you still upset about Estefanía’s jewels?” she asks coyly. She insists it’s really not a big deal. Maybe not, he agrees. But he has suddenly come to realize she’s not the person he thought she was. And it’s not just one thing, it’s a lot of things – like Paolo Landucci ...

Carmina kicks into high dudgeon mythomania mode: “I suppose Elisa filled your head with her lies”, she begins.

“No” says Augusto. “She didn’t say anything”.

Here Elisa enters. Now Augusto wants the story.

Elisa speaks: “A few days ago, I came out of my room and saw my aunt and Paolo kissing.”

Carmina’s mouth hangs open. She turns from Elisa to Augusto and protests:

¡Pero eso no es cierto! (But that’s not true!)

Oh man. The zest is gone, the juice has been squeezed. It’s all pulp and pits for you, OrangeHo. Because Elisa has a witness – Kenia, Gael’s sister!

Gael’s sister?

Yes, Augusto, there is a Santa Claus! Kenia and Gael are brother and sister. O frabjous day! Callou! Callay!

“No, no”, the Orange one continues to protest. Paolo was forcing himself on her. She wasn’t kissing him. (True. But do we care?)

Augusto has left the building. We catch the mean little smile on Junior Miss Chile Pepper’s face.

Hacienda Harango

Braulio slips past security (that is, his wife) and gains access to Damián. Dam stupid is stunned (stunned!) to hear that his mother has cancelled all the work that was to be done on Elisa’s lands.

La Ermita

Augusto sits alone in the cantina and downs a shot (or three) of tequila.

La Procesadora

Since Guido finds the Pro Ce so interesting and since his business in the DF is circling the drain and since Paolo has found his calling here and since Flor is going to end up marrying Damián ... (“La vida da muchas vueltas” (I’m a manipulative bitch who gets people to do what I want them to, sooner or later)) ...

...How would he like a job here?

Guido agrees to give it some thought.

La Ermita

A sad old guy and his horse. A lovely young woman emerging from a modest pink house. The old guy – and now we see it’s Augie – walks up and kisses Kenia (yes, it is she) mwa! smack on the lips. She seems surprised, maybe even shocked. But she recovers quickly: “¿Quieres pasar?” (Wanna come in?) she asks. But he is already shambling back to his horse. “Perdon” he says over his shoulder. Kenia smiles to herself.

La Iglesia

Apparently no one has had the heart to tell Ingrid that the casting is complete for the production of “Yentl” in Mérida. (Or at least that is the only explanation I have for her sidelocks.) Bueno, como sea ...

Ingrid comes calling on Padre Lupe. He tries to turn her away and refuses to hear her confession. He’s furious that she told Gael that knowing the identity of his father would get her and Gael killed. Ingrid insists that Padre’s own sister, Alfonsina, really did threaten her life.

Now Lupe comes as close to thundering as he can: “¡Mientes, mujer! ¡Mientes!” (You’re lying, woman, you’re lying!) “My sister may have many faults, but she’d never do something like that!)

But it’s true, insists Ingrid. And the threats go years back, back to the time of her pregnancy. That’s why she had to abandon Gael and leave town.

Then why didn’t she go to Rosendo? asks Lupe. “¡Contéstame!” (Answer me!)

“Because” confesses Ingrid, “Alfonsina gave me a lot of money to leave.” Now she regrets what she did and she is really, truly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die earnest about wanting to recover her son. But Lupe can’t tell anyone he saw her because Alfie would kill her if she found out she was still in La Ermita.

Oh ick. Now she’s kissing his hand and begging for his help. (The sad part is he doesn’t believe the truth – that his sister is a monster – but may be buying into the lie – that Ingrid really feels something for Gael.)

Casa Castigo

When Augusto comes home, the Orange Harpy and Junior Miss Chile Pepper are engaged in a heated discussion of moral philosophy.

At Orangina’s prodding, Elisa acknowledges that Paolo was indeed forcing himself on the tía. That’s all the Orange one needed. She affects The Voice, the one with the irritating tremolo that warns us she is shoveling as fast as she can. And she tries to shift the blame to Elisa. Paolo was there to see Elisa and somehow ended up forcing himself on her.

For the second time tonight, Augusto tells her flatly: “I don’t believe you”. It’s not that Elisa and Kenia know. It’s that everyone knows. Her affair with Paolo is common knowledge.

“Whoever told you that is lying” maintains the mistress of mendacity. But it’s no use. Augusto is ready to give her her freedom so she can do whatever she likes with her life.

Carmina’s face goes all pouty and her lips begin to quiver.

A deep breath. Lie back and let yourself float in the cool waters of the cenote ...

Avances: Damián and Elisa defend their love (for five minutes). Elmer Fudd gets out his shotgun.