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The screeching sound of the coral crusher had finally drowned out Domino's scream of agony, leaving in its place the snapping sound of each of his bones being reduced to dust. The nightmare was not over yet, Manny was about to suffer the same unfortunate fate, struggling to get away from the jaws of the hungry machine, he was falling backwards, clinging to the wreckage of the submarine that was sinking second by second. From the boat with the shredder for an engine, Merche was astonished to see how far the travel agent Calavera had been able to go to keep his word to get them all off that island, which was nothing more than a prison.
Freedom.
Glottis would have run frantically to the ship's control room to turn off the engine, had it not been for the fact that he could not take his eyes off the possible fate of his boss and best friend. The rest of the passengers, transfixed by the scene, just watched.
Amidst all the commotion, a pair of flapping wings quickly made their way over to Manny, and without wasting any time, Los Angelitos arrived to lift him into the air and return him to the safety of the ship.
Panting from the effort, Bibi and Pugsy let go of Manny as soon as their feet hit the deck, landing him on his back, right next to Merche. She scooped him up in her arms, hugged him joyfully and carried him fleetingly, rotating on her own axis, letting out laughter and cheers. Manny, confused and awkwardly drowned in that warm sensation, did not notice the blow of reality that struck him down as soon as Merche abruptly released him to go attend to the children. Both of them, besides being exhausted, seemed happy to be reunited once again with the closest thing to a mother they could have.
Glottis approached Calavera, happy that he was fine, not noticing how his colleague's gaze was lost in the scene starring Miss Colomar and Los Angelitos. Bringing him out of his trance with a:
“MANNYYYYYY, YOU DID IT!”
“Did I make it? Not yet, compadre... But we are very close...”
He smiled to himself, dusting himself off and getting up. Directing his steps to the bow. In front of them the deep blue of the Sea of Lament and the faint glow of The Pearl, if they forgot the multiple shipwrecks and the plague of sea monsters at the bottom of it, conveyed an incredible peace, breathing the breeze between the lungs that he no longer had, Manny took a breath of salty air and exclaimed:
“Next stop, Puerto Zapato!”
“Aye, aye, Captain" Replied Glottis.
The crew of the "La Mancha" broke into a standing ovation for Captain Calavera. Merche, turned her gaze towards him, with Los Angelitos frolicking and flying in circles around him, their laughter heard far away. Drowned out by the crowd that was celebrating their new freedom.
Everything felt so alive!
Mercedes was transported for a moment to those remote memories, of when she worked as a volunteer in shelters, she was still alive. Glimmers of hope in people's voices…
After three horrible years, embracing the taste of hope again was almost heavenly. In the end, this world didn't seem so torturous. At least not with the right company. The rest of the afternoon was spent in song and laughter with the sailors gathering to get to know each other better and tell stories of their life in the land of the living, or at least what they could remember most.
Manny, on his own, returned to the bridge to analyze the old map he had brought with him.
He found it, worn and dusty, in the office assigned by Domino during his stay on the island, next to the Angelitos cage, hidden in a pile of old newspaper.
He thought of the irony of leaving the outline of a possible escape route to the only winged creatures around, with no way out. When Domino set his mind to it, he could be terribly biting in executing his machinations. At least no one wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. It was almost a miracle that the parchment had not been ruined by the humidity of the environment.
In an endless back-and-forth, Manny's gaze kept tracing a thousand possible routes in his mind, scrambling to avoid any mishaps that might make his journey more cumbersome than it had already been for the past three years. He knew firsthand that the rest of the way would still bring its own difficulties; remembering the raid on The Perl, where Lemans' agents had sprouted the entire crew of the "S.S Lola" and then sunk it, made him anxious.
He did not want any of the souls on board to suffer the same misfortune, especially Meche or the children.
What kind of travel agent would you be if he didn't ensure the safety of his travelers?
Sure, he no longer worked for the Department of Death. But this was no longer about the department.
He promised himself to keep the situation afloat (literally and figuratively) even if it meant offering everything he had left in oblation.
He would need Salvador's help, to cover his back during the time he was at sea, now more than ever he wanted to spot one of the LSA pigeons, to keep in touch with the revolutionaries. He searched the sky for some clue, but found only the stars that were beginning to stain the darkened sky with brightness.
At nightfall, when everyone was sleeping peacefully in their improvised cabins, Manny savored the last puffs of his cigarette, trying to turn his anxiety into ashes, crumbled carelessly on deck. In a way, he longed nostalgically for those glorious nights in Ruvacaba, with the distant sound of ships in the harbor, the lights, the casino, the piano it was something he would not admit out loud, but he often found himself daydreaming when he still worked there, waiting for some sign of her coming through the door, being able to settle things at the bar with a smooth wine served in shining glasses, a pleasant chat between them, knowing more about each other, a night of the day of the dead, with the restaurant empty, the delicate melodies with which Glottis would accompany them until the golden dawn...
“When will be the day when I will hear the hubbub of a port again?”
Manny refused to give in to the distraction of his daydreams, he had to cover for Glottis by driving the boat during the night shift.
Actually, Glottis could spend day and night driving non-stop, it was his life force after all. It took a while to convince the demon to cede the helm to the captain, at least for one night. If they moved around the clock, they could cut down the travel time. Despite his obvious tiredness, Manny was too stubborn and he was negligent with himself enough to have a break before shaking off the thorn of guilt he still felt.
He did not know how. He was thankful he no longer had skin, otherwise huge dark circles under his eyes would give away all his sleeplessness, not even at the Calavera Café would he have managed to get a night's sleep without nightmares of flying spiders and demonic beavers leaving him alone.
Loneliness was a siren that always called seductively to Calavera, inviting him to introspection.
She was the only lady with whom he felt comfortable being vulnerable. Lost once again in his memories of the café, with himself sitting at the gleaming piano in the center of the bar, with the tables empty, an improvised melody returned to his lips.
Humming would help him stay awake, a song taking shape in his whispers, unable to get Miss Colomar out of his lyrics.
~Ohhh, ooooh, ohhhhhhhh Merche~
He marked a beat with his fingers rhythmically tapping the rudder.
Remembering Meche's question, which had only been bouncing around in his head since that afternoon, seconds before the fight with Domino.
"But if you aren’t going to use me to get your job back, why spend all this time trying to find me?"
Híjole...
That was a question he never expected to receive and that he himself did not know how to answer.
"Merche... I… I needed to find you"
If he had the chance, if he had gathered enough courage, he would have said something like:
"~Quise buscarte, para contarte... Vengo a decirte todo lo que siento~"
["~I wanted to find you, to tell you…I came to say everything I’m feeling~"]
He cooed to himself sweetly, feeling for an instant the piano keys falling under his bony fingers and the golden hues of the Calavera Café lights illuminating his face.
~"Después de tanto retener, crucé los dedos y rompí el silencio..."~
[~After so much holding back, I crossed my fingers and broke all this silence∼]
Inadvertently, a silhouette was drawn through the smoke and darkness, on one side of the door lintel, listening attentively, taciturnly.
~"Hoy solo quiero verte y explicarte por qué no logro estar de pie"~
[~Today I just want to see you, and explain to you why I can't stand up right"∼]
Manny, with his eyes closed, took a deep drag on his cigarette, expelling a trail of smoke, dense, like the fog of Ruvacaba, his verses slowing down, his singing transformed into the lament of a tormented soul. He was aware of the feeling that drove his melody. Calavera was the kind of reluctant person who is not exactly known for knowing how to open up to people.
Sure, as a salesman he was an expert talker, but when the conversations were not about business, he always lost out.
Always reserved, always cold.
Maybe that's why blue was his color.
Complaint after complaint, for his apparent apathy and lack of interest.
Lonely... Why should he try to find a little love? Why?! ... Why with Meche?
Or not. Why not her? She was the shrewdest, most generous, and though he hated to admit it also the most dangerously attractive woman he would have met in his entire sojourn in the land of the dead. Salvador was right, he was smitten! But he would never admit it to anyone else.
He could profess devoted love to his angel on earth for the rest of his life, but not a single word would come out of his white, worn jaw. Causing a lump in his throat, difficult to untangle, to come out in a trickle.
~"No he dejado de amarte y no hay nada que yo pueda hacer"~
[~I have not stopped loving you and there is nothing I can do"]
A runaway tear, traced a line of deep regret beneath their tired sockets. In the end, his lonely comfort zone became a prison, where he lay consumed, a prisoner of his own shame. Unable to settle things face to face like the man he is. On the run.
“Perdóname”
He sobbed, not knowing who he was apologizing to, whether to Mercedes for all the years of lonely baggage, or to himself for anchoring himself in that loop of unrest. He inhaled deeply, savoring the tobacco and the salty sea air:
~"Y es que lo siento... Cada día yo quise decir: «Te quiero»"~
[~And I'm sorry... Every day I wanted to say: "I love you"~]
He whispered almost imperceptibly, taking another deep drag on his cigarette, letting the smoke out like a dying sigh.
"~Hubo veces que fue mi temor escucharte, cuando sabía que algo no estaba bien~"
["~There were times when it was my fear to listen to you, when I knew something wasn't right~" ]
A shock. “It's going to be all right, Manny”
A generous hand had rested on his shoulder delicately.
“Manny?"
He heard behind him. Turning his defeated gaze, he recognized the silhouette of Miss Colomar.
Above him, he felt Merche's affectionate gaze, with her sockets radiating reflections of the ambient light, soon melting into her angel's embrace.
There was something in her voice that transmitted an infinite calmness and made him tremble as did the glow of The Perl under the sea. Calavera threw away his cigarette and stubbed it out awkwardly with his foot, to respond without taking his eyes off course.
“Is something wrong, angel?”-
Startled at his own undeniable awkwardness at the call, Manny let out a short-lived chuckle that did little to disguise all the fatigue permeating the rest of his face, or how embarrassed he felt at the thought of being caught singing.
He was so used to talking to himself in moments of solitude or reflection....
He did not know at what point the words became verses. Or how much Merche heard...
It didn't matter. It was a mania all his own. Anyone who knew him well enough would know that.
"I guess it's Merche's turn now? Hooray!"
He thought sarcastically and embarrassed, uselessly evading the obvious attention he was receiving.
It was easy for Mercedes to read Manuel, probably the poor guy was not used to this kind of touch, she removed her hand from Manny's shoulder, adopting a much more demure posture, she rubbed both palms against her skirt, so that the texture of the fabrics would take away the phantom sweat she felt.
“Excuse me, Mr. Calavera, but it seems to me that this is not the time to be "
“Singing? Don't worry, sweetie, I... “
“No! I was going to say working... You've already done too much for us today getting us all out of Domino's clutches to keep working this late...”
“But...”
“But nothing, Manuel! If you intend to accompany us for the rest of the trip, you need rest to function. Even Glottis, being a demon who literally lives by running, understands that logic. I don't want to imagine how much you've been staying up all night looking for us.... And... Oh my..."
Mercedes sat on the floor, leaning her back against the rudder support, holding a hand to her head, cocking her head in disapproval. He was losing her again. Manny, shutting down the engines, dropped the boat's anchor and sat down beside her, covering his face with his captain's cap.
“Merche... I still can't rest... It's like Sal says... "Our glory does not await us in this world, but in the next" and that is why...”
“And that's why you're in such a hurry to get there?”
“Yes! -But I'm not saying it for me... Listen, even if we were to get to the gate tomorrow, I wouldn't be able to cross over.
I just want you and the rest of the souls whose fate was taken away, to get the reward they deserved from the beginning, life was never fair If I can make death fair, I would be more at ease. That's all...”
“You know something?" she asked, lifting his cap so that their gazes met again face to face. “For what it's worth I understand, but with years of service, you learn that you can't take care of others if you don't look out for yourself first. It's not selfish, it's part of knowing how to love yourself and how to live”
“Number one... I’m pretty sure I'm selfish, two, we are...”
“Dead?”
Merche burst out laughing, planting her cap hard on the captain, puzzled by the reaction.
“How do I explain?“
I continue to be amused by the situation
“One, you're not half as selfish as Domino was. And two, dead people can't talk... much less sing that well” Saying that last one with a tone of restless and curious mischief.
"Then I guess I'll stop doing it"
He smiled playfully, looking away. Manny didn't know how to react, the only woman who had ever heard him sing before was Lupe, the bellhop at the Calavera cafe and to be honest, she would clap for anything, her fuzzy energy had to come out somehow. He didn't think he really had a talent for it.
"No! Don't ever stop doing it. It's just one of the thousand things I never imagined about you...."
"I can't blame you. It's really hard to let your imagination run wild when you're trying not to get eaten by radioactive armadillos. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help sooner; I would have made sure you had the best place to... "
"I've already told you Manny, you don't have to act like you're my Prince Charming, I'm not that easy to impress"
“And I don't pretend to... I... It was my job!”
“Well, now that you're unemployed, why were you so insistent on finding me? There’s something you need to tell?”
A deja vu.
Again, the question bouncing its shrill echoes in Calavera's consciousness. He sighed.
“You are important and I... There wasn't a single day that went by that I didn't wonder where you were, if you were well. Or if I would ever see you again...”
In love or guilty?
It was difficult to identify the feeling that prevailed in her words, but Meche knew deep down that if she didn't insist on asking, she would never get a satisfactory answer.
“I was never disappointed in you, I'm sorry you didn't think you were good enough.... You... I… Why am I so bad at this? “
Manny brought both arms to his skull, combing back his non-existent hair, stood up from his spot and stepped out of the booth to get some air. He felt like he was suffocating on his own. Meche followed him with her eyes, his silhouette outlined by the silvery moonlight hunched over the railing. Seconds later, she stood up, thinking.
"Could it be that he has become angry at my insistence or is he really just overwhelmed with expressing that sort of thing?"
Although I hadn't known him long, I could sense a pattern in his behavior.
Was he that badly wounded by his former life? Mercedes had never stopped to think about how much Calavera might have suffered since before she took her stolen commission, the one that intertwined their paths. The mask of indifference she had used with him to hide her sadness and anger had not let her see behind the false image she had woven in her mind, the one where Manuel Calavera was nothing more than a opportunistic scrimper. It's not as if it were a justification, But now the veil was falling, everything was clearer.
Midnight 00:00
The old clock in the cabin chimed the twelve chimes, one after the other, sending a shiver down the spine of both skeletons. Both of them casting their eyes on the hands marking a macabre compass, with the mental image of the funeral procession they never witnessed. Their own one. An icy gust whipped the bow, announcing with it the first drops of the autumn breeze, the sea of laments surgery in weak sobs that shook the ship. It was as if nature was aware of the warning. The day of the dead was ending. Paralyzed by the powerful feeling, neither knew exactly what to do or what to say, the only thing left was to keep each other company under the possible storm. Mercedes approached Manny with the shawl draped over her shoulders, so that it covered the triangular marks on Calavera's forehead, reminding him of his grim reaper uniform, like that first time they exchanged words.
"No, but there’s still a chance you could save me."
"That's a lot of responsibility, Mr. Calavera."
She recalled.
Suddenly, she was pulled out of her own thoughts as she heard that warm voice in response, in a lullaby, picking up the melody where he remembered he had left off.
~"Quise enterrarte para olvidarte, quise guardarme todo lo que siento"~
[~I wanted to bury you to forget you, I wanted to keep inside everything I feel"]
Manny took Mercedes' hand, holding it tenderly against his own chest, nestled against Meche's shoulder.
~"Ahora sé reconocer que es el momento de empezar de cero"~
[~Now I recognize that it is time to start from scratch"]
Then, he inadvertently grabbed her by the waist with his other hand, she had no time to react to Calavera's sudden change of attitude, but it brought up a curious feeling inside her, sweet and bubbly, like a sparkling glass of champagne.
Leading his impromptu waltz, holding one hand, Manny gave his dance partner a couple of turns, their gazes magnetically connecting.
~"Pues ahora puedo ver que ha cambiado mi papel Tendido ante tus pies"~
[~From now on I can see that my role has changed I’m lying at your feet"]
A bow, bending one of her knees towards Merche and leaning on the floor with the other, to kiss the metacarpus of her hands. She was touched, he swallowed saliva. It was now or never, Manny let it out of his chest:
~"Y aunque no quiera amarte No hay nada que yo pueda hacer"~
[~And even if I don't want to love you There's nothing that I can do"]
“Manny!”
She recoiled in surprise, bringing both hands to where her heart used to beat. The lunar glow framed the scene, now it was Meche who wanted to escape, to flee, not knowing how to handle the confirmation of her suspicions.
One thing were the assumptions that her intuition dictated to her and quite another, the reality. But neither her feet nor her mouth helped her.
Frozen like a statue, she remained with her sockets open in shock, rhythmically tapping her phalanges on her humerus, as she used to do when she got nervous.
Manny looked down at his cold, bare hands, whispering faintly:
∼I'm just sorry∼.
“Shhh, you don't have to apologize”
Meche cooed, extending a hand to help him stand up again, welcoming him immediately with a long and warm embrace, in which Manuel allowed himself to melt into tears without any restraint on his beloved's abdomen.
“Listen Manny”
he caressed his skull, giving special attention to his frontal marks, outlining them with his fingers
“We still don't know each other, but I want to try again! "Start from scratch"
No stolen commissions, no guns without bullets, no broken socks.
Let's go back to the beginning, just you and me. What do you say?”
Manny's watery gaze returned to his angel's compassionate eyes, lighting up after each word, Calavera mentally recited to himself:
∼Aunque quise seguir y mirar a otra parte Hoy vengo a repetirte que, eh-eh∼
[∼Although I wanted to go on and look elsewhere Today I come to repeat to you that, eh-eh∼]
"Yes, angel! Please!"
Calavera begged
"There are still things I want to improve.... For me... for us and..."
*Clank
Bone on bone, a shy kiss from Colomar, on the corner of his mouth.
“I love you”
They said in unison. Laughter. “We will no longer go alone, I promise you from now on, this will be OUR trip”
Merche tucked Manny back in next to her with the help of the black shawl. He exuded an effervescent sense of relief, wishing the moment would last forever. Intoxicated by the closeness.
A band-aid for the soul. He put Merche's arms around his shoulders, to roll himself up like a tamalito, the clear difference in height between them making him the small spoon of the duo.
And far from feeling bad, he loved feeling protected that way.
Would the land of eternal rest feel just as good?
It didn't matter now.
He had to learn to live by her side again and was more than willing to move the skies, sea and earth for a better future.
With that promise in mind, they returned together to the interior of the cabins, where sleep finally overcame them.
In the morning, as dawn broke, Manny whispered softly to his sleeping partner.
∼Quiero recuperarte y borrar lo que ya fue bajo el yugo del ayer
Esa espina que lastima, la tristeza que me domina
Quiero abrazarte y saber qué se siente renacer En la vida y volverte a amar∼
[∼I want to recover you and erase what has already been under the yoke of yesterday
That thorn that hurts, the sadness that dominates me.
I want to hold you and know what it feels like to be reborn In life and love you again∼]
Manuel, hummed softly, Merche slowly woke up to the singing, as her eyes got used to the brightness of the new day.
Soon, she spotted Agent Calavera in the foreground, waving as the first time...
“Buenos días”
“You’re not the nurse?"
Merche joked, a mischievous smile appeared on Manuel's face
“No... But I'm here to ease your pain”
He played along.
“Guess they couldn't save me, eh?”
Merche feigned sorrow.
“Well, we did it, but let’s be honest, angel. You saved me first”
A forehead kiss followed by a complicit laughter.
Happiness.
THE END