K.Esquivel-LWFC

If only Rosaura had burned her mouth to a
crisp! And had never let
those words leak out, those foul, filthy,
frightful, repulsive,
revolting, unreasonable words. Better to
have swallowed them and kept
them deep in her bowels until they were
putrid and worm-eaten. If only
she would live long enough to prevent her
sister from carrying out such
a dire intention.
She didn't know why she had to think about
such unpleasant things at a
time like this, which was supposed to be the
happiest time of her life,
nor why she had to feel so irritable. Perhaps
Pedro had infected her
with his bad temper. Since they returned to
the ranch and he found out
that Tita was thinking of marrying John, he
had been possessed by the
furies. You couldn't say so much as a word
to him. He went out very
early and rode around the ranch, his horse at
a gallop. He returned at
-1 mouth any farther than to say `Jesus
Martinez at your service."
After that, Chencha monopolized the
conversation completely, as usual,
and broke a speed record bringing Tita up to
date on the events in her
life: Jesus had been her first sweetheart, and
he had never forgotten
her. Chencha's folks had been flatly
opposed to their romance, and he
never would have known where to find her if
it hadn't been for
Chencha's going back to the village and his
coming to see her.
It didn't matter to him that Chencha wasn't a
virgin; he married her
right away. Now that Mama Elena was dead,
they were coming to the
ranch together, with the idea of starting a
new life and having lots of
children and being very happy for ever and
ever. .
Chencha stopped for breath since she was
turning purple and Tita took
advantage of the interruption to tell her-not
talking as fast as her,
but nearly-how pleased she was that she had
returned to the ranch;
tomorrow they would discuss the terms of
Jesus's employment, today John
was coming to ask for her hand, pretty soon
she'd be married, but she
still hadn't finished the supper.
Could Chencha take over so she could take
a cool, soothing bath and be
presentable when John arrived, any minute
now?
Chencha promptly took charge, practically
throwing Tita out of the
kitchen. She could make champandongo,
she said, with her eyes closed
and her hands tied.
After the meat has been cooked and drained,
the next step is to fry the
tortillas in oil, lightly, so they don't get hard.
In the dish
destined for the oven, spread a layer of
cream so the other ingredients
don't stick, a layer of tortillas, and over these
a layer of the ground
meat mixture, and finally the mole, covering it
with the sliced cheese,
and the cream. Repeat this process as
many times as necessary until
the pan is filled. Put the pan in the oven and
bake until the cheese
melts and the tortillas are softened. Serve
with rice and beans.
What peace of mind it gave Tita to know that
Chencha was in the