K.Esquivel-LWFC

Pedro's health. They had waited a week for
him to recover before
making a formal visit. Worried as Tita was,
she could not cancel the
meeting she owed to John's aunt, who was
eighty years old and had
traveled so far just to meet her. To give a
good dinner to Aunt Mary
was the least Tita could do for John and the
old dear, but she had
nothing to offer them except the
announcement that she wasn't going to
marry John. She felt completely empty, like
a platter that held only
crumbs, all that was left of a marvelous
pastry. She looked for food
in the pantry, but it was conspicuous by its
absence; there really
wasn't a thing. Gertrudis's visit to the ranch
had laid waste to the
larder. The only thing left in the granary,
other than corn to make
some tasty tortillas, was some rice and
beans. But with a little
imagination and a full heart one can always
prepare a decent meal.
A menu of rice, plantains, and beans
Tezcucanastyle isn't half bad.
As the beans weren't as fresh as they might
be, she knew they would
take more time than usual to cook, so she
put them on early.
As they cooked, she took care of the chiles
anchos, removing their
seeds and membranes.
After the chiles were deveined, she soaked
them in warm water and
finally pureed them.
As soon as the chiles were soaking, Tita
fixed breakfast for Pedro and
took it up to his room.
He was fairly recovered from his burns. Tita
had not faltered in her
application of tepezcohuite bark for so much
as a moment, ensuring that
Pedro would not be scarred. John had
approved her treatment one
hundred percent. Curiously, his
grandmother, Morning Light, had begun
experiments with this bark, and he himself
had been continuing them for
some time. Pedro was anxiously waiting for
Tita. In addition to the
delicious meals she brought him every day,
another factor helped bring
about his amazing recovery: the
conversations he had with her after
eating his meals. This morning Tita didn't
have the time to devote to
it, she wanted to make the -. 211 meal for
John the best she could.
Pedro, his jealousy erupting, said to her:
"What you should do instead
of inviting him to dinner is to tell him once
and for all that you're
not going to marry him because you are
going to have my baby."
"I can't say that, Pedro."
"Why? Are you afraid you'll hurt your little
doctor?"
"It's not that I'm afraid, but it would be so
unjust to treat John that
way, with all the respect I owe him; I have to
wait for the best time
to tell him."
"If you won't do it, I'll do it myself."
"No, you're not going to say anything to him;
in the first place,
because I won't allow it, and in the second,
because I'm not
pregnant."