A Valentine's Day Mess Pt. 04

9. Frost on the fields

"Really?" Claudia said. She sat up beside Manny on the picnic blanket and tugged her ponytail over her shoulder. "That was really the first time you waded in the river?"

"I hardly ever saw the river when I was growing up," Manny said. He laid back with his hands behind his head and his bare feet dangling off the river bank. He watched through the canopy of yellow cottonwood leaves as a small flock of geese crossed just above the treetops. They splashed into the water, and settled down in a noisy chorus.

"See all you missed?" Claudia asked. "I wonder what they say to each other when they land. To me, it sounds like 'Aii! Are you OK? I'm OK!'"

"Really?" Manny said, and picked his head up to look at his sister. "To me it just sounds like 'Honk, honk, honk.'"

"Where's your imagination?" She threw her ponytail back and grinned at Manny. "Or do you just use it to think about suborbital space planes?"

Manny laughed, "I use it to picture you naked," he said, and that made her laugh.

Claudia scooped up a handful of newly-fallen leaves and watched Manny while she talked. "That's not imagination. It's just wishful thinking," she said, and let the leaves flutter down on his face.

Manny sat up sputtering and digging leaves out of his collar. He faked an angry glare when he looked up at Claudia, and her eyes got big. She pulled away when he reached for her, and she slipped off the bank, back into the shallow water.

Claudia watched Manny while she backed away from him then she splashed through the water to the nearest sandbar with Manny behind her. The startled geese launched themselves in unison and flew down-river just above the water while Manny chased Claudia across the sand and pumice.

Manny caught his little sister by the shoulder and wrapped his arm around her waist. She squealed "Manny, no!" when he picked her up off the sand and held her against his hip. She kicked and pushed on his arms, but she didn't struggle enough to stop him.

Claudia's squeals dissolved to laughter while Manny hauled her back across the sandbar, and then she fell quiet. "Manny, I can hardly breathe," she said.

Manny scooped her up and cradled her in his arms without letting her down. "Why do you always make me chase you?" he asked while he waded back to where they'd picnicked on the bank.

Claudia's body suddenly stiffened. "Something's wrong," she said, and craned her neck to peer through the dense undergrowth beside the river. "Angelito's here."

Manny stopped with knee-deep water flowing around his legs and sand sifting between his toes. "I don't see anyone," he said. "But I don't know what I'm looking for—could be an old Indian, could be something else."

"Look up," Claudia said, and pointed to a raven perched on a cottonwood branch high over the water. "I bet that's him."

Manny started walking toward the bank again. "We're lucky. I don't think he knows how to bring things like guns or big wrenches with him when he changes his skin."

The raven spread its wings and launched toward the west, and Manny set his sister down on the grassy bank. She laughed while they dried their feet and put their shoes on. "What could the big bird do? Poop on our picnic blanket?"

Manny scanned the picnic blanket just in case, and then he asked, "Is that the first time he's been around since last summer?"

Claudia shrugged and said, "I guess he decided to leave me alone after he got what he wanted." She picked up one corner of the blanket. "I think the guardians were right. We could crush his soul if we found him. Maybe he figured that out."

"I'm not sure how we'd find his puny soul," Manny said. He picked up another corner of the blanket and helped Claudia fold it. "I wonder why he'd come back now?"

"Eee, Manny. There has to be a reason," Claudia said, "and I don't feel good about it." She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe he's just back for Halloween, so he can scare trick-or-treaters and take their candy."

Claudia laid the folded blanket over her arm. "You're going to come stay en mi casita tonight, si?"

Manny patted his sister's butt to move her up the trail to the parking lot, and from behind her he asked, "When did you get your own place?"

"It's that little house I showed you where Papa was born," Claudia said. "You know—where we got naked that first day we met. Papa had it fixed up to be a guest house, but then I took it over and Mama stopped him from complaining."

"How pink is it now?" Manny asked, and Claudia laughed.

"My bedroom has to be pink," she said. "The lintels, the frames on all the windows, and the doors are blue to keep las animas away, and the rest is all like, normal-colored."

Manny listened for a moment to the crunch of dried leaves under their feet and said, "We could stay at my folks place, too. I know my mom would love to have you there, and the whole bottom floor would be ours."

Claudia stopped and pressed her hands against Manny's chest. "I worry with Angelito around. Your folks are in town with close neighbors and police and all. I want us to be close to mi familia, just in case. I'll make up something to tell your mom."

* * *

Manny had his dinner in front of him before he knew what story Claudia would make up. The light from the chandelier over the table sparkled in Dolly Nielson's eyes while she quizzed Claudia about her classes, and about her dad's run for the House. "You're going to stay with us tonight and tell us more, aren't you?" she asked. "I have the spare bedroom downstairs all made up for you."

"Is it pink?" Manny asked. His mom looked confused. "She likes things to be pink," he said.

"It's off-white, and shades of gray," Dolly said. She was quick to smile at Claudia. "I'll make it pink, and it will be your room."

"That's so sweet!" Claudia said, and she reached across the table for Dolly's hand. "You know you're like mi Tía now, and Tom es mi Tío. I love you both, but I can't stay tonight, and Manny needs to come with me. He promised to help me move furniture tonight, and then tomorrow we'll fit his costume for the Marigold Parade."

Manny didn't know he had plans for the Marigold Parade. He swallowed his bite without chewing again then caught the look on his mom's face. Her sparkling smile was gone. She touched her face and sat back in her chair.

Tom Nielson had nothing to say through the whole conversation. He watched while they talked, then he put his fork down. "Dolly's worried about the parade," he said. "Usually she'd be planning instead of watching, but Gil and I have been doing the leg work for this partnership thing."

"You, y mi Madre," Claudia said. She turned back to Dolly and asked, "You have a costume fitting tomorrow, right? Don't worry. You're going to be the most beautiful Catrina in the whole parade, and I saw your ride yesterday. Everyone is going to watch you."

Manny waited as long as he could, then he had to ask his dad, "I know it was Gil's idea to get into the parade, but is that partnership working for you, too?"

"I think it's good," Tom said. Our new urgent care unit in the valley should be open before Christmas, and before then I need to get some local promotion. Gil wants to be linked with improving health care, and he needs to be where people can see him before the election. The timing and location of the parade works for both of us, so Dolly and I and Idalia will ride and wave while Gil shakes hands."

"We'll be calaveras," Claudia said, "I'll ride Concha. We'll do tricks for the crowd, and you can give sugar skulls to los niños along the boulevard."

Manny swung a gym bag by his side while they walked to Claudia's car. He asked, "So when was there a plan for me to be in the parade?"

Claudia unlocked the car and stopped Manny from getting in. She said, "Mama wanted Pasqual to do it. He hated it, but he couldn't say no. He'll be glad to let you do it. Besides, you'll look better." She touched Manny's chest. "Pasqual is still a little skinny, you know?"

"And the part about moving furniture?" Manny asked.

They were both in the car before Claudia answered, "No furniture moving. I need you to keep your strength up." She pulled away from the curb and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Eee, Manny. I've had Falcona on my mind, and I might be a little demanding tonight."

The night was crisp and moonless when they turned up the lane to the farm, but the headlights lit an old gray pickup at its end. "Tío Pedro's still here." Claudia said. "Maybe his truck broke down again."

Claudia parked next to Tío's truck. She saw Pedro's shadowy figure by the chicken coop and waved. "Why are you still here?"

Tío Pedro stopped what he was doing and called across the fence. "Tu mama saw a coyote." Manny and Claudia glanced uncomfortably at each other while Tío walked to where they stood by the car. "She wanted me to set traps, so I came back."

"It feels like something's wrong," he said. "I don't know, maybe it's just the way things change this time of year, but tu Abuela feels it, too. There's frost on the fields, the cranes have come, and the ditches go dry on Sunday."

"And it's late," Claudia said. She rubbed her arms for warmth. "We need to go inside."

Claudia skipped ahead of Manny on the way to the house then waited in the foyer for him to catch up. "Aii, you're slow," she said. The house was mostly dark, but light and sound spilled from the television room, and lights were still on in the kitchen. "I'm not sure who's still up for goodnights. Probably Pasqual. Maybe Maya." She stepped around the pony wall lined with little bultos to look into the kitchen. "Abuelita, why are you still up?"

Abuela Ortiz sat by herself at the dining table and turned a cup of tea in her hands. She tipped her cheek up to Claudia to accept a kiss, then motioned for them to sit and said, "Mija, I'm old and sometimes it's hard to sleep."

Claudia dropped into a chair beside Abuelita and said, "Angelito found us down by the rio this afternoon. Or we found him. Who's in the TV room?"

"Maya. Just your little sister. She's that age." Abuelita said with a flip of her wrist. "Even Pasqual's already gone to his room. What does Angelito want now?"

Claudia threw her hands up. "No sé, Abuelita."

Manny pulled a chair out and sat down on the other side of Abuela Ortiz. He was talking to his sister as much as to the old woman when he asked, "Should we stay in here tonight? The coyote that Tío Pedro is trying to trap might actually be Angelito. Do you feel safe?"

Abuelita waved Manny off and said, "Not every coyote that comes around here is Angelito." She touched the little crucifix that hung around her neck. "If it's him, then prayer and faith will protect us, just like they always have. You don't need to stay with us."

Claudia pushed away from the table and said, "We should go." She stood as she spoke, and barely waited for Manny. He just had time to grab his bag before she pulled him out the door.

Manny stopped his sister beside Concha's paddock and when she looked up at him in the moonlight he asked, "What was that about? Why are we in such a hurry?"

"You remember Falcona, don't you?" Claudia said, "It's like she's cast a spell on me from more than a thousand years ago. I need sex, like now." She dragged her brother past the chicken coop where Tío Pedro set his coyote trap to the front door of her little house. She stopped there and fumbled with her keys before she shoved them at Manny. "You open it," she said, and she touched her breasts while Manny unlocked the door.

Manny closed the door behind them, and as soon as he turned Claudia started unbuttoning his shirt. "Are you going to be OK?" he asked. "This is kinda strange, you know."

Claudia pulled her brother's shirt down his arms and inhaled the scent from his bare chest. "It's not strange. It's simple. I need you between my legs."

"Don't I get the tour first?" Manny asked and glanced around the dark little house lit only by moonlight through the windows.

Claudia groaned and said, "I'll give you the tour in the morning." She tucked her hands into the waist of Manny's jeans and started backing toward the door behind her, but she didn't make it into the bedroom. She backed into the door frame, stopped, and caught her breath when Manny dropped his bag and pushed his hands up under her sweater.

Manny stroked his hands up his sister's back then cupped her breasts in his hands. "You're so tense!" he said. He inhaled the scent that rose from Claudia's neck. "You're so turned on!"

Claudia tipped her lips up to Manny and rose in his arms, and he cupped his hand behind her neck to take her mouth. Her lips were soft. The touch of her tongue to his was welcoming and exciting, and her breath was rough on his cheek. That kiss couldn't last long.

Manny stepped back, and Claudia laughed while she wiped her mouth. "Eee, Manny!" she said, "I'm like gonna go off on you or something."

"I'll take the risk," Manny said, without really knowing what she meant. He pulled Claudia's sweater up, and she lifted her arms so he could pull it over her head. She was still shaking her hair out when Manny turned her, and she gasped when he pushed her against the door frame.

Manny unhooked his sister's bra and pulled it away. He squeezed her breasts in both hands and felt her hardened nipples. He kissed her neck and her ear, and he dragged her tender skin between his teeth.

"Don't stop now!" Claudia said when Manny dropped one hand. He had to adjust his already painfully hardened cock, but he didn't stop. He ran his hand over his sister's butt then down the crack of her ass and between her legs.

Claudia's weight sagged into her brother's hand. Her pussy felt warm and soft through her shorts, and in just another moment the fabric under his hand was damp.

Manny lifted Claudia off the floor with one hand around her waist and the other between her legs, and he looked into the bedroom to find her bed. The room was too dark to see pink everywhere, but it wasn't too dark to see the bed a few steps away. He tossed Claudia onto the mattress and followed her while she bounced to her knees.

Claudia surprised Manny when she pushed him down on the pillows and climbed over him. She fumbled with his belt at the same time that he tried to open her shorts, and each got in the way of the other. Claudia pushed Manny's hands away and groaned her frustration. "I don't have time for this!" she said. "Lift your knee up a little."

Manny wasn't sure what Claudia wanted until she straddled his thigh. She laid her head on his chest, gripped the skin over his ribs, and started grinding against his leg.

"Higher," Claudia said. Manny lifted his knee firmly between her legs, and Claudia went off on her brother. Her grip tightened until her fingernails dug into his skin, and he gasped in pain. She bit his chest and held his flesh between her teeth while she ground against him.

Claudia's grind grew faster and more erratic before her grip on Manny's sides slipped away. He held her against his chest and felt her catch her breath. Her muscles tightened and Claudia groaned as her orgasm swept through her body. It seemed to Manny like it lasted a long time, and then Claudia exhaled against her brother's chest and relaxed in his arms.

She laid still for a moment then lifted her head. "Did I hurt you?" she asked. "I couldn't stop myself."

"I might be bleeding," Manny said. He rolled Claudia onto the sheet, reached for the bedside lamp, and fumbled with it for a moment. Pink leaped from the darkness when the light came on—pink walls, pink curtains, pink carpet. He looked down at his chest and then at his sides. "Teeth marks and nail marks, bruises, but not much blood. So the witch made you do that?"

Claudia reached over her brother to turn the light off again. "That's how it feels," she said. "Some memories I have from her are so sexy that they make it hard to think." She pressed herself close to Manny's side and her warm breath tickled his ear when she chuckled. "Those are the memories I dwell on. What does Sancho tell you?"

Manny stroked his sister's hair, took a moment to gather his thoughts, and said, "Falcona was a child when Sancho first met her, and he was a young Señor. Because of his father's influence with Garcia Fernández—the Conde of Castile—King Ramiro granted him a tenencia with a castle on a crag overlooking Calatañazor and the lands he controlled.

"Sancho found a crowd in the plaza when his hunting party rode up the trail into town. He expected it was just some fist fight. Instead, he found the mob gathered around a blindfolded girl. They held the child's arms while the blacksmith heated his tongs. They believed she was a witch, and they meant to burn her eyes out."

Claudia squeezed close and lifted her leg over her brother's hip. "Falcona didn't understand why they were being so mean to her. After that, she owed everything to Sancho."

Manny paused for just a moment because he didn't want to lose his thought. "That was ridiculous to Sancho. She saw a dirty little girl in a worn shift, not a witch. He and his men routed the mob, and when he pulled her blindfold off, he found a blue-eyed ten-year-old as terrified as a trapped animal.

"His men kept her from running, and Sancho knelt in front of her. 'What's your name?' he asked. 'Where's your family?' She stepped back until she stepped against the legs of the men behind her, and when she stopped she shook her head. There were no words.

"Sancho didn't want to leave the girl to the mob. He mounted his horse, laid her belly-down across his lap, and felt her relax a little as they mounted the last rise to the castle. If he couldn't get her to talk, then maybe his wife could, or maybe the cook.

"When he dismounted at the castle, his tunic was wet with the little girl's tears, but she was no closer to telling her story.

"Ava—Sancho's wife—didn't want the girl, but Maria—Ava's cook—took her in and learned that her name was Falcona. Her mother died giving birth, and her father gave her away. It was the woman who raised her who turned her out to the mob.

"Ava already gave Sancho two sons, but they were in Burgos to be raised and trained in safety. He hardly ever heard a child's voice in the castle before Falcona, and he enjoyed having her there."

Claudia opened Manny's belt and worked her hand into his jeans while he talked. He stopped when she wrapped her hand around his cock.

"You're hard, you know," Claudia said, and she drew her hand out his boxers to sniff her fingers. "Falcona had what she always thought was a God-given gift. She could move things by thinking about them.

"She didn't know that she should hide her gift, and the villagers found out. They didn't share that gift, so they thought she was evil. After that, Falcona knew that she had to hide her gift from everyone. Not even Sancho knew—until later, anyway."

"Falcona spent the rest of that summer in the castle. She'd never been happier than when she was when she was living under Sancho's protection and working in the kitchen with Maria. But Ava didn't want her there, and that was a problem.

"It was early in the fall when Sancho went to Burgos to see his sons and attend the Conde's court. He was gone when a village woman gave birth to a deformed child. The village and the priest blamed Falcona—they said she gave the mother the evil eye. A mob was gathering at the castle gate when Falcona heard Ava talking to the guard in the strange accent she had. 'Just give them the little bruja,' she said.

"Falcona ran. She slipped through the poterna that led from the kitchen to the back of the castle, and she scrambled down the crag. Her hands and her feet were bleeding when she reached the forest, but at least there she thought they couldn't find her.

"She didn't know where she was going or what she would do, but she stumbled away from Calatañazor and into the wilderness. She drank rainwater from leaves, and she ate the pine nuts and berries she could find, but she was slowly starving. She was weak and confused, and she was almost in the middle of the village before she realized it."