amor || alex alvarez

• The death of Mrs. Resnick pt 3 •

While Penelope and Schneider were of to the car dealership, Amelia, Alex and Lydia were back at the apartment.

Lydia told the two kids about her new start at dance classes while they completed their homework on the dining table.

Elena had entered the apartment after school and spending the day using public transportation.
"So, mi niña, how was the crusade today?" Lydia asks.

Elena sighs and places her backpack down on the floor, "Another great day on the bus!"

"Oh, which one did you take?"
"Uh, the 60?"
"That goes to Vernon?" Lydia says, pointing her finger while Elena nods, "Oh, my favourite butcher is there. I once saw a woman rip the wig of another woman, over a leg of ham. It was me." she laughs.

Elena scoffs, "Well, Vernons library is much better than ours. My bus driver actually tipped me off"
"Georgie, Miguel or Petros?"
"Petros"
"Petros only works on weekends."
"Sorry, it was Miguel"
"There is no Miguel, i made him up"
"What're you doing?"
"What're you doing?" Lydia says in attempt to intimidate her.

Elena finally gives in and stands up from where she sat, "Okay! I hate the bus! I'm a fraud! I've been lying these two days."

"It's okay, we know" Amelia says, looking up from her workbook.

"Public transportation is hard. The seats are small, it kind of smells. One time, i fell asleep and somebody stole my socks" Elena stops mid sentence, waiting for a response from them, "They left my shoes!"

"Mi vids, it's not that bad. Just yesterday, I took the bus to the farmers market and then i went to collect on some bottles that i had saved."
"Wait, so you used mass transit to shop for locally grown produce and the recycled? That's like triple fossil fuel savings"

"Oh, my God! Abuelita greener than you!" Alex says as he stands from his seat and points at his sister as he laughs.

Elena chuckles, "Well, Abuelita, I guess you're my new hero."
"Ah, Elena..." she sighs and places her hand on her shoulder, "i've always been you hero."

Amelia laughs at the conversation between the two and notices a stack of fliers which located in the tea table. "What's this?"

Amelia picks a flyer up. Alex watches his best friend pick up a flier and realises the writing and image which was typed onto it, making his expression change.

"That is the flier for my dance classes. I've been hanging them all over the neighbourhood."
"Uhh, Señora. With all due respect, i don't think this is... cómo se dice.. a good flier" Amelia says, making Elena snatch the paper from the girl.

"Experienced Latina will make your body do things you didn't know it could" Elena reads out in disgust.

"What's? it's true."
"Abuelita, it's just the writing is kind of provocative. As is the photo!"
Elena turns the paper around to reveal an image of a young latina woman dressed in a bra and short shorts.

Lydias ohone began to buzz in her pocket, "don't be ridicula." Once she looks at her cell phone screen, she gasps. "Oh, look, i got 58 new messages. Wow! Oh, and i got a customer."

Amelia pinched her fingers at the bridge of her nose and let's put a slight smile.

The elderly lady puts the phone to her ear to hear the voice message which was recently left.
"His name is Bobby... and he want..." Her smile drops and she turns her phone off, "I need to get a new number."

~

Meanwhile, Penelope was back at the dealership, giving away Mrs. Resnick.

Jill, the car saleswoman, left her to gather all the belongings which were left in the car. Penelope was feeling nostalgic. Memories she shared with Victor happened within this broken car. It will always have its spot in Penelope's heart.

She sat in the front passengers seat after crawling in from the trunk. She started by opening the glove compartment and found random papers and cans of spray, until she found a 5 dollar bill.

She picked it up and revealed the initials V and P with a love heart around it, written in read marker.
She teared up, reminiscing the moment Victor had written it. She stared at the bill for a moment, when a knock came from the window beside her.

"Everything alright?" Jill says, looking at the woman in the car.
Penelope finally turns to her and sniffles, "I can't get rid of this car.

Jill pulls the car door open expecting the door to open only for the indies to fall down. "I can see why" she laughs.

She aggressively yanks at the door, finally getting it open, and sits down in the drivers seat.
"Talk to me Alvarez."
"This was Victors car. My soon-to-be ex"
Jill sits back and sighs.
"Got a lot of memories in here. We drove off on our honeymoon in this all lady. My son was probably conceived in the front or the back seat. Or both." she laughs.

Jill looks at the woman, "let's just say it was the back"

"He was an infantryman. He was a good one too." she begins crying, Jill rubs her shoulder in attempt to comfort her while her voice breaks, talking ab her husband. "In fact my husband was a really good man. He was so charming, and we were happy. You know, one of those couples that other couples hate being around, 'cause it shows them how not happy they are? We were that couple" she tries to laugh it off.

"Oh i hate that couple"

"He got sent some difficult deployments, he saw some really tough stuff. He used to make people laugh. And after that i can't remember seeing him smile. He started sleeping late, then drinking... he couldn't get any help. Then things got really bad. And it wasn't safe in the house." She inhaled a sharp breathe, preparing herself of what to say next.
"Until finally, one night, i had to take those keys away from him 'cause he told me he was gonna wrap himself around a tree."
"Oh, thats tough. And i get it. I went through some stuff too, when i got back."
"Oh, i'm sorry to bring it up."
"No i can't talk about it now because i did get help. I'm in this women's veterans group. Lot of swearing. You'll love it. The hard truth is, if your husbands not lying to change, there's nothing you can do. Trust me on that."

"Leaving was the right thing to do."

~

The next day, in their new car sat all three kids, Penelope and Lydia.

"Is this great or is this great?" Penelope says in the drivers seat.
"Look at us all together as a family. it's just like growing up in Cuba!" she picks up a bottle of rum from her bag, "¡Salud!"

"I haven't even shown you guys the best part.
"Play my jam" she says
Both her kids groan, Lydia is confused, while Amelia sits up to get ready to sing.

Amelia turns to Alex and lip synchs to the song
Un-Break my heart in full character.
He couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

Amelia then turns to Elena, trying to get her to sing along. While she's turning the other way, Alex continues to admire how happy she looked.
He always loved seeing her smile.

After a while of singing, Penelope finally encourages the rest of the family to sing which they did.

~
translations
cómo se dice- how do you say
mi niña- little one
ridicula- ridiculous