Chapter 17- Ascendency #2
Angel threw up what looked like a gang sign and offered a snarl. “I am no Angel, though. I am the Dart Frog. Deadly but beautiful.”
Luis smiled. “Okay then gangsta!”
“Damn straight. I am the Emberá Chocó!” Angel answered, and Alita and Micah both repeated, “The Emberá Chocó!” as Eduardo arrived. He called for them all to ride, and one by one the men filed outside.
Yunior's son Manny sat on his own pony. At the tender age of six, he seemed to know his horse well.
Yunior's horse, the son of his former stallion Thunder, was named Lightning, a spirited animal with a shiny black coat.
As Ricardo and Luis stepped outside into the Colombian sun, Ricardo blinked several times at the picturesque landscape.
Micah mounted Molecule, a chestnut Paso Fino, sitting proudly astride the animal.
This is not what he imagined when he thought of Colombia or The Fer de Lance. Workers were in the fields, flowers bloomed, children were playing, and birds flew overhead. It took a minute to catch his breath as he took it all in.
“Senor Mendoza and Luis, welcome to Las Tierras de mis Antecendents, the Green Valleys of My Ancestors. This is where your grandchildren shall grow up,” Micah explained.
“They will learn to honor these lands and care for their people.
We provide the world with the best coffee, tested and roasted by our own hands.
The land also grows the most natural and organic coca that we supply to pharmaceutical companies and Chad's who like to call their friends Bro, but that is another story. Mount up. It shall be a quick ride; we are due in Bogotá this afternoon.”
Luis asked as he climbed aboard a mare, “Bogotá. Am I to go with you?”
“Have you ever flown in a helicopter, Luis?”
“No, I haven't.”
“Then good, it shall be, how you say, Papa, ah si, hella fun,” Micah said, kicking the side of Molecule to get the animal moving.
****
INSIDE THE HOME, THE women sat at the at the kitchen table. Ryanne, sensing Eliza’s discomfort, spoke softly. She looked at Alita then at Diadra.
“We went to Medellin yesterday to pick out wedding dresses,” Ryanne started.
“I tell you what, Senora Mendoza, it just didn't feel right not having you there to aid in the choices. So, while the men are out, Alita, go and grab the three dresses you selected. We’ll do a mock fashion show here and we can all vote on the one that is the loveliest.”
Eliza looked up, her eyes filled with tears. “You bought three so I could be a part of the choosing?”
“Of course; her mother means everything to her,” Ryanne said.
“Hurry, Alita, before the men come back. We also need to go to the church to check the arrangements. The flowers should be coming in soon. Senora, we will go to the garden tomorrow to start selecting flowers for her bouquet that you can help her build.”
Eliza, in response, began to cry. She cried at each dress Alita put on, each lovelier than the last. She cried in the church as it reminded her of the small Ermita where she grew up outside of Buenos Aires. Father Julio stopped to pray with her, making her cry even more.
The afternoon arrived, and a small lunch was shared as the Mendozas prepared to head to Bogotá. Her mother didn't understand why they had to leave so soon when so much needed to be done for the wedding.
“Mami, Micah and I have to get our class schedules and purchase books for Uni,” she said. “We also want you to see the flat where we will be living while we attend college.”
“A flat,” Ricardo said. “You have a flat.”
“Yes, we co-own a flat in Bogotá,” she told her father, leading them out the door to the helicopter pad.
He stood looking at the helicopter as if he were waiting for the pilot.
Alita opened the back door and ushered them inside.
She helped her mother strap in, and assisted Luis with putting in the headset.
Her father's mouth dropped open as his daughter took the passenger seat and Micah was the pilot.
He listened as she called out commands through the headset, and they began to lift off the ground.
“Las Tierras Tower,” Alita said into the headset, “The Bushmaster is requesting clearance for takeoff.”
The tower came back, clearing Micah for flight.
Micah spoke into the headset, “This is the best way to see the land. Look down. You can see the venom houses from here. We have a very large repository of venom that we sell to other countries. There are times when special orders are made, and Alita and I have had to make the deliveries in person.”
“Is that dangerous?” Luis asked.
“No, not really,” Micah replied. “We made one delivery to the states, to Ohio, and after the visit, we ended up making friends that we connected with last month, and we had a good time, hanging out, watching movies.”
“Hanging out?” Eliza asked.
Alita replied, “Yeah, popcorn, Netflix. We had a little party at the pool, went shopping at the mall, ate ice cream and junk food. You know teen stuff.”
“You do teen stuff?” Eliza asked.
“When possible, but I am legacy,” Micah explained.
“It's kind of hard to have this conversation while we are flying, so I shall say little and refocus on the task at hand. Las Tierras is a working farm. I have to work to earn my salary which I use to pay my personal guard’s salary. My guard goes to work each day, so when time and circumstances permit, yes, we try to have fun.”
“Good enough,” Eliza said.
The remainder of the flight was quiet even after they landed in Bogotá and were picked up by a black minivan, which transported them to campus, where Luis stood in the quad, amazed at everything he saw.
It didn't take either Micah or Alita long to secure books and class schedules and make payments in the financial office.
In less than an hour, they were done and headed to the flat.
Eliza cried again as she saw the apartment. “This is my room, Mami,” Alita said.
“You won’t share the same room?” Eliza asked.
From the kitchen Micah yelled out, “She snores and farts when she sleeps. When we travel by plane, she has to sleep out in the chair, because yeah, she's icky.”
Luis burst into laughter. “Especially if she has beans.”
Micah pointed at him, like “You feel me.”
“Anyway, this is going to be the guest room,” Alita said ignoring him. “We will set it up for when you guys want to come for a visit.”
“As long as it is not during finals or research paper weeks,” Micah said.
“Or video shooting weeks,” she repeated.
Eliza pulled her daughter to the side. She made a brief comment on a small item she noticed. “He is not very affectionate with you, Mija. Is everything okay between you?”
“He will not touch me until I am his wife,” Alita said, blushing. “He follows the rules. I am not his wife. He has no contact with me, intimately, until we exchange vows. Micah honors that and shows me that respect.”
“Have you kissed him?” Eliza asked.
Alita blushed. “I have. We have kissed a little.”
Eliza's eyebrows shot up. “So, he was telling the truth. You have not...he has not?”
“We have not, Mami,” she said. “He is a good man who loves me, and I love him. This is where we will start our lives together, in this flat.”
“It is a nice flat,” Eliza said as Micah called for them to head back. There was a great deal to get done, and the wedding was right around the corner.
He was getting married.