SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN UPLOADING THIS ONE, BUT I WAS SICK, SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME. NOW, LET'S BEGIN!
(Children can only care about three things: 1. Their birthday, 2. Vacations, 3. Family... and going back to school after vacations out of boredom).
AFTER THE FUNERAL
We were having lunch; the family from Cajamarca had gathered, more specifically the Ruiz family. Everyone was at the house that my grandmother ÁNGELA had bought with God's help; everyone gathered in her house: cousins, nephews, uncles, brothers-in-law, and relatives who deeply appreciated my great-grandmother (TINA).
They had left their jobs and chores to support the family in mourning. My great-grandparents in Cajamarca (BAMBAMARCA) were very well-loved, as they helped a lot (I will talk about this in depth in my other novel: THE EMPRESS AND ANCIENT STORIES OF BAMBAMARCA, which I will start again very soon).
When I finished eating, I saw that several people went to the garage where the coffin was to cry and sing praises to God (we Adventists have a repertoire of various songs called a hymnal). Several brothers from the church began to sing; one of the songs was WHEN THE TRUMPET SOUNDS and more hymns.
They sang more, but I don't remember very well which others they were. After they sang, they prayed and my uncles carried the coffin; they took it to the JARDINES DE LA PAZ cemetery, where she still rests to this day. My grandmother told me that death is like someone who sleeps and when JESUS comes, they will rise; although she said that, I did feel the sadness of loss.
I only saw them move away little by little until they were gone. Since I was small they didn't take me, they left me at my aunt MARY'S house with my brothers. We were taking care of the chickens and then, around 6 or 7 p.m., they returned. After that, everyone was in mourning for a week and then they returned to CAJAMARCA and BAMBAMARCA.
My mother told me that my classes started the following week, meaning I had one last week of vacation left. My grandmother heard it and, since my uncle JOSHE had asked if she could look after his children for a week because he was going to Motupe to help his wife, my grandmother called my uncle and said:
— GRANDMOTHER: Hello… hello… hello.
— UNCLE (JOSHE): Hello, ma. What happened?
— GRANDMOTHER: Son, I've decided that I'm going to go take care of your children. You go help your wife at the business, she can't do it alone.
— UNCLE: But, ma, it's better if you rest. I can take care of my children, besides, after this loss, we are all doing bad.
— GRANDMOTHER: Don't worry, son, I'm fine and I need to do something so I don't think so much about my dear mother.
— UNCLE: It's okay, ma. I'll stop by for you today after lunch.
— GRANDMOTHER: Okay, son, but can LUKA and ANGEL come?
— UNCLE: Of course, that way my kids will have fun with them.
— GRANDMOTHER: Ok, son, take care, I'll wait for you here.
After lunch, and after my brother and I begged my mom to let us go, she gave us permission. It was decided: we would be with our cousins for a week. A week of fun, so I thought. I wish I had said half a week.
After lunch we packed our clothes and left. My uncle JOSHE'S house wasn't that far, about 10 to 15 minutes by car; his house is in CRUZ DE LA ESPERANZA. That area is like the most rural zone of Chiclayo; his house was on a hill, in a large house with almost a second floor. I remember we got out of the car and knocked on the door; my aunt opened it.
— AUNT: Oh, ma'am and nephews! What are you doing here?
— GRANDMOTHER: We came to take care of my grandchildren.
— AUNT: Oh, I see. Thank you very much.
After saying these things, she left with my uncle for Motupe.
DAY 1
That day we stayed with my cousins. Since it was early, 2 p.m., and there were no cell phones, we played with the dog. Then with other children; when we finished playing "tag" with those children, we got very dirty and had to bathe.
Since my cousins were a bit small, we slept with them; besides, in the house there were only 3 pieces of furniture and a bedroom with 3 beds joined together, since my uncle didn't live in that house, he only went from time to time because he lived with my aunt in Motupe. After having oatmeal for dinner, we brushed our teeth and went to sleep.
DAY 2
I was dreaming that we were at Pimentel beach, with a breeze and the heat of the sun, when out of nowhere I start to feel warm water on my leg. Then I wake up suddenly.
— ME: AH! What is this? (I touch my leg).
ARON, wake up! You peed yourself!
— GRANDMOTHER: Oh no, Aron! You should have said you still needed a diaper to sleep.
— ME: What... this is pee! Uh, uh, uh, how gross! (I got up and went to the laundry area to splash myself with water).
A while later:
— GRANDMOTHER: Oh, Aron, how are you going to pee yourself? You're already a bit big. How old are you?
— ARON: Oh, I'm 4.
— GRANDMOTHER: I forgot to ask your dad if they use diapers.
— LIAM: Yes.
— GRANDMOTHER: Geez! How old are you, son?
— LIAM: I'm 6, but I do put on my own diaper.
— GRANDMOTHER: Oh, I see. That's good, sweetie (surprised voice).
Since it was 4 in the morning, my grandmother said to go back to sleep, but we started laughing at everything.
— ME: Man, Aron, you're a peer! (EVERYONE LAUGHS).
— ARON: I am pee-man! (HAHAHA).
— LIAM: UH, it smells bad! Aron, did you poop too? (HAHAHA).
(Yes, my cousin had no shame about anything).
— EVERYONE: How dirty, Aron!
ME: Angela, check his diaper.
— GRANDMOTHER: Yes, I'll check it now.
After that, since we weren't falling asleep, we were like that for about two hours. My grandmother took us out and we had a small worship service, since my cousins didn't do worship (as my aunt believed in the CRUZ DE MOTUPE and my uncle, who was Adventist, had sort of drifted away from it). They were restless, moving from one side to the other. After finishing the worship, we had breakfast and went to play soccer with the kids from the neighborhood. We got home and fell asleep after dinner.
DAY 3
We got up and, as was our custom to do a meditation in the morning, we did it even though my cousins were still restless. On this day my dad came and told us that his cousin lived next to that house, so we visited her. Since I didn't know her I remained serious, but then this cousin of his gave us watermelon to eat and I gained a bit of trust.
Then we went to her patio where she had chickens and turkeys; I petted the animals and then we went to explore all over her patio. It wasn't that big, but there were curious things like a wooden sword (yes, something that to this day I wonder why on earth someone would have a well-made wooden sword in their patio).
It wasn't just one, there were like 4 swords. So we grabbed the four and played war. Since there were eight of us, we divided into two groups.
— ME: Let's play war!
— JUAN (RELATIVE): Ok, I grab the four swords for my team.
— ME: Wait, kid. First we have to introduce ourselves.
— JUAN: My name is JUAN, I'm 7 years old. He is my brother LUIS, the other two girls are my sisters MARTA and SARAI.
— ME: Oh, you're the same age as me.
Well, I'm ANGELO. If you like you can call me ANGEL or Angell, whatever you like or whatever seems shorter.
These are my two cousins LIAM and ARON, and the smallest of all is my brother LUKA. Let's start the game. To be fair, both teams will have two swords and each one a girl. The 4 who don't have an object, look for something! (commanding voice).
At that moment everyone went out to look, but since we had made noise, the adults told us to play outside. We went out and started playing. Some had sticks, since there were only weapons for four; 2 weapons on each side to be equal. Those who didn't have weapons had long branches and shields (LARGE WOODEN BOARDS). SARAI placed a Viking helmet on my head and the other team placed a crown on their leader. The game consisted of conquering zones of the place and taking the crown from their respective leader in a confrontation.
At first they didn't understand the game, but then they adapted. I chose a small elevated mountain as my kingdom and the other team a wide cut trunk as their kingdom. Our team was losing because when they had confrontations between swords, sticks, or shields, they would throw the weapon on the ground making them surrender and start again in the next match. In my team, only ME and JUAN were left. He was the same size as me, so the confrontation began. I grabbed a shield that was on the floor to use it.
— JUAN: Surrender or prepare to die!
— ME: Come to me and face me like a man! If you want to beat me, take off my helmet and you'll win, but if you don't, I will snatch your crown and be the conquering king!
— JUAN: Then prepare to lose because now you'll see who is the strongest!
I grabbed my sword and hit his; he sometimes covered himself with a shield since every hit was with all my strength. Then he hit me on the arm and from that moment I started covering myself with the shield, defending myself from his attacks. The only rule was not to hit each other in private parts or the eyes.
Juan blinked and with my sword and my strength I started to corner him toward a small hole that was there. He pushed me to the ground; I managed to get up and hit his crown with my sword. He turned to look at his crown and I pointed my sword at him, making him surrender. But out of nowhere, some kids a bit bigger than us saw us and approached us.
— KIDS: Hey! We want to play (COMMANDING VOICE).
— JUAN AND THE OTHERS: Yes, that's fine.
At that moment I got a bad vibe, a bad feeling. I felt distrust and boy, was I right! When we started playing, the kids only thought about winning. They pushed us and hit us in parts that were forbidden, like the head and crotch. But everything would explode when one of the kids hit SARAI in the eye, making her cry. In that moment I saw how JUAN tried to get revenge, but since he was alone he did nothing; what's more, they hit and kicked him. I noticed how my younger cousins moved away and the 2 girls stayed still.
In that moment I saw that I had to do something, so I grabbed my shield and sword and with great force I was able to defeat 2 boys. But since there were 8 in total, I was hardly going to be able to do anything. When Juan saw that I helped him, but now they were surrounding me, he came running and helped me. Since we both were 7 (almost 8, as our birthday was in 2 months) and we were tall (not that much, but more than the average size for my age), with our strategy of hitting them from the front and the other from behind, we were able to beat them. In the end they ran away, almost almost crying. When we finished we threw ourselves on the floor to rest. It was about 5 p.m.
Suddenly our parents came out because they heard sobs and screams, and seeing us dirty they yelled at us and took us to bathe. After that my parents said goodbye to the relatives and we returned to my cousins' house. Since it was already 7 p.m. and we were all sleepy, we had dinner and went to sleep quickly. That night we didn't talk as we usually did before, as we fell asleep fast.
DAY 4
This day we didn't feel like doing anything because we were all very bruised. Although we didn't say anything to our grandmother, we spent the day watching TV, since the day before my dad had fixed it. So we spent the whole day watching TV.
— ME: Doesn't your body hurt?
— LIAM: Yes.
— LUKA: Yes.
— ARON: I am a man and it doesn't hurt me.
— ME: Who is going to hit you if you're a baby and besides you ran from danger.
— ARON: No, that's false!
— LIAM: How did you manage to beat the kids?
— ME: Very easy, I just hit them really hard from the back. But in the end they cornered me and hit me hard; if it weren't for JUAN'S help, I'd be more bruised. Change the channel! I don't want to watch PEPPA PIG.
But after lunch and watching TV it became about 9 p.m. and my grandmother took away the remote and sent us to sleep.
DAY 5
When we got up we went to watch TV, but we couldn't find the remote.
— US: Grandma, have you seen the TV remote?
— GRANDMOTHER: Yes, I hid it so you wouldn't spend all your time addicted to it. But today we can go to the market.
— ME: Yes, that's fine. What do you guys think?
— LIAM: No, better stay here and play.
— ME: Well, let's leave LIAM alone then.
— LIAM: Fine, fine, let's go.
That was how we got ready to go. That day the market was full, so at one point ARON, the smallest one, got lost. Since the market was big, we started looking for him.
— ME: ARON! ARON! (worried voice).
— GRANDMOTHER: Aroncito! Where are you, Aron? (tearful voice).
— LIAM: Uh, uh! ARON! Where are you, ARON? (sad voice).
After searching for a good while we found him; he had stayed at an apple stall.
— US: ARON, you're safe! (we hugged him).
Then we went back to the house, played for a while, had lunch, played again, then had dinner and slept.
DAY 6
On this day we got up around 4 because we heard a rooster crowing. After breakfast, at 8 a.m., we went out to the street to play and decided to go further from the house. Boy, was that a big mistake! We went about 6 or 7 blocks away. We ended up going far because we saw that at the top of the hill there was a statue of JESUS (although we don't believe in statues or representations of JESUS, we were curious). When we got closer we saw a group of adults drinking and smoking, and I think some were drugged because they saw us and started to approach.
(It's worth noting that CRUZ DE LA ESPERANZA is not that safe; being rural there isn't much security because there it's like a desert, very far from big cities like CHICLAYO or LA VICTORIA).
I noticed they were approaching us slowly and I said:
— ME: That's weird. Why are they approaching?
— MY COUSINS AND BROTHER: Who?
— ME: I don't know if I'm wrong, but I feel like those men are getting closer. (Thoughts: I hope they aren't bad people, I heard my grandmother and mother talk about people who kidnap kids to sell their organs).
— THEM: Yes, you're right (whispers).
— ME: Listen to me: if they get closer let's run, get into narrow passages or get to the house as soon as possible.
Since we were only 6 blocks from the house it was a bit close and if we went down the hill we were 1 block from the house; going around it was 6. As soon as I saw that those people had gone from two blocks away to one, I grabbed ARON by the hand and started running. When my cousin and brother see me running, they bolt in any direction. I turn back and the men start to run.
My brother went down the hill and arrived fast; on the other hand, I had to carry ARON and get into narrow places and also through the market. When I got to the market I got lost and that's why I took a long time. LIAM went to the house by a route he knew, going around the area. I distracted them and they lost us; besides, those men were drugged and drunk, it was easy.
When we got home we didn't tell my grandmother. After that my grandfather came to visit us and invited us to the beach. That day was very hot, the sky was clear; it was relaxing after that chase to feel the fresh breeze and the heat of the sun. Then we ate watermelon and bathed. Then we returned to the house to receive the Sabbath, since it was Friday; then we went to dinner and sleep.
DAY 7
Grandpa came very early to take us to our house and go to church. Since my cousins couldn't stay alone, we took them. When we arrived at the church I saw that my cousins made friends with KAORI and MELANY, something that surprised me. After that and finishing our Bible classes, we went into the temple, although my cousins didn't go in; they stayed outside in the temple patio playing.
But since playing is not allowed on the Sabbath, the deacons brought them inside, although they would escape as soon as the deacons stopped watching them, and so on several times. In some, I had to bring them in and in others the deacons, until my mom sat next to them and told them:
— MOTHER: If you stay sitting here, when the Sabbath ends I'll give you both a candy or a cookie, whatever you want.
— COUSINS: Okay tía. We'll behave.
(My cousins weren't angels; in fact, their character is still uncontrolled to this day. Plus they have a lot of strength because they help their mother work on the days they don't go to school, carrying buckets or selling merchandise).
And when the sermon ended, we went home for lunch. After lunch we played with toys and I played HYMN 12: All Together Gathered for them. Although my cousins said to play it pretty, my older brother said:
— PETER: Arm higher, it's too low. And back straight, eyes looking at the violin. — ME: Yes, it's fine.
(The truth is I don't know if it's because he was more advanced than me, since he had about a 5-year head start and I was just starting. Besides, my whole family are musicians by profession, although most have another career too; meaning, they don't apply it, they use it more in church. My parents and brother tend to be strict with me in that aspect, very, very strict).
And then we went back to church at 4 p.m.
— ME: ARON and LIAM, behave. We're only going to be there for 3 hours.
— THEM: Seriously?
— ME: Yes, although if you like you can leave after the first hour, because that first hour is for kids; then the other two are for the adults.
— SISTER (from the church): Very well brothers, let's start by singing...
5 MINUTES LATER:
— SISTER: It's time brothers, so let's start. For today's morning service I need 7 people; those who come up will get a prize.
— LIAM: Me, me, me, me! (raises hand).
— ME: LIAM! But you don't know anything about the Bible (WHISPER).
— LIAM: There's always a first time for everything, ANGELO.
— ME: Well, go then.
— SISTER: That little boy who raised his hand, come up. Ok brothers, the dynamic consists of memorizing this Bible verse.
After the brothers said their verse, it was LIAM'S turn.
(MY THOUGHT: I hope he doesn't mess up).
— LIAM: The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God is…
— ME: Eternal.
— LIAM: …Eternal.
— SISTER: Here, very well, an apple.
— LIAM: This?
— SISTER: No young man, I'm joking. Take a cookie.
(Some sisters laughed because he made a funny face).
After doing the dynamic and a small talk about healthy and processed food, the youth service ended and I saw that all the kids left, even my cousins. When I was also about to leave, my MOTHER said to me:
— MOTHER: Where are you going? The Sabbath hasn't ended yet.
— ME: And the other kids that left?
— MOTHER: Their parents take care of that, but you aren't leaving.
I stayed in my seat for the next two hours and after closing the Sabbath we returned home. My uncle JOSHE came to pick up my cousins to take them to MOTUPE because vacations were about to end.
— UNCLE: Hello, ma. I'm back.
— GRANDMOTHER: Come eat, son.
— UNCLE: Yes, ma.
— COUSINS: Dad! (they hug him). We're going to eat pizza and burgers and ice cream. — UNCLE: Good grief! That much?
— COUSINS: Yes, we're hungry.
— UNCLE: Calm down, I brought fruit here.
— COUSINS: No fruit, no! (they leave).
— UNCLE: Ma, and how did they behave? They didn't make any disaster.
— GRANDMOTHER: No, they were very quiet.
— US: (we whisper) Good thing we didn't tell him that drunk men chased us and we fought with swords with other kids.
— UNCLE: Ah, did you say something?
— US: No, we didn't say anything.
— UNCLE: That's weird, I thought I heard something. What could you have done (he looks at us with suspicion).
We go off to play and my uncle starts talking to my grandmother.
— UNCLE: Yes ma, I had to take my wife here and there.
— GRANDMOTHER: What? Did they have to carry a lot?
— UNCLE: No, just shopping and a few other things. Going back because she kept forgetting where she had left them.
When UNCLE finished talking with my GRANDMOTHER:
— UNCLE: Well ma, I have to go now.
— GRANDMOTHER: Yes son, may God be with you.
— UNCLE: Likewise. Say goodbye, we're going to Motupe now.
— COUSINS: Bye! See you later!
— US: See you later… wait for next vacation, we will go visit you.
After promising to see each other next vacation, we saw them drive away in the car, waving their hands.
— MOTHER: Finally those "earthquakes" are gone. Angelo, go tidy your room and then come down for dinner.
— ME: Yes, ma.
THANK YOU FOR READING THE CHAPTER. SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG, I WAS SICK (WELL, I AM STILL SICK), BUT REGARDLESS, THANK YOU FOR REACHING 9 THOUSAND VIEWS EVEN THOUGH I DIDN'T ASK FOR IT AS A CHALLENGE.
NEXT CAP 17: DISCORD IN THE FAMILY