Excerpt:
"Noelia sat at her desk by her bedroom window looking out onto the main plaza, bursting with trees, flowers, and grass. Benches dotted its walkways, leading to a central square, but no one sat here mid-day. Even the shade from the trees was insufficient in July, the hottest month of the tropical summer. The heat did not, however, keep away a sloth who clung to the tallest palm in the middle of the plaza. Noelia contemplated him, his claws coiled tight, suffocating the tip of the trunk. He had a funny expression on his face – amused to be the only one to brave the heat.
Too bad Noelia’s coloring book did not have a sloth. She examined the zebra she had just finished coloring. It was pink and purple. There were no zebras in Las Cruces. But there were other animals. Most homes had chickens, some had cows, and others pigs. A few had parrots and monkeys that people kept as pets. But, you weren’t supposed to keep wild animals, according to Papá. They belonged in the jungle with the other wild animals, like the ostriches, boars, and snakes. Noelia was fascinated by the snakes. Red, blue, and green snakes (the red poisonous), boas that allegedly stole babies at night, and Encantado, the largest anaconda (ever) that dwelled in the jungles of the Miraí River. About once a year, Encantado ate a Cruceño to satisfy its tremendous appetite. Most victims were unlucky individuals who succumbed to the ancient laws of the jungle in which Encantado reigned with the power to eat whomever he chose. Indeed, few had ever seen the predator and lived to tell the tale. Nevertheless, in the classrooms of her school and hallways of her church, Noelia had overheard whispers of an ancient pact, forged by the settlers of Las Cruces with the beast. Every ten years or so, an adult whose veins pumped with the blood of the original settlers had the power to sacrifice an immoral person to the snake.
If these rumors were true, it meant Mamá had this power… Noelia shuddered."
"Noelia sat at her desk by her bedroom window looking out onto the main plaza, bursting with trees, flowers, and grass. Benches dotted its walkways, leading to a central square, but no one sat here mid-day. Even the shade from the trees was insufficient in July, the hottest month of the tropical summer. The heat did not, however, keep away a sloth who clung to the tallest palm in the middle of the plaza. Noelia contemplated him, his claws coiled tight, suffocating the tip of the trunk. He had a funny expression on his face – amused to be the only one to brave the heat.
Too bad Noelia’s coloring book did not have a sloth. She examined the zebra she had just finished coloring. It was pink and purple. There were no zebras in Las Cruces. But there were other animals. Most homes had chickens, some had cows, and others pigs. A few had parrots and monkeys that people kept as pets. But, you weren’t supposed to keep wild animals, according to Papá. They belonged in the jungle with the other wild animals, like the ostriches, boars, and snakes. Noelia was fascinated by the snakes. Red, blue, and green snakes (the red poisonous), boas that allegedly stole babies at night, and Encantado, the largest anaconda (ever) that dwelled in the jungles of the Miraí River. About once a year, Encantado ate a Cruceño to satisfy its tremendous appetite. Most victims were unlucky individuals who succumbed to the ancient laws of the jungle in which Encantado reigned with the power to eat whomever he chose. Indeed, few had ever seen the predator and lived to tell the tale. Nevertheless, in the classrooms of her school and hallways of her church, Noelia had overheard whispers of an ancient pact, forged by the settlers of Las Cruces with the beast. Every ten years or so, an adult whose veins pumped with the blood of the original settlers had the power to sacrifice an immoral person to the snake.
If these rumors were true, it meant Mamá had this power… Noelia shuddered."
"Encantado" was published in Label Me Latina/o Spring 2017 Volume VII.
Copyright by Eneida P. Alcalde 2019
