Extension: Head, Heart, Loins (Chapter 3 Excerpt)
Written by Rosey Collins
They ended up lying on Kylie's bed, fully clothed and looking into each other's eyes, talking long into the night.
'I like it when you're just completely honest about your feelings, sweetie,' said Kylie. 'It's this stuff that makes me love you, you know.'
'It's not fair, is it?' said Eduardo, smiling fondly at her. 'You've always been honest about your feelings... well, pretty much. I know so much more than you do.'
Kylie smiled back. 'Tell me a story.'
He raised his eyebrows. 'What, you mean like “The Three Little Pigs”?'
'No,' she said, laughing and smacking him lightly on the arm. 'A true story about yourself, that you don't normally tell people.'
'There's a lot to choose from. What would you like to hear about?'
'Tell me about when Kevin was born.'
Eduardo smiled and began, 'When Kevin was born, I was asleep because it was about five in the morning. When I woke up, my mother told me I had a nephew, and she and my dad were going to go see him in the hospital but I had to go to school.'
'Oh no!' said Kylie, laughing. 'It'd be better if they didn't tell you about him until after school.'
'Yeah, it would,' said Eduardo. 'I had a really huge fight with my parents. It was the last week of school too – we weren't even doing anything! But obviously I didn't win the fight – I mean, I never did – so I decided I was going to get myself sent home.'
'What did you do?' Kylie tittered.
'Well,' said Eduardo, 'at recess, so there could be no doubt it was me, I picked up a big bottle of correction fluid; I took it to the statue of what they called the Madonna and Child that was in the main corridor, and I gave Jesus a milk moustache and I gave Mary leaky nipples.'
Kylie burst out laughing. 'You didn't! How old were you – like, nine?'
'About a month off it,' said Eduardo. 'So then my mother was summoned to the principal's office, and I just stood there for like twenty minutes while she begged him not to expel me. I was pretty amazed – I honestly didn't know they'd get that upset over a little pseudo-breast-milk.'
'But you didn't get expelled, right?' said Kylie.
'No, just suspended for the last few days of the school year. Which I was thrilled about, by the way. Anyway, my mother took me home and yelled at me for forty minutes, and then I persuaded her to take me to the hospital to see Kevin. In the car all the way, she kept looking up at Heaven and saying, “Qué le diremos a tu padre?”'
'What are we going to tell your father?'
'Right,' said Eduardo, smiling with deep approval. 'Anyway, when we arrived at the hospital we actually managed to sneak past my dad and Carlos because they were caught up in this huge argument in the corridor about... well, it was about whether to get Kevin circumcised actually, but I won't tell you what happened there because that's his business.'
'Absolutely,' said Kylie. 'So what happened when you saw Kevin for the first time?'
'I fell in love with him,' said Eduardo, allowing himself to wear all the emotions of the memory on his face. 'Beth insisted I hold him, and I was afraid I'd drop him, but she made me. Then I decided I knew exactly how to hold a baby after ten seconds of my mother fussing around me, telling me I was doing it wrong and I was gonna drop him on his head. Beth couldn't have understood her because she was speaking Spanish, but she could tell how I was feeling, so she caused a distraction by asking a lot of questions about breast-feeding or something – I mean, I know she only did it to help me out – and my mom said I mustn't listen to them, so I took Kevin to the other side of the room and...' Then he stopped suddenly, looking embarrassed.
'Tell me,' said Kylie.
'It's really stupid,' said Eduardo.
'Good. Let's hear it.'
'Okay, well... I'd been reading about this Aztec birth rite, where a newborn baby gets told about the roles it's going to have in life. So I did that. I mean, I knew he was gonna be raised as white and American as Carlos could make him, so I'd been reading about Aztec and Incan births because I just... I don't know, felt like doing something Central American for him, I guess. I was just a kid – it was dumb. Anyway, it's really supposed to be the midwife who does this explaining thing when she's cutting the umbilical cord, but I didn't guess that mattered, and anyway I adapted what I told him so it was totally different. With the Aztecs, they used to tell boys about being warriors... something about filling the sun with the blood of their enemies, I think... and for girls it was about taking care of the home – you can imagine the kind of thing.'
'What did you tell Kevin?' asked Kylie.
'I told him he was going to be a son and a grandson and a nephew,' said Eduardo, 'and to love all of us but be true to himself, and to choose his own roles in life, and shit like that.'
'Doesn't sound like shit to me.'
'Yeah, well, there's not really any point saying it to a newborn baby who can't understand you. There wasn't even very much of the Aztec tradition left in what I did. Anyway, I never told anybody that before – not even Kevin.'
'I think it's really sweet.'
Eduardo smiled at her. 'Yeah, you would.'
'I also think maybe it's kind of worked,' she went on. 'Your brother would rather he'd had the talk about filling the sun with the blood of his enemies, wouldn't he? But I don't think Kevin's ever going to do anything like that. Maybe your birth rite helped to set him on the right path.'
'I don't know. Obviously I believe in a lot more stuff like that than I used to, but I don't think I like the idea that you can use rituals and spirits and whatever to influence what a person turns into.'
'But is this one so bad?' said Kylie. 'The things that happen every day influence what a person turns into, and especially the people around them. It sounds to me like your ritual's just the same kind of thing. I mean, it doesn't seem like mapping out an entire destiny for someone and giving them no say in it before they can even support their own head – I don't like the idea of that kind of thing.'
'You don't, huh?' said Eduardo, and reached out to touch her cheek. 'Do you believe in soulmates?'
She smiled and said, 'I don't know yet. Do you?'
'I don't know yet either. But I'm open to the possibility. So, come on, your turn. Tell me a story about when you were a kid. Ooh, I know – tell me about when you were eighth grade cheerleader of the year!'
'Oh God,' said Kylie, laughing and looking abashed. 'I bet you'd like to see some of my moves, wouldn't you?'
But that was the nearest they came to anything sexual for a number of hours.
'I like it when you're just completely honest about your feelings, sweetie,' said Kylie. 'It's this stuff that makes me love you, you know.'
'It's not fair, is it?' said Eduardo, smiling fondly at her. 'You've always been honest about your feelings... well, pretty much. I know so much more than you do.'
Kylie smiled back. 'Tell me a story.'
He raised his eyebrows. 'What, you mean like “The Three Little Pigs”?'
'No,' she said, laughing and smacking him lightly on the arm. 'A true story about yourself, that you don't normally tell people.'
'There's a lot to choose from. What would you like to hear about?'
'Tell me about when Kevin was born.'
Eduardo smiled and began, 'When Kevin was born, I was asleep because it was about five in the morning. When I woke up, my mother told me I had a nephew, and she and my dad were going to go see him in the hospital but I had to go to school.'
'Oh no!' said Kylie, laughing. 'It'd be better if they didn't tell you about him until after school.'
'Yeah, it would,' said Eduardo. 'I had a really huge fight with my parents. It was the last week of school too – we weren't even doing anything! But obviously I didn't win the fight – I mean, I never did – so I decided I was going to get myself sent home.'
'What did you do?' Kylie tittered.
'Well,' said Eduardo, 'at recess, so there could be no doubt it was me, I picked up a big bottle of correction fluid; I took it to the statue of what they called the Madonna and Child that was in the main corridor, and I gave Jesus a milk moustache and I gave Mary leaky nipples.'
Kylie burst out laughing. 'You didn't! How old were you – like, nine?'
'About a month off it,' said Eduardo. 'So then my mother was summoned to the principal's office, and I just stood there for like twenty minutes while she begged him not to expel me. I was pretty amazed – I honestly didn't know they'd get that upset over a little pseudo-breast-milk.'
'But you didn't get expelled, right?' said Kylie.
'No, just suspended for the last few days of the school year. Which I was thrilled about, by the way. Anyway, my mother took me home and yelled at me for forty minutes, and then I persuaded her to take me to the hospital to see Kevin. In the car all the way, she kept looking up at Heaven and saying, “Qué le diremos a tu padre?”'
'What are we going to tell your father?'
'Right,' said Eduardo, smiling with deep approval. 'Anyway, when we arrived at the hospital we actually managed to sneak past my dad and Carlos because they were caught up in this huge argument in the corridor about... well, it was about whether to get Kevin circumcised actually, but I won't tell you what happened there because that's his business.'
'Absolutely,' said Kylie. 'So what happened when you saw Kevin for the first time?'
'I fell in love with him,' said Eduardo, allowing himself to wear all the emotions of the memory on his face. 'Beth insisted I hold him, and I was afraid I'd drop him, but she made me. Then I decided I knew exactly how to hold a baby after ten seconds of my mother fussing around me, telling me I was doing it wrong and I was gonna drop him on his head. Beth couldn't have understood her because she was speaking Spanish, but she could tell how I was feeling, so she caused a distraction by asking a lot of questions about breast-feeding or something – I mean, I know she only did it to help me out – and my mom said I mustn't listen to them, so I took Kevin to the other side of the room and...' Then he stopped suddenly, looking embarrassed.
'Tell me,' said Kylie.
'It's really stupid,' said Eduardo.
'Good. Let's hear it.'
'Okay, well... I'd been reading about this Aztec birth rite, where a newborn baby gets told about the roles it's going to have in life. So I did that. I mean, I knew he was gonna be raised as white and American as Carlos could make him, so I'd been reading about Aztec and Incan births because I just... I don't know, felt like doing something Central American for him, I guess. I was just a kid – it was dumb. Anyway, it's really supposed to be the midwife who does this explaining thing when she's cutting the umbilical cord, but I didn't guess that mattered, and anyway I adapted what I told him so it was totally different. With the Aztecs, they used to tell boys about being warriors... something about filling the sun with the blood of their enemies, I think... and for girls it was about taking care of the home – you can imagine the kind of thing.'
'What did you tell Kevin?' asked Kylie.
'I told him he was going to be a son and a grandson and a nephew,' said Eduardo, 'and to love all of us but be true to himself, and to choose his own roles in life, and shit like that.'
'Doesn't sound like shit to me.'
'Yeah, well, there's not really any point saying it to a newborn baby who can't understand you. There wasn't even very much of the Aztec tradition left in what I did. Anyway, I never told anybody that before – not even Kevin.'
'I think it's really sweet.'
Eduardo smiled at her. 'Yeah, you would.'
'I also think maybe it's kind of worked,' she went on. 'Your brother would rather he'd had the talk about filling the sun with the blood of his enemies, wouldn't he? But I don't think Kevin's ever going to do anything like that. Maybe your birth rite helped to set him on the right path.'
'I don't know. Obviously I believe in a lot more stuff like that than I used to, but I don't think I like the idea that you can use rituals and spirits and whatever to influence what a person turns into.'
'But is this one so bad?' said Kylie. 'The things that happen every day influence what a person turns into, and especially the people around them. It sounds to me like your ritual's just the same kind of thing. I mean, it doesn't seem like mapping out an entire destiny for someone and giving them no say in it before they can even support their own head – I don't like the idea of that kind of thing.'
'You don't, huh?' said Eduardo, and reached out to touch her cheek. 'Do you believe in soulmates?'
She smiled and said, 'I don't know yet. Do you?'
'I don't know yet either. But I'm open to the possibility. So, come on, your turn. Tell me a story about when you were a kid. Ooh, I know – tell me about when you were eighth grade cheerleader of the year!'
'Oh God,' said Kylie, laughing and looking abashed. 'I bet you'd like to see some of my moves, wouldn't you?'
But that was the nearest they came to anything sexual for a number of hours.
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