MP3: The Sacred Duty of Mexican Mothers
Read by Lin Sagovsky
Pepe waited on the street corner in San Antonio, a small Mexican pueblo. He held a long stem red rose and knew la cita, the date, with senorita Lucinda Sanchez was under control. Lucinda’s mother was a problem, but he had a plan for her too.
A moment later Pepe knocked on the door and knew he was the matador going into the ring and Lucinda’s mother was a wounded bull.
If you would like to read the rest of this story, please check out Lovers' Lies, the Arachne Press anthology in which it, and many other sexy and lovable stories from the League archives, appears.
“Pasate,” Lucinda’s mother said.
“Buenas tarde, senora Sanchez.”
Senor Sanchez, was seated in a large chair reading the newspaper. Pepe hoped the father would be on his side.
“This is for you, Senora Sanchez ” He held out the red rose.
She smiled, took the rose and put it in a vase on the table.
“Lucinda is getting dressed. Sit, we will talk.”
Pepe was afraid of what her mother might say, but he was more afraid of what he might say. In a discussion with a Mexican mother silencio would not betray him.
Senora Sanchez looked over her glasses and said, “I am only permitting this because I know your family.”
Pepe nodded.
Lucinda is not yet a woman and when I was a young girl I could not go with boys until I was 16.” She waved her finger in the air. “Not one day earlier. But…” She rocked back in the chair and gave a little sigh. “…I guess times have changed.”
Lowering the newspaper, Senor Sanchez said. “Yes, darling, but we secretly met many times before your mother allowed us to go on a date.”
Senora Sanchez glanced over at her husband with narrowed eyes.
Abruptly Lucinda appeared from around the corner. “Hola, Pepe.”
Lucinda wore tight jeans and a hot pink, half sweater that exposed her belly button. Her large breasts strained at the one button that held them in.
Mother and her daughter’s eyes met and they glared at each other daring the other to blink or make a comment.
Lucinda’s father saw the Mexican standoff and suggested, “The movie theater can be cold and you should wear something warmer. Isn’t that right, Pepe?”
Pepe knew what to say. “Si.”
Lucinda’s eyes dropped and she disappeared back around the corner to her room.
”Pepe, you are so young.” Senora Sanchez continued.
“I am sixteen.”
“I know hormones rage in the youth of Mexico. I am not that old.” Senora Sanchez said.
Pepe was prepared, “You are welcome to come too.” He was sure she would not come. Then he played his trump card. “I hired a taxi.”
Senora Sanchez looked at Pepe and showed no emotion on her face.
This time Lucinda appeared again in a brown sweater that covered her midriff, all buttons in place and holding.
“I think Lucinda is ready now.”
Lupita knocked on the door and Senora Sanchez said, “Pasate.”
Senora Sanchez would only allow la cita if Lupita came along. Her mother knew there was safety in numbers and she would talk with Lupita’s mother about what went on. “Pepe has hired a taxi.”
The girls looked at each other and smiled.
Lucinda noticed the rose and said, “And Pepe brought you a rose. How sweet. Mother, when was the last time a man brought you flowers?”
Senora Sanchez glanced again to her husband and he buried his head in the newspaper. “I am not worried about you Pepe. You are from a fine family. I am more worried about…” She looked over at her daughter and gave the Mexican mother stare that could stop the universe of the divine Creator.
At the bottom of the steps the taxi was ready. The driver removed his cap and with a flourish, bowed and opened the backseat door. The girls got in and Pepe sat up front. As they drove away Pepe looked up at the full moon rising and knew he thought of everything.
Senora Sanchez looked at that same moon and smiled.
The taxi driver slid in a disc of one of Lucinda’s favorite songs and gave Pepe a sly smile. He was Pepe’s secret agent, paid extra to apply some miel or honey to the date.
In front of the movie theater, the driver quickly parked and again with a bow, opened the door for the girls. They stood and waited while Pepe paid the driver. Pepe felt flush with success overcoming Senora Sanchez and tipped an extra 10 pesos.
When the taxi pulled back up in front of the Senora Sanchez’s house, she was outside sweeping. She handed the driver 20 pesos. The double agent taxi driver looked at her and said, “ No problemo.”
The theater was crowded and Pepe and the girls found seats near the front.
Seated high above with a command view of the seats below, Senora Garcia sat with her ninas. She had her phone cupped in her hand. She tapped the keys for a cryptic message: “Todo ok.” When Lucinda reached up and unbuttoned one of her sweater buttons, Senora Garcia’s finger hovered over the text keys. But it was hot in the theater, so she allowed one loose button. Senora Garcia had daughters of her own and it was Mexican mothers juntos siempre... together always.
When the movie was over Pepe escorted the girls to the waiting taxi. The back door was open and the driver smiling.
Lucinda stopped, turned to Pepe and said. “It’s a warm night. Let’s save you some money. We can walk home.”
It was not what Pepe had planned, but he could say nothing. He looked at the driver and shrugged. The driver gave his best, double agent smile.
The taxi driver raced back to the Sanchez house and Senora Sanchez did not panic. Her network of mothers was long and trustful. With several phone calls, on every street along the way home there would be a mother on lookout.
When Pepe, Lucinda and Lupita reached the start of San Antonio’s paved streets, Senora Del Gato was the first to call in. “Bueno.” On street six it was, “Perfecto. No besos.” But at street five it was reported Lupita was walking behind the two and they were, it could not be confirmed, holding hands.
With four streets to go, Senora Sanchez whispered a small prayer to the Virgin of Guadalupe. That was the street Lupita lived on and her daughter would now walk unescorted. Senora Sanchez quickly hung up and hurried for the door determined to go down and meet them before...
Senor Sanchez stopped his wife. “We can trust our own little girl. What could happen this close to home?”
Senora’s Sanchez’s mind exploded with infinite possibilities - sex in the back of a truck, pregnancy, poverty, crime, prostitution and eventually death as a drug addict because she failed her duty as a Mexican mother on her daughter’s first date.
“Against the sacred duty as a mother... ” She blessed herself and kissed her thumb. “…I will not go down there.” It was hardest thing Senora Sanchez had ever not done.
Pepe and Lucinda walked down the dimly lit street hand in hand and talked about the movie and laughed again at the funny parts. He looked over at Lucinda and she loosened one of her sweater buttons. Pepe pretended not to notice. When he looked again only one button now held back two, large, firm breasts from spilling out into the soft moonlight. Sex was not the first thing that came to his mind. It was Senora Sanchez castrating him with an old, rusty fish knife. He knew unless he had witnesses to the whole affair, no one would believe he didn’t help the buttons.
Pepe and Lucinda three streets, then two, and finally the one long street to home.
On the last street, la viuda, the widow Rosa Del Torro Mendosa lived and she was addicted to television novellas and the romantic music of Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez. They were her life and soul. When Senora Sanchez called to be her last faithful lookout, Rosa felt in her heart, the sacred duty. She had binoculars and could see everything on the street below magnified to the 8th power.
Rosa followed the couple down the street and when she turned to glance at the television and looked back, the couple had disappeared. She frantically scanned the street with the binoculars and found the couple in a darkened doorway. She panicked, grabbed the phone and opened her window listening for the muffled ecstasy of a virginal orgasm. A breeze came up, the clouds parted and the full moon highlighted the young couple in the doorway. Rosa raised her binoculars and watched transfixed by the image. Her mind snapped back to her sacred duty. If the girl had sex and became pregnant it would be her fault and she and Lucinda’s mother would be mortal enemies until the end of eternity. Rosa started to dial the seven digit number. At number four button, Rosa paused when she heard Lucinda’s sweet voice.
“Thank you for the lovely evening, Pepe. When I am an old woman of forty, I’ll always remember my first date.” The voices faded out and then Rosa heard sweet innocent laughter. Rosa’s finger hovered over the last number. She raised the binoculars again and framed in the doorway and lit by the heavenly moonlight, Rosa saw Lucinda put her arms around Pepe and kiss him. Rosa’s throat tightened, moisture filled her eyes and she began to tremble. She dropped the binoculars, covered her mouth and began to softly cry. Then her finger touched the last number and Senora Sanchez answered immediately. Rosa’s voice crackled with emotion, “Muy linda.” She hung up and quietly sobbed with thoughts of her innocent youth as she watched the couple embrace.
Senora Sanchez didn’t know what to make of the call, but her daughter was home - still a virgin. Next day Senora Sanchez called all the women to thank them for their sacred duty of Mexican mothers.
The Sacred Duty of Mexican Mothers by Michael McLaughlin was read by Lin Sagovsky at the Liars' League Sex & The City event at The Wheatsheaf in London on Tuesday 10 November 2009
In 2005, Michael McLaughlin sold most of his worldly belongings in Sacramento, California and with his wife and dog moved to Lake Chapala, Mexico and never looked back. While a struggling artist in the USA, he founded a small, non-profit improvisational theatre in Sacramento and worked with it for 18 years. As an actor he has appeared on national television, films, commercials and industrial videos.
Lin Sagovsky’s credits include talking books, TV narrations and BBC R4/World Service programmes a-plenty. She’s equally passionate about taking her actor/playwright background to all corners of the business world via her consultancy Play4Real, helping businesspeople use voice and body to create presence and fun in their working lives.
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