By PATRICK CABELLO HANSEL
So our little family is on a bus to Guanajuato Mexico, a town steeped in Mexican history and their families’ own history, a town none of them have been to. If you don’t understand exactly what all has happened in “Returning”, fear not! Luz, Angel, Angelito and Lupita don’t either. As to whether the author does or not…
In the meantime, a body was found, an adult female, in a field near the intersection of I-35 and Highway 19, not far from what used to be called The Big Steer restaurant (or “The Bum Steer” by denizens of St. Olaf and that other college in Northfield). The body showed signs of foul play, and a life lived hard. It merited a brief notice on page 4 of the B section in the local papers, and the investigation petered out shortly after it started. Was it the body of Amethyst, the granddaughter of Agnes, who had been used as a pawn in the plot to kidnap Lupita?
There will be a break in our story for a while. Our little family needs some time away, to reflect and grow. When they return in the next novella, it will be New Year’s Eve 2019. There will be resolutions made and toasts lifted up, and a wish that 2020 will be the best year yet. Little do our characters know what will happen in our neighborhood in that fateful year.
In the meantime, let us fiercely love our beloved Phillips, and keep our eyes open for what surprises may be hiding, in plain sight, or in the everyday mysteries we spend our whole lives trying to discover.
Patrick Cabello Hansel is a retired pastor, having served with his wife for 15 years at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Phillips. He spends his days writing poetry and fiction, gardening and yelling at the TV.
