‘Returning’ Archives
RETURNING CHAPTER 23 ½: WHERE (OR RATHER, WHEN) ARE WE?
By Patrick Cabello Hansel Estimable readers: Your dear writer is in a bit of a quandary. He has two parallel stories going, not only in different places, but in different times. Little Lupe is with Agnes in the near present, trying to escape the clutches of Brian Fleming and the forces of destruction he directs. Angel and Luz and little Angel are in the mid-18th century, trying to discover what the curse of Mateo Hidalgo Kelly might mean for them and their future. We got the last three into the past through a tesseract tunnel that led under the operation Brian Fleming was running in the swale (now East Phillips) to the cemetery. They were last seen walking a train track towards what they hoped was enlightenment. But that tunnel has been seized by law enforcement after the raid on Fleming’s converted garage/human trafficking/sweatshop/bit coin harvesting operation. That path—for now, at least—is closed. We need another portal, another gateway connecting time and [...]
CHAPTER 23: AGNES MAKES A FAITHFUL DECISION
By PATRICK CABELLO HANSEL The name Agnes means “pure, holy,” from the Greek hagne. Going further back, the Indo-European root may be hyag, meaning “to sacrifice.” Those two meanings are about to collide in our elder Agnes, as she makes a fateful, nay, a faithful, decision to defy Brian Fleming and his ilk. Of course, no human is perfectly pure or holy, at least not in terms of the perfection we set as a standard. But here’s another linguistic lesson, sports fans, “to perfect” doesn’t just mean to do a job perfectly. It also means to complete a task or calling in the way it was meant to be. Agnes loved her granddaughter Amethyst, the only family member she had left. She had stood by her when she fell into addiction and sex trafficking. She had practiced tough love with her, grandmother love, mother love. Ingrid, Agnes’ only daughter had been killed in a police shooting when Amethyst was 12, and Agnes took the sad and angry girl in. Ingrid had been a single [...]
RETURNING CHAPTER 22: WHERE IS SHE?
by Patrick Cabello Hansel As Angel and Luz and their son travel through space and time, we need to look in on the object of their search. That is, little Lupe, who has been missing. Remember her?! Although, I shudder to think of her as the object of her search, but more as the subject. The Brian Flemings of this world, and the forces they represent, deal with people as objects. Those who are striving to be fully human do not. What do we know? We know that Luz and Angel arrived at Lupe’s daycare late. Angel had fallen into a deep sleep with his son, still tired from working a double shift at the hospital. Luz had been sidetracked by an unexpected trip with an unexpected man down a secret chamber at the bookstore. Neither one of them could remember who was supposed to pick up Lupita from daycare. They rushed there through the slush and wind to find the center closed and part of a strange note that read: We have your light blessing. You will know where she is. They [...]
