Conrado and Emanuel went home to report to their big sisters about their encounter with their uncle Emanual, who’d come back to OJ after running away to the bola when he was a teenager. Conrado wasn’t impressed, but Emanual, who’d been named after his mother’s brother, was struck by the smooth-talker.
“Just a waste of time, Emanual. I don’t ever wanna run into him again,” Conrado said to his brother.
“But he’s our uncle. He has lot’s of interesting stories,” Emanmuel said.
Conrado ignored him.
“He’s just a talker. Doesn’t seem to care about anything or anybody, only about having a good time,” he told his sisters when they got home.
“Did he tell you about the many girlfriends he had here even when he was just a teenager?” one of their sisters said.
“I don’t care to hear,” Conrado said.
“What do you mean he had many girlfriends?” Emanuel said.
“Oh, he was in trouble with all sorts of women, older, younger and even some betrothed ones. They say that’s one of the reasons he left,” their sister said.
Emanuel took great note of that information.
The next evening, he went to the cantina where he and Conrado ran into their uncle. The elder Emanual was there holding court again.
The younger Emanuel got into the gathered crowd and listened and waited for a pause in the action to approach is uncle. His opportunity came when the cantina owner came over to dispersed them. As the small audience backed away to let the owner in, the younger Emanual stepped forward.
“Hey, uncle, you got any advice on how I can get my girlfriend to marry me? I’ve asked her a couple of times already, and she says she wants to think about it,” he asked his uncle.
“Pos you have to say it seriously, as if you really mean it,” his uncle responded.
“Also…,” he was about to add but was interrupted by the bar owner.
“Hey, you’ve been here all night talking but not buying any beer. Either you buy more beer or give your spot at the bar to somebody else,” the owner said sternly.
The older Emanuel didn’t hesitate to respond.
“Órale, órale. You ever hear of Toribio Ortega, who confronted a column of federales with a group followers half their number. They say he ambushed them, but in reality they confronted them head on and just by swearing at them had the soldiers peeing in their pants. That’s how the revolution erupted, and that’s why we don’t cower to the jefes anymore,” he said to the owner assertively.
The owner didn’t know what to think of the exchange. He just walked away.
“See? That’s how you do it,” the uncle said to his nephew.
The younger Emanuel went home pondering what his uncle had said and tried to connect it to his situation where his girlfriend wouldn’t take his marriage proposal seriously.
“Qué fregados did he mean?” he said to himself, thoroughly confused.
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