Free Casa Azul by Laban Carrick Hill Page B

Renaissance painting.
    “Wonderful!” Diego set Fulang on the couch and took Frida’s arm. “We have to go or we’ll be late.”
    “But I’m coming too,” said Fulang.
    “No, dear,” Frida answered. “Tonight it is just Diego and me.” The two left the house and drove away, leaving Fulang dressed in her own Tehuana costume with no place to go.
    “Is she crazy?” cracked Chica.
    “What do you mean?” asked the skull.
    “Well, this morning she gets divorced and she’s suicidal. Now, she’s happy and going on a date with the man who just divorced her.”
    “
Díos mio
!” replied Fulang. “I didn’t think of that. They don’t sound like the actions of someone in control of all her faculties.”
    “She’s lost her marbles,” clacked the skull cheerfully.
    “Shut up, moron,” spat the cat.
    “I’d better follow her to make sure she’s okay,” concluded Fulang as she rushed out of the house.” “Especially since the portrait of Dr. Eloesser said this wrestling match is where we’ll find help for Frida!”
    Fulang climbed over the wall surrounding the garden and into a tree with branches hanging over the street. She noticed Caimito de Guayabal, the spider monkey, down the street playing tag with two squirrels, but she was more concerned with catching up to Frida and Diego. The street was empty. They were long gone.
    A few minutes later a trolley passed under her branch. She took a deep breath and dropped onto the roof, clinging tightly as the trolley made its way down the street. She faced the breeze as the air whipped through her fur and sent her skirt flapping. It was exciting and more than a little frightening to travel across the city alone. She had never done this before. Whenever she had left Casa Azul, she had been with Frida. Now, alone, she drank in the people on the streets coming and going from buildings and getting on and off the trolley. She passed the National Palace, where many of Diego’s murals resided. Finally, on the other side of the city, the trolley arrived at the arena.
    Fulang leaped from the trolley onto the roof of a parked car. From there she scanned the parking lot for Diego’s car. The wavesof crowds were moving swiftly into the arena even though it was still early. Hesitantly, she went from car roof to car roof down the line of parked vehicles. Now that she was there she wasn’t sure what she was going to do or how she was going to find Frida and Diego. So many people, so much color dizzied her. She didn’t know where to look or what to look for. She thought back to the words the portrait of Dr. Eloesser had spoken: “You will find the answer in a wrestling match between El Corazón and El Diablo.”
    Well, I’m here
, Fulang thought,
but I’m not sure how I’m going to get inside
. She felt safe perched on the roof of a car. She scanned the parking lot and the entrance to the arena for a tree. With all these people milling about, she did not want to be trampled underfoot.
    Just then she heard something land on the car roof behind her. She spun around and smiled in relief.
    Caimito tipped his head and chattered. Since the magic didn’t extend beyond the walls of Casa Azul, he couldn’t speak words. He did a couple of flips and chattered his concern.
    Fulang nodded back. She appreciated his concern but couldn’t stop and play. She decided to take a chance. Taking a deep breath, she darted between the legs of the people. Caimito followed close behind.
    Before they got very far, a child screamed.
    “Victor!”
    Fulang and Caimito looked over to where the cry came from. They saw a girl in a Tehuana costume just like Fulang’s, but the girl’s was dirty. It was clear she had been wearing the same outfit for a while.
    The girl was calling to a small boy who was struggling to breakfree from the grip of a huge fat man. She ran to the boy and pounded her fists on the man’s back.
    Without thinking the two monkeys dashed after the girl and hopped onto the giant