Reign of the War Queen: Chapter 1 ~ Coronation
A Tale of Two Times: Volume 4, Reign of the War Queen
~1~ “Mom? Dad? It’s me!” Ricardo opened the front door to his parents’ home in San Antonio, and light poured from the doorway to join the light shining from the house’s windows.
“We’re in the kitchen, Ricardo.” It was his mother’s voice. “We’re working on a stew, and we’re stewing over some work. Come in here and tell us about your day at Home Ranch. We’re so happy that you've come here instead of going straight back to your apartment.”
From their parked car, Martin and Victoria watched Ricardo enter the house along with their daughter Rhoda. Victoria, who had been leaning across Martin to see them better, squeezed her husband’s hand as the house door closed behind them. Dropping her head onto his shoulder, she closed her eyes.
In the house, Rhoda slipped past Ricardo and entered the kitchen before him.
Ricardo’s father, Ricardo Miguel, was eagerly watching the kitchen doorway for him, from the stool on which he was perched at the far side of the kitchen worktable. Rhoda stepped into the kitchen, smiling gloriously, and he was struck speechless. Ricardo arrived at once behind her, with his forefinger to his lips, so the former New Jersey trash collector remained mutely staring.
“What were you saying, dear?” Xochitl, Ricardo’s mother, was standing at the nearer side of the table with her back to the two young people, cutting beef into cubes for a stew while Ricardo’s father, having diced all of the vegetables, was waiting to brown the meat. Wearing their kitchen aprons, the couple had been enjoying the late evening coolness and each other’s company while preparing a stew for their next two days’ dinners.
Rhoda stepped up silently behind Xochitl and gently touched her shoulder. Expecting to see Ricardo, Xochitl turned—and the knife dropped from her hand. Rhoda’s enigmatic perfume seemed to flow from the warmth of her smile as she placed her hands on either side of Xochitl’s head, and Xochitl saw that Rhoda was nearly as tall as Ricardo! Rhoda kissed the astonished woman’s cheeks.
Ricardo’s mother had never before felt the strange delight of Rhoda’s intimate touch; it opened to her a vision of a whole new country: From majestic mountains, sparkling sweet torrents tumbled joyously into clear, sunlit rivers which flowed through lush green valleys strewn with lakes, and continued beyond them into cultivated plains. Xochitl shook her head. She moved to clean her bloody hands, but Rhoda grasped them.
