It Carries Whispers from Lands Far Away

Chelo counted the coins he made from selling marinated mangoes on the side of the road during traffic stops. Today was a good sales day for him, but a busy one. Chelo was used to finishing the day with a damped shirt soaked in lemon juice and spices. His little brother, Luis, however enjoyed the work. He loved interacting with the customers, often carrying the salt shakers and lemon juice sprays on his belt like a spaghetti western.

“Reach for the sky, cabrón!” his brother would shout for his share. “Hand over the coins, if’n you know what’s good for you!”  

“Some day, we’ll get out of this place.” Chelo sighed.

“W’addya mean, like go to America?”

“Ay! No manches. I mean, like, several miles out of here to the city. This is a tough life, man. I can’t do it forever. I’m tired of bruising up my damn feet and selling all day just to make enough to afford to do it all over again. I wish I could take you and Ma out of this place.”

Luis laughed heartedly. “Bahah. We’re better off affording a new hammock.”

“Shut up with the hammocks already.”  

“It would be nice not smelling like armpits in the heat.”

“What’s a hammock going to do, wey?”

“Well, I could swing all day on it for air circulation, duh.”

The long mile walk in sandals through the wilderness back to the makeshift metal shack were rough for their legs, but the traffic was by far the most dangerous part of their day. Sometimes Chelo and Luis would get surprised by a sedan trying to pass a large truck hauling sugarcane plants and almost get hit. Luis would pray all of the time too, like a good Catholic boy. He prayed that today they wouldn't get struck and have to live the rest of their lives wheelchair-bound like their mother.  

Chelo would tease him all the time by ruffling his thick hair. He’d ask him why in the world would a benevolent deity waste his time on a brat from the streets?

“Don’t you think if he really cared, he’d send us a sign, rug rat?”

“Shut your ugly weird face up,” said Luis. Chelo wouldn’t stop him from kissing his little plastic cross necklace before any long trip home. It was a necessary routine for him.

One day, Chelo and Luis were walking home when a motorcycle jolted past them.

From the speed, the bike dragged a small plastic bag in its draft and caused it to dance in this small gust of air that was created. The wind then caught it and made the bag spiral up in the air like a miniature tornado. It swirled and swirled for a long time and with a complete disregard to the laws of gravity.

While Chelo had grown tired of staring, Luis remained captivated by it. And he then felt compelled to run across the street to fetch it. Chelo immediately took notice.

“Luis!” he shouted, and his heart sank. “Look out for the-!” he said to a large truck speeding in his direction.

Luis turned to Chelo just in the knick of time to spot it and he jumped out of the way into a storm ditch filled with sewer water. Chelo ran to him and punched him as hard as he could on the shoulder. “You are the stupidest kid ever!”

“Ow!” Luis shouted, clutching on the bag he retrieved. “It was close.”

“Do you ever think? You’re too old not to be mindful of traffic!”

The truck driver stopped on the side of the road to make sure they were OK.

“You alright, kids?”

“Yes!”

“¡Ay, Dios mío! you’re going to get killed running into traffic like that,” he scolded. “If I see your mother, I’m going to tell them what God-awful little devils you’ve become. Be careful!” he yelled and tossed over a pack of cookies as an apology before heading back to make his deliveries.

“That guy’s a huge jackass,” Luis said. “He drives like his foot weighs 30 pounds each.”

“I know he does, but you almost gave him a heart attack.” Chelo watched Luis, still clutching onto the bag. “What the hell do you have there? Why did you run in the street for a piece of trash?”

“I saw a green piece of paper. I thought it was money,” he said.

Luis unraveled the paper inside. There was something written on it and he began to read it.

“In a b-bustling-“

Chelo interrupted. “Say it with your chest!”

“Shut up, stupid!” Luis laughed. “In a bustling city, my spirit thrives. Where the sounds of violin tunes touch lives. From folk art, pottery, and ancient architecture, the pyramids call. In my embrace, culture stands tall."

“Egypt,” Luis said. “Easy. Next!”

“In the Middle East?”

“Yes.”

“First of all, how do you know about Egypt You haven’t left Chihuahua.”

      “In school, obviously!” argued Luis with a smirk.

“That doesn’t explain the whole thing.”

“So what else has pyramids." They both looked at each other, realizing it was right under their noses the entire time.

“Mexico City!” they both said in sync. “It’s our capital! So stupid.”

And just like a blink of an eye, the long note turned into one fresh American hundred-dollar bill which had shocked them both. They were ecstatic to follow through with the hunt and set out to visit the capital the next day.

*****

Chelo and Luis were in disbelief about the experience the day before. They were determined to spend half the day getting to the city to find the next clue and more money. They wondered if this was a calling from up above, giving them a break with a bill worth more converted.

After a few hours arriving to the city, Chelo and Luis observed the streets and their surroundings extra diligently, and they quickly found the mysterious stuck on a branch up on a tree. It was like the sky opened up for them to see it, a large beacon of sunlight through the melancholy clouds guided them to it. Luis had spotted it first.

“So much for the man upstairs ignoring me, huh?!”

“Shut up, this is simply a crappy scavenger's hunt, nothing more.”

“How would you explain the money, then?” Luis arched an eyebrow.

“OK, are you going to climb the tree or not?” asked Chelo.

"Yes. Idiot."

Then suddenly the bag flew further up into the branches trying to get away by a strange gust. But, soon after the rain poured causing the bag with the riddle to fall down by Chelo's feet. “Aguas! Come back down!” Chelo yelled. "I got it."

"Damn, the height was scary!" Luis exclaimed.” But you would have broken this branch if you climbed.” Luis laughed.

“Real funny,” Chelo said. He waited for Luis to climb back down before they both ripped open the bag together to read the note it had left. It gave them the riddle jotted down into a green piece of paper. It said, “In the heart of Aztec pride. Now a metropolis sprawling wide. With intricate carvings and stained glass art, I stand as a testament to faith’s impact.”

“That one’s stupid-easy,” said Chelo. “It’s a church.”

“Not just a church,” interrupted Luis. “The Metropolitan Cathedral here in the city. Mom took me once when Padre Jaime Fernandez was in town holding mass. it’s like less than a kilometer back down this street," he said, pointing to a large building he could see behind the towers in the city. “I’m going to run ahead!” Luis said. “It’s right there! I’ll be very careful and I don't even need to cross the street."

“Si! Como chingas.” agreed Chelo. He walked behind to buy two street dogs from a vendor while Luis headed to the church. And right before Chelo was going to wipe his mouth with the crumbled green paper like a napkin, he realized something odd. “Wait.”

It didn’t occur to him that the paper hadn’t disappeared.

He unfolded and noticed more words written on it in small paint splatters that resembled blood. “In shadows deep, where whispers fly, A warning echoed ‘neath the sky, with eyes of flames and a sinister grin, Approach with caution, lest you fall within.” and then it turned into another fresh enticing American hundred dollar bill.

Chelo had goosebumps vibrating up through his hair follicles. He quickly dropped the two hot dogs and ran as fast as he could to his brother.

Something was unnerving about the poem, and he couldn’t put two and two through the adrenaline.

When Chelo made it through the towering old gothic cathedral that looked as old as time, he spotted Luis in his cowboy hat, rushing in through the large wooden door at the center. “Luis!” he shouted, but his voice was too faint.

He continued running and felt a wind pushing back at him in the opposite direction, trying to stop him. He needed to save his brother from finding the answer to the riddle. And when Chelo ran up the stairs and finally entered the holy church, Luis had already found the piece of paper dangling on the altar.

Chelo looked up at the portraits propped up of the saviors watching down at the visitors and noticed their images had changed right in front of him. They were no longer people but something grotesque and deformed with ashen grey skin. Their eyes looked too realistic to be paintings, almost like they were gauged out of someone.

“Luis!” Chelo shouted, calling the attention of everyone in the quiet place. “Come back here now!” he pleaded.

It was too late.

Luis had grabbed the bag with the riddle and vanished.

"He disappeared. Did you see that? He disappeared!"

But, everyone looked at Chelo screaming like he was a nuisance. They dismissed him because of his youthfulness and the way he dressed, all ragged and poor.

Chelo couldn't prove to them his brother was abducted and tricked by the devil himself. Then Chelo turned over to a photo of the late bishop who founded the church all of those years ago and provided a sanctuary for the people living there and its almost like he spoke to him. He turned over to the last place he saw Luis and found what he held dearly, his necklace with the cross.

He held it out and called out for his brother in a last plea.

Then another green piece of paper came falling from the ceiling. They granted him another chance at the riddle, one that Chelo knew the importance of. It was crucial for him to solve it for his brother back. He read the letters written twice in black and red letters slowly with an intensity in his eyes, trying to hold his emotions together. 

Then the bag appeared hovering down from the ceiling.

It said, “Though weightless, I can still be felt. A presence in nature, where I often dwelt. I can rage with fury or flicker with pace. I'm a powerful essence in any space.”

“Fire,” he whispered to himself. "It has to be. There’s nothing else that matches."

Chelo ran outside to find a flame to burn it. 

There was a street vendor there smoking burger patties by the sidewalk. 

He ran over and reached his crumbled paper over.

Then he stopped and glanced at the cars driving fast and honking on the road. He remembered when the riddles first started and how Luis ran over nearly killing himself to catch it. "There’s another answer." he said. "Like it all started..."

He uncrumbled the paper and waited for a vehicle to pass. Then with sweat gleaming allover his forehead, he tossed it onto the street and watched the winds of the cars drag it further away, pushing it and making it dance for another unlucky soul to trick and whisper secrets to. 

Chelo fell on his knees and looked up to the sky. "Did I... screw this up? Is my brother gone forever, God?"

There was no sign, but then he felt a pressure poking him in the back.

“Hands in the air, cabrón!”