Mayté’s heart skipped.El Nopal was on her board next to La Garza.She snatched a bean and placed it down.The plan was working.She had fixed her mind and followed her heart, and the house had given her a lucky board.She needed just two more matches to get a horizontal lotería, and then the round would end.Next to her, Lo placed a bean, while Dominic frowned at his board, unlucky and beanless.
This was more like the Lotería she knew and loved, save for the spectacle whenever a new card was called out.But memories of last night wouldn’t allow her to fully relax.This game was deadly.
“El Borracho.”Alejandro held up a card with a man holding a bottle of liquor.The card glowed, and out stumbled the drunkard, still holding his bottle.Several people at the table gasped.El Borracho swayed as he eyed the contestants.
Mayté’s heart stopped.With his messy dark brown hair and the sloppy stubble dotting his chin and upper lip, he looked almost exactly like her father, albeit much younger.Without graying hair and deep wrinkles, but still it was uncanny.She couldn’t help but glance at Carlos.He sat stiffly, mouth hanging open.
El Borracho lifted his bottle, sloshing around the alcohol inside, before pointing it at Carlos.
“Ah, I must inform you that this is a special card,” Misterioso said.“Cards like this one will challenge a player for a wager.Carlos, my boy, you will wager the jar you’ve hidden under your bed.”
What?Mayté sat up straighter.
The jar?How on earth did he know about that?
Misterioso snapped his fingers, and Carlos’s jar appeared on the table with a clang as coins smacked against the glass.It was a quarter full of bronze coins.Barely enough to buy much of anything.
“Once upon a time, this jar had been much fuller, if it weren’t for certain thieving hands,” Mysterioso declared.
It was true.Carlos had been saving coins ever since he was ten.The jar had been almost overflowing at one point.Before their father found it.Carlos kept hiding it in different spots over the years, but their father had kept finding it.As if he hadn’t already stolen enough.Mayté’s teeth chattered.
“Perhaps you can win back those stolen coins.Or perhaps not.Are you ready?”Misterioso asked.
“Er …” Carlos stared at the drunk man as if he had seen a ghost.
“We must begin.Are you ready?”Misterioso repeated.
“Uh.”Carlos’s face reddened.“Yes.”
“¡Toma!”El Borracho slurred and tossed his bottle at Carlos demanding he drink.Dios.He even sounded like their father.Or was Mayté just imagining it?Her heart pounded violently; she couldn’t think straight.
Carlos managed to catch the bottle.His eyes were wide with terror as he held the rim to his lips and began to chug.
“¡Toma!¡Toma!”El Borracho demanded.The vaquero joined in along with Don Zelaya and Xiomara.
“¡Toma!”
“¡Toma!”
“¡Toma!”
Carlos’s eyes watered and his face twisted, but he kept drinking.
Mayté winced.From here, she could smell the alcohol.It stung her nose as it infiltrated her sinuses.It must have been strong, but Carlos was drinking for his life.If he stopped, who knew what would happen.
Please.Don’t stop drinking.
Carlos’s body twitched, and his chest heaved.
“Come on, Carlos.You can do it!”Lo cheered.
He squeezed his eyes shut and kept drinking until there was no liquid left.With a loud gasp, he dropped the bottle.It shattered into thousands of pieces.Several people at the table cheered.
“No vomites,” El Borracho growled before vanishing.
Golden coins dropped into the jar until it overflowed.
“Congratulations.”Misterioso applauded.“If you can make it through the entire round without vomiting, you’ll keep your reward.Now, put your bean over the El Borracho space, if you please.”
