Chapter Four: Lovesick Tao

The next day at breakfast we notices that Tao barely touches his oatmeal.

"Tao, why aren't you eating? Am I that bad a cook?" Zia jokes.

"Yes, isn't Mama's cooking good enough for you?" Miguel echoes.

Tao laughs sadly. "Of course, Miguel. Zia, I love your cooking. I just wish I had companionship. I'm lonely."

"But you have Papa and Mama and Miguel and me," Conchetta says. "With four other people here, how can you be lonely?"

I smile at her and get down to her level. "Conchetta, you know how I have Mama in my life?"

Conchetta nods.

"Well, Uncle Tao wishes he had a special woman like that in his life. Someone to cherish, someone to marry." I stand up and look over at Zia. "Someone he cherishes as much as I cherish you, Zia." I kiss her on the forehead.

Tao sighs. "While I didn't have a wife, Kokopetl was my lifelong companion. I remember how he used to complain when I didn't feed him and how he'd lead us. Since he died, and since I don't have any more family members from Heva, I've wished I had a wife and children and felt that loneliness tremendously. No offense, Esteban. You, Zia, and your children are a wonderful family."

I touch Tao's arm sympathetically. "Don't worry, Tao. Nobody's offended. We're all human here. We understand."

The next week I am talking to Mendoza in the tavern. "Mendoza, Tao's really down because he is still unmarried."

Mendoza nods. "He'll find someone. He's really a wonderful man."

I agree, then sigh. "I just wish there was something I could do for him. I think I'll search around Barcelona and try to find a woman for him."

Mendoza clears his throat. "Esteban," he warns, "you know, it's not really right to meddle in other people's private lives. You should just let someone come to Tao in good time."

"You mean like how Marinche just came to you?" I feel like snapping, but I manage to control the urge.

"If you try to set Tao up with a stranger, he may become angry with you for meddling," Mendoza adds. "It could be awkward and embarrassing for him."

At the moment I feel like Mendoza should be the last one to be giving advice. However, he has always been a father figure to me, giving sound advice, and this advice made a world of sense to me. I decide to go to the cathedral and pray for Tao, for the right woman to come into his life and make him as happy as Zia makes me.

While I am praying I notice Sister Juana Martinez come into the church building. Everybody knows who Juana Martinez is. She's been to the church a thousand times making confessions to the priest. I overhear her confess her sins: "Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It's been sixteen hours since my last confession. The sin I have committed is thinking about men too much. After all, am I not supposed to only be focusing on God? I am a nun, but I have been feeling rather unhappy in my position."

My ears perk up. I get the sudden urge to introduce her to my best friend Tao, but would God strike me dead if I tried to fix him up with a nun?

The priest, Father Gonzalez, tells her, "Child, you should never remain in a position that makes you unhappy. The Lord wants you to be happy. Perhaps it is not His calling that you should be a nun."

Sister Juana agrees. "I will leave the convent this very day. Thank you, father." As she hurries out of the church she notices me. "Hello, Esteban," she says.

"Hello, Sister," I reply with a smile. Then, without thinking about what I am doing, I blurt out, "Come and have dinner with us tonight. I'll have Zia make a roast. Nobody cooks like my wife!"

Sister Juana is very surprised. Her mouth is open wide. I feel like a total fool for even suggesting it in the first place, but then she smiles and says, "Why, I would love to!"

"Good," I grin. "See you around seven o'clock?"

Sister Juana smiles at me. "I would be delighted. I hope your family will like me. I mean, I hardly know any of you."

I hope one member in particular will adore you, I think to myself.

That evening I tell Zia, "A woman is coming over tonight. She's very young and very beautiful."

Zia puts a hand over her mouth and gasps.

I hug her. "Darling, relax. You know my heart belongs to only you. No, she's for Tao. I'm fixing them up." (Tao is out of earshot, by the way.)

Zia looks at me wide-eyed. "Esteban, do you think it is right to meddle?"

"You sound like Mendoza now," I tell her. "I'm sure they will get along fine." I hope, I think to myself.