For The Love of The Game

Sergio didn’t want to let the events that happened this morning ruin the plans he had made for the day, so I took a shower and changed while the boys finished their game and talked. Since it was so nice outside, I decided to wear a nice halter-top sundress that I hadn’t been able to wear in England due to the horrible weather there. But sunny Spain was perfect for this dress. I heard the distinct sound of Sergio’s wolf whistle as I hopped off the last step and walked into the kitchen where the boys were sitting in the barstools conversing. I rolled my eyes as Sergio smiled.

“It’s obvious that good looks run in our family.” We both gave each other sideways glances, pretending to pop our imaginary collars and nodded with a cocky smirk. We busted out laughing at the gesture that we had been doing together since we were young. We were always the best brother and sister team in our neighborhood, no one ever messed with us. “Doesn’t she look beautiful Fernando?” I lightly smacked him, trying to be discrete as I hushed him under my breath.

“Sergio, stop.” I looked up at Fernando to catch his glance as he quickly looked away, blushing. Sergio nudged him as if to ask him if he agreed about how I looked. Nando nodded and cleared his throat to answer.

“She always looks beautiful, you know that Serg.” Serg puffed his chest out in a proud manner, responding only to have me hit him in his chest afterwards, causing his chest to cave in and cough.

“That’s because she’s my sister!” He regained his breath and ran towards the door to leave. “Come on, we have lots to do.” Fernando and I looked at each other and shrugged, letting Sergio take control of our day.

+++

“I am not five and this is not my first time in Madrid, I do not need a whole damn tour of the city! Museums don’t interest me, and I don’t want any candy!” I said as I smacked the M&M’s Sergio was handing me.

“It’s so different now, things have changed since you last visited.” I cut Sergio off.

“Nothing has changed, it is still the same historical place it has always been. Can we do something fun now?” I huffed as both the guys looked around the square for something that would interest me. Nando’s eyes widened as he pointed down the street.

“Carnival.” Was all he said and we were off in the direction of the bright colors and mountain high rides that occupied a part of the city. The lights coming from the rides were lighting the, what was now, late day, the sun was soon to go down and allow these lights to show their full potential and beautify the city even more. I was excited now; I couldn’t wait for the cotton candy, and the performers.

“Sergio! Stop messing with that, you’re gonna knock it dow…SERGIO!” I screamed at him as he climbed the bars of one of the game booths…like a monkey. I was about to climb up after him but Fernando grabbed my hand, pulling me back into his chest. I looked up at him only to have him hold up his hand insisting me to just wait a minute. Not long after looking back up at Sergio, did he come crashing down to the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. He made an exasperated face and slowly got up with Fernando’s help.

“I was just trying to have a laugh Karmen, here, I’m gonna go get you some cotton candy, I know it’s your favorite at carnivals.” With that Sergio ran off to find a cotton candy stand while Fernando and I continued to walk ahead. We turned a corner and the ride that stood in front of us caused me to come to a complete stop, in turn causing Fernando to get pulled back from my hand that he was holding. I stared in fear as Fernando stood in front of me taking my face in his hands, frantically trying to figure out what would cause my sudden fear and whimpering.

“¿Karmen, qué está equivocado? Anda, me contesta. ¿Karmen, lo que sucedió?” (Karmen, what’s wrong? Come on, answer me. Karmen, what happened?) The summer of ’99 came to mind and sudden flashbacks of hanging in the air, holding on for dear life and then a hand reaching out to grab mine only to slip out of grasp caused me to shudder and collapse into Fernando’s embrace.

“Not again, I’m not going to fall again.” It was as if the whole night wanted to take place again in my head. Fernando realized what was going on as he looked behind him and saw the brightly lit Ferris wheel circling around with the happy people all smiling as they sat on the ride. He was reminded of how a ride that brought most people joy, filled one of the most important people to him with fear and sadness.

“Shh, Karmen, you don’t have to, come on princesa, we can go find Sergio. Would you rather go find Sergio?” I nodded slowly as he attempted to walk with me, but I wasn’t in the cooperative state, so he slipped his arm under my knees and carried me away from the ride towards somewhere farther away. He kept mumbling to himself and me as he walked around, carrying me in his arms. “Perdón, Karm. Debía estar atendiendo a donde fuimos dirigidos. ¿ Yo no puedo creer que yo me olvidara, cómo le hago se olvida algo que importante, Fernando? Puede ni tiene cuidado para asegurarse a sus amigos están a salvo.” (I’m sorry, Karm. I should’ve been paying attention to where we were headed. I can’t believe I forgot, how do you forget something that important, Fernando? You can’t even watch out to make sure your friends are safe.) I guess Fernando didn’t see Sergio because we ended up sitting at a picnic table, a bit secluded from the crowd. I slipped into my own thoughts again as two kids came up to get a picture with Fernando.

”Vamanos Nando! Será divertido.” (Come on Nando! It’ll be fun.) I smiled as I ran towards the Ferris wheel, dragging him close behind me. Sergio and I were in Madrid on holiday this summer all the way from Seville to visit Sergio’s friend Fernando. They met at a match that their youth clubs played against each other, and although they were on opposing teams, they hit it off really well. Keeping in touch all the time. Nando is two years older than my brother and won’t let him forget it. Even though I’m only three years younger than him, he still treats me like a baby sister, mind you I’m twelve and three months now and am getting ready to go into the 8th grade! Sergio left Nando and I to get me some cotton candy, he was always a good brother, getting me what I needed when I asked for it. We sat down in our seats on the Ferris wheel and let the operator click down the bar to keep us in our seats. We had gotten there just in time to fill in the last seats available for this turn. I squealed with excitement and clapped my hands as Nando smiled next to me and made sure that I was sitting back in my seat and that the bar was down far enough to keep me in. The ride started and I looked at Fernando with wide eyes full of excitement and wonder as he patted my head, knowing that I was enjoying the way my first experience on a Ferris wheel was going. His smile faltered slightly when the ride stopped a bit, but went back to smiling down at me when it started back up again.

Fernando had me hold the bar even though I really wanted to clap with joy as we were reaching the top. When we were finally at the top, I was stunned at the beauty of the city of Madrid, I could pretty much see the whole landscape from up here. It was breathtaking. I blinked and looked down at the ground towards the bottom of the ride, spotting my brother standing, waiting, with a bag of cotton candy in various colors for me. I couldn’t help but to squeal again. Fernando let out a slight chuckle. “Sergio!” I yelled down to catch his attention and let go of the bars against Fernando’s orders and waved around at my brother! He looked up smiling and waving back as he held the bag of cotton candy up for me to see that he had gotten it for me. I didn’t realize it at the moment, but I made the mistake of leaning forward as I waved to him in my excitement, and I slowly began to slip from under the bar that was supposed to keep us secure in the seat. Well, it was keeping Fernando in his seat, but he was bigger than me. I screamed as I slipped out of the seat and grabbed the closest thing I could as I fell out, which happened to be a bar that was secured at the side of the seat. I had felt Fernando’s hands trying to grab me while I was falling out of my seat, but I just slipped out of reach. I looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Nando, por favor no permitió que mí caerme. Yo no quiero caerse. Yo sólo quiero sentarse luego a usted, y yo quiero ver Sergio, y yo quiero abrazarselo, y darlo gracias para el algodón azucarado. ¡Fernando que yo no quiero caerse!” (Nando, please don’t let me fall. I don’t want to fall. I just want to sit next to you, and I want to see Sergio, and I want to hug him, and thank him for the cotton candy. Fernando, I don’t want to fall!)

“Yo no le permitiré princesa. Aguante, tiene que asir la mano. Yo le conseguiré.” (I won’t let you princess. Hold on, you’re going to have to grab my hand. I’ll get you.) He had scooted towards the side I was hanging from and reached down to grasp my hand that was holding on to the bar on the side. The ride had been stopped and everyone was crowding around to see what the commotion was. Sergio was yelling frantically to Fernando to grab me quickly because he knew I couldn’t hold on for long, he was right, my little fingers were slowly slipping around the bar. I was crying and silently praying at this point. I looked down and quickly regretted it seeing all the metal bars that twisted and turned below me. I looked over to where Sergio was standing to try and calm my nerves a bit by seeing him, but he was down on his knees holding his rosary from around his neck in between his palms, saying a prayer as he looked up at me, worry evident on his face. That reassurance didn’t help much, so I looked up at Fernando as he called my name.

“Venga en Karmen, tiene que alcanzar un poco tan puedo asir la muñeca. Sé que usted lo puede hacer, es una chica grande.” (Come on Karmen, you gotta reach a little so I can grab your wrist. I know you can do it, you’re a big girl.) I nodded slowly and tried to tighten my grasp around the bar so I could reach up with my other hand to grab Fernando’s hand. I reached with all my might and could feel my fingertips brushing against his. “Venga en Karmen.” (Come on Karmen.) I reached a bit more and I could feel Fernando grasping at my fingers, trying to pull me up. When I looked up at him, I could see his face was red and his chest was pressed as far up against the edge of the seat as it could be, he was really trying to get to me. As soon as he had his hand around my fingers, my other hand slipped completely from the bar I was holding on to. This caused me to fall a bit, but Fernando held his grasp, until he couldn’t anymore because my fingers were too slippery and they started to slide out of his hand. I could see him trying to pull me up, but he didn’t have a good enough grip as my fingers fell out from his hand and I fell, screaming again, but threw my hand out to try and grab another passing bar. This time I grabbed a hold of one of the main supports just a few bars down from our seat. It was a big enough support that I grabbed a hold and pulled myself up enough to the point where I could wrap my legs around the support and lie on it so I wouldn’t waste my energy dangling on. I looked down at Sergio who had looked like he was letting out a sigh of relief that I didn’t fall down to my death, but he quickly started yelling at Fernando to stop what he was doing, which caused me to look up at the cart that held our seats. Fernando was climbing over the seat, going from bar to bar, trying to get down to the bar I was resting on. He climbed down like an expert and reached me in no time.

“Karmen, debe escucharme. ¿Giraré la espalda a usted, recuerda cómo yo le llevaría alrededor?” (Karmen, you need to listen to me. I am going to turn my back to you, remember how I would carry you around?) I nodded in understanding as he continued. “Deseo que montese la espalda como eso otra vez, y yo subiré nosotros atrás a la cima. ¿Puede hacer eso?” (I want you to get on my back like that again, and I will climb us back to the top. Can you do that?) I nodded again letting him know that I understood his plan and knew what I had to do. As he turned his back, I carefully let go of the bar with my arms to wrap them around his neck and slowly wrapped my legs around his waist as he held on to the bars now. Fernando carefully climbed back up and crawled back into our seats in no time. There was cheering coming from the bottom as Fernando held me tightly in his lap under the bar with me gripping it this time for dear life. I was still crying silent tears, but I was smiling knowing that I was safe now. I looked down and saw Sergio make a cross across his chest and get up off his knees, throwing his rosary back under his shirt, looking up at the both of us smiling. I looked back at Fernando who was resting his chin on my head, I could feel his breathing against my scalp as he inhaled and exhaled right over my hair, the air from his nostrils cool and tickling. He scooted his head back a bit as I had turned my head to look at him. I was smiling with tears running down my face, and that confused him.

“Gracias Nando. Guardó mi vida. Mi salvador.” (Thank you Nando. You saved my life. My savior.) He reached with one hand and wiped the tears on my face, kissed my forehead and replied back as the ride began to descend again as the operator had started it back up.

“Yo siempre miraré sobre usted de ahora en adelante. Usted siempre estará a salvo cuando soy alrededor, prometo.” (I’ll always watch over you from now on. You’ll always be safe when I’m around, I promise.) He placed the hand that wiped my tears away over my little ones that were squeezing the bar. I turned back around and rested my body against his, leaning my head back against his chest as his other arm was wrapped around my stomach, keeping me close as to not fall again.

“Karmen. Karmen. Princesa.” I looked back at Fernando blankly as the flashback playing in my mind ended while he knelt down in front of me, attempting to get my attention by rubbing circles on my hand with his thumb while calling my name. He placed a hand to the side of my face as I continued to look at him as if I was looking through him. “It’s going to be alright. We’re not gonna go on the ride, don’t worry. Look, Sergio is coming with some cotton candy for you.” Fernando pointed to his right, but I continued to stare at Fernando blankly. I only looked up when Fernando stood up at Sergio’s arrival. I looked from Nando to Sergio as the two had a quick conversation in hurried Spanish a few feet away from me. I was too lost to want to comprehend the exchange, so I just sat, wringing my hands in my lap. I stopped when a pair of hands were placed on top of mine to stop me and I felt a body press close to my side. I closed my eyes as I inhaled the scent of my brother, recognizing it instantly from everything else around me.

“Sergio.” Was the only word I uttered as he wrapped his arms around me and held my head against his shoulder, right above his chest.

“Shh, shh, shh, Karmen. I know, I know. We’re going to go home, don’t worry.” I nodded as he caressed my hair back as I sat up.

“I want Fernando to come too.” I said below a whisper. I watched as Sergio looked over at Fernando who was trying to be polite by giving my brother time to talk to me himself. He turned around questioningly, looking between my brother and I before nodding in agreement.

“Sure, no problem.” Sergio and Fernando nodded at each other as if Sergio was silently thanking him and Nando was just replying with a ‘no problem’. Sergio turned back to me asking if there was anything else I needed. I shook my head and just said that I want to go home. They both nodded and Sergio picked me up and carried me towards the car as I looked back at Nando over my brother’s shoulder as he trailed along right behind us.