Game was 7/6/19; Anne Marie couldn’t make it.
Anita texts Josh her address – 27 Pine Street Court – and Josh replies, “What should I bring?” as he Googles ‘Puerto Rican hospitality.’ Anita replies in text “She likes port. It’s sweet.” Josh heads for the liquor store as Anita drives home. Her house is only half a mile from the botanica, and is a modest two-story home with peeling blue paint and a yard still covered with autumn leaves. The attic is storage, and the basement is mostly her grandfather’s workshop and Carlos’s old room. The first floor is the living room, the foyer, the kitchen, the dining room, and the master bedroom and bath where Abuela sleeps. The second floor is three bedrooms, one for Anita, one for Del, and one that is a ‘crafts room’ despite the fact Abuela hasn’t sewn anything in years and is in denial about her troubles getting up the stairs. The home is a bit shabby on the outside, but clean and comfy on the inside, and it is very clear that many generations have grown up inside its walls.
Abuela snaps to Del, “Set the table, we have a guest coming.” She says nothing further, which leads Del to assume her older brother Carlos is coming. She grumbles as she sets the extra place while Abuela stirs the pulled pork simmering in the slow cooker. Anita stays out of the way and keeps her face blank; she knows what Abuela is doing – and she approves. At 8 o’clock on the dot, the doorbell rings, and Abuela irritably snaps, “Della, get the door.” Anita waits and watches in the living room as Del matches to the door and flings it open –and stops dead when she registers Josh instead of Carlos! Josh is holding a bottle of port and flowers, and he explains that Abuela invited him to dinner. Anita recognizes the "abort/retry/fail" look on her sister’s face and snaps, “Are you going to let him in or not?”
Del jabs the door open but stares lustfully at Josh as he comes inside. Josh notes the living room is cluttered but clean, and Abuela bustles out of the kitchen, grabs the port, and heads right back to the stove without a word. Anita snickers and then explains to Josh, “Saturdays are like your Sunday dinners, with slightly less colorful guests. Slightly.” She also knows that Saturdays are slow-cooker days, as Saturdays are typically the busiest day of the week at the botanica, and Abuela long ago learned to set up a slow cooker so she didn’t have to make dinner after a long day at the shop. Josh asks, “How can I help?” Anita hears her grandmother muttering in the kitchen and says strictly, “Stay out of the kitchen. You don’t want to be in there is she’s muttering like that.” She hands Josh a vase for the flowers and then turns to Del and yells, “Shut the door! You’re letting bugs in!”
Back at the Troy residence, William makes his way carefully to the kitchen and makes a light supper. He settles back on the sectional couch and watches TV as he eats. Meanwhile, at her apartment, Leta realizes Giuseppe will contact Leland Overman next, as is standard procedure. She hears a popping sound from the kitchen, and ambles into the living room to see Abby still on the couch. She walks into the kitchen – and stares at the collection of bottles, jars, and cans with illegible labels that covers every available inch of space. Veltis is making dinner in humanoid-rat form, and is using his tail to pop things out of his demonic pocket-realm.
Leta swears at the clutter and Abby looks up and registers the mess. She mumbles, “I guess this means a group trip to IKEA,” before returning to her books. There is a very loud pop, and a three-foot tall cylinder filled with brackish green liquid rolls out of the pocket realm and into the living room! Tiny hands appear, pounding on the glass, before Veltis’s tail whips and drags it back into the kitchen. He shoves the cylinder back into the pocket realm and insists, “It was the 1480s. Don’t worry about it.” Enraged, Leta snaps, “You have no idea what’s in any of these things!” Veltis hotly refutes that, so Leta points to a jar and snaps, “What’s in that one?” Veltis replies, “A Hand of Glory.” Leta is thrown off-guard sat that, but recovers and points to another jar. Veltis replies, “Himalayan salt.” Leta growls, “You can buy that in stores now,” but Veltis counters, “It’s processed all to hell.” He also reveals that salt is black, not pink, and Leta grudgingly concedes that point. She does insist, “Most of this stuff is spoiled.”
Veltis shakes his head and replies, “No, it isn’t. Time doesn’t pass in the pocket-realm. I could shove Josh in there, wait a hundred years, and pop him out, and for him only a second would have passed.” Leta gapes at him, but counters, “Don’t tell William that.” Veltis concedes that point, but they continue bickering. Veltis eventually admits he has a Hand of Glory collection, and a vampire stashed somewhere in the pocket-realm. Leta howls, “Why?” and Veltis retorts, “He was being hunted by his enemies, and would be safe there. And he’d owe me a favor when I pulled him out. He’s been in there since the twelfth century though.” Leta points to an old-timey dumbbell and demands an explanation for that. Veltis admits, “I was drinking with Bob. I don’t remember much of that night.” Abby sighs and stays out of the way as best she can. Leta demands a soda and tries to get to the fridge, but every time she moves something blocking the fridge, Veltis replaces it with another item from the pocket-realm.
At the Montoya residence, Del shuts the door with a look of pure spite at her older sister. Abuela snaps her fingers, and Josh follows the sisters to the dining room. They settle in as Abuela serves dinner: slow-cooked Puerto Rican pulled pork with corn tortillas, pico de gallo, chopped cilantro, and avocado. Josh compliments the food enthusiastically, which helps soften Abuela’s stance towards him slightly. She’s also enjoying Del’s infatuation, but Josh is kind without encouraging towards Del. He asks about the history of the Montoya Botanica, unaware he’s breached the unspoken cardinal rule of “Don’t talk shop at the dinner table.” The sisters rear back slightly, but Abuela starts discussing the shop’s history.
Abuela tells Josh about how her grandfather – Anita’s great-great-grandfather – Salvador Montoya1) opened the store in 1912 and ran in until his sudden death in 1919. She makes a poetic reference to his death on ‘the day the angels died’ and Josh immediately recalls Veltis’s claim that no angel remained on Earth since 1919 prior to their encounter with the cat-angel. He wonders if Salvador Montoya was an angel himself, 2) while Anita notes his reaction and decides to ask him about it later. Del misses the reaction; she’s still too stunned that Abuela is breaking her own rule, and Abuela herself is lost in her memories. She tells about how her mother took over the store, how Abuela herself grew up in it and then took it over, and how it eventually passed to Anita’s hands.
Abuela never outright says it, but Josh cottons on to how she still considers the botanica hers, and how the massive changes and upgrades he introduced has made ‘her’ store unrecognizable. He registers how integral the botanica is to this family’s identity in the community, so he says carefully, “My previous job was at a big box store. People came in and bought things they wanted for their entertainment, and then they went home with them. There was no community. Your store is about building the community, and I’m proud to have even a tiny part of it.” It is not until he finishes speaking that he realizes he just said everything in perfectly accented Puerto Rican Spanish, and Anita curses and mutters, “I’ll have to change the sign.” Josh blushes as Della gapes at his language skills.
Abuela is deeply touched by Josh’s statement – and doesn’t register he spoke it in her native language until she gets up to get dessert. She stops in the strip of linoleum that demarcates the kitchen from the dining room, and then turns slowly to stare at Josh. She then turns to Anita and growls, “This is your fault,” in German! Startled, Anita replies, “Yeah, probably,” also in German! Della explodes, howling, “How do you both suddenly speak German?” Anita shrugs and replies, “I learned it last night. Can’t speak for Abuela.” Their grandmother glares at them both and says stiffly in Spanish, “I lived through World War II and the Cold War, bitches.” She stalks into the kitchen, and Anita concedes, “Can’t argue that.”
Del snarls, “And you?” Anita replies, “It’s a long story.” Del snaps, “Apparently you learned it last night, so it can’t be that long!” Anita can’t really counter that, but Josh pipes up, “I’ve been learning since I started working at the botanica.” Abuela eyes him from the kitchen as she pours more rum on the rum cake, and then says sweetly, “What would you like to drink with this?” Realizing there’s a test in play, Josh replies, “What would go with it?” Anita nods in approval, but Del grumbles, “Water?” Anita retorts, “That’s because you’re underage.” Abuela pours a finger of port for herself, Anita, and Josh, and then brings out slices of rum cake for everyone. As they enjoy the potent rum cake with water, coffee, and port, Anita asks Abuela in German, “Why are you being so nice to the boy?” Abuela growls in German, “Because I’m starting to like him, and it pisses your sister off. And because he speaks Spanish.” Josh turns to Del and asks brightly, “What additional language would you like to learn?” Della grumbles, “German, apparently,” but Abuela and Anita shake their heads.
Back at Leta’s apartment, she manages to get the fridge open, and swears when she realizes it’s already full of more bottles and jars. Veltis snipes at her as he cooks dinner, and shoves her out of the kitchen. He serves dinner shortly thereafter: South Carolina fried chicken, grits, and corn on the cob. He also passes out bottles of Coca-Cola – the original version. Leta howls, “You just gave me cocaine!” Veltis swears and grabs the bottles back. He then grabs bottles of Mexican Coke instead. They almost finish eating when the doorbell rings. Leta gets up and peers through the peephole. She hisses, “It’s Fuller! Get this horde of crap out of here!”
There is a massive thunderclap of a pop, and then everything is back in the pocket-realm – including the book Abby was holding in her hands! Leta opens the door and greets Detective Fuller; the other woman demands, “What the hell was that noise?” Leta plays it off as the kids living downstairs, and then Fuller demands to speak to her. Leta refuses to let her inside without a warrant, but Fuller replies, “We can talk here, or down at the station.” Sighing, Leta steps inside and Fuller enters the apartment, looking around suspiciously. However, there is nothing out of place, and a tiny Veltis runs over to Leta; she scoops him up and puts him on her shoulder.
Fuller takes the loveseat and instructs Leta, “Walk me through what happened earlier, please.” Leta does so, and recounts everything, but concludes with, “And then your lovely and professional colleagues showed up to help.” Fuller glares at her, but Abby corroborates Leta’s retelling. Since both women are in fact telling the truth, Fuller realizes she has nothing here and thanks them for their time. Fuller departs, and as soon as she shuts the door, Leta flips her off. A few moments later there is another thunderous pop as all of the items come back from the pocket-realm, once again filling the kitchen. Leta harangues her demon-rat for a while, but then flops on the couch for some TV. Abby puts down her book to watch as well, and Leta asks, “Are you researching something specific, or just edifying the mind-space?”
Abby stares at her incredulously, but replies, “Mostly just reading. There’s a reference to a private collection that I want, though. Some sort of supernatural history of the region, written in colonial times in German.” Leta is intrigued, so Abby elaborates, “There’s a reference to the collection being sold to someone with the initials S.M. back in 1919 in Springfield, but then the trail goes cold. Leta frowns and yells to Veltis, “Didn’t something happen in 1919?” From the kitchen, Veltis replies, “Aftershocks of the Great War, the influenza epidemic, and it was the last time there was a verified angel sighting on Earth until this year. Why?” They snipe a bit more at each other, and Leta refers to the kitchen as Spice World, but she does realize Veltis is sorting things into piles at least.
Abby mumbles, “There’s an IKEA trip happening.” Leta replies, “Yup.” Abby moans, “We’re going to die there.” Leta hopes she’s being melodramatic, but they settle down to watch TV for a while until Leta yells for Veltis to get her some popcorn. Veltis refuses, saying he can’t get to the microwave right now. Leta demands to know what he put on it; he replies, “Don’t worry about it. Once it goes to sleep, I’ll move it.” Leta yells, “You gave me coke earlier, and now I want popcorn!” Veltis refuses to budge, and Leta decides there is a basilisk on the microwave. 3) Abby calls out, “Veltis, are my potato chips within reach?” There’s a moment of silence, and then Veltis replies, “It’ll be a while. Why don’t you all go out and get some snacks?” Leta grumbles, but she and Abby grab shoes and umbrellas.
Josh remains at the Montoya household until 11 o’clock; he does the dishes and sheepishly asks if he can bring some of the leftover rum cake home for his grandfather. Abuela cuts him 1/4th of the cake and wraps it up. She hands it to him and he says his goodbyes in Spanish without meaning to. He drives off, and Abuela murmurs, “I have to yell at Consuela later.” Anita frowns, but concedes that Consuela is among the worst of the Latinas sexually harassing Josh in Spanish.
Del suddenly demands, “When the fuck did you two learn German?” Anita shrugs but asks Abuela, “Were you a spy?” Abuela stares at her granddaughters and announces, “I’m going to trade both of you for that gringo boy.” Anita just stares at her, so Abuela snaps, “And why did you learn German?” Anita shrugs and replies, “So I can read great-grandfather’s books in the basement of the botanica?” Abuela sneers, “Well, there you go,” and Anita nods in understanding. Del asks, “What books?” so Anita describes what a book is. Del howls, “I know what a book is!” Anita shrugs and says, “Then pay attention to something other than boys and food. Josh has a girlfriend.” Del mutters something derogatory, but Anita snaps earnestly, “Do not fuck with Abby. That bitch will cut you.” Del snaps, “Are all your gringo friends criminals?” Anita replies, “I hang out with weird gringos, not criminal ones, like Peter.” Abuela cuts in nastily, “Remind me again how you met Peter?” Del turns crimson and storms out of the room to slam her door. Anita sighs but Abuela grumbles about Del being the stupid one. Anita replies, “She’s not stupid, she’s just seventeen.” Abuela glares at her and snaps, “Go to your room!”
Josh returns home at 11:30 and finds William asleep on the couch. He puts the rum cake in the fridge, turns off the TV, and tucks William in. He then heads upstairs, and William opens his eyes; he was feigning sleep and could smell the rum on his grandson the moment he walked into the door! William slips out of bed and checks the fridge to find the rum cake; he slices off a tiny sliver and finds it good, just very potent. He hobbles back to the sofa. Upstairs, oblivious to his grandfather’s shenanigans, Josh reads a text from Abby, “Possible basilisk on the microwave; will keep you posted.” He texts back, “If there is a basilisk, you’ve got this!” They text back and forth for a few minutes, until Leta crudely yells, “Are you sexting Josh?” Abby snaps, “It was a kissy face emoji!” Leta retorts, “That’s sexting from you.”
At 3:10 AM, something comes flying through the bay window of the Troy household! William instinctively rolls to the floor as a body sprawls along his couch, feet in the air and head in his crotch. He registers a bloody mess of a young Asian woman, and crawls away from the sofa. The noise wakes Josh and he looks outside to see a small figure calmly approaching the house. He screams, “There’s someone outside!” as he barrels out of his room and races downstairs! William crawls to an angle where he can see outside and looks; he sees a small, female figure calmly approaching. Josh runs into the living room and sees the woman; he immediately recognizes her as Angie Nakamura! He grabs her shoulders and drags her inside just as the figure hops up into the bay window. There is a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning, and the Troys see a small woman illuminated clearly; she’s wearing combat boots, ripped jeans, a spiked leather jacket, and has pale skin, blue hair, and facial piercings. She opens her mouth, and the Troys clearly see the extended fangs of a vampire!