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With evening on its way and the sky turning gold, Julieta packed up what leftovers she had and made her way back home. Children were still running about, trying to get in those last few minutes of play before they were called in for the night. She could spot her own children just outside Casita, Mirabel shrieking with giggly laughter as her big sister rained pretty flowers over her head.
Julieta had barely put away the food when she heard her mother call her name.
Wiping her hands on her apron, she called back, “Coming, mama,” and headed over.
Spotting her mother standing with the Marin’s, Julieta put on a smile. “Is everything alright?”
Their daughter, a quiet six-year-old girl named Ana, hid ever so slightly behind her mother, staring up at Julieta with large brown eyes. She looked guilty, and Julieta wondered if she had hurt herself doing something wrong.
Her parents, Estela and Julio, had tight smiles as they greeted Julieta.
“Everything’s alright, for the most part,” Estela said. “Sorry for coming over so late, it’s just… we wanted to ask you in private instead of the whole town.
With a polite nod, Alma excused herself, “I’ll let you talk then.”
“It’s our daughter,” Julio said after a beat of silence, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re not sure if you can cure this sort of thing, but we don’t know what else to do.”
Already a knot was starting to form in Julieta’s stomach. This wasn’t the first time she’s had a conversation start out like this, parents concerned for their child… and she never liked where it led to.
Still, Julieta kept on her patient smile. “It depends, really. What’s wrong?”
Estela glanced down at her daughter, who had now started to look around Casita in fascination, that earlier anxious look gone. She fiddled with a bow on her dress, slightly rocking on her feet.
“Ana was fine when she was a toddler, always a little bit shy, but the older she gets, the more we notice she’s a little off compared to the other children,” Estela smiled sadly. “She doesn’t talk much and doesn’t always play well with others. There’s other things too, she’s very fidgety and spacey.” At that last comment, she patted the top of Ana’s head.
Instantly the girl stopped rocking and straightened up, eyes falling to the ground as she ran her hand over the top of her head as if wiping off the touch.
The pit in Julieta’s stomach only got worse.
Julio sighed. “Her brothers and older sister weren’t like this at her age.”
Crouching down, Julieta put herself at Ana’s level. “Hi, sweetie, how are you feeling?”
Ana glanced at her before looking off to the side, shrugging and starting tugging on her dress again.
“Ana, don’t be rude,” Estela chided, “look her in the eyes and answer her, please.”
Frowning, Ana looked up to meet Julieta’s eyes, squirming uncomfortably. “I feel fine,” she mumbled, picking at her clothes.
“Is your dress uncomfortable?”
Ana nodded.
Again, Julio sighed. “Estela is always having to fight her over her clothes. She wants to wear the same dress every day.”
With a nod, Julieta stood back up. “One moment please.” Poking her head out the front door, Julieta called out for her children. “Isabela, can you come here for a moment?”
She smiled a little as Mirabel was right on her sister’s heels. It had been hard the first few months when her youngest didn’t get a gift, but she seemed to be adjusting.
“Can you show Ana those really pretty flowers you made the other day?” Julieta asked. “I just want to talk to her parents for a moment.”
There was that curious look in Isabela’s eyes, likely realizing there was something more going on. She was ever the obedient child, though, smiling down at Ana. “Do you like flowers?”
Ana slowly nodded.
“C’mon, I’ll show you how to make a flower crown..”
Isabela led the young girl back outside, Mirabel following them and rattling off about how good she was now at making flower crowns.
“Does Ana have any medical issues?” Julieta asked after the children were out of earshot.
Estela shook her head. “Not that we know of, but we know sometimes when children are… peculiar like Ana, that means there’s something going wrong inside her head. We just don’t want her to get picked on.”
This wasn’t the first time. It wasn’t even the third or fifth time parents have talked to her about this. Every time, Julieta had to bite her tongue and keep her anger in check.
“There’s nothing I can do about this,” she held up her hand as Julio opened his mouth, “because there is nothing for me to fix.”
“Are you sure? Have you tried?”
Only once. When Julieta was younger and understood very little about the world around her, she had been asked to cure someone’s energetic son. He was too disruptive, too loud, and got very angry when things changed. She didn’t really understand what the parents were asking her to fix. Sure, he was a lot in class, but he always made Julietta smile. He was so goofy and funny. That led him to getting in trouble a lot though. The parents had said it was something inside his head, a brain sickness.
Whenever Julieta “cured” him, it only seemed to help him calm down and focus for a while. For a long while, Julieta gave him food every single day. Then, he started refusing. Nowadays, as an adult, he was doing perfectly fine. He went through a rebellious phase, got into fights, but had mellowed out. It was nice to see that goofy personality she liked as a kid.
Julieta had asked him what changed. He shrugged, not too sure of himself.
“I was always so… bored and restless. I was angry because no one seemed to understand me. Things didn’t get better until the carpenter took me under his wing. He actually listened to me, gave me a job where I didn’t have to sit down and be quiet. We joked, played pranks on each other, and we sang loudly in the workshop… it was like I didn’t have to restrain myself anymore. I found better outlets for my energy and emotions. It’s still hard some days, but I’m doing alright.”
That’s when Julieta decided she wouldn’t be trying to cure kids like him again. Not the loud ones, not the quiet ones, not the odd and quirky. Sometimes she offered to use her food to help manage symptoms, but firmly told the parents that they’d have to be the ones to help their child flourish. She could not and would not try to change the way their minds worked. There was nothing to fix. They were perfectly healthy children, and it was up to the parents to make sure they stayed that way and were happy.
“My gift heals people, and your daughter has nothing for me to fix,” Julieta stated firmly, standing up straighter.
Estela frowned. “So, you’re saying there’s nothing wrong with her?”
“There’s only something wrong with her if that’s how you view it,” Julieta said simply. “Ana is a healthy young girl. That is such a good thing, a blessing. However, trying to make her be like the other children is only going to make her worse. I’ve noticed with young girls like her… they can grow up to be so downcast and anxious. She’ll need a little extra patience, a little more understanding. She needs your unconditional love. Ana can’t help it that her dress is so uncomfortable against her skin, that she doesn’t like meeting people’s eyes. She fidgets because she needs to, because it might bring her comfort.”
Julio and Estela were silent, looking rather troubled.
With a sigh, Julieta softened her voice a little. “I know it can be scary to have your child be different, not knowing what you’re supposed to do or how to help. I can help connect you with some other families who’ve had children like Ana. She’s going to be just fine.”
At that moment, Ana came back in with a flower crown on her head. She skipped up to her mother, gesturing to her mother to lean down.
“She made you a crown too!” Mirabel said, running in with Isabela close behind, clearly having taken her eyes off of them for a second too long.
Estela crouched down, letting Ana place the simple daisy chain flower crown on top of her head.
Ana looked so happy with herself before running back over to play with Mirabel as Isabela shooed them back outside.
For a moment, Estela stayed where she was, watching as her daughter ran off. Her hand came up to gently touch the crown. Standing up, she was clearly holding back tears. “I just want her to be happy.”
“She’ll be fine,” Julieta assured.
Julio still didn’t look all that happy. “Well, thank you for your time,” he said curtly. “We’ll be heading out now.”
Without waiting for another word, Julio left, calling out for Ana as he did so.
Estela hesitated.
“I think… I think we need some time to talk things over,” she said. “Thank you for hearing us out.” She sounded more sincere than her husband, offering Julieta a smile. “Reaching out to those other families sounds like a good idea, but it can wait.”
Julieta nodded politely. “Any time, take care.”
With that, the Marin’s left.
Once in the kitchen, Julieta felt herself droop, leaning against the counter with a sigh.
“Everything alright, love?” Agustin asked, rubbing her shoulder. “Long day?”
Julieta nodded, though part of her heart still ached for the young girl. “Another family wanted me to fix their child.”
That’s all she needed to say for Agustin to understand. It didn’t happen very often, but it didn’t make it much easier.
“Ah… how bad were they?”
He was referring to the parents.
“The mom will likely come around the quickest, but the father will need a little more time.” With a final sigh, she let that tension go. “But, I think the child will be perfectly fine.”
Julieta would keep an eye out to make sure. Every child deserved to grow up happy and loved, no matter how different they were.