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“Phoebis Philea!”
“Weird. That is a freaky name.”
Mirabel placed her book on the bed, leaving open to the page with the caterpillars and butterflies in question. The 4-year-old joined her cousin on the windowsill, holding her palms out for him to hand over the two small insects. “It’s not their names! That’s just their species name. No one calls you Homo Sapien Madrigal,” she giggled.
He smiled, handing one of the caterpillars to her delicately. He was always a rambunctious child, running in all directions the second he could walk. However, it was also well known how gentle and caring the boy was. “That’s because I’m not a Homosaiyan or whatever. I’m Colombian.”
Mirabel let the small caterpillar crawl up her arm the heart shaped black spot on its back matched its partner that they found, “That’s the species name for humans, Camilo!”
“Whatever, you think they’re hungry?” He laughed at the tickling from the legs of the tiny creature. “What do they even eat?”
“I guess leaves and stuff. Oh! I bet Isa can help!”
“No! She’ll tell Tía and Mamá and they’ll make us get rid of them. I know! We can put them in a jar and go find some food for them!”
“That’s a great idea!”
The two toddlers swiped a jar from the kitchen with the help of Casita to be extra discreet. After grabbing a bagful of leaves in Mirabel’s bag, they crowded around the windowsill, watching the two little caterpillars munch away on the twigs in the jar.
“They’re so cute,” Mirabel cooed. She gasped and grabbed Camilo’s hand, “Cami! We should name them!”
“Mariposa Uno and Mariposa Dos.”
“…No way. How about we name them after us? Mirabelo and Camila,” she suggested.
“That’s lame. Besides, we don’t even know if they’re boys or girls,” he snarked with a grin, tapping on the glass lightly while they ate their fill.
“Hmm… I got it!”
“What are you two up to?” A voice echoed from the open doorway. There stood Tío Bruno, a sight that was rarely seen around Casita. He held a cup of coffee and a suspicious expression while he stared at the two energetic children.
“Nothing!” They both shouted in unison. Bruno raised an eyebrow and leaned back to see around their backs where they stood flush against each other’s side.
Camilo immediately broke.
“They were just crawling on the windowsill and we thought they were cool so we’re feeding them and being their parents! We just wanna take care of the caterpillars, please don’t tell Mami!” he shouted out quickly.
With a small chuckle under his breath, Bruno left with a quiet, “Have fun.”
Camilo waited a bit before tiptoeing to the door and closing it quietly. “That was so close!”
Mirabel rolled her eyes, not acknowledging that he was the first to spill the beans. “So about those names…”
“It’s happening!”
Camilo dragged Mirabel out of the bathroom the second she stepped out, not minding the toilet paper that was stuck to her shoe.
“Hey, what’s-”
“Shhh! We gotta hurry before they try to drag us away!” he whisper shouted while the pair jogged up the stairs. Casita was full of people for Camilo’s gift ceremony, but there was no way he was going to let anyone make him miss this special moment.
“Drag us away from… Oh,” she whispered as he led her to the nursery. Her face lit up as she saw the two cocoons starting to break open. “Oh! Oh, wow! Look, Cami!”
“I know! Isn’t it awesome!” he shouted now that they were in the comfort of their room. Half was already boxed up for his new room, but his babies were more important right now. The two toddlers held hands as the cocoons continued to open to reveal the gorgeous yellow wings. And, as if they were marked for life, the small black hearts on their wings glowed in the moonlight. Both butterflies took their first flight, exiting the jar and flying upwards out the window. Camilo’s face immediately fell.
Mirabel saw this and smiled, “I think we did pretty good for us being parents for the first time.”
“They didn’t even say goodbye.”
She looked up and saw the two yellow butterflies still dancing and flying around one another. “We helped them grow so they could fly… I think that’s good enough,” she said, squeezing his hand. He looked up at her, his glassy eyes starting to clear up. With a silent nod, they both looked up to watch the small lives that they impacted so heavily.
Somehow, it did feel like enough.
“Camilo!”
“Mirabel!”
With a quick flash of eye contact, they ran towards the door to reply to their mothers, “Coming!”
“Come on, Mira. I promise it’s not a prank!” Camilo shouted, taking her through the woods of their Encanto. Casita was still half built, but he saw something earlier that day that he couldn’t wait to show her. The family was piled in the church for the time being, but the two 15-year-olds who were finally starting to rekindle their relationship were absent.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Trust me!”
“Last time you said that, I broke my arm,” she deadpanned, highly contrasting her running feet and slight smile.
“That was different.”
“How?!”
“I dunno, I just need you to come on or we’ll miss it!”
After a few more minutes of running, the came to a small clearing that was bathed in moonlight. She nearly asked him what all of this was about before a giant warm of yellow butterflies swarmed around them. Mirabel gasped at the glowing yellow swarm, unconsciously stretching her hand out to see if one would land on her. However, her other hand was occupied quickly. She looked down at her and Camilo’s laced fingers, enjoying the warmth his calloused hands brought.
Camilo’s face was as red as it could get, burning with heat as Mirabel gave him eye contact while they stood amongst the small, yellow creatures.
This was it.
As he leaned down towards her, a butterfly landed on his nose, prompting Mirabel to giggle at the sight. But, her sharp gasp caught him off guard. “No way!”
“What?”
“Phoebe?” she asked as another butterfly landed on her shoulder. Camilo immediately recognized the heart shaped markings on its wings.
“Phil!” he shouted while Phoebe flew from his nose to his shoulder. “How in the hell-”
“You’re really going to question it, Señor Cambiaformas?” she taunted while squeezing his hands lightly. “Besides, I told you that we did a good job.”
He hummed in response, glancing down at the familiar friend on his shoulder, “I missed this.”
“I didn’t think you’d miss butterflies so much.”
“No,” he brought her hand up and gestured to it with a tilt of his head. “You… I missed being around you.”
Mirabel gave a warm smile, “I missed you, too Cami.” She leaned up to complete his task that their butterfly children had interrupted earlier.
Perhaps the magic wasn’t gone after all.