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Often, Pepa found herself loving being a triplet.
She had two best friends for life that would always have her back, so she was never alone. She always had someone to play with, and people also thought that she and her siblings were cool and rare for all having been born at the same time, so people always talked about them. And as someone that loved attention, it suited her really well, and always had. What more was there to love?
Constant attention and two friends for life, as well as some celebrity status in the village, along with some magical gifts. She was always the center of attention because of that, which was good. Pepa might only be nine years old, but she already knew she loved the attention. And whenever she might have been alone otherwise, she got two people there to keep her company and feel better.
Being a triplet suited Pepa, and she truly loved her siblings, both of them. She wouldn’t want to be an only child, ever, because she loved Julieta and Bruno. She truly did.
Even if she often had to remind herself that she did. Especially Bruno, who could be so utterly annoying and stupid from time to time. Like today, when Pepa thought she was going to be annoyed to death. Often she couldn’t take him seriously, and today was one of those instances as she wished that he would just grow up.
What had happened?
One of Bruno’s pet rats had died.
Pepa had always hated his rats. They looked so weird, they had the scariest eyes and the scariest little toes, and she always got creeped out when she saw the rats run around beside him, so quickly, with their disgusting little tails swishing back and forth. Pepa hated rats, and sometimes even got disgusted when she saw Bruno play with them and snuggle with them. Why he liked the rats, she had no idea, but he had several of them as pets.
When this had begun, everyone had been against the rats, especially mamá, but after seeing how happy they made him, she had caved in. So had Julieta. But Pepa never had, because she never got how someone could find such disgusting creatures to be cute and friendly. Pepa felt like she had to vomit on the daily when she saw one of the rats walk around in their home, but even the Casita seemed to like them, which was just her luck. Rats were disgusting.
She was sure that Bruno had at least ten of them, all with different names. And somehow he could tell them all apart, and Pepa had no idea how because they all looked the same. If there were ten of them, that was ten rats too many because they always gave her the creeps. And she secretly hoped that he would grow out of liking rats, which sadly didn’t seem to be the cause.
So, she had hoped they would die off quickly.
But now when the first of the rats had died, she truly regretted it.
Because Bruno had not stopped crying for the past four hours.
He had found his pet lying dead, and he had gone into a full meltdown, crying and crying and crying. He never stopped, and Pepa thought that her ears were bleeding from all of the high pitched crying. She had never wanted a sound to stop more than she wanted this one to do just that. Bruno crying was the most annoying thing she had ever heard.
She didn’t know how he could be so attached to a stupid little animal that wasn’t even cute.
Then, she wished the crying had been the end of it. But this was Bruno they were talking about, little theater nerd Bruno with so many emotions, so of course it hadn’t been the ending.
Of course there had to be a funeral as well. Of course. There was no getting out of that one.
He was still crying for hours, and as the tears had finally ran out, he looked so sad and hollow as he kept holding the rat in his arms.
“We have to bury him.”
“No,” Pepa had said. “Just throw it in the trash. Don’t be stupid.”
Julieta had hit her in the head. Hard. And Pepa had never hated her more. Stupid Julieta playing the stupid big sister card, even if she was only six minutes older than her. All to defend their little “baby brother” who was only five minutes younger than Pepa.
“Hey, let him be. He’s sad. We’re having the funeral.”
And so, Pepa had been trapped into attending a rat funeral.
A big, elaborate rat funeral.
Because Bruno just had to go all out with this.
First they all had to dress in black. He cried as he told them how important it was, and reluctantly, Pepa went and got changed. She hated black clothes.
Then they had to go and get an old box that had once been filled with cookies, making it into a coffin with a tiny blanket to lay the body on.
“We can’t bury him without a coffin, that’s just rude,” Bruno had said, and Julieta had patted his shoulder for comfort. Pepa just thought it was stupid, but she couldn’t get out of it.
So, they prepare the coffin. Thankfully Pepa didn’t have to be the one to put the body in it. She would have needed to wash her hands for hours to feel clean again if she did.
“Now we have to dig a grave.”
Pepa hated getting dirty.
“This is stupid.”
Julieta hits her again.
Right now she wanted to be an only child.
They dig the grave in the garden. It’s hard, annoying work, but she does it to give herself some peace. When this was over, Bruno would finally leave her alone. She just had to get this over with, and then she could go to her room and ignore him for the rest of the day.
As the coffin was in the ground, it’s time to put the dirt back. This was way too much work for a rat. And when the grave is closed, he also forces them to light candles to mourn the rat.
But now it is finally over.
Or so, she thought. But no, it wasn’t enough. Because of course it wasn’t. This was Bruno they were talking about.
“And now we’re going to sing.”
“Oh no we’re not.”
Even Pepa had her limits. She would do a lot for her brother, but she would not sing.