The assignment for Day 6 was to indicate personlity through a short scene between characters. I did so (a booger in colloguial Spanish is known as a “moco.” important info to know, going into the short scene, below):
* * *
“Auntie,” Rosita said and climbed on Ali’s lap. “How come you don’t have a boyfriend?”
“Well, honey, you are all I need.”
Rosita curled her nose and shook her a head a bit, “Come on, Auntie,” she said and caressed Ali’s face. “Be serious. How come you don’t have a boyfriend?”
“Do you really wanna know, hita?”
“Yes, Auntie, tell me!”
“Well, I had a boyfriend once when I was just a little older than you, but things with him just didn’t work out.”
“How come, Auntie? What was he like, what was his name?”
“His name was Jimmy, but everyone called him, ‘Mocs.’”
“Mocs?”
“Yuppers. Mocs. Short for El Moco.”
“Auntie, be for real because that’s just gross.”
“I’m telling you, hita, he was the fastest kid in school and had a green booger that always peeked out of his left nostril. I thought it was gross, but he always made our class win in football because he was so much faster than everyone. All we ever had to do to win was throw the ball to the moco and he’d score everytime. So, after a while we all just knew him as Mocs and that was that.”
“You’re not telling me the truth, Auntie.”
“I promise, Hita. I liked Jimmy. I mean, Mocs. He was sweet and in spite of his moco, he was really cute. And boy, he was smart. He and I were boyfriend/girlfriend all the way until eighth grade.”
“Did you get tired of that gross booger?”
“Nope. Actually, his mommy got sick of it and she took Jimmy to the doctor. Turns out, he had a bone that was out of place in his nose. It made it impossible for the Moco to ever go away. Jimmy would blow his nose, but the moco would always grow right back. The doctor knew how to fix out of place bones in noses and he fixed Jimmy’s nose and his booger went away for good.”
Rosita lept off of Ali’s lap. Her eyes grew big and she said, “That’s great, Auntie, did you fall more in love with him since he lost his moco?”
“Well, without his Moco, Jimmy lost his speed. He even lost the ability to do math, his spelling became atrocious and I just didn’t think he was cute anymore. I guess Jimmy was just an ordinary guy without his green booger and I never wanted to be with just an ordinary guy. I wanted someone special and so should you.”
“Ok, Auntie, I guess you just don’t want to tell me the truth. I’m going outside to play for a little while. Maybe I’ll grow a green booger and become special like Mocs,” as she spoke the word, special, Rosita made air quotes and rolled her eyes. She walked out the door shaking her head.
Ali smiled and said, “Be careful and don’t get too dirty, kiddo.”
* * *
So, there it is. I find that, more and more, when i write fiction that the characters can surprise me. I didn’t know Ali knew about Mocs. But it turns out that, not only did she know him, but she had a childhood crush on him. Good times….
