Valentina's Little Flower

“Calendula” her mother called from the kitchen, “last day of school my little flower, come have breakfast with Pappi and me”. Cal, as her friends called her, thinking to herself, I sure don’t feel little or like a flower, schlepped down the hall, also thinking but I’m glad school is over for this year.

It had been a rough couple of years for the Lopez family. The shooting death of her older brother, Lonzo, age 19, being the worst. Found dead in his car behind the restaurant, where he worked in Fort Davis, Texas. Just another unexplained homicide, said the police. Zero evidence and no clues, they just didn’t have anything to go on, especially since Lonzo had never been a problem nor had any problems in this small community. He graduated at the top of his high school class, and played baseball for a local club, hoping to be scouted by a major league team. Lonzo was well liked, and had no time for trouble, he slept, he worked, he played ball, he barely had time for his family or Nancy, his girlfriend.

No sooner had Lonzo been buried, then Calendula’s father, her dear Pappi, suffered a heart attack at his job at the Fort Davis Landscape Center. His recovery would take several months, and was complicated by his COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Too many years of smoking unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes, and breathing everything from loam to cement dust at work, and never saying no to an extra burrito, made it difficult for him to suddenly just quit smoking and eating. His biggest problem was he couldn’t work, and he missed that more than smoking or eating. Some men are driven by an almost genetic compulsion to continue the example set by previous generations, and Pappi fit that mold. He wanted to move, because the doctors told him to exercise, but sometimes he could barely go 10 feet before he had to sit to catch his breath. He was the purest form of frustration, but he had Cal and her mom, Valentina, to keep him going.

Valentina, was the rock of this family, always smiling and stronger than strong. Rather than wallow in the depression of her only son’s senseless murder, she focused on her husband’s recovery. Valentina was a stay-at-home mom, and rose each day to make her home beautiful and welcoming to not only her family, but all who entered. She made pottery, painted on walls as well as canvas, and had endless energy when it came to brightening the house. Her talents extended to the outside, too, her ever changing garden was worthy of a page or two in Better Homes and Gardens, or the Green Thumb Journal. She didn’t think herself amazing in any way, she loved her family and that was reason enough to get out of bed every single day. Valentina was the 8th child of 17 from a small Mexican town, close to the United States border. When she was younger, crossing back and forth was not only easy, but necessary, as her pay check from a small landscaping company, kept food on the table for her siblings. Valentina had never gone to school, but was smart and a quick learner, and she fascinated a younger, American born co-worker, nicknamed Pappi, so much so, that he asked her out and then to marry him.

They moved to Fort Davis and started a family, Lonzo was born in December of that first year and in April, two years later, little Calendula, the flower, came to earth. Life was slow and good, and Pappi earned enough to keep Valentina home to care for children and hearth. The children grew, played, went to school, excelling in scholastics as well as sports. Unlike many, when misfortune strikes, Valentina downshifted and sped up a plan, that would help everyone in the family. The plan required a move to Pappi’s younger brother’s home in San Diego, California. This information had not yet been broken to Cal or Pappi, Valentina would ruminate on the process of telling them, while making the color scheme of her garden seem more like the current season of summer.

Domingo was Pappi’s younger brother and owned a successful carpeting business in San Diego. Dom, as the family called him, had left home early, went to San Diego State University and graduated with degrees, one in Chemistry and the other, Business Management. Two weeks out of college Dom fell in love with Mary Wilcox, they dated for six months and were married in the fall of 1979. Mary’s dad owned a chain of carpet stores, and as a wedding gift, gave one of the stores to them as a wedding gift. Located next to a new housing complex, business flourished and Dom was able to build a beautiful home, with plenty of rooms and space. When Dom heard of his brother’s illness he called Valentina, knowing Pappi would not want to be a burden to anyone. He offered complete use of his home and property for his brother’s recovery and Valentina said she would figure out how to get Pappi to agree to the move.

The opportunity to float the idea of a move to California came two days later. Just after breakfast, Valentina set up a newly cushioned chair under Pappi’s favorite shady cottonwood tree. He loved being outdoors, telling Valentina that he could breathe better. Truth was, he loved being around his wife, she still amazed him with her tireless care for everything and everyone. She was his goddess and he never failed to let her know it, grabbing her and holding her and kissing her, while she pretended to be mad and struggled to break free, but not too much. Cal would roll her eyes and say “get a room you two”, but inside, her heart registered deep approval. Valentina had set out some breakfast muffins, and a hot pot of coffee, and a bowl with a banana, orange and a peach in it. This last bowl was the only one within reach for Pappi, and she was laughing as Pappi pretended to cry for a muffin, when a police car pulled into their driveway. It was officer Schmidt, and he had news, regarding Lonzo’s murder. A young man had been taken into custody, and confessed to shooting Lonzo, but took no credit for other unsolved homicides. The confession indicated that he had been a former boyfriend of Lonzo’s girlfriend, Nancy, and was his intended target that night, but she was not there when Lonzo got out of work at the restaurant. He shot Lonzo, thinking that in her sadness, Nancy, would come back to him. That didn’t happen and he spent most of the time drinking and feeling sorry for himself. Two nights ago, he made the mistake of driving while very intoxicated and got pulled over by police. A gun was found tucked into his pants and, after testing, was found to be the weapon that killed Lonzo. Officer Schmidt, forced to take a cup of coffee, took a sip and explained that first degree murder charges would bring the death penalty into this case. He was pleasant and seemed pleased to be able to bring some closure to the Lopez family. He left, thanking Valentina for her hospitality and leaving the family to internalize what they had just learned. After some quiet moments of reflection, Valentina revealed the phone call from Domingo, and his wish to have them all come to live with him in San Diego, until Pappi could recover. The idea needed time to sink in, and the pros and cons would need to be discussed, but Valentina felt the timing was good, and returned to dressing up the front garden.

Cal needed the most time to consider a move to California. She did not have a boyfriend, but she did have many friends, and had made summer plans with them. What weighed most heavily on her, was this move forever or would they return to Fort Davis when her dad was in better health?

Pappi, as expected, did not want to impose his illness on anybody, especially family; though seeing his brother, after many years, actually appealed to him.

Valentina, thinking of her husband first, above all else, was all in for a trip to California. She reasoned that the ocean and the year-round balmy temperatures would be good for all of them. To assuage Cal’s question of whether they would return, or not, Valentina suggested that they rent their house and play by ear when they would return, or not.

By dinner time, they were all in agreement to go to California, Valentina bringing Pappi the telephone for dessert, so he could call Dom and let him know they would come. He’d let Valentina get back with the schedule at another time

Two weeks later they pulled into Domingo’s yard, with a U-Haul full of only what they couldn’t live without, mostly clothes, mostly Calendula’s. Dom’s wife, Mary, was happy to see them all and eager to show and share their beautiful property. Pappi, Valentina and Cal would have there very own house, separated by a huge yard. There was a pool, and plenty of shade for Pappi to enjoy the California weather and Valentina could already see herself adding to and perfecting the gardens.

Mary taught Cal how to navigate the San Diego area, showed her the school where Cal would graduate next school year. They became really good friends. “What a beautiful name Calendula is” Mary said, and Cal said it was her mother’s choice for her and that in Spanish meant “a marigold flower”.

Pappi got stronger each day, enough so, that he could help Valentina do some gardening at what was becoming the most beautiful piece of living art on their street. Perfect strangers came to take photographs of the yard, and surrounding landscape. Pappi joked, “we should sell lemonade”, which gave Valentina the idea of planting a few lemon trees, in an area she felt needed something to make it stand out better. Valentina’s work was discovered by the Baggett Construction Company, who were building the homes that had kept Dom’s carpet business thriving. They asked if Valentina would be willing to landscape all four entrances of their housing complex with flowers. She said yes, because it gave her good quality time with her Pappi, and more money in a few weeks than she had ever dared to dream she could make; especially doing what she loved. The entrances were spectacular, literally carpeted, with marigolds, and showing a large letter B, covered with gardenias, roses and carnations, with soft yellow lights to shine at night.

Pappi’s heart got stronger and his COPD, with the help of drugs, improved so he could return to work in Texas, if he wanted. Cal started her senior year and voiced her desire to finish there, in California. Valentina had been hired by David Attenborough, the famous actor and director, to teach groups of women how to weave marigolds into large blankets and carpets. He would take these women with him to India, where he was filming the movie Gandhi. The groups job was to cover the vehicle for Gandhi’s funeral procession, lavishly, with mostly marigolds of colors from orange to yellow. Valentina would be paid $500.00 a month for twenty years, double that if the movie was successful. The family agreed, that when Valentina’s job was complete and Cal had graduated, that they would return home to Fort Davis, Texas. They returned home in July of 1982, there, once again, life was slow and good.