HERO

ONCE HIS SUIT WAS ON and Margarita helped fashion Jack's bowtie, Jack and Margarita took to the elevator and descended to the lobby where they received the interested looks of the desk attendants and exited out to the wind and rain.

"It's a strange summer," Margarita said as the car approached them on the sidewalk. Gabriel was driving sure enough and Juan stepped out of the back seat to let Jack into the middle between Juan and Raúl again. This time Raúl held his gun casually by his side, pointed upward against the tinted window. A message sure enough for Jack not to try anything that would upset them both.

Before Raúl and Juan could begin to whistle and drum this time, Margarita decided to play music that shook the car. Enrique Iglesias. Everyone engaged in a unanimous head rock to the beat. Everyone except Gabriel the driver. He remained stoically still as he slugged the car through morning traffic.

"Want to listen to anything in particular, Gabriel?" shouted Margarita over the music. The driver Gabriel merely shook his head. He had a permanent frown on his face. Despite the gun in Raúl's hand and the way Jack felt like a sardine between the two bodies beside him, Jack felt calmer than the last ride thanks to the music's occupation of his senses. Margarita peeped at him through the mirror as though she could read his mind. That's the point, her eyes said. We need you relaxed so you can eat your breakfast.

The car ride lasted 30 minutes. Traffic this early in the morning still was horrible. Jack could not wait for the future of more efficient transportation.

Finally they arrived at a restaurant with a green sunroof that read in old century font, 'Restaurante El Cardenal.' In truth Jack was starving.

Margarita turned off her music but looked at Gabriel and turned the station to classical. Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat played. She smiled at the driver and Gabriel's face seemed to relax. Jack could tell he was grateful.

Juan stepped out and held the door open for Jack to exit. But this time Raúl did not follow. Juan stepped back into the car and shut the door. The car drove away with Gabriel, Raúl and Juan inside.

"Glad it's just us for a change," mentioned Margarita, taking Jack's arm.

"A pleasant surprise," Jack thought. Jack noticed the sign at the front entrance read Closed. Margarita threw Jack a smile and she signaled him to take her around the building to the side entrance.

"No one's here," said Jack, raising an eyebrow.

Margarita knocked on the side entrance door and a chef wearing an apron appeared. Without saying a word he nodded to them and let them pass before he locked the door behind them. The hall was lit only by the kitchen and as they walked passed the kitchen light faded away. Jack had only the rhythm of Margarita's heels to lead him.

Just then they heard a voice in the dark. "Let me lead you to your table." Down the hall a dark orange light began to illuminate a man holding a towel on one arm and a tray in another. He led them to an opening and finally they reached the main dining room. All the surrounding tables were yet to be set and chairs were flipped on top from closing time the night before.

In the center was a young distinguished man in gold tie and three piece suit. He was drinking a glass of water appropriate for the morning and was sitting at a table set for four. The two chairs on either side of him were empty. However a very large brown coat with elegant brown leather patches at the elbows occupied the chair across from him. Upon seeing Margarita and Jack whom he immediately assumed to be her gregariously dressed husband arrive, he lit a smile and stood to his feet.

"Margarita," he said, trading kisses on both cheeks before examining her dress. "Stunning, absolutely stunning." Jack immediately gained the impression that this man was well-mannered, intelligent and honest. And gay. The type of gay that represented tolerance and progressivism in an age of conservative dominance. A leader of youth and a fighter against far right backwardness and organized religion. "And you must be Mr. Kubrick." He held out a hand to Jack.

Jack organized his thoughts while he smiled and shook this likable fella's hand. Okay. So his real name is Jack but to Margarita he's pretending to be Pat and to whoever this man whose hand was gripping his hand far too strongly he was pretending to be Mr. Kubrick. He wondered what his first name was supposed to be.

"He likes to be called Patrick," Margarita chimed in on Jack's behalf. While Jack thought it conspicuous that Margarita would speak for her husband on the subject of his preferred title, the man shaking his hand far too strongly was unfazed by her explanation. The man likely assumed Margarita as an independent woman of the fashion world wore the pants in the family.

However Jack thought he'd just add that, "You can call me Pat."

The man smiled with interest and gave Margarita a look of approval upon thoroughly reviewing Jack's face. "You do like them young, don't you, Margarita?" he said.

Margarita slapped him playfully. "Stahp."

The man laughed and finally released Jack's hand. Which was now sweaty and red.

They went to take their seats and Jack pulled out Margarita's chair for her. She smiled with delighted surprise.

"Such a gentleman," the man said to Margarita as though Jack were just a piece of meat without ears. "You've never been so good at picking out men before. What changed?"

As though the man just hit her in the face with a frying pan, she retaliated against his mention of her personal romantic history and said, "So how's your wife, Arturo? You pleasing her?"

Immediately the man, Arturo, lost his smile and he looked over at Jack so as to check if he looked as embarrassed as he felt. He took a long drink of his water glass until it emptied. He chewed on an ice cube and he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Señora Anthony and I are swell. We're just swell. Thank you for asking."

The three of them sat in silence and Jack merely glanced at the empty chair beside them.

The waiter came around and asked if they would like any beverages. The man Arturo Anthony ordered a coffee and Margarita ordered a margarita, virgin, but then changed her mind and asked instead for a margarita, alcoholic. The waiter hesitated but jotted down the morning drink on his pad anyway.

"For you, sir?" he said to Jack. Jack merely ordered water. Simple.

But Margarita refused such a measly order. Role-playing she said to the waiter with a passing glass at Jack to chide he play along, "Oh he's just being shy. What he really wants is some hot cocoa with marshmallows."

The waiter laughed lightly and turned to Jack to clarify his wife's honesty. "You want the evening hot cocoa with marshmallows for breakfast, sir?"

Jack shook his head and shot a playful glance at the ridiculous Margarita. "No, she's joking--"

"Yes!" she insisted. "Believe me! He wants the morning hot cocoa with marshmallows and if he doesn't get it he'll be grumpy the whole day and I'll be the one to never hear the end of it!"

What an actress. Jack smiled at her over-the-top rudeness with shocked amusement.

"So the hot cocoa with marshmallows for breakfast, sir?" said the waiter to Jack hoping to clarify before he served him the kid's menu.

Jack was about to negate Margarita's claim once more but then the man Arturo Anthony chimed in as well, utterly flabbergasted: "Hot cocoa with marshmallows for breakfast!" he exclaimed, evidently in the spirit of his dear friend Margarita's company. "I've never heard of such a damn thing! I think I'll have one as well."

Jack could do nothing but laugh in amazement. He had no control over his own diet today. "Alright I'll get the hot cocoa with marshmallows."

"So you admit it!" claimed Margarita, jumping to her feet and pointing down at her husband as if finally exposing him for his prepubescent taste buds. "Aha! You love hot cocoa with marshmallows for breakfast!"

The waiter was laughing heartily at Jack and scribbled down hot cocoa with marshmallows for both him and Arturo Anthony.

"Is that what gets you up in the morning?" asked Arturo Anthony. The joke had gone on long enough and the waiter started to leave. "I'll be back with your drinks and Mr. Cortez's plate of pulpitos before I return to take your orders."

He left and Margarita shouted, "Extra marshmallows for this one," pointing at Jack. "He can't stand to have the lesser amount of marshmallows at the table. He's very competitive."

The waiter broke out laughing hideously at Jack's expense and disappeared into the dark hall to the kitchen.

Margarita turned back around with a smiling grimace that was both incredibly playful and pleasantly triumphant.

Jack merely shook his head at her with a giant smile. She sure knew how to clear the air. "You are all terrible people."

Arturo Anthony laughed and slapped Jack on the back.

Margarita winked at Jack. The winner needed no words.

Jack unable to break his smile continued, "Why did I agree to marry such a fashionable monster."

Arturo Anthony laughed again and choked on another ice cube. He expected a retaliation from Margarita but instead found a calm and confident smile locked on her face.

"Because," Margarita said simply, rolling her shoulders and leaning forward, "I expose you to the world. And in that way I set you free."