Conquistadora

Chapter 2

Flora Flores woke up to the sound of her cell-phone beeping, and looked at a message on her cell-phone. There was a text from Narcisa Navarro telling her when to be at a certain place at a certain time to get her transponder card. Flora jumped up and got dressed quickly.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" said Flora. "We have to get ready! We have to be at York Field in less than an hour to beat the crowds!"

Flora went to her grandparents' bedroom and knocked on the door. The door opened, and Flora's Grandmother Irene was already dressed.

"You know me, I wake up early! I just have to get your grandpa dressed!"

Flora went to check on her cousin Nick, who was already awake and working on a piece of electronic equipment.

"What are you doing up so early?" Flora asked.

"I never went to sleep! I'm working on a voice amplifier so people will be able to hear me when I'm shrunk. That is, if I do get shrunk."

"Maybe you have more Mexican ancestry than you know of," said Flora.

"No, I'm a quarter Mexican, I'm not three-quarters, like you!" said Nick. "There's no way around that! I'm just hoping there's some way to reason with Narcisa! To get her to let me have a full-size transponder card!"

"That's what I'm here to tell you about," said Flora. "Narcisa Navarro just texted me and she said to meet her at York Field in less than an hour if we want to beat the crowds!"

"I don't have a driver's license, so I'm gonna have to go with you guys!" said Nick. "I had to skip school today for this!"

Nick's Aunt Irene drove her van to the park, with Uncle Roland, Flora, and Nick riding along. She found a parking spot a couple of blocks away, and they had to walk to the park becuase there were no more parking spaces at the park parking lot. When they arrived at York Field, they could see about twenty versions of Narcisa sitting at portable tables, with lines of people in front of each of them. Each version of Narcisa was dressed in hot pink, with an ultra-short mini-skirt that left little to the imagination, a bare midriff and vest, and mid-calf pink boots. Aunt Irene and her family slid into the shortest line, and waited.

When they got close to the front, one of the versions of Narcisa waved Flora over to her line. Flora’s family followed her to that line.

"Hi, Flora!" said Narcisa. "I'm the only real one, the rest of them are just holograms."

"Holograms?" Flora asked.

"Yes, they are holographic force-fields that have my entire mind scanned and recorded on a microchip on their upper-left arm. They have all the memories that I have! The only thing real about any of them is that little device they have on their upper left arms. See, I don't have one! "

"What's going to happen when you're done and those holograms are not needed any more?" Nick asked.

"Then their newer memories will be re-assimilated back into my mind, and I will remember all of their experiences!"

Flora heard a voice calling her, and she looked back to see her best friend Rica with Sharky Suarez and his 18 year old younger sister Soledad.

"Hi, Rica, hi Soledad!" said Flora.

The three of them approached Flora.

"You don't mind if we cut in line, do you, Narcisa?" Sharky asked.

"I guess it's cool, since I know your sister from school," said Narcisa. "It really doesn't matter, because my holographic duplicates will do most of my work for me. The only thing that sucks is that when their memories are re-assimilated into my mind, I will remember all the hard work they did as if I did it myself!"

Summer's Moon Lopez showed up, and Soledad waved her over to their area.

"Just don't get carried away, people!" said Narcisa, as Summer's Moon arrived at Soledad's side. "This is the last person I let cut in the line!"

"Can you get in trouble for letting people cut?" Flora asked.

"The only thing I can get in trouble for is knowingly giving a full-size transponder card to someone who isn't really Mexican, because I felt sorry for them. Other than that, I can really do no wrong in the conquistadora's eyes! Flora, did you bring your documentation?"

"Yes, my dad is full blooded Mexican, and my mother is half-Mexican." Flora handed over her paperwork, and Narcisa analyzed it.

"It looks good, you get a full-size transponder card!" Narcisa tapped a button on the side of a small device in front of her, and a card popped up through a slot. Narcisa pulled the card out and handed it to Flora.

"You have to be wearing this at 9:00 pm on Friday night to avoid getting shrunk. So don't take a bath or a shower at that time, and don't go swimming or in a jacuzzi that night. Wear this at all times, and don't lose it, because it can't be replaced!"

Flora took the card and looked it over as if it were priceless. Her grandmother Irene was next in line.

"Hi, I'm Flora's grandmother, Irene Reyes! This is my husband Roland Reyes!" Irene handed over her paperwork for Narcisa to look over.

"So you're not Mexican, but your husband is 100 percent Mexican?" Narcisa asked.

"Yes," said Irene, "I'm Juaneno Indian on my father's side of the family, and I'm Pueblo and Apache on my mother's side. My husband is full-blooded Mexican, though. I brought his family genealogy chart to prove his ancestors arrived from Mexico on both his mother's and his father's side."

"As long as you produced children in this relationship, you should be okay."

"Yes," said Irene, "Flora is my daughter's only child, and I've been married to Roland since I was sixteen. You have his paperwork in your hands."

Narcisa hit the button on the device in front of her, and a card popped up; she took it and hit the button again, and took the second card that popped up. She then handed the cards to Irene.

"These are for you and your husband. Remember to follow the advice I gave to Flora; don't take these off your person at any time Friday night, especially at zero hour, 9:00 pm, got it?"

"I have a question, Narcisa!" said Irene.

"Shoot!" said Narcisa.

"These transponder cards don't have our names on them or any identifying information!"

"None of the cards do!" said Narcisa.

"So couldn't somebody just come and take one of these cards from someone and use it?"

"Yes," but making cards that uniquely identify people would've been too labor-intensive and problematic for the conquistadora! This method was quicker and easier!"

It was Nick's turn in line, as his Aunt Irene, Uncler Roland, and cousin Flora left the line with their transponder cards.

"Name?" Narcisa asked.

"Nick Vasquez! I'm Flora's cousin. Her mother is my cousin! I know I'm only a quarter Mexican, but can you cut me some slack because I live with Flora and my Aunt Irene?"

"No slack can be cut here, my friend," said Narcisa. "I'm sorry about that! But, since you're a quarter Mexican, I can give you a partial-size transponder card, so you only get shrunk down to one centimeter tall instead of ant size!" Narcisa hit a different button than the one she pushed to give Flora and Irene their cards. When the card popped up, she grabbed it and handed it to Nick. It was a different color than the ones Flora and Irene had gotten.

"Next!" said Narcisa, and Nick was forced to leave the line.

"I'm Summer's Moon Lopez! I don't have any paperwork, but I can prove I'm Mexican with my California ID, and the fact that I can speak Spanish fluently!"

Narcisa grabbed a device that looked like a blow-dryer and aimed it at Summer's Moon's head.

"Yes, it says you speak the Spanish language," said Narcisa. "I think you've offered me enough proof!" With that, Narcisa hit the button on the device that spits out the full-size transponder cards, and handed the card that popped up to Summer's Moon.

Nick was walking around dejectedly. His Aunt tried to console him. "Maybe there's still some other way for you to get a full-size transponder card, Nick!"

"I give up!" said Nick, and he walked away. Just as Nick walked through the crowd, he almost bumped into Summer's Moon as her friend Soledad ran up with her full-size transponder card.

"We did it!" said Soledad. "And she never found out you're full-blooded Native American?"

"No, she never suspected! When she found out I speak Spanish, she allowed me to have a card!"

"How did you learn Spanish, anyway?" Soledad asked.

"Two years of Spanish in high school! Luckily she didn't have a way to identify genuine native speakers from people who learned it in school!"

"Nick," Soledad asked, "did you get a full-size transponder card?"

"No, I didn't qualify! I'm getting shrunk down to a centimeter tall for being only a quarter Mexican!"

"You should've done what Summer's Moon did!" said Soledad. "She's not really Mexican, but she got a card!"

"But her last name is Lopez, how can she not be Mexican?" Nick asked.

"My ancestors were Native Americans who were given the surname Lopez by Spanish missionaries!" said Summer's Moon. "I tricked Narcisa into thinking I was Mexican because I know how to speak Spanish fluently!"

"But I don't speak Spanish, though!" said Nick. "I flunked Spanish in the 9th grade, so that plan wouldn't have worked on me!"

"You can always stay at my house whern you get shrunk, Nick!" said Soledad, as she licked her lips. "I'd take good care of you!"

"I'll keep you in mind!" said Nick, and the two of them smiled at each other briefly just before Nick turned and walked away.

By the time Nick got to the fence, there were groups of people weeping because they were refused transponder cards. There were white people, Asians, and black people. Nick's Aunt Irene approached his side just as they witnessed a rare event. An older Mexican man passed right by Nick with a full-size transponder card in his hand, and approached a younger white woman and gave her his card.

"You're young, you have a lot of life to live," said the old Mexican man. "I'm old, I've lived my life. You take this!"

"I can't believe this!" said Nick. "Did you see that, Aunt Irene? He walked right past me! He could've given that to me!"

"Maybe it wasn't God's plan for you to stay normal-sized," said Irene.

"That sounds good, but I can't imagine what I could accomplish for humanity when I'm one centimeter tall!"

Rica and Flora were standing nearby. "I don't know about serving humanity, but you could serve me!" said Rica. "Flora could bring you over to my house when you're shrunk and we could have a good old time!"

"It seems like more chicks are interested in me now that I'm going to get shrunk Friday night than the whole past year when I was normal-sized! What are we gonna do, Rica? Are you gonna set a table from a doll-house down while we go on a date? Am I gonna put on a wetsuit so we can make out?"

"Calm down," said Irene. "Maybe Flora and Rica know of someone who also has a female relative who is part Mexican, and she's getting shrunk down to the same size you are!"

"And then what?" Nick asked. "Get her pregnant? Start a whole race of centimeter tall people? I can hear the ads now! 'You've heard of Sea-Monkeys, well these things are real life human beings! No need to add water!' Next thing you know, people will be selling us on the black market!"

"You know," said Irene,"It's going to be a lot worse for those people who are getting shrunk down to ant-size! Who knows all that's going to happen to them? They're going to get stepped on and stomped on, and Rica was telling me she's looking forward to swallowing some of them at Sharky's party Friday night! So I think you should be grateful for the breaks God did give you, and quit whining about the things he didn't give you!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Aunt Irene! But I sure would like to be at that party Friday night!"

Nick and Rica smiled as they looked at each other, and Rica licked her lips.

Just then, a gunshot was heard, and a white man who looked like a cowboy in the Old West grabbed a full-size transponder card from a Mexican, and ran out of the park. He jumped onto a Harley-Davidson and rode off.

"There's going to be a lot of that going around!" said Nick. "A lot of people who have transponder cards are going to get jumped or killed! We'd better get home!"

To Be Continued!