Mimi’s Castle

The beam of sunlight broke through the curtains and fell on Mimi's face. She woke up excitedly and threw the blanket off, and hopped out of bed.  Pushing the curtain aside, Mimi looked passed the climbing pink baby rose bush, which almost covered the window, Mimi took a deep breath.  The day is beautiful, she smiled.  Rushing over to her sister Tania’s bed, she yelled, “Tania, Tania, wake up. Pulling the blankets off of her,  she yelled loudly.   “This is the day! Mama promised! Come on wake up. ” 

Tania, the older of the two stretched slowly.  She was not as eager to make the trip. Tania at 14 years old was the recognized leader, and it would be her responsibility to get them there and back. Tania looked into the eager eyes of her little sister, remembering  her promise made a few years ago, that someday, she would help Mimi visit her Boyle Heights Castle.

They had no map, they never had maps, but they could see the castle – three, four, or maybe five hills away.  That would be enough.  They just had to keep their eye on the Castle, and remember where they had walked to get there.  Mama had promised when they both had reached junior high, they could make the hike and visit the castle. For years Mimi desperately wanted to get close, maybe touch it.  This year, Mimi had graduated into junior high.  They could finally make the adventure.   

Since before the start of WW II, Tania and Mimi had lived on Evergreen Street in the Boyle Heights area in East L.A.. The area was very hilly and a year-around playground for the girls. 

During the spring, their hill was alive with wild flowers. Blue Lupine intermingled with the yellow California Poppy, plus many other wild flowers, and many weeds that looked like flowers to Mimi.  The girls would earn bubblegum and licorice money by selling bunches of Blue Lupine  to friends and neigborhood. 

Their Grandfather, Don Alberto Chapa, said that the girls were like the Blue Lupine.  No matter how droopy the Lupine looked when they were cut, after they were placed in water, the Lupine would bounce back quickly, as did the girls. . . always eager to explore.  Having been Superintendent of Schools in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Don Alberto encouraged the girls exploring and always answered their question about nature.

During the summer the hot weather dried the hills. The tall weeds were fun for games of hide-and-seek. By twisting the top of the weeds together, weed tunnels could be formed in flat areas.  The tunnels were good hiding places.  Neighborhood kids congregated in the fields behind the Lozano house. The kids formed armies and made dirt bombs out of the clods of dirt.
A bath was always needed to wash out all the dirt and dust from the dirt bombs.    

When the weeds became dry and were no longer suitable for hiding, the hills became giant slides.  All it took was a sturdy piece of cardboard. The size of the cardboard determined the number of passengers. The merchants on Wabash Street frequently saved the larger cardboard boxes for the neighborhood kids.  Sometimes a child would fly down the hill solo on their stomach, squealing all the way down. Sometimes four or five of them would plop onto a huge piece of cardboard.  The child in the front would sit, with his knees up, and roll the front of the cardboard  over his knees.  The children behind would wrap their legs around the child in front, and hold their hands around the tummy of the child in front of them.  The higher the number of passengers, the faster the trip.  The only problem, if anyone of the children did not hold firmly on to the child in front the whole group would  tumble off, and each roll of the cardboard sled and roll down the hill individually, up, down, forward, backward, sideways, over rocks which had not been cleared, and some tough weeds.  It was always a good idea to wear jeans and long sleeves, even in summer.   By the end of the season, the slides were like glass.     

Winter fun included catching trapdoor spiders. The horse-shaped homes became more visible as the weeds dried up.  The trapdoor spiders dug tunnels straight down through the dirt and filled the interior with their sticky webs.  They laid their eggs at the bottom of their tunnel-home.  If you were careful, you could open the trapdoor with a stick. The mother spider would quickly appear and close the door, holding it firmly in place.  It took a lot of skill to get the trap-door open without damaging the door.

But these were not the adventures for today.  Today was the day to visit the white castle. Mimi imagined it would be just like the castles in the storybooks: a beautiful building with high towers surrounded by flowers and lush green well-kept lawns, housing elegant people in fancy clothes, servants, and majestic dogs. They probably would not let us inside, but at least we could  get close enough to take a look,  maybe even peek inside. The girls dressed quickly. 

Mama yelled from the kitchen “Quiero que coman su desayuno, antes de ir.”  
Tania stepped into the kitchen, “Si Mama, we will eat our breakfast before leaving.”

Mama dropped a freshly made hot flour tortilla on their plates. She let them slather the tortilla with butter before she dropped scrambled eggs on top.  Just as the girls took there first big bite of their egg burrito,  the kitchen door banged opened,  and Anita stuck her head through the door. Anita was a cousin who had moved from Mexico into a house a couple of doors down on Evergreen Street. "¿Anita,  ya comiste?, Mama asked. 

"Sí, Tia, I already ate. “Tania and Mimi, are you ready?  Denise will be here in a minute. She is walking down the street."  Denise lived just down the street,  closer to Wabash Street, a main street with many different stores, groceries, bakeries, produce, five and dime.   
 

Denise came in a little breathless. "Oh good, I thought I was late. Are you still eating?

Mama picked up a cookie sheet with oatmeal cookies and smiled at both Ophelia and Denise.  "Grab some cookies.  Now you are all eating!"

As they were eating, Mama opened up four paper bags. She placed a couple of paper towels on the bottom of each of the bags and then divided the cookies into the four paper bags.  "Here is a little snack."  

"Mama, do the cookies have raisins?" Mimi asked. 

"Yes, Mimi, I made them this morning with raisins, just the way you like them."

Denise quietly pulled a slab of Halava out of her jacket pocket.  "Look what my Mom gave me to share, Halava.  “Yeah. Yeah Yeah” the girls jumped around Denise with excitement.  Ooo, so good.  Hooray for Mama Woloff.

Tania said, "Let’s eat it now."  Yes. Yes. Yes.  . . . they all agreed. The girls all liked Halava, a very special Jewish candy made with crushed sesame seeds and honey.

Mama Lozano said, "Here Denise, let me cut it for you. That would be four pieces."

"No, five pieces.  Please enjoy the Halava with us."

"Why, Thank you Denise, like all of you . . . .  I like Halava . . . (giggling)  v e r y much.
I don’t know of any other ethnic group which makes anything that tastes like Halava.   We are lucky to have a couple of Jewish bakeries on Wabash.  Here you go.  Take a napkin. 

The girls were good friends and knew that the youngest always went first. Denise was the youngest and insisted that the other girls go first, but all stood by their custom.  Denise goes first, then Anita, then Mimi, then Tania, and then Mama Lozano.

After the Halvah, Mama Lozano said,  "Now remember the rule. When the sun is straight overhead, you start for home. Remember, too, to get the addresses and streets along the way. Maybe some Sunday, we can drive to the Castle." Both Mimi and Ophelia took a small notebook and stumpy pencil out of their hip pocket and showed Mama. She smiled with approval.  "You remembered. Good for you." 

Taking the paper bags with a polite thank you, each girl carefully stowed her snack. The adventure was underway. "Don't forget to take Lollypop," Mama yelled. Lollypop was a brown long-hair Dachshund.  During these neighborhood adventures, Lollypop loved to dash through the weeds ahead of the girls.  Lollypop had been waiting by the kitchen door, jumping up and down, hopeful that she would be invited.

"Lollypop likes to run ahead and she will scare any rats or snakes along the way.  Keep up with her. Tania, leave the gopher snakes alone this time. Don't chase them or catch them. They do a good job of keeping the rat population down. Ok?" Tania nodded her head in agreement.

Mama stood in the backyard, and waved as the girls headed through the Lozano backyard to the street which formed their first hill. Dutifully, Ophelia and Mimi wrote down the first street name. 

As the girls walked along, Ophelia said, "Mimi, let's each make a map”.  

“Good idea, then we can show Mama where we have been.”

"Hey look guys”, Denise kicking the sand under her feet said, "a trap-door spider house, a big one!"

“Denise, no” Tania said. "We don't have time. We better not stop." 

“But, it is a really big one.”

Tania turned around. “Wow, it really is, big.”

Tania quickly snapped off  large bundles of three different weeds, at their base, with different colored flowers, and stuck them in the ground, very close to each other.  Using another stringy weed, she twisted it around to hold them together.

“There, look around and let’s all remember this spot.”  

“Didn’t you bring some ribbons to mark our trail?” Mimi asked.

“Yes, but that is to get us home, and we are home!”  The girls all giggled together.  Looking at Mimi’s expression, Tania said, “You know what let’s tie a ribbon right here to welcome us home.” 

Finding a tall bush, Tania tied the ribbon on the highest branch. Mimi beamed.

The girls tried very hard not to go through anyone's yard, but sometimes they had no choice.  They would run through, not touching anything.  They had to be careful about dogs, and sometimes ducks and geese were on duty to protect the yard.  The ducks would squawk, but the   geese would run at you with wings spread and nip at your heels as you ran away. 

The girls climbed another hill. At the bottom was a street with some buildings and a few stores.  One building had a metal outdoor ladder attached to the building. It moved up and down. Without even thinking, Tania jumped up and grabbed the lowest step. She was surprised when the ladder slowly slid down toward her.

"Hey, look at this," she yelled. Isn't this neato?  I am going to climb up.” Suddenly, an elderly man started yelling at them, screaming and walking as fast, and as well, as he could, towards them.  Very animatedly and shouting something at Tania. He sounded angry. He had a thick accent and the girls did not understand him.  The girls ran away from him.  He waved his cane at them.  Tania dropped down off the ladder and running, quickly caught up to the girls.

When they were well out of reach, the girls stopped  and could still hear him yelling.  Finally catching their breathe, they paused enough to make out what he was saying.  He was yelling "Old. Old.  Danger. Danger. Not Safe. Not safe. Old. Old." 

He was looking towards the girls, especially toward Tania, almost pleading.  He was wiping his eyes and forehead, and it looked like he was crying.    Oh no.   

The girls did not know what to do. They circled to the front of the building.  It was closed. The windows were boarded-up. No Trespassing signs were pasted all over building.

Softly, Denise said,  "The elderly man was not mad; he was just trying to warn us,"

 "Yes, he didn't want me to get hurt," Tania said. “And I got him upset.” Feeling bad, Tania said, "I am going to give him my cookies. Mama would like that.”  

With her long legs, Tania quickly reached the elderly gentleman. The girls could see Tania bowing slightly,  trying, to apologize. He was nodding.  Tania extended her bag of cookies and waited, slowly the elderly gentleman accepted it and shook her hand.

With a huge smile on her face, Tania came springing back. The girls giggled and threw their arms around Tania.  "OK, let's go. Let’s reach our castle, Mimi's Castle. It looks like only two more hills." 

As they got closer to the castle, there were more open areas, and the girls were able to avoid walking through people's yards. Finally, they approached what looked like the base of the grounds of the castle.  It was dusty and dry. There were no trees. The castle appeared to be made of wood, not stone, and was shabby and in need of fresh paint. Washed sheets hung on a long clothesline.

Mimi looked like she was going to cry. "I want to get closer. There must be more. I am going to climb over the fence."  Tania yelled, “Mimi wait.” “No, there must be more.” Mimi rushed towards a wooden ranch-style fence and crawled through a gap. “Lollypop go with Mimi” Lollypop scrambled underneath.  Mimi and Lollypop peered under the clothes on the clothesline, and saw that there were no flowers or plants… or life.   Mimi was disappointed, sad, and very, very sad.

Lollypop seemed to sense Mimi's emotions and rubbed against her legs.  Suddenly, an elderly lady with a cane came running around the corner of the house with three skinny dogs behind her,  yelling, "Who are you? Why are you here?”   

Frightened, Lollypop and Mimi did not wait to answer.  They ran.  They ran through the clothes hanging on the clothesline, knocking clothes pins off of a sheet. The dogs chasing them, got tangled up in the falling sheet and started attacking the sheet.  The woman continued screaming at them.  Even louder, seeing part of her wash on the ground.

Mimi and Lollypop scrambled through the fence and practically slid down the hill on their bottoms. "Run, run," Mimi shouted.  The girls had heard the dogs barking and had already started to run.  They ran and ran.  They did not stop until they came to the street which divided the two hills.  Breathing heavily, they plopped down on the curb, and then looking at each other, not saying anything.  Mimi looked like she was going to cry. It was obvious.  It was not a castle.  

"OK, it is time to go home," Tania said.  "Mimi, you saw it.  You saw your castle."

"Yes, I saw it, but it is not a castle" said Mimi.  "It is not anyone’s castle. Tania, our Abuelita is old too, but her trees and plants and flowers are green, leafy and full of life.”

“That lady was sad. I feel sorry for her," Denise said. "In the springtime, let’s take her some blue lupine.”

“And in the summer,” Ophelia said, “we can take her some figs.” Everyone agreed.

"Ok, pinky promise" Tania said. The girls hooked their pinkies in a solemn promise.
Turning around together,  they looked towards their homes, smiling inside.  “Tania, could we sit for a little while.”  “Yes, let’s do that, so we don’t forget.  Mimi’s Castle, wasn’t what we thought.”

They found a good spot and looked down to the hills below. Eating their cookies, they could see the Lozano backyard with the avocado, fig, and apricot trees. They could even see the rabbit hutches and the mama goat with her two kids in their pen. 

Papa Lozano bought the mama goat and her babies (called kids) to have fresh milk for Tania and Mimi.  The girls helped by gathering wild greens from the hills.  Sometimes the girls put a rope around the necks of the kids and mama goat and staked them on the hill. Sometimes the girls had permission to take the kids for a walk in the neighborhood. 

The goats were very entertaining.  One day, the mama goat wanting to eat the rabbit pellets, somehow figured how to open the lock on the rabbit cage, and actually climbed all the way into the rabbit cage.  She got stuck and Papa had to tear the cage apart to get her out.

The kids had games too, like jump on top of the rabbit cage, or take turns standing on Mama Lozano’s  head, when she was doing the milking.   Other times the kids would wiggle out of the pen and run down the street eating, the flowers and bushes of neighbors along the way.  

The neighbors would start yelling, the goats are loose, the goats are loose, and the girls would go running down the street, with ropes in hand, following the neighbors pointing directions.   Watching Tania and Mimi running towards them, the kids would nibble and run, nibble and run, until Tania and Mimi could finally catch up to them, corral them, tie a rope around their neck and bring them home.   Usually the kids’ stomachs were fat, sides sticking out from all the new greenery that they had eaten.  They didn’t resist to much being taken home.  Usually, the stuffed kids would fall asleep for the rest of the day,  tired out from their escape and excitement, and so much food.  They were spunky, but they were kids.

The backyard too had many, many good memories of family birthday gatherings with piñatas , barbacoa in dirt pits, plus eating perfectly sun-ripened figs and apricots. Nothing could be sweeter. 

Tania and Mimi were allowed to build camp-fires by themselves in the backyard.  After making a hole in the ground,  Tania and Mimi would lay rocks on the sides and bottom with rocks.  Once firmly in place, dry leaves and twigs were used to start building their fire  A favorite meal was a baked potatoes, first wrapped in tinfoil and then covered with mud before putting the prepared potatoes into the embers.  All that was needed was a little salt. 

Entertainment was popcorn popping and telling each other scary stories.  Aunt Deya who lived across the street would sometimes join the girls and their friends.  Aunt Deya told the best scary stories.  She had been a teacher in Mexico and had lots of stories to share.

One summer night, the children were so attentive to the stories, they didn’t notice that their fire was perhaps a little larger than needed.  Maybe it was the scary stories. The following day, Tania and Mimi could see their mistake.  The leaves on the tree, under which they had built their fire were yellowed and browned.  

Looking down on the Lozano large yard brought many happy memories back.  As they walked down, they passed the red ribbon welcoming them home.  Mimi paused and Denise and Ophelia looked for the three weeds, tied together.  Finding it, Denise looked at Tania.

“Tomorrow, Tania, can we visit the spider?”

Smiling, Tania said, “Were you able to find your trap-door spider door?”  Denise and Ophelia both nodded yes.   “Well come over tomorrow and we will visit her, and maybe see her babies.”

The castle was a great disappointment to Mimi. The life and world of those with big houses on the hills was not what she had expected.  When they reached the Lozano house, Ophelia and Denise said goodbye.  Tania and Mimi stood by the morning glory hedge which lined the walkway and ran the length of their property.  They all waved.   They had had an adventure that they would never forget.  Life was different in those hills far away, and home was good.


Tania opened the kitchen door and walked in. Home smelled so good. Mama was making rice pudding.     Mimi walked in slowly behind Tania.   “We did it Mama. llgamos al castillo.” We made it to the castle.  Tania did it, Mama.”  Mimi looked up at her big sister and gave her a hug, “Thank you Tania. I will never forget you took me there. It meant a lot to me.”

Mimi put her arms around her mother and hugged her, "Mama, I am happy to be home. Even if we don't have a real castle in Boyle Heights, I like our house and I like Boyle Heights, especially with Abuelito y Abuelita and Tia y Tio, Deya y Rudy living across the street.

"I am so glad, Hijita. How was the castle? Tell me what you found?” 

"Mama, it wasn't really a castle. It was an ordinary house, made out of wood, like our house. They dried their clothes on a clothesline, just like we do.  But everything seemed dry and dusty, not flowers and colors, not pretty, like here.” 

We saw an old man on the way over, and an old lady at the castle. They didn't want us to be there, but I think it was because they didn't know us.  Tania shared her cookies with the old man, and he smiled and shook her hand.  

Mama, do you think one day we could take a bowl of figs to the old lady?  Maybe she doesn’t have grandchildren?   I felt sad for her.  .   I would like to be her friend.

"Did you get the old lady’s name and address?" 

"I was kind of busy. No, we did not get her name, but Ophelia did get her address. 
We have a list of the streets we crossed, and a map.  You will like our maps, especially Ophelia’s. You know what a good artist she is. “

"Good.  I am sure that Papa will be able to find her home with your notes and two maps. 
And some day you can tell me what you were busy doing.”

"Yes, some day, Mama.”

07/15/2022 10:51 AM