“I’m with Juan,” Quint said in between slashes. “This doesn’t look very path-like to me.”
“That’s another point for your loverboy,” Juan declared.
She squinted at her dad over the map. “You can’t give points forsimply agreeing with you.”
“I made up the rules,gatita. I give the points as I please.”
“I’m really starting to like this game.” Quint swung again. “What do I get if I win?”
“I’ll leave that up to the loser,” her father said.
“Well, boss lady, what will it be?”
“I’m not going to lose, Parker.”
“But if you do …” he pressed, pausing to wipe the sweat from his forehead with his shirt.
“I’ll give you a night you won’t forget.” Angélica stared at the map and then focused up toward the ridge they were trekking along.
Quint howled, which prompted a cacophony of whinnies from the spider monkeys hanging around up in the peanut gallery. “That’s my kind of prize,” he said when the noisy jungle paused to take a breath.
“I don’t know about that, son,” her father said. “Look at the way her forehead is pinched, especially above the bridge of her nose. I’ve seen that look before on her. She could be talking about filling your hammock with biting ants while you sleep.” He brushed off his pant leg again.
“She wouldn’t do that to the man who stole her heart.”
Angélica spared the charming thief a squint. “She might, especially if he doesn’t let her win this silly game.”
He laughed and returned to hacking his way forward.
“According to the map, we’re still on track,” she decided aloud. “Mostly, anyway … I think.”
“I’m taking away a point for the ‘mostly’ part,” Juan said.
Quint paused. “Jesus, would you look at the spines on this young ceiba tree.”
“Way to go, Parker. You remembered the name of the tree.” Angélica shot a glare at her dad. “Don’t you dare give him a point for that.”
“I also remember that the ceiba tree is thought of as the sacred ‘first tree,’ which the ancient Maya believed stood at the center of the Earth.” Quint wiped the sweat from his brow. “And the bigger, older ceiba trees supposedly connect this world to the spirit world.”
Her heart warmed at Quint’s efforts to learn about the culture she’d spent most of her life studying.
“See, Dad, I told you there was more to Parker than just big looks and good muscles.”
Quint chuckled at her play on words. “What can I say, I have a very fine teacher.”
“You’re an apt pupil, that’s for sure,” Juan said. “But I wouldn’t touch it if I were you.”
“You mean the pretty teacher or the culturally significant tree?”
Juan took the map back from Angélica. “Well, one of them is pokey and dangerous to handle; and the other is believed to keep the Earth steady within the chaotic energy of the universe.”
Quint swatted at the air. “Duly noted.” He tapped his machete against Angélica’s again. “Do you want to keep up this game of find the missing Maya site, Dr. García, or give up and practice our sword fighting?”
She bumped his machete aside. “The site isn’t ‘missing.’ It’s just hard to find, thanks to the jungle blanketing everything.”
“What we need, boss lady, is about ten more of you and your machete.” Quint frowned at the bramble in their way.
“I don’t think so, son,” her father said, stretching his neck one way and then the other as he stared down at the map. “Trust me, onegatitais all we can handle. As I said before, she’s too much like her mother for her own good.”
