Soon the three had selected the brightest advertisements from some magazines and had decorated the jar till it looked quite festive.
That afternoon, before they had finished their siestas, the guests began to arrive. First were the children from the goat ranch with their mother; then shortly afterwards María and the grandmother with their line of little stairsteps.
Jo Ann noticed at once that Carlitos was missing and asked Florence to inquire about him.
A moment later Florence explained to Jo Ann that Carlitos had gone up on the mountain with José to get the charcoal. “María says they’ll be down later—they’ll stop on their way down with the charcoal.”
“Let’s wait to have the piñata game till Carlitos gets here,” Jo Ann suggested to Florence. “I don’t want him to miss that. Let’s show them how to play some simple game like drop the handkerchief while we’re waiting.”
Florence smiled dubiously. “We can try it, but I’m sure they’ve never played it before.”
In spite of their strenuous efforts to start the game, they failed, as the children merely stared timidly with their big black eyes, not seeming to know how to enter into the fun.
“These are the quietest children I’ve ever seen in all my life,” Jo Ann declared. “Don’t they ever play, Florence?”
“Very seldom. They work most of the time. The older ones take care of the babies and help their mothers. I believe we’d better go ahead with the piñata. It’ll take them a long time to break the olla, and maybe Carlitos’ll be here before anyone succeeds.”
Florence blindfolded the largest one of the little girls and handed her a stick, then turned her around several times. “Now see if you can break the piñata.”