In a dusty little town in cactus and scorpion country there lived un niño named Taco Pequeño. Although his Mama named him Manuel, the name, Little Taco, stuck for two reasons. Tacos were his favorite things to eat, and he was rather short for his age.
This story begins when he has just become a know-it-all teenager, (13) and is still shorter than all the girls in his class, not to mention, his sibs! Embarrassed and unable to do anything about it, he has become a complainer of the first order, disliking this, disliking that, nothing suited him; and his parents, sibs, and friends, truth be known, were becoming less partial to him.
As that fact slowly began to sink in, he decided he’d better do something about it. He thought and thought and finally decided that he would invent a taco sauce to beat all taco sauces, not only good with tacos, but with other foods as well. And maybe then, his friends and family would look up to him, well …not up, exactly, but with respect.
One day, hungry, as always, he rode his bike home from school, and since the house was empty, he could experiment. He headed for the kitchen, got out the ground beef, seasoned it with taco seasoning and cooked it in the skillet and put it in the taco shell with some mashed avocado and picante, and…it was okay, but wonderful, stupendous, it was not. Okay, he would fix that.
He made a list of all the ingredients he thought would make the perfect salsa, took some dinero from the coffee can in his closet, hopped on his bike, and was off to the local market. He got everything on his list. Pedaling home, grocery bags swinging from his handlebars, bumping against his knees, (probably bruising the avocados) he was all excited. It was going to be sooo good.
Back in the kitchen, he mixed dried chipotle peppers, chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic and mixed chili peppers, jalapenos, serranos, added cilantro, and put it all in the blender with cayenne, ground cumin, s&p, water, cider vinegar and lemon juice, and blended until it was smooth. Whew! Okay, what next? He thought maybe it’d be good to cook it awhile in a big pot, so the flavors would mingle. Woo-eee it made his eyes water! This was going to be some hot stuff!
He let it all cool a while and tasted it. Yikes! When he breathed out… he literally breathed fire! WOW! He couldn’t wait to show his family! When his parents and sibs got home, he showed them his hot taco sauce he’d made, and said, “Now watch, this is so cool” He tasted it and suddenly, breathed fire! Unfortunately, they had leaned in to watch more closely and it singed the ends of their noses!
His family did not think it was cool. His father told him his new sauce was a fire hazard. They never knew when he would eat any and they began keeping their distance. He was a pariah in his own home, until one day, he got an idea. He Googled TV shows that invited all different kinds of people as guests. He was accepted on one; got on a bus and left.
Not only was his little performance a success (he had, of course, perfected it with comic situations), but, as crazy ideas sometimes do, his Taco Sauce sold like hotcakes. His fam was so astonished, though extremely pleased, they begged him to come home and they would all help in the making of his now famous “Fire-Breathin' Hot Stuff.” There was a warning on each jar to keep water handy.
As a favor to his Mama, Taco took back his given name, Manuel. She was so pleased and proud of him, she told him he had grown tall in her eyes.
And for the first time in his life. He felt tall.