The Magnificent Torta and How it Saved the Cinema Part 2 of 2 by KimB

[Editor's Note: This story was written by KimB]

Other adventures took place too as we wandered around Mexico City. It was a wonderful place to be and everywhere there was something different or unique to see or experience.

After some time my brother had to return to the USA and Mom and I continued to live in Mexico City. We soon learned how to get around and how to get from one local to another on the bus lines. The buses where all color-coded and had different colored stripes indicating their routes. Bus travel was very cheap and the primary mode of transportation for most everyone.

We took “bus trips” by riding the bus to the end of the line and back again to our starting spot. One of our favorite jumping off spots was near the Plaza de la Revolución in the down town area. We would catch a bus, being sure to ask if it returned to the same spot and would get a wonderful tour of the city. We traveled to the outskirts of the city and thru many neighborhoods and saw places most visitors never go. Hardly a week went by without one of our scenic excursions.

Ham Torta with Avocado

Around the plaza were many shops and one in particular my Mom had come to know about. It was “The Torta” shop. That's what I called it anyway. It was a small standing room only store front that made torta sandwiches. And after our bus excursions, we always stopped at The Torta Shop before heading home.

Tortas are made from wonderful french rolls called "bolillos" and can be made in many many varieties. But we always got the same thing: Ham, avocado, Mexican cheese, a few pieces of onion, mayonnaise and NO lettuce. We would watch while they made the sandwiches and slather them with avocado and generous portions of ham. The sandwiches where enormous and were enough to keep us going for the rest of the day. Mom was always particular about where and what we ate and we only ate tortas from that shop and never anywhere else.

One activity that was a multi-week occurrence was going to the local cinema. In our neighborhood, we had several movie houses and my favorite one showed a TRIPLE feature every night. Movies started at @ 3:00 pm and got out after 10:00 pm or later depending on the movies being shown. Most of the movies where in English with Spanish subtitles and most were really awful. Lots of old B movies from the USA but I didn't care it was wonderful fun! The movies were inexpensive and Mom took me to them several times a week or more if I'd been extra good.

There was an upstairs concession stand and there were hawkers walking up and down the aisles selling popcorn [palomitas]. I would go upstairs and buy two bottles of coke and we would get a bag of popcorn and settle in for the long long evening of old bad John Wayne westerns (from before he was famous) or old gangster movies with James Cagney.

In Mexico City, the big meal of the day is eaten in the early afternoon and you don't eat much later on because the altitude makes it hard to digest food and you will get a belly ache if you eat too late in the day. One afternoon Mom rushed to take me to the movies and skipped the meal so we could get there on time. We got our cokes and popcorn and settled in for the long evening.

Shortly after the movie started, Mom started to feel the effects of skipping the meal. She whispered to me that she was unwell and that I would have to help her back to the hotel. But when she tried to stand up, she could not. Her blood sugar had crashed and she needed food.

Of course, I didn't know any of that, as I was only 10 years old but I DID know she needed to eat something and FAST. I thought quickly and ran upstairs to the concession stand. I knew they had tortas there and I ask for 2 ham ones. They handed me two tortas wrapped in wax paper and I made my way back down to the dark theater where Mom was sitting slumped in the seat.

I unwrapped one of the tortas and shoved it in her hand and said “Eat!”. She asked what it was and I told her it was a ham torta I'd gotten from the concession stand. She shook her head “no” and tried to push it away. I pushed it back and said “Eat it!” With great reluctance, she took a bite and then another and another! When she'd finished that one, I gave her the second one and she ate that one as well! In only a few moments, she was fully recovered and we both hugged each other and she said it was the best torta she'd ever eaten! We then settled back to watched the rest of the movies.

After that, when we went to the movies we got our two bottles of coke, popcorn and two ham tortas but we never ever took them out of their wrappers until the movie house was completely dark. Mom said they were the BEST she'd ever eaten and she never wanted to know what was inside because she didn't want risk Rule 1 coming between her and the “Magnificent Torta that Saved the Cinema”.


[End of Part 2]

Torta in Wrapper