Marcelino and the Curse of the Gold Frog

Marcelino was born in a remote Mexican village in the late 1800s. Life was tolerable until his loving mother’s death, when his conniving father gave him to an uncle. The uncle took him to his farm in Texas, where his wife and sons refused to accept Marcelino into the family, and they torturously worked him like a beast of burden.

Running away from his miserable existence, he found freedom glorious, but it did not ease his constant nightmares. Little did he know that those vile accomplices of the night had a more sinister plan. Ruination would soon devour his dreams and damnation would rule his entry into adulthood.

Marcelino’s wife, Maria, never knew her father; tequila and a fast gun took his worthless life before she was born. Although his death allowed her to happily enjoy her childhood, her adult life included a first husband who put an end to her contentment. What he did to Maria scarred her mentally and physically, and forever changed her life. Marcelino inherited the consequences of those scars.

Marcelino and Maria had married soon after they met; but then WWI intervened. To provide for his family, Marcelino returned to the farm in Texas. He and Maria were trapped, mistreated, and ultimately forced to leave in search of work. Years of crisscrossing Central Texas yielded only extreme poverty, racism, and incomprehensible hardships.

Marcelino eventually found work in San Marcos, and his steady employment greatly improved their lives. What he failed to notice was a hellish nightmare taking shape as Maria developed telekinesis. The women of the town suspected her of being a sorceress, and an incident at church confirmed their suspicions. Angered, they retaliated by hiring a Comanche witch to “fix” Maria. A crowded churchyard provided the setting for a confrontation that triggered Maria’s madness. Her escalating violent behavior soon singled out her newborn son. What she planned for him, for all her children, was genuine insanity.