Audrey Hepburn's Pearls: Part I

Chapter 74.1: 1995, Georgina

Chapter 74.1: 1995, Georgina

It was a quiet day. Cha Cha was back from her morning classes, and we were talking on the couch. She was showing me her crochet things, her yarn box, and promising me she would teach me how to crochet. She couldn't believe I couldn't crochet, claiming it was the best hobby, so relaxing and made you feel like you were doing something because you were creating something out of nothing with every new loop of yarn.

She was smiling at me, a fun Selena song on in the background coming from the little radio in the sewing room off the living room. Cha Cha had been in there for a while before coming out with her yarn box to show me. I don't know what made her want to show me at that moment, but I was glad she did because as soon as that song finished the world changed.

"See this? Pull the hook. Asi. See it? You made a connecting loop! That is the base of crochet," she beamed at me.

I liked the way she said the word "crochet". She said "crow-chet" like Sasha would. I didn't have the heart to correct her, it was too precious. In the background, the lovely young woman that she'd been telling me about for over a week and a half was singing. She'd told me this song was one of her favorites, "Como la Flor", and how much this woman, Selena, meant to her because her songs were nearly always about happy things like falling in love. The songs made her happy, reminders to find joy and dance. She'd told me she used so many Selena songs in her classes because the kids liked Selena, too. How it was a chance to bond and have fun while teaching them how to dance with music they already loved.

Cha Cha was smiling at me, holding the crochet square firmly in her hands for me as I played around trying to loop the yellow yarn to the orange mini square to start another square next to it. 

The DJ on the radio started talking in Spanish and I happened to be watching her face at that moment. Studying her happy eyes as she showed me something she loved, I heard the DJ starting to say "Selena" over and over and felt Cha Cha's grip on the crochet square weaken. 

She gasped, her eyes going wide, her light brown irises turning towards the sewing room. She seemed to freeze there next to me, dropping the square completely. Her leg which was pressed to mine so close on the couch started to tremble. And then quickly, too quickly, her eyes went glassy and her mouth dropped open.

"Ay no..." She whispered almost to herself, staring at the doorway to the sewing room. As the frozen sudden pause went on, her mouth drooped into a frown, a small crease in her brow formed. "No, no, no," she said louder, and the panic in her voice rose up panic in me.

I jumped as she made a violent shift to the side, staying in her spot next to me but falling over and then coming back up like someone had struck her, and in that moment tears started to rush down her face. My body went up in fright.

"No, no, no!" she wailed, staring more intensely at the sewing room. The radio DJ was talking quickly, rapidly in Spanish and the only word I could understand was "Selena" and he was saying this over and over in between Spanish words. 

"Cha Cha-" I began to say, going to grab her as she threw herself down on the side of the couch again but she burst out before I could say another word.

"Selena está muerta!" she cried. "Muerta! Ay dios mio, no puede ser verdad! No puede...no puede..." She'd gone into whimpers in these last words and I wanted very much to remind her that I didn't understand Spanish and I didn't know what she was saying. I didn't know what she was saying or what the DJ was saying and a feeling of helplessness fell over me quickly as a veil as panic set in.

"Cha Cha, English," I urged her, hoping she could understand me in her sudden grief but she was crying now not saying a word as the DJ kept going on and on.