“Madison! ¡Todos estamos muy felices de que estés aquí! ¿Te gusta California?” I had no idea what he said. I didn’t know who he was either. Maybe one of my dad’s uncles? A family friend? I had met so many people at this party that I had lost track ages ago.
I didn’t want to be rude, so I used old reliable. Smile and nod. After an uncomfortable silence, he turned to my grandmother, who had been introducing me to everyone she could find. “¿Ella habla español?”
My grandmother said, ” No, su madre es de Wyoming. ¡Ni siquiera sabía que era mexicana antes de conocer a su padre!”
At that, both of them burst out laughing. I knew that they would never laugh at me, but being left out still stung. It must have shown on my face, because my cousin, Emily, swooped in to save me.
“Sorry to cut in, but tío Dany wants to meet Madi. Is it okay if I steal her?”
My grandmother gave an enthusiastic Sí. As we left the white canopy tent, my mystery relative yelled,“ It was nice to meet you, Madison!”
I waited until we were in the next canopy tent to ask who Tío Dany was. “Don’t worry about it. I figured that it was time for you to have some fun, so I got you out of there.”
We passed by the table where my aunt and Emily’s little sister were sitting. I felt bad for my little cousin because it sounded like she was getting chewed out. “¡Escúchame! No vuelvas a acercarte a ese maldito estanque. ¿Me entiendes?”
After navigating through throngs of people, we finally made it to a table at the corner of the canopy. Two girls and a guy were waiting for us. Emily introduced us as her friends Luna and Juan, and our cousin Roxy.
Then Emily looked around, and then quickly pulled out four red solo cups and a bottle of Don Julio Blanca Tequila from her bag. “Madi, are you up for this? I thought that we take a shot and dance before it’s time for abuelo to cut his birthday cake”
I happily agreed, and we went back outside to the dance floor. It would have been rude to say no to the second one, so I happily agreed again. We danced again. My judgment wasn’t the best at that point, so I didn’t think twice about the third. That’s when things started to go downhill.
I snuck away from the party and made my way to the portapotties. I won’t write down what I did there. After I stumbled out, I walked in the opposite direction of the party. I needed some fresh air to collect myself. And that’s when I heard a woman softly weeping behind the trees.
I followed the sound. I thought that she might have overdone it like I did, and needed help to clean up. But when I went behind the trees, no one was there. The crying was getting louder though. So I kept following it forward.
No matter how far I went, I still couldn’t see the woman. I started running trying to catch her. I tried to come to a dead stop when I saw the water, but I ended up falling into the mud anyway. I scrunched my nose at the putrid sweet smell. I was about to swear loud enough to be heard at the party, but that’s when I saw her.
The woman was standing waist-deep in the pond, still weeping. She had black hair so long that it went beneath the water. She was wearing a dirty and torn white dress, and I wondered if she took a tumble in the water instead of the mud.
I thought that she might have been one of my relatives, so I called out. “ Hey, are you okay? Why are you in the water?” I pushed my dress up and walked into the water up to my knees.
She stopped crying. A long silence stretched between us, and I was about to break it when she said. “No eres una de mis chicas. ¿Dónde están?.” Her voice was soft, but her words came out muffled. Like she was taking through an old wet sponge.
I groaned internally. I said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re saying. Please, just come out of the water, it’s not safe.”
She just repeated herself, but her voice took on a harsh edge. “¿Dónde están?”
I’m not proud of my response. “I don’t fucking speak Spanish! Do you fucking get that?! No hablo. No sabo. No comprendo. Get out of the water! You’re going to drown, you stupid b-.”
She turned then. Her pale face was bloated, with a bluish tint to it. It looked like animals had been at her, because jagged chunks of flesh were missing from her face. I saw the bone of her eye socket underneath one of those bites.
I screamed and turned to run. She was faster. I felt her slimy, mushy hands grab my bare arms. She pulled me into the water. Once I was under, I felt her dagger-like nails dig into my scalp. I tried to pry her fingers from my head, but I felt her skin slide off in my grip. I screamed in disgust, which released the last of my precious air. My vision went dark around the edges.
Suddenly, she released her grip. I shot upwards, ready for a fight. There was nobody there, but I heard voices coming from the trees. Then Emily, my grandma, and a lot of people, that I didn’t recognize, came out of the tree line.
There was a lot of yelling after that. Directed At me, and even more so at Emily. I eventually got my grandma to calm down enough to listen to me, with Emily providing translations when needed. I was expecting her to laugh at me, but she believed me.
The next day, she made Emily and me get up at the crack of dawn to get blessed by a priest. Our hangovers be damned.
That’s the story of why I started taking Spanish lessons. And also why Emily and I are chaperoned at family functions. It turns out that believing isn’t the same as forgiving.