Quince Clash (9 page)

Grace turned to look at Fabi. “What is she talking about?”

“Ha!” cried Melodee. “That's a good question … what am I talking about?” She reached back and grabbed Daniel's hand. “See, my boyfriend here told me all about how you LIED to the TV producers to get on their show.”

Grace stared at Fabi. Her eyes were begging her to tell her it wasn't true. Fabi didn't know what to say. What could she say?

“Oh, yeah, Fabi's not dying,” Melodee sneered to Grace. “No, that would be too good. No, dear old Fabi is just pathetic, a liar, and a loser. So pathetic that she had to lie about dying to get any attention. So pathetic that she believed that my boyfriend —”

Not another word
, Fabi thought, pressing her hands to her ears. She ran out of the ballroom with Melodee's words still ringing in her head. Tears still flowed down her face. But she didn't bother to wipe them away. This was the cruelest thing she'd ever experienced. It was the most horrible day of her life. Fabi started to run through the parking lot, but her heels made it difficult so she took them off. She thought about carrying them, but she was so mad that she flung them at the convention center as she cursed.

Fabi hurried down the block not wanting to see anyone. Maybe she could go to Mexico. Disappear across the border. Fabi didn't know where to go; she headed north instead, away from her family and friends, away from her life.

T
he miserable heat baked Fabi's back and made the sidewalk feel like she was walking on hot coals. But she felt numb to it all. Cars kicked dirt in her face as they passed her on the street. Her dress was too tight and itched as it stuck to her skin. Fabi was out of breath and her skin burned. Downtown McAllen was undergoing mass revitalization with big boxy chain stores lining up and down the block. The franchise area soon disappeared behind her, giving way to an open orange grove.

It was one of the last groves left in the growing city. Farm owners found it more profitable to sell off their land to speculators than grow a crop. It was about ten degrees cooler under the trees, which provided welcome shade. Fabi stopped and picked an orange. It was bittersweet. The juices ran down her mouth, reminding her of when she was small and her dad would bring back fruit from the local harvest. Life was so simple then. She craved those times. A car honk made her look up. Grandma Trini lowered the window in her SUV that she'd parked alongside the road.

“Ay, mija,”
she said softly. “Are you okay?”

Fabi stared blankly as her grandmother hopped out of the raised Chevy Tahoe, leaving Alexis and Georgia Rae in the backseat. It didn't seem real. It was too painful to be real: Melodee's party, Daniel her boyfriend, Grace's face when she learned the truth. Fabi wanted to wake from this horrible quince dream.

But seeing her grandmother walk toward her in her big matted hairdo, fuchsia dress, and matching chunky earrings was proof enough that it wasn't a dream. For some crazy reason, despite all the horribly embarrassing things that had happened today, Fabi realized that her family would always be there for her. Fabi couldn't stop herself from laughing. Thoughts of Milo and Alexis defending her against Melodee, talking to Daniel in the library, Melodee in the restroom, the TV camera, and everything else played out like a movie.
What was it all for?
she thought. She didn't realize how much stress she'd been holding back until now. It felt good to laugh, like shedding off old skin.

“We've made a mess of things, haven't we?” she said to her grandma.

“Nos cacharon
. They caught us.” Her grandmother paused to grab an orange and then started to peel it with her long painted nails. She took a deep breath and looked down the row of low-hanging trees. “I met your grandfather here in a grove like this. A woman who read cards told me that I would meet an ugly man who smelled of citrus with a honey tongue.” Grandma Trini blushed. “She said that I would give him many babies. At first I thought she was cursing me, because I dated her son. But when Rafa sang to me on top of a ladder, I knew that psychic was the real deal.”

Fabi smiled. Lil Rafa, her deceased grandfather, had not been a handsome man, but he'd had a beautiful voice. Still, she didn't quite understand why her grandmother was telling her this story. Trini walked over and pulled her into a hug.

“I'm sorry,
chiquita
,” she said, pressing Fabi's head to her big bosom. “I don't know why I remembered that story. It was just … seeing you there … hearing you being torn apart
como una cualquiera
reminded me of when I was young and how the mean girls used to say
cosas feas
to me.”

“Really, Grandma?”

“Oh, yeah.” She laughed. “We were really poor back then. We didn't have electricity or even a floor.
Pura tierra
.” She stomped the earth to demonstrate her point. “I didn't even have shoes to go to school. But I always had pretty dresses. I knew how to sew,” she said proudly. “And I was good. I would go to the factories at night and grab the scraps from the Dumpsters and make the most beautiful dresses. I put
esas ricas
to shame.” She smiled brightly. “And of course they were jealous because I was a double D in junior high and those girls only had mosquito bites on their chests.”

Fabi laughed.

“But they knew how to hurt me without leaving bruises on the outside. They used their words. I still carry those wounds.” Grandma Trini raised her hand to her chest.

“What did you do?” Fabi asked.

“I went to a
bruja
, a card reader. I wanted to use words and hurt them, too. I didn't go to school, so I didn't know how to fight them on their level. But I was so angry. I wanted to hex them, make their hair fall out.”

Fabi smiled, enjoying her grandmother's story. “And what happened?”

Grandma Trini finished off the last orange slice. “The card reader told me about your grandfather, and my life changed for the better. And when Lil Rafa became a famous singer, that became my revenge. Those women are all old and falling apart now. I see them sometimes. Their hearts became all wrinkly like a dried prune with all that hate and venom. Now when I see them I hold my head up high. I shake my big head of hair, which you know is all mine, and I show them that my life turned out grand.”

Fabi smiled, happy for her grandmother. “Maybe I need to see that
bruja
,” she said, only half joking.

“That's a great idea,” her grandmother agreed, slapping her arm. It was kind of hard, but her grandmother didn't notice; her eyes were glazed over in thought. “I haven't seen her in a while. Not since she sold me that love potion that worked a little too well.”

Grandma Trini glanced at her watch. “If we hurry, we can catch her before she closes. Doña Lisa always closes for her
novela
hour.”

Fabi turned and looked back at the grove. She watched some bees as they buzzed from blossom to blossom down the row of fruit trees. A part of her wanted to stay here. She wanted to be left alone to wallow some more; she wasn't sure she had strength yet to face the world. Maybe a
bruja
was exactly what she needed.

They dropped Alexis and Georgia Rae at home before heading back toward downtown McAllen. It was growing dark and Fabi noticed the bright beams of searchlights shining from the convention center. She didn't say anything, trying to focus on the road ahead, but the thought of Melodee's party slowly crept back into her mind like a daddy longlegs. Was Daniel dancing with Melodee this very second? Were they making out on the dance floor? She couldn't believe that he could do something like that. How could he trick her like that? She had trusted him. Fabi thought he was her friend. She'd opened up to him like she'd opened up to no one else, not even her sister. She'd cried all over his shirt. The memory stung in her chest like heartburn.

They stopped in front of a tiny storefront sandwiched between a used tire shop and a Laundromat with a cartoon washing machine chasing bubbles on the window. The street was deserted except for a mother with three kids pushing a shopping cart full of clothes. Grandma Trini walked to the door and rang the doorbell. The place was called La India Poderosa, the Powerful Indian. Hanging above the doorway was a painting of an Indian woman with a proud dark face, high cheek-bones, and slanted eyes. She was holding a feather in one hand and a candle in the other. There was an altar set up in the window. Statues of various saints, candles, dried roses, and gold necklaces adorned the altar. The inside of the shop was hidden behind a heavy velvet curtain.
La India must like her privacy
, Fabi thought. Secretly, she'd always wanted to enter one of these shops, but Abuelita Alpha scared her with stories of devil-worshipping cults stealing bad little girls to mate with
el diablo
. A buzzing sound opened the door and then they stepped in.

Inside, the air was thick with the scent of sandalwood incense, candle wax, and … kitty litter. They'd walked into a pharmacy-like store with a long glass counter that took up half of the room. Fabi noticed another curtain dividing the space at the far end. Maybe that's where they did their ceremonies, she wondered. Behind the counter were rows of glass jars with dried herbs. She recognized some of the names:
ruda
,
romero
, horsetail. Those were names of medicinal plants. Abuelita Alpha had a bunch of them growing in front of her house. Whenever Fabi had an earache, her
abuela
would take a bunch of leaves from the
ruda
plant, spit on it, and shove it in her ear.

There were other things there, too, that frightened her. Like the three-foot carved wooden statue of the devil in the corner. It had a rooster claw for one foot and a goat hoof for the other. There were also numerous statues of Saint Death (La Santa Muerte) for sale.

“Trinidad!” a woman cried. Fabi jumped. She hadn't heard anyone enter.

“Doña Lisa!” The two women hugged like old friends.

Doña Lisa had to be ancient. Her wrinkles all over her face looked like they were spun by spiders. She moved with difficulty, as if her knees resisted each step. Her skin was pale and she wore her white hair tied back in a tight bun with sparkly, star-shaped barrettes. The woman did not look powerful, or even Indian.

Grandma Trini explained the situation to the woman in Spanish, told her about Melodee and the bet, the quinceañera that was now probably not going to happen, and the humiliation. It was hard for Fabi to listen. She wished they were talking about someone else, but they weren't. That was her life.

“Necesitamos un milagro
, a miracle,” her grandmother said.

The older woman invited them into her back room. It was the size of a closet, with a round table and a deck of cards. She told them to sit and began to light candles around the room.

When Doña Lisa finally sat down, she asked Fabi to hold out her hand. Fabi hesitated, glancing quickly at her grandmother, who nodded, so Fabi gave the woman her hand. Doña Lisa carefully studied the lines on her palm like a page in a book. Then she huffed and turned to Grandma Trini.

“The girl is cursed.” Her eyes flicked over to Fabi and held on like death's grip. “Hate and envy are powerful energies, and this girl really does not like you. Go to the front and grab a bottle of rose water. Use the rose water every day to keep off the bad energy. Tonight, you will take a special bath with herbs I'll prepare for you. Things will get better.”

Fabi nodded, getting up stiffly. She'd grown up hearing stories about the evil eye and curses, but she never thought it was real or that it could happen to her. Who would be envious of her? The idea of being cursed scared her more than she cared to admit. Fabi would do whatever the
bruja
said to make it go away.

Grandma Trini didn't move. “Go along,
mija
. I have something more to discuss with Doña Lisa.”

Fabi headed to the front of the store and grabbed a bottle of rose water and waited for her grandmother. Twenty minutes later, her grandmother emerged from the back room with a satisfied expression. As Doña Lisa collected the herbs for Fabi's bath she kept looking back to the statue of the devil against the wall.

“Are you sure you want to do this again?” she asked Grandma Trini in Spanish. “The last time you got lucky.”

“This is my granddaughter we're talking about. I would do anything for her.”

The doorbell chimed. The old woman handed Fabi the bag of herbs. Fabi thanked her.

“I have a feeling that we will be seeing each other very soon,
querida
. Watch out for handsome boys. They are not always what they seem.”

Fabi nodded as she left. A tall man with lots of gold chains was waiting at the door. It was Juan “El Payaso” Diamante, the
narcotraficante
. Grandma Trini greeted him politely.

Outside, Fabi touched her grandmother's arm. “That's the guy Santiago was running away from the night he got bit on the butt by the dogs!”

Trini shrugged as she got into her car. “A lot of people come to Doña Lisa for advice.”