Déborah L. González (Director of Community Bridges, Quinsigamond Community College)

Canela and Her Girls

This story is based on true events, but the line between reality and fantasy is blurry, so do not be fooled and most importantly, judge only if you are ready to throw the first stone.

     Once upon a time there was a girl with brown curly hair and skin of the color of cinnamon who always dreamed about flying where white snow falls every winter. She grew up in a tropical island, where sand is soft and also white, where her feet would have to run fast for the sea water to cool them off.

     One day the little girl grew taller than all her peers. They called her little giant, and since she felt out of place because no one would dance with her at parties, and because dancing was one of her favorite activities, she wished upon a star to give her wings to fly to a place where she would not seem so tall, a wonderful place where she would be asked to the dance floor whenever her eyes decided.

     And so, after years passed her father whom she adored, with his big hands and his soft voice gave her a token for one free ride to the land where white snow falls every winter. He said he had won a big wagon full of gold coins and that he had traded it for the token. He wanted his daughter to be happy, so he did what he could.

     The little girl's name was Canela.

     And she flew to the land where white snow would fall every winter, and she entered the university. She buried herself in books about food and she made sure that she traced everything she could about why the women from her tropical island and their ancestors used it in their songs and their stories every time they could.

     The winter came again, and Canela stepped outside her door, fighting the snow that had accumulated at the entrance of her little cottage. She saw a face, and the face smiled at her. She was so lonely she thought of it as the friendliest face she had ever seen, so she invited it to come closer realizing it belonged to a young man who had just moved next door. He needed some coal to make his cottage warm for that night. Canela always gave, even from what she did not have, and she gave with her heart, so from the coal, she managed to make two bunches so her new neighbor would not be cold or worse, die that night.

     The neighbor was so grateful, he never forgot the favor and promised he would be a good friend to Canela. What she didn't know was that her new friend Naerok had being very hurt in the past and any transgression anyone would dare do against him would metamorphose him into a ferocious dragon no one could tame.

     Naerok and Canela became such good friends their love for each other transformed them into a very lovely couple. They married and they were happy for 364 days. The day before the end of that year, Canela traveled where words become food and people vote for their favorite dishes. She traveled because she loved to fly and her hard work had paid off and she knew that her words could become food, and her food and her dishes would be appreciated by others. She liked to give, so she did and her husband Naerok was happy for her and let her go the day before their first anniversary.

     In her stay she was so happy she made food that was appreciated by others like never before. She was so comfortable in her own skin that for the very first time she even allowed other men to talk to her, without the fear of being rejected for what her eyes would tell them. That is how she met Taibo, a handsome young man with hair like gold who showed her the rodeo and took her to a walk made of cobblestones and fragrant breezes. They had a wonderful time, but for Canela it was time to leave. She understood that her eyes would have to see Naerok in a completely new way, after discovering how they could talk to others.

     On her way back to the land where white snow always falls in the winter, Naerok found out that Canela had walked with Taibo on cobblestones and that fragrant breezes had made their company happy. He got so angry when he saw her again he struck her surprised body to the ground with such might she broke her chin and her hands became idle.

     Naerok's voice became that of a monster,

     "How could you dare hurting me like this!" Naerok screamed, "Why would you betray me." "I will never trust you again." "You will pay for what you have done to me, for the rest of your days."

     His hands grew big and fire came out of his mouth scorching her hair until her scalp got burnt and she had to hide for months.

     During those months of captivity, she became pregnant. She had a little girl with big green eyes and a head full of dark hair. The little girl's name was Preciosa. She was so good at listening and memorizing things that she learned how to say wow before she was seven months old, and she could sing and read at a very early age.

     Fifteen months later she had a second daughter. Her name was Sabiduría. She was strong and she was independent. She loved to draw and to make sense of numbers. She saw numbers in everything that surrounded her. She would play for hours in a little corner of her room, and no one would know where she was, until her mother would smell that she was hungry and she would call her for her vegan diet. For some reason Sabiduría had rejected meat from the time she was born, so Canela understood and never forced her to eat what her heart could not digest.

     The girls grew beautiful, and they were smart like Canela and Naerok. They played together and got along very well. They would sing to each other until they would fall asleep and make pancakes on Sundays with a recipe their mother taught them since they could remember.

     Right about when Preciosa was turning five, Canela had an announcement to make to her family. She was no longer in captivity, and she would go to the big and scary world to start a new cottage where words would not wound her and her girls would not have to learn that being hurt by their husbands or wives (if they ever decided to have one) is acceptable. The girls understood what Canela intended to do and Naerok pretended that he had forgotten all about his trespasses. So, the girls would stay with Canela one week and with Naerok another.

     That arrangement worked for about two years, until one day a wicked witch disguised as a princess with eyes like sapphires and hair like ebony came about and convinced Naerok that his fury when Canela walked the cobblestones was still real and justified. She promised Naerok riches if he would follow her plan to take Preciosa and Sabiduría with him forever. She said to him, "Canela is genetically defective." "See how her feet are naked in the middle of the winter and her skin smells like fragrant cinnamon all the time?" "My most beloved Naerok, that is a sign of dementia!" "You need to protect your daughters, Naerok, you need to take them away from her!" And so, because Naerok still had hatred in his heart, and he was easily persuaded, he took all his savings and spent them in the mission of taking the girls away from their mother.

     The day that Canela opened the letter from the honorable judge telling her that she had lost her daughters to Naerok, she hid herself into the forest. Her feet were naked and her skin smelled like cinnamon like never before. It was cold and it was damp. Noises in the night were terribly scary, especially those from the beasts who never sleep when they sense that some one in pain is around them. She cried blood and she sweated tears because her tears were so many they could not come all out from her eyes. She stayed there for a week, until she figured out a way to conceal the wound all the suffering had caused her from the horrible news.

     The judge not only had taken Canela's girls away from her, but she had imposed on Canela a payment of a wagon full of gold coins to be given to Naerok every month for her daughters' needs. She was worried that her daughters would not be taken care of properly especially Sabiduría who as a vegan could not have meat, and if she did she would become angry and aggressive towards others. But she had no choice. Her hands were tied with invincible written words for which she had no weapons yet.

     Canela was lost. She wore a gown with many layers so no one would see the open wound she had from her throat to her abdomen. She would go to work and help people, and she would come back home and meet with her best friend Lucía. She would take a shower, cry and then go to bed thinking about her little ones until her dreams would become her best reality and her nightmare would be waiting for her when she opened her eyes every morning. She had to trust that her road would take her to an end at which her daughters would be waiting to never be alone again, for her not to be so helpless and incomplete.

     Lucía and Canela met each other in Ethereal Road. They immediately connected given they shared the deaths of people they loved. Lucía had lost her brother on a Halloween and Canela her father 6 days later the same year. They felt they had a connection and they grew their friendship. They fell in love and they opened the doors of their hearts to the world so everyone would know that they were a couple and that they would do everything they had together to rescue back the girls that the wicked witch and the hateful Naerok had managed to legally kidnap.

     Canela and Lucía fought for the girls with all they had. They cried together every night, and they cherished every other weekend when Canela would have 48 hours to spend with Sabiduría and Preciosa. For them every minute was like the last and as such it would be both happy and painful.

     Years passed, and the girls grew, and they had now the power to break loose and go where their hearts would tell them they belonged. They went to universities and followed their paths towards learning about what they loved most. Sabiduría became a veterinarian and Preciosa a famous actress and script writer. They talked frequently with both, Naerok and Canela. But they would never forget the time when Naerok and the wicked witch had kidnapped them legally and had taken them away from their mother. They both found love and married. They also had children of their own. Sabiduría married a beautiful redhead nurse who loved to feed her recovering kittens and dogs, and Preciosa a handsome football player with big blue eyes and dark brown hair with whom she grew old and happy. Naerok degenerated into a man full of warts who could barely talk because every time he would fire would burn those who surrounded him. He was so afraid to be alone, he refrained from opening his mouth. The wicked witch lost her mask and because her ugliness was so abhorrent, she was rejected by Naerok. But by then, it was already too late to realize the huge mistake he had made with his daughters. Canela, and Lucía wait for their girls to visit every time they want. They savor the happiness of the present, although the anguish from the past sometimes gets in the way. making memories impossible to swallow.

     Today Canela and Lucía enjoy the view of a cottage with a balcony facing the ocean. The sand is white and the breezes smell like iodine and algae. Canela takes a walk and looks at the horizon remembering each and every step walked over the snow. She steps over the water at the edge of the shore where her reflection brings back the memories of the girl with curly brown hair and skin of the color of cinnamon: The girl that once upon a time had no idea where the path to the land where snow seems to fall every winter would take her.