Chapter Twenty-Six: Part One
Grandmother stood and began telling a far more detailed account of their home, long before the trouble. She told stories she’d learned from her elders and teachers, and stories from her time as a girl, and later, as a woman. She shared her memories and the histories of her people through the songs of Alegria. The amigas listened to her in rapt attention, feeling as though they were experiencing the memories first hand through Grandmother’s words. When she finished, a light meal of cooked fruit and plain rice came out.
Uncle stood next and told of the times when he was young, taking up where Grandmother’s story had left off. He told many of his stories with humour, using clever imagery and metaphors to bring his songs to life. Everyone could see in their minds the characters and events as he described them, feeling as though they had been there and he was simply reminding them of those events. Rick couldn’t help himself and stared at Kate’s smiling face as she sat and listened, realising again how beautiful she was to him.
When Uncle finished his songs, Pedro started rapping out a monotonous, regular, four-a-second staccato beat on the big log drum. This time, the beats were different, deeper and bigger. The girls looked at each other, astonished at how the bass sounds became a reverberating resonance that echoed up from the ground beneath them.
Uncle’s acolyte couple came forward with a large container as Uncle retrieved a basket of coconut shell cups. Each person came forward at Grandmother’s beckoning. She looked at him or her carefully, sometimes resting her hand on their head, before selecting a cup and filling it with a specific amount for that person. They first held the cup to their forehead, then kissed the rim before quickly drinking its contents. They nodded their thanks to Grandmother before returning in silence to where they’d been sitting.
Grandmother called Kate forward and gave her a large serve. Kate did as the others had done and drank it quickly. Sitting back down in front of Rick and his parents, she tried to understand the complex tastes in her mouth. Whenever she thought she had the flavour nailed down, it seemed to change. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but it was distinctly alien. The looks on Dee and Carrie’s faces showed that they appeared to be having a similar experience.
Grandmother finished serving out the tea, and everyone but those playing the drum remained seated. Without dropping a single beat or breaking the rhythm, the drummers changed on the fly, keeping the deep regular beats resonating from both the drum and the surrounding ground.
As the vibrations of the drumbeats passed through her, Kate felt a warm sensation washing through her body, a comfortable and somehow familiar feeling. It was as if she had fused with the essence of the rhythm and nothing more existed. Sitting still, she felt the beats radiating from her own body, and from every other person and thing around her. Kate realised she could hear Rick’s breathing and wondered if he was okay. She turned, and was surprised to find him well behind her and breathing silently, even though she could hear him. At that moment, she recognised that she was not hearing him with her ears, but she was hearing him clearly all the same.
He looked at her, his smile soft. ‘I love you, Kate.’ The physicality, the absolute reality and truth of his statement rocked her to her core. At that moment, she understood how profound and deep his feelings were. She heard his words, but more incredibly, she felt his thoughts and intentions as if they had formed in her own mind.
She looked into his eyes and whispered back to him, ‘And I love you.’ Kate saw the same reaction in him as he felt the meaning and depth behind her words to him. The lovers shared an awareness of their deep connection and closeness. She couldn’t stop herself from thinking about how she felt when he made love to her. The people near them softly cheered and chuckled, smiling at her and Rick. With huge grins, a few of the ladies teasingly fanned themselves.
Kate’s instinctive reaction of embarrassment stopped as she felt the people showering her with loving acceptance. Rick ran his finger down his chest and Kate understood his signal. She sat straight and let herself centre and breathe. As her mind relaxed, she found she could perceive those around her as if they were distant extensions of her own body. Rick was there, but so too were Dee and Carrie, the depth of their feelings for each other clear and bright to her. Kate looked at the girls and they smiled back, clearly experiencing the same effects and sharing their own merging. In her mind, she found Dom and Nat and received a revelatory insight into their dynamic. Every single person there was also present within her.
The love and shared devotion that tied the congregation together took on a physical quality that flowed around and over them. People started standing and embracing each other, their interactions clearly felt and experienced by all. Kate stood and turned to Rick. As his arms encircled her and she hugged him back, a wave of pure light surged through her, through them both. ‘Alegria!’ called those standing near as they rushed in to add their blessing and share in their embrace. Soon everyone was in a single laughing mass and rejoicing as they shared themselves, all parts of a singular, happy and loving communal mind.
The drumming changed, slowing and breaking its rhythm before stopping. People took their places in a tight semicircle to hear the next stories. Grandmother stood. She told the story of Edison being found by Juanita’s father in a tree, still in his car, drunk and singing; her recounting of the events bringing raucous laughter. She told of the love at first sight that he and Juanita experienced, of JC’s birth and the happy times and events of the next few years. She talked of Dominique and Edison’s parents as her own, weeping as she described the day they were lost in the plane crash when Dom and Edison were both lying injured in hospital. Grandmother’s face darkened and she placed her hand on Maria’s shoulder before she sat beside her.
Maria stood and took a deep breath. She started to tell the histories of the horror and carnage that forced them from their home, starting with the poisoning of the river and their search for drinkable water. In graphic and spine-chilling detail, she told of the cold-blooded executions of Juanita’s father and brothers. She told them of Juanita’s brilliant leadership in the face of her loss, and of her wounding. How Dom and Edison fought with them, and later when the rest of Dom’s unit arrived and joined the battle.
Maria left nothing out of the accounts of the fighting and the suffering. The pain and memories were physical and present to everyone listening to her words as if they’d experienced every terror, and were reliving every loss themselves. Kate felt like her mind would cave in from the power of Maria’s stories until she felt Rick’s hand on her shoulder; as she automatically took a deep breath, everything became manageable again. Kate glanced to her side and saw that Dom and Madison were doing the same with the girls.
Uncle stood and hugged Maria before he continued. As his story went on, more hands reached out to more shoulders until every person was touching and being touched; connected and united in their experience. Uncle told the story of their long exodus from the jungle whilst being hunted by the army and the drug cartel; and of their long journey from South America to Alegria. They all felt the anguish of caring for and losing others, still gravely ill from the poisoned water and wounded from the fighting. A number of people were physically sick with the emotions of the story, their purging helping the whole group to feel better. At a suitable point, the story paused and Uncle clapped loudly before Grandmother passed out slightly smaller portions of the journeying tea. Everyone sat in clusters, needing the physical touch of those around them.