“Gine” — Episode 2

4

“Grandma, what do you think about this?” Giné placed the magazine on the kitchen table. It was opened to the page with the La Paz ad. Grandma had just returned from the grocery store and running other errands, including visiting one sick lady from the church. She was sitting at the table resting for a few minutes.

“Please, Grandma, it’s only for the summer, and it’s only $75.00, and it’s in Dunwoody; that’s not too far from here and it’s in a safe place. I can take the train or the bus, and I can pay for it myself. Please!”

“Slow down, girl,” Grandma advised. “The money is not the issue, and I thought you wanted to be a teacher.”

“I still do, but this would be something fun to join just for the summer — something different. Please, please, please! I’ll be good while I am over there. I promise,” Giné pleaded.

“Well, have you called them yet to check them out?” Grandma asked.

“Well, no. But I’m sure they’re all right. They are advertising in a reputable magazine. I am sure they screen and check out their advertisers to make sure they’re legit. Please, Grandma. I’d love to do it. I hardly get to do much.”

Grandma looked over the ad, then looked at Giné. “I’ll give them a call and let you know my decision.”

“How soon, Grandma?”

“Is tomorrow alright with you, young miss? Right now, we have to fix an early dinner, then I’m going down for a nap — probably call it a night.”

While they were cooking dinner, Ms. Nellie stopped by to drop off some of the chicken casserole she had baked earlier that day. Grandma showed her the ad. “What do you think, Nellie?”

“Looks legit to me. It’s only for the summer. Let her go and have fun. It’ll give her a little change of scenery from this ol’ place. Give it to her as a reward for sticking it out and finishing well at school — and with no drama,” Ms. Nellie said.

“I just don’t feel right in my spirit letting her go everyday like that at such a distance and for three months. I know I won’t be able to take her everyday myself,” Grandma said.

“You can let her drive herself up there when you don’t have the strength to do so. Look, Belle,” Nellie said to her, “you have to start lettin’ her go — snip the apron strings little by little. Let her do things on her own. She’s eighteen now, Belle. You can only hold on to her for so long.”

“It’s just that I’ve had her within eyesight and ear-shot since her mama left, and I don’t want the same thing happening to her that happened to Regina.” After giving it a few seconds thought, Grandma said, “I was going to call them tomorrow, but I got about fifteen minutes before they close. I think I’ll go call them now.”

After Grandma got off the phone, she did not look too pleased. “They sound legit, but there’s one catch I don’t like: they have to live on the facilities for the three months and something about them being able to come home every other weekend. No,” Grandma said shaking her head. “Can’t let her do that.”

“Is it just for girls?” Ms. Nellie asked.

Grandma nodded yes.

“What harm can a bunch of girls confined to a modeling facility do, Belle? Not much, if you ask me. And …”

The look Grandma gave Nellie stopped her in mid-sentence. “I hear you. Have you forgotten all the ‘harm’ you and I did and the ‘harm’ that could have come to us while we were living it up as teenagers on into our mid twenties? And … we both were from good homes with strict parents. How soon we do forget!” Nellie fell quiet as Grandma continued. “That’s why I don’t want her out of my sight.”

“But, Belle, she’s been out of your sight going across town to school each day. She’s been to the library many times by herself. You’ve sent her to the store by herself. She went to church camp last summer for two weeks all by herself. And she came back with no scandal on her unlike a couple of the other girls. That child knows how to take care of herself, plus, she fears you,” Nellie said with a smile. “Let her go and have some fun.”

“I’ll pray over it tonight,” Grandma said in a tone that signaled the end of that conversation.

The next morning, Grandma gave Giné permission to sign up.

“Oh, thank you, Grandma,” Giné said.

“Just remember my five pieces of wisdom I gave you the day after your graduation. Nellie and I will drive you on up there. We’ll pick you up every other weekend and at the end of the summer. And always keep that cell phone on. That’s one modern technology I am mighty pleased with.”

Giné gave her Grandma a hug and a promise to do as she told her. She then hurried off to register.

5

Grandma and Nellie were very impressed with the two-story cream colored building with its four columns standing tall as they pulled up into the wrap-around parking lot lined with a rainbow of summer flowers. “I have never heard of this place,” Nellie said looking around at the neatly manicured lawn. “I certainly wouldn’t like to have his job,” she said nodding towards the man driving the lawn mower across the far end of the lawn. “But he’s doing a good job.”

“Wow!” Giné said over and over as her eyes took in everything she saw.

La Paz stood back on a slight slope away from the busy Dunwoody traffic. It was on the quieter side of town and at the end of a complex with large, beautiful houses. “Kind of reminds me of the White House,” Grandma said as they climbed out of her car and entered the building.

After registration and walking with the group for a tour of the facilities, Grandma and Nellie sat in the lobby where finger foods, cakes, and drinks were being served, while Giné and the other registrants went into another room to receive their welcome packages.

“The workers seem respectable enough and are polite, and the area seems safe,” Grandma said pleased with what she observed.

“And these finger foods are mighty delicious,” Nellie said biting off one corner of her ham and cheese cracker sandwich followed by a sip of pineapple punch.

“Our food is just as good as theirs,” Grandma said. “Giné seems to have made a friend.” She looked off to her right where Giné was walking toward them with a young lady about her age.

“Grandma, this is Fiona. She’s from Florida.”

“Hi, Fiona. Pleased to meet you. This is Ms. Nellie,” Grandma said. “You didn’t come up from Florida all by yourself, did you?”

“No, Ma’am. I’m spending the summer with my aunt in Dunwoody. I’ll be staying with her when I begin school at Georgia State University.”

“You don’t say. That’s where Giné will be attending college. I hope you two get to see a lot of each other,” Grandma said.

After Giné had settled in, Grandma prayed God’s blessings and protection over her and her roommates, then she and Ms. Nellie headed on home.

______________________

Giné made lots of new friends over the next three months. She and Fiona became fast friends. Fiona would not stop pressuring her into making a commitment to spend one of the weekends with her. Giné almost talked her Grandma’s ears off her first weekend home. Grandma took this as a good sign that she made the right decision in letting Giné join in the La Paz experience. But, she had learned over the years not to take anything for granted and prayed harder for Giné in the upcoming weeks.

Fiona received permission to spend the third weekend with her aunt. Giné was also given permission to go with her. Fiona was of Caucasian descent, and from her conversations with Giné and others she seemed to come from a well-to-do family. She mostly wore expensive brand-name clothing, had access to her aunt’s silver Audi, and had a cell phone with all the latest features.

Fiona’s Aunt Kera lived about thirty minutes from the facilities. Wow! Giné thought as they drove up the winding road that led to the mansion-like house. It was actually two houses in one. Fiona, who had her own private entrance, had one section of the house to herself with everything at hand — a living room, two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a sunroom (which could also be used as a guest bedroom), a small kitchenette with a full range and a full size refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a dining room. All the rooms were fully furnished with exquisite looking furniture. Fiona’s aunt had the other part of the house to herself which was slightly bigger.

Aunt Kera was a fashion designer and a widow of five years. She owned her own business and worked with several top fashion designers. The house was surrounded by a well manicured lawn that seemed to stretch far into the rolling hills in the distance. Being set on a low slope, the view was breath-taking as the hills rolled away in the distance behind it. Giné drank in the striking view of the setting sun casting its red-orange rays behind the hills her first night there.

So this is how it looks on the other side, Giné thought looking around from the patio leading from the sun room. She had herself a blast with hours in the jacuzzi, splashing around in the outdoor swimming pool, learning to play tennis, watching movies, and playing around on the internet. Grandma has to definitely get me a new computer now, Giné thought. I can go places much faster than I can with that old dial up internet. Giné was no stranger to computers having used it at school and at the library.

Thinking church was a part of Fiona’s Sunday routine, Giné was up early, dressed and ready to go to church. She listened to some of the television preachers as she waited for Fiona to knock on her door.Boy, it’s amazing how much you can pack into one weekend, she thought as she waited. By the time Fiona got herself together, it was well past the eleven o’clock hour. But having had a tremendous weekend, Giné thought nothing of it.

“You’re all dressed up,” Fiona greeted her. “That is a beautiful dress.”

“Thank you. I thought you guys went to church,” Giné replied.

“I am so sorry. I wish you had let me know you wanted to go,” Fiona replied. “I didn’t think you’d be up to going after such a busy and long day on yesterday. Aunt Kera goes religiously. In fact, that is where she is now. I haven’t gone in a while, but I still believe in God and I do go ever so often.”

6

After a leisurely lunch, they headed for the mall. “We’ll come back and have supper with Aunt Kera. She’s normally in church all day on Sundays. I can smell something good coming from her kitchen,” Fiona continued as she closed the sliding glass door separating the two housing areas. She left a note on her aunt’s refrigerator door.

That was one shopping spree Giné would not forget. They continued their tour of the city visiting some expensive stores. Fiona bought them both a couple of outfits. They ended up at Baskin Robbins for a double hot fudge sundae each topped with nuts and dried fruit. So this is how folks live on the other side, Giné thought as they drove back to the house to prepare to head back to La Paz early Monday morning.

Ms. Gardena, one of the instructors, had her eyes on Giné, who proved to be a natural model. She took Giné under her wings and by the end of the seventh week, was presenting Giné with a three month contract to do photo shoots for various magazines and businesses advertising their products and services. Giné was overjoyed. “Grandma, I can’t believe it! They’ll take care of my hotel rooms, and food and travel expenses. Oh, Grandma, it’s only for three months, and Fiona and two other girls will be going as well. Please say yes!”

Grandma was happy for Giné, but all she would say was, “We’ll talk about it some more when you come home next weekend, and I need to pray about it. You know I don’t make any decisions without praying about it first.”

And talk they did.

“Where is this tour going to take you?” Grandma asked.

“The tour is going to be focused on Georgia and Northern Florida. It won’t be far and it’s gonna go by so fast, I’ll be back before you know it. Grandma, you hardly ever let me go anywhere. Please!”

“And who’s going to go with you now?”

“Ms. Gardena. The lady you met when you first took me up there. The one you spoke with about how things will run. She has become like a mother to me. She won’t let anything happen to us. Grandma, please, I have to go!”

“You don’t have to go anywhere,” Grandma said.

Giné looked at her Grandma. “I am going! Or my whole summer experience will be wasted. Why train to do something if you aren’t going to use it? That’s what you always say,” she said adamantly.

“Who’s in charge in here — you or me?” Grandma said surprised at Giné’s response. “Your negative attitude and that tone of voice is leading me to believe you have ulterior motives. Are those girls influencing you so strongly you no longer respect my word?”

“Nellie, I should have never let her go in the first place,” Grandma confided in Nellie. “She has never talked back to me with such defiance.”

“Belle, that’s because this means a lot to her. You can’t hold on to her for the rest of her life. I mean she’s eighteen; what do you think she is going to do wrong?”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Grandma said peering at Nellie. “Nellie, you know how cold and uncaring the world is. I am not afraid of what she will do. I am afraid of what the world will do to her. It will chew up an innocent girl like Giné, spit her out, kick her to the curb, and think nothing about it. Then she will come back broken-hearted, curled up in a fetal position, and then I am faced with having to go through that pain with her and putting her life back together. Why go through all that?”

“Well, the Bible says, ‘safety is of the Lord.’ We can do all the planning we want to do and take all precautions, but in the end safety is of the Lord. Just trust God to watch over her,” Nellie said.

“Yes, but why search for a cure when you can prevent the illness in the first place?” Grandma said. “Safety is of the Lord, but the Lord also gave us something called common sense.”

Although Grandma lovingly insisted on her returning home when her first three months were up at La Paz, Giné was determined to go with the tour group. She had tasted a bit of the other side and she was curious as to what else there was to see.

Grandma was despondent as she said goodbye to Giné after talking things over with Ms. Gardena. She chided herself for letting her go to La Paz in the first place, but consoled herself with the words her pastor had preached a few Sundays back: “You’re responsible for the teaching and training of your children, but you are not responsible for the choices they make after a certain age.”

Yes, Grandma had trained Giné in the right way and she had every confidence that Giné would do the right thing, but she also knew that life was full of surprises. She also consoled herself with the words of King Solomon that if you train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old, he will not depart from it. Grandma quietly prayed, “Lord Jesus, I am taking You at Your Word. Teach her what You want her to learn from this experience, but please bring her back to me safely. Protect her from tragedy, from trouble, and from anyone who would hurt her. I ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”