Cecilia's Magical Mission by Viola Canales

Author:Viola Canales
Format: epub
Publisher: Arte Público Press
Published: 2020-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Cecilia dragged her feet up to Doña Faustina’s door and wondered what she would encounter inside. She stared at the front door for a long, long time before she forced herself to raise her hand to knock. Before she could, the door flew open, which caused her to jump back and almost fall.

“I’ve been expecting you,” a gravelly voice called out, followed by a rolling riot of giggles.

Cecilia gasped. “Is that you . . . Doña Faustina?”

“Yes, come in.”

Cecilia stepped into the doorway, baffled by the shrill giggles she had heard. Was Doña Faustina laughing at her?

“Boo!” someone shouted and caused Cecilia to leap into the air. All of a sudden, Julie and Lebna popped out from behind the door. They giggled wildly and pointed at Cecilia’s shocked expression.

Doña Faustina peered at her with a fox-like grin.

Cecilia fixed her stern gaze on the two girls and said in a sharp tone, “What’s so funny?” Then, ignoring them, she greeted Doña Faustina and followed her to the kitchen.

Doña Faustina gestured for the girls to sit at the table in the middle of the room while she shuffled over to the sink and filled a glass with water. Then she plunked the glass down on the table, pulled out a chair and dropped into it with a loud thud.

“This is the beginning of his first miracle,” Doña Faustina said, and locked her eyes on Cecilia’s while she pointed at the glass with a long, bony finger.

Cecilia leaned forward and stared at the glass as Julie and Lebna looked on in wonder.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Cecilia cleared her throat and said, “Doña Faustina . . . I’m confused. What are you saying?”

The old woman looked at the girls’ puzzled faces, then focused on Cecilia and said, even louder, “What was his very first miracle?”

Cecilia tilted her head slightly and caught a glimpse of the purplish hue of the setting sun outside, which suddenly triggered her memory. “Wine,” she said and sat up in her chair. “Christ turned water into wine—at a wedding—at his mother’s request. That was his first miracle.”

“Yes,” Doña Faustina said with a slight nod. “And what does this mean?”

Cecilia couldn’t believe that, for her apprenticeship, she would be grilled on New Testament stories, stories she hadn’t thought about for the longest time. This is a total waste of time. She was getting even more anxious about the science project she had not started. Then, as she caught sight of her friends’ bewildered expressions, she thought, Well, there’s a silver lining to all this confusion. It will finally convince them that their science project idea—that we should go around investigating the ins and outs of the spiritual world—is utterly stupid.

Cecilia flinched and felt her shirt yanked. When she raised her eyes, she found Doña Faustina staring at her.

“What were you thinking that was making you grin?”

“Eh . . . I’m sorry . . . I have no idea what it means—turning water into wine.”

Doña Faustina then focused her penetrating gaze on Julie and Lebna, and this made them lean back from the table.

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