داستان کوتاه انگلیسی

Roller Skates to Revolution (part2)

She was blonde, blue eyed and taught Beby things and showed her around. Mary Allen taught Beby the song “White Christmas”, they would sing it over and over again every night in the rec room. Beby was able to quickly pick up English and in three months she was fluently speaking, had made friends and finally found a place where she could enjoy herself. One year later her parents were able to make it out of Cuba and join her in Chicago. They picked her up from the boarding school and she was so elated to see her parents, but her emotions were torn. She had found a home and friends in the boarding school. Beby, with her parents and siblings, moved into a place in Chicago and she attended the public high school and found some normalcy in her life.


Beby found love with an Irish immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1957, named John Kells and they have been together since high school. They married April 29, 1972 and moved from Chicago, IL to Indiana, were their first son, Matthew, was born. After a few years they moved out to California and found a home in Los Altos in the bay area. Beby became a United States citizen in 1984. She had always wanted to become a citizen and she knew that she had lived in the U.S. long enough, her kids were born here, and she had always had an affinity for the U.S. Her grandmother taught English back in Cuba, and taught Spanish to the U.S. military members in Guantanamo. Beby was familiarized with America from the visitors from the base and the English radio shows her grandmother has listened to.

“Being in Guantanamo, I think it made us closer to that [American] lifestyle… it was a small town, but it was not a dirt road. It was more like Los Altos. We had great schools, theaters, everything. I do not remember not having high class stores, we even had Sears! We had many people from different countries where I lived, I had friends who were Chinese, of many different religions.”

Beby has had a long and fulfilling work life and volunteer life in the US. She studied Art History and worked for a newspaper company as an advocate, developing programs to encourage readership. Later on, she became the CFO for Aeron Clinical Lab. She also volunteered for 10 years at a Day Worker Center teaching English, and volunteered at Generation Connection Garden, connecting school age children 1st to 3rd grade with adult mentors.

Beby has been married for 49 years, and currently resides in St. Augustine, Florida. Although her roller-skating days are behind her, she still enjoys walking on the beach every day and taking lots of pictures.


Source: http://madeintoamerica.org