Manotas Vélez Sofía Margarita, The Savoir

THE SAVOIR

Written By Sofía Margarita Manotas Vélez

My name is Love, and this is my story. I live in Texas in a small town call Amarillo with a population of 199,000 people, pretty small compared to other cities. I don’t have a family because when I was 14 years old my parents died from an accident since that moment it has just been all me, later on, I met my current boyfriend, Mark with whom we’ve been together for the past four years and living together for two. In the beginning, it was all magic. I felt complete and completely in Love, he was extraordinary and sweet, but too good to last. The past year has been a nightmare, he didn’t care about me, nor supported any of my dreams, and fighting and arguing became our routine chores, and it was just too much for me, that I grew out of Love.

From an early age, I knew that I wanted to be an artist, I’ve always dreamed myself singing and dancing in high scenarios, but since my parents died when I was little and I was left alone, this dream became more like a childhood fantasy. As I got older, I started working at a bar as a waitress. Later on, my work was much valued, and I received a promotion to be the manager of the bar, and that is where I’m today, Notwithstanding, I have been trying to figure out what I should do next. The other day I was at the bar doing a shift I covered from one of my employees, and there was this guy who seemed to be necessary, he was tall, pretty brown eyes and skin like the color of chocolate along with a black suit. He was in the bar since 5 pm. By that time, it was already 10 pm; he had been drinking for a while, then he invited me to the conversation. I later found out that he was a famous producer from Los Angeles who was looking for new talents, since that moment I just knew that was my opportunity to show him what I could do and finally leave Amarillo; and the spiteful memories.

Belatedly after, I found myself auditioning for him,

singing, dancing like there was no tomorrow. By the end of my shift I had gained the complete attention of that man, he told me to leave Amarillo and to go back with him to Los Angeles, he added that he could make me famous that it was going to be easy, he told me a fairytale, and I believed it completely.

The next day I couldn’t eat, work or do anything. I was just blind by the idea that maybe it was time for me to go and live my dreams and risk it all; a lot of thoughts flooded my mind. Even though my relationship was terrible, I had spent four years of my life with Mark. I thought at least if I was going to leave Amarillo, I needed to give him an explanation. Still, things didn’t go as planned, that night we got into an extreme fight, and we said very hurtful things to each other, so in my frustration that night when he fell asleep, I took everything I could and left to the airport.

A few hours later, I was enjoying the beautiful sunset of Los Angeles, California, and I couldn’t be happier and scared at the same time. I was shocked by this city; It is very overwhelming and also very huge. My first thought was to contact the producer I met at the bar, he had given me his business card, I tried to reach him on the phone, but he never answered so I decided to go to the address that appeared on the business card. When I got there, I saw a massive building with lots of lights and signs all around it, it looked terrific, but then I felt nervous about entering the building.

A few minutes later, I decided to walk in the building asking for the producer; lucky for me; I was received by his assistant who asked for my name, the purpose of my visit, and If I had an appointment. I was silent for a while then before I was going to respond to the question, the assistant added.

“Excuse me, miss; If you don’t have an appointment. Then I would like to ask you to leave please.”

I was bewildered and upset because I didn’t know anyone

there. I was all by myself, also with a minimal amount of money and nowhere else to go.

“It was all a fantasy, I shouldn’t have left my town, and my job,” I told myself sadly.

I was alone in a city I didn’t know, so I just wandered around walking, and the next thing I know there was this lady that approached me, told me her name was Georgina and began to talk to me:

“well, you seem sad and confused,” Georgina asked.

“yes, ma’am, I am,” I responded. Belatedly after, I told her my story because she seemed like a nice person.

“What a terrible story, my dear! I’m sorry to hear about your situation, and maybe I can help you out. I’m the owner of a famous Burlesque called “The shine,” and perhaps you can show me what you can do and will see if you can work for me. For starters you can live in a small room I have for rent in my apartment if you want.” Georgina responded with tearful eyes.

I was stunned by the offer, but fearful because I didn’t know this woman, but after some minutes of thoughts, it came to my mind that that’s the best I can do for now and that I needed to trust her because at least she was going to give me a place to live and perhaps a place to work. the I responded;

“Thank you, Georgina, you are a lifesaver I swear I’m not trouble and I’m going to make it up to you.”

From that day on, everything began to escalate very fast; I did my audition to the Burlesque. It went perfectly fine, Georgina hired me, and I was happy that I was going to be working on something I like.

A couple of days went by; I was dancing and singing every night with beautiful dresses and outfits, but most importantly, I was surrounded by people who supported me, and who later became my family. Time went by, and there was this handsome guy called Mike who was the bartender of the Burlesque,

he was there every night, and every night he waited for me to end my shows and walk me back home. We started to get close, even though he was cute and supportive, I was afraid of being hurt again. Nevertheless, Mike was very patient and caring. As the days went by, I decided to give it a shot.

A while later, I began to get a lot of attention from the spectators of the show, everybody that entered the Burlesque told the guy in the entrance that they were looking for me, hoping to see me in the show. I was living my best life, I was happy, in love and doing what I always wanted to do and getting a lot of attention for it, which meant I was doing something right. That night there was a guy called Samuel in the audience. Georgina came to me and told me he was one of the most notorious talent managers in the country and that I needed to impress him right away, that night I sang and danced until my feet and throat ache, I gave it all.

The next morning I received a call from his assistant who told me that he wanted to see me that day at 4 pm in his office, I couldn’t believe it, I was amazed by what was happening. I arrived at the building at 3:30 pm. I waited to be 4 pm to get to the floor where the meeting was; when I entered in the office, I was amazed by how nice and organized everything was, then Samuel arrived in, and we started talking, and he kindly explained everything that he had planned for me; If I was going to accept to work with him, but then He later told me something that left me very sad and hesitant, he said; “If you need to work with me, then you have to leave the Burlesque,” Samuel said.

At that moment, lot’s of thoughts flooded my mind because the people in the Burlesque had grown to be more than a family to me. They gave me a chance when I needed it the most; they made me who I am, Georgina is like a mother to me. I was bewildered and angry because I didn’t

understand why I couldn’t do both things. then Samuel broke the silence and added;

“Take some time and think about it. I will call you in the next few days for you to tell me your decision.”

When I arrived home, I decided to talk to Georgina and explain to her the situation, and see what advice she can give me.

“G, I’m worried, and I don’t know what to do because Samuel told me that if I wanted to work with him, I needed to stop working here, and with all honesty, I don’t want to do that. But also, I think having him as my manager could help grow my career nationwide, but I don’t want to upset you or to let you down.”

“Oh baby, that is not fair to you; I don’t understand why he would put you in such an awkward situation. But for me, you don’t have to worry, if you think that he can help you grow and become better, you Will have my blessings, the whole team at the Burlesque and I will always be by your side, do what you think is best.” Georgina responded.

After talking to her, I felt like something was not right, she wasn’t happy nor was she sad or angry, I didn’t understand why she would be okay with me leaving the Burlesque, I needed to know more, So I asked her again;

“G, what’s wrong I know something is bothering you, I can tell, please tell me you know we are a family and you can tell me anything, what’s going on?” I asked furiously.

“My sweet girl, I can’t lie to you; there is something in the back of my mind. The other day I received a card from the bank telling me that there was a problem with my savings account and that it has been frozen for not paying back the loan on time, so as hard it is to say I’m bankrupt. I can’t sustain the Burlesque by myself, so I might as well sell it to someone who

wants to continue with the business before the bank uses it as a collateral payment.”

“Oh my God; why didn’t you say anything earlier? I am so sorry to hear that! Oh, God! We can’t lose the Burlesque. It is your life and all your dreams. I’m not going to let this happen. I don’t want to sound narcissistic, but I know that a lot of people come to see me at the shows and if I had to double up my shifts at the Burlesque, I’m going to do it, and that way, together we will try to raise more money to pay the debts that you owe the bank. You helped me when I most needed it the most, and now it’s my turn to help you.”

A few days later, Samuel called me and asked me if I already made up my mind, and I responded;

“I had some time to think about it, and I want you to know that I appreciate your time and consideration you had in me, but I would have to decline the offer politely,” I said nervously.

It was a callous decision to make, but I chose to be loyal to the Burlesque family. When I told him that he sounded pretty upset and rude to me over the phone, he turned into a different person than the kind and respectful person I had met previously in his office. And he hung up the phone on me.

I was very cautious and confident by my decision, the Bursque meant everything to me, and I was determined to do everything in my power to save it from bankruptcy.

The next morning, I didn’t like the way things ended between Samuel and me over the phone, So I thought I owed him the truth as to why I declined his offer. I told him everything with more important details. Although he agreed that he was very disappointed and angry, he also added that he understood but that his doors of opportunity were closed from that on.

I was sad at first when I heard that, but It was the least of my worries at the moment; I just needed to sort out the

situation at the Burlesque and make Georgina happy again. That same day I went to the Burlesque and called the working staff in a meeting, and I explained the situation with full transparency, and we all agreed that everything had to be changed to overcome this financial crisis. The staff decided to help out to keep the business, and as a family, we were all committed to saving the Burlesque.

Months passed and everything went well, and we worked as hard as we could, we made lots of sacrifices. In the end, we raised enough money to pay back all the debts. Everyone was happy that the business was out of risk. Georgina was over the moon, dropping tears of joy and proud of every one of us. She had even started singing again and had initiated her segment in the Burlesque, which was about her singing and dancing, which made me very happy because she had lost the desire to perform a long time ago. But amid everything that happened, she was able to get it back.

As for me, everything went well; I’m currently performing in the big theater of the Burlesque. I became the star I have always dreamt of, I have a big family and friends that support and adore me, and I have the most incredible and caring boyfriend of all time, and that’s everything I ever wanted. And most importantly, I learned a life lesson; “If you are willing to accept and learn from your mistakes, you can always become a better person every day and be just like the phoenix who always comes back from the ashes to be better than ever.”