If Selena had lived...

In our 11-year history, the one sure-fire seller for Estylo was the late Tejano star Selena. We did three special issues dedicated to her but it got harder to come up with new material as time went on. I had already done a fictional look at what Elvis might have done with his life had he lived another 20 years sometime earlier, so it wasn't too hard to fabricate a future for Selena, since after two previous specials, I knew way more about her than I ever intended to know. RIP, Selena.

If Selena had lived...A fictional look at what might have happened if Selena were alive today.
by Linda F. Cauthen

Selena Quintanilla Perez felt groggy, as though she had awakened from a bad dream.
When she opened her eyes she realized the dream was real.
She lay in a hospital bed with tubes all over her body. She took a deep breath and felt a sharp pain in her chest. She tried to speak but her throat permitted only a croak. A moment later she saw a nurse appear at her side and tried to speak again, as the nurse removed the tube from her throat and gently touched her face.
“Be still, Selena. You were badly hurt and need to rest.”
Selena struggled to sweep the cobwebs out of her head and remember why she was here. Then, like a bolt of lightning, it all came back. The meeting with her fan club president, Yolanda Saldivar, the argument, walking out of the room and feeling the gunshot rip through her body, then running down the hall to the motel office and collapsing inside. At that point the memories stopped.
“I thought she was my friend, but she tried to kill me. Oh, my God...”
“Just calm down, dear,” the nurse said in a soothing voice. “We’re taking good care of you here and you’ll be just fine.”
“My family!” Selena wailed. “They must be going insane!”
“They’ve been here the entire three days you were unconscious. You can see them soon.”
After a doctor came in to check on her, Selena was allowed a few minutes with her family. Only two were allowed in at a time, starting with her husband Chris and her mother Marcela, both with tears in their eyes. Chris took her hand and kissed it, murmuring, “I though we had lost you, my beautiful one.”
Her mother brushed her hair back from her face, kissed her cheek and whispered, “My precious baby.”
After a while all the other family members came in to greet her, including her father Abraham, her sister Suzette and her brother AB.

Two weeks later Selena’s doctors agreed that she could finish recuperating at home. When they wheeled her to the door of the hospital, she was shocked to see hundreds of fans filling the parking lot and street, many holding signs with messages like “Get well soon, Selena!" She also noticed some that read “Death to Yolanda Saldivar." While in the hospital she had attempted to drive the memories from her mind, but when the police came to question her she had no choice but to live it all again. At least now she could go home, get well and try to put her life back together.
Being home with the man she loved made Selena think once more about something they had discussed before the shooting. She had already made an appointment to have her IUD removed. Now she was even more determined to start a family. Nearly dying had caused her to focus on what was really important in life.
In June she had the device removed, and by late July she was pregnant.

The trial of Yolanda Saldivar began in October. Selena’s early-blooming baby bump made her a sympathetic figure in court, and the obviously unbalanced Saldivar looked even more like a monster. The two-week trial resulted in a conviction, with Saldivar sentenced to life for attempted murder. All Selena could feel was relief and the desire to move on with her own life.
She spent the winter at home, planning for her new baby and the resumption of her career. Christopher Abraham Perez was born on April Fool’s Day 1996. As much as she enjoyed motherhood, Selena was itching to get back in front of her fans again. She had spent the last months of her pregnancy designing a new line of clothes for her boutiques and working on an autobiography she hoped to publish one day. But in her heart she remained a musician.
Selena returned to the studio on fire with renewed ambition, and her band was thrilled to have their star back in action. Her producer, Keith Thomas, showed up one day with a big grin on his face and a tape in his hand. He said that the label’s biggest artist was dying to record a duet with her and had even written a song for them to do together. She took the tape and gasped as she read the label.
“Garth Brooks wants to record with me? Wow!”
The duet appeared on Selena’s album Resurrection, released in December 1996. Her fans were overjoyed to have her back and the album rocketed to multi-platinum status. The single with Brooks topped both the pop and country charts and won two Grammys at the 1997 awards show. Her Resurrection tour, launched in April 1997, took her all over U.S. The following year Chris Jr. turned two. He was already a veteran traveler, so she decided to go international the next time. Her follow-up tour in 1998 became the year’s biggest grosser .
By now Selena was ready to take a breather. When she came home from the road she relaxed with her family, planned the opening of several new boutiques and continued to work on her autobiography. She also began another, even more important project. Her second child, Marcella Suzette Perez, was born October 20th, 1999.
While taking time off from the road, Selena considered new musical directions. After conquering the English-speaking music market, she was ready to try something closer to her roots. Listening to new sounds from artists like Shakira and Carlos Vives, she was inspired to record another album in Spanish, this time with a fresher, more global sound than the Tejano style that had launched her career. Her album Caliente was released in 2000 to rave reviews and again sales went multi-platinum.
Having achieved so many of her goals before the age of thirty, Selena reflected on her life and finally finished her autobiography. Selena was published in 2001 and topped the best-seller list for several months. She made many appearances on TV talk shows to promote the book, and soon network executives were so taken with her effortless charm that they offered her the chance to film a pilot for her own show.
Her sitcom, entitled simply Selena, debuted in fall 2003 on the WB and was an instant hit. She starred as a young wife and mother determined to be a singing superstar. The show is now in its second season and has already been picked up for a third. Her next album is set for release later this year, and she just found out she’s pregnant with her third child, an event that will be written into the sitcom’s storyline. Selena, Chris and the kids live in a beautiful home in Beverly Hills while she shoots the show, and Chris has produced music for several feature films. They also have a home in Corpus Christi, where they return frequently to visit family.
In 2004, Yolanda Saldivar was murdered in prison.