THE STORY –WITHIN

 

 

 

THE STORY –WITHIN

Day break was always beautiful especially in the countryside, Cabrela was a picturesque village set in the Alentejo, the smell of the morning dew was something that Santiago had always loved, and his days would start at the crack of Dawn. The horses needed to be fed  and the stables cleaned, for some it would seem to be a disgusting off putting chore to do first thing before breakfast but Santiago loved His horses and everything that had to do with them.

 The Castro family had taken him on as a stable hand when he was just thirteen, life was very hard back then and coming from a very poor family, he learned at an early age that he had to leave in order to help out and send some money home to help his parents and younger sisters. He would go home once a month and take the little money he had earned, giving it proudly to His father. Although it wasn´t much, it was always welcome, it meant that his family could make an extra trip to the local store and get a few more food supplies. The whole reason for his leaving home had been to help    out and be one less mouth to feed.

Life on the farm was hard, the heat was suffocating in the summer, and he dreaded it every year, the only highlight of his summer days was the fresh water Joana would bring him. Joana worked up at the main house with Maria do Carmo, who was in charge of the housekeeping ,she had grown up into a beautiful young woman , everybody had noticed her crush on Santiago , who shrugged it all off  with a shyness. He often thought about her, she had indeed grown up really fast, looking back at the very first time he had set foot on the Castro property four years ago Joana was just eleven although she wasn´t that much younger than him two years was still two years and made all the difference between their shared childhood on the farm , each of them doing their chores . They would often play together after work out under the old olive tree that stood in the back patio. Their laughter would be silenced every time they heard someone come up the gravelled path way.

As the years went on they grew apart, not because they wanted but because it wasn´t proper for a young lady to Play around with the stable hand who was a grown man. Maria do Carmo had started to warn Joana that there was talk amongst the other workers.

In those days the last thing a young woman needed was to be talked about .The gossip would kill her reputation .It was no longer proper for their friendship to be exposed as it had been, when they were younger.

On  one of his trips home , Santiago bumped into his old school friend Jose, he hadn´t seen him for ages , they chatted for some time and managed to catch up on their lives since they had last seen each other. Jose invited him to have dinner on that same night. Santiago had no idea that that very same dinner was going to change his life forever.

Later that day as he was walking to Jose´s house he stopped at the local tavern to find out what was going on in the world , although the world was at war , very little information came out in the papers ,even if it did , it was only for those who were literate and bothered to read them. Santiago was one of the fortunate souls whose parents had taught him to read and write at home. The tavern was the place to go, he always found it amusing there, and the older men would express their opinions on this and that, mostly after they had had a drink or two. That evening the tavern had a different atmosphere, more solemn, as he walked in ,the silence was deafening. Young Portuguese men were being called up to go to Cabo Verde and protect the Portuguese colony .The older men were concerned that their sons and grandsons would be called up. Neighbouring villages had already suffered casualties; their young men had gone off to” Africa” as they would say, not knowing when or if they were ever going to return.

He left the tavern , with mixed feelings , he wouldn´t mind going off to war , the wages were good , if he made it back, they money would be more than enough to help his family and maybe  even buy his own bit of land and settle down. The other part of him was petrified at all the horrors that would be in store for him. The very thought of not coming back home ever again to his family frightened him. He was not prepared to die, he was too young. Jose was waiting at the door for him,

“I thought you´d forgotten about dinner”

 “Sorry Jose, I stopped by the tavern to catch up on the latest news, all this talk on the war – just made me think...”

“I´m going – these are my last days of freedom before I leave, I was so happy to see you again today my friend, it is my last night here in the village, - come on let’s eat “

As they walked inside Santiago saw a young women in the kitchen, her face was familiar but he couldn´t remember where from. She was a beauty, her most striking feature was her eyes, they were hazel brown and her dark curly long hair was set back in a large thick pony tail. Little did he know that this young beauty was going to be the love of his life. She was Jose´s younger sister Maria, how could he not have remembered her. Looking back, he could picture her lagging behind, as he and Jose would play down by the stream.

That night during dinner, they´re eyes met a number of times and as he left he felt the urge to gently kiss her hand to thank her for the wonderful meal. Walking back home Santiago´s thoughts were filled with hope. He wanted to marry Maria but having no money to start a life was going to be difficult, then it struck him- that´s it I´m going to Africa serve my country and come home with some money, get married to Maria and have a family of my own.

On the day of his departure his parents eyes were filled with sadness, almost sure that that would be the last that they´d see of him. His mother slipped him a small booklet with a saint; she said it was to protect him. Maria was in tears it was obvious that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, her family had consented to they´re courting, as they said good bye they promised each other that they would always be together, promising to write as often as they could. A small crowd gathered round just as they had done when Jose had left six months earlier. Santiago hadn´t noticed that just behind him was another young woman – Joana. The Castro family were sorry to see him leave and the dark solemn feeling was all around. Joana was also in tears, she too was sorry to see him go, much more than anybody could imagine.

A year passed by, Santiago´s letters were less frequent to Maria´s sadness; she feared for his life, a whole year had passed. it had been six months since his last letter, she often wondered how he was coping , the hardships of war was something she had come face to face with . Her brother had come back a changed man, quiet and withdrawn. She doubted that he would ever overcome the post traumatic syndrome.

Her thoughts were focused on her beloved soldier that had departed; all that she wanted was to have him back safe and sound.

Another six months passed when one morning her mother rushed into her room at the crack of dawn, Maria awoke startled , her mother had good news , probably the best news ever , the war had ended the troops were being shipped back . Her heart raced at the thought of Santiago coming back. Her prayers were answered three weeks later. Santiago arrived home even sooner than anyone had anticipated and with a medal of honour. They were married within weeks of his return.

Seven  years later ,with three children  , Santiago decided to go back to work at the Castro´s property , they were still in need of a stable hand and Santiago was only more than willing to return to his beloved horses. He had missed everything while he had been away, even though he had been back for some years, his visits to the Castro´s had been scarce. Maria was a wonderful wife a dedicated mother, everything he had ever wished for, the money was needed and she understood that he would be better off working at the Castro´s, than anywhere else, what she didn´t know was that there was a danger that someone was going to jeopardise, her happiness.

Santiago started working and life soon picked up he came home every weekend he missed his family. During the week he would stay at the property looking after the horses. Early one morning  while he was finishing cleaning out the stables , a familiar figure appeared , there she was, walking in the stable holding a pot of freshly drawn water- Joana was back after a long stay at her aunt´s house in Montemor. He hadn´t seen her since he had left for the war. The attraction was instant all the memories of the past came flooding back, caught up in a moment of passion they broke all the rules and let lust take over them.

Nine months later Joana gave birth to a baby boy she named him Manuel , Santiago made the most difficult decision of his life , the hurt and anger that he was to face was nothing compared to what this helpless child was to endure , if he didn´t own up to his betrayal. Everyone at the Castro property had been shocked, with Joana´s pregnancy a single mother, with a baby to bring up. No one ever asked her who the father was, she had only confided in Maria do Carmo. It was more than obvious, Santiago had started to work back at the stables and she had become pregnant shortly after, although she had denied it, she had told everyone that she had become pregnant by her boyfriend when she had visited her aunt. What she hadn´t expected was that Santiago would own up to his betrayal and register the baby as his illegitimate son.

Maria ´s heart was broken, the children were so young and now there was another baby, her husband’s Baby – the love child. Santiago was indeed a lucky man, his wife had managed to forgive his betrayal, although she never forgot it, it was difficult for her to accept the baby at first, as the years went by her only daughter would go fetch him at the Castro´s property, Joana was delighted that her son had been accepted by his father´s family. Gertie adored him, every weekend she would go get him to come and stay with his other family. Manuel grew up loving his second family; it made it all easier for Joana too. Santiago never again fell into temptation and remained faithful to his wife until he died at the age of 48.

  

 In loving memory of my great Grandmother a very special lady.