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Portugal 1876

Gabriella giggled as she sang a silly song about an orange.  Ramiro and his sister were on their way home from school, skipping and holding hands.  It was a thirty minute walk to get to the school from their village, so they tended to pass the time like this, singing songs and trying to make each other laugh.  It was Ramiro's favorite time of day.

Their parents didn't like having to send Gabi to school.  But school was mandatory for the first three years and the money that five year olds got paid in the fields wasn't enough to cover the fine for not sending a child to school.  At least, that was what his father told him, anyway.  His parents didn't have the same reluctance to send him to school and Ramiro didn't really understand why.  It didn't matter.  As long as he was in school, Gabi would be in school too, Ramiro would make sure of it.

"Miro, when we get home, can we practice letters?" Gabi asked.

"Only if mom doesn't have chores for us.  But maybe after dinner we can practice letters," Ramiro said, as he kicked a rock down the road.  Mother was expecting another baby soon, which meant more chores than normal.  His older sister Maria did a lot of them so that Ramiro and Gabi wouldn't have to, but there was only so much she could get done after working in the fields all day.  Since Rui and Ivo were too young to be much help, that left the remainder of the housework for Ramiro and Gabi.

"I hate doing chores," Gabi complained.  "When I grow up I'm not going to do any more chores."

"How are you going to get away with not doing any chores?" Ramiro asked her.

"Easy!" Gabi proclaimed. "I'm going to be rich and live in a big house and I'll have servants to do all my chores for me!"

Ramiro rolled his eyes at her.  "You're going to have servants?  In your dreams!  There's no way any of us will ever be rich."

"You're just jealous, that's all," Gabi said, poking him in the arm.  "Last one home is a rotten egg!"

"I thought you didn't want to do chores," Ramiro called after her.  It was too late, she was running as fast as she could and already had a few meters on him.  "Hey, wait up!"

Ramiro still beat Gabi home, as he always did.  Gabi was fast, but Ramiro's legs were longer, so he could always catch her.  Normally they would have touched the door to mark their finish, but Ramiro didn't do that today.  He stopped before he'd even reached the house.  There was a mule tied up to a small post in front of their house.  They hadn't been expecting visitors.

"Miro, I - oof!" Gabriella ran straight into Ramiro as she rounded the corner.  Ramiro turned around to see her lying on the ground, the bottom of her skirt completely covered in dust.  Their mother wouldn't be happy about that.

"What's going on?" Gabi asked, as Ramiro helped her off the ground.

"Someone's at the house," Ramiro said.

Tears started welling up in Gabi's eyes.  "Mama?  Is she okay?"

"I don't know," Ramiro said.  He wished he could offer his sister some comfort.  But an unexpected visitor was never a good sign.  "Come on," he said, grabbing her hand.  She took it and squeezed it tight.

Ramiro pushed open the front door, pulling his sister along behind him. There were only two people in the main room of their two room house: his father and another man.  Ramiro recognized him from the clothes he wore.  It was the priest from the church they attended on Sundays.  Ramiro pulled Gabi closer to him.

"Mama?" he asked, afraid to know the answer.  The church they attended was a long walk from here, so the priest didn't come to their village often.  Whenever he did, there was usually a burial that followed soon after.

"Your mama's fine," his father said.  His tone was serious, but that was how it always was.  Ramiro never could tell how his father felt about anything.

"I'm actually here to talk to you, Ramiro," the priest said.  Gabi relaxed her grip on his hand a little.  Ramiro didn't relax his.

The priest gave a slight nod to his father, before turning his attention back to Ramiro.  "I hear you're doing well in school, Ramiro.  That you're very good at reading."

Ramiro beamed a little.  "Uh huh.  I just read a whole book by myself!" he proclaimed.  His teacher said that he was the first student she'd ever had who had finished a book by themselves.  Ramiro was very proud of that.  His parents didn't seem to care when he'd told them. Maybe he was wrong.  Why else would his father have told the local priest, if he wasn't proud of Ramiro too?

"How would you like to keep going to school?  Instead of working on the farm, you could learn to read even better," said the priest.

"I'd like that a lot," Ramiro said smiling.  His smile then changed to a look of concern.  "Gabriella too?"

"No Ramiro.  Gabriella is staying here," his father said.  Ramiro didn't like what he was hearing.  "Staying" meant that someone else was "going."  He had a feeling that was him.

“Good,” the priest said.  He approached Ramiro and grabbed him by the shoulder, then began ushering him out the door.  

“Wait!  Where am I going?” Ramiro asked his father.  

His father ignored him and grabbed onto Gabi’s free hand.  “I assume you’ll deliver the payment upon your return?” he said to the priest.

“As agreed,” the priest said, before practically shoving Ramiro out the door.

Ramiro looked back to see his sister pulling herself forward, trying to escape their father’s grasp.  “Ramiro!” she pleaded.

“Gabi!” he exclaimed, and tried to run back into the house.  The priest grabbed onto him, his fingers clasping around Ramiro’s upper arm until this dug into his skin.  Ramiro tried to resist, but the priest was too strong.  Even digging his heels in wasn’t enough, as the priest simply dragged him across the dust.

With one arm, the priest untied the mule from its post.  He then spun Ramiro around and set him atop the mule, before hoisting himself onto it.

“Ramiro!” he heard Gabi shrieking from inside the house.  Tears started to fall from his eyes.

The priest gave the mule a kick and it started trudging down the road.  “Where are we going?” he asked the priest.  Just like his father, the priest simply ignored him.

“Ramiro!” he heard his sister wail.  Ramiro tried to look back, but the priest’s arms around him and on the reins of the mule prevented him from moving.  

The tears started streaming down his face now.  Somehow he knew: he would never see his family ever again.