My time line begins on p. 8. On this page we have the whole family together gathered outside the home. My focus is on Maria Teresa. She is the youngest of four daughters and dad’s last attempt to have the son he always wanted. Clearly, he was unsuccessful.
Some time had passed and dad was enjoying his casual drink. Everybody was listening to the stories and knowledge that he was talking about. Then he began to tell the so-called future of his girls. When it came to Maria Teresa, he says, “You are going to make every man’s mouth water.” (p. 8) unfortunately, being the youngest one, she was still gullible. She even believed in a board game that used a piece of glass which you would move to get an answer to a question. Everyone laughed at her. She pouted in front of everyone. That’s when everybody remembered she was still the baby in the family. She did not enjoy it when people made fun of her nor did she appreciate when no one understood how sensitive she was.
1945 to 1946: This little book belongs to Maria Teresa. (p. 30) it was her first day at the Immaculate Conception Saint’s Day of our school. Minerva gave her a book to write in. Minerva said, “This is where you can write what you have to say. Then you can use it to reflect on. It will help you with your reflection and deepen your soul.”
Sunday, December 9: Maria Teresa is unable to write anything in her book. But, her new shoes make her feel like a mature young woman. All her family members are there to see her make her first Communion except her father who is too busy attending the cocoa harvest.
December 12: Maria wrote that it is too hard to write in school. It seems there is not enough time to write in her book. Also, two of the other girls have made it a game to grab her book and giggle to themselves about its contents. Maria does not like that at all nor does she like it when they laugh at her.
Feast Day of Santa Lucia: Maria has been asked to play the part of Santa Lucia and she gets to wear her First Communion clothes again.
December 15: Maria asks herself what is a soul? Using her imagination, she places the effects of the soul onto the flesh. She is still not sure as to what the soul is so she goes and speaks to Minerva to get a better understanding. Minerva says, “It’s a deep longing in you that you can never fill up, no matter how hard you try.” Minerva also compares it to poems and brave heroes who die for what they believe in. Maria says, “I have to have that feeling inside.” Minerva responds, “That’s not the same thing.”
December 16: Maria feels that she is very mature for her age. She has comforted herself by telling herself that she is here with Minerva and her little book to write in. One of her sentences was “I’d rather be here than at home.”
December 20: Maria and Minerva go home for the holidays. Her longing is not for God but rather those people around her and her personal things like her room and rabbits. She especially misses her abbreviated name “Mate” which has become part of her identity.
December 23: Maria and Minerva are finally on their way home to the farm. Minerva explains “the facts of life” to Maria. A young man shows Minerva some attention and Minerva doesn’t give him the time of day.
December 24: Maria’s soul just wants to have fun. She’s in the convent and she is beginning to realize that she doesn’t have the calling to become a nun. She then resolves not to scare Nelson with her ghost stories any more or play the dark passages game with Patria. She makes a list of her personal resolves for 1946.
1953: Maria feels like dying. She is disappointed and upset that the other girls attended their father’s funeral. Maria continues to write in her diary that Minerva gave her. It makes her feel better to get things off her chest. She has terrible nightmares regarding her father and her own wedding. She sees Fela, a fortune-teller, to find the meaning of her nightmares. She is told to put whatever anger or frustrations she is feeling on a piece of paper and burn it.
1954: She has kissed Berto on the lips. She feels guilty, ashamed, horrified and disgusted. She is supposed to be the religious one – waiting for her calling. She is being taken by the flesh. She explains to Minerva what happened and Minerva tells her that she is still too far behind. By the end of the year, Maria must decide whether she wants to marry Berto or Raul. She decides neither. She begins to read the gossip columns.
1955: Maria is very sad because Minerva moved out of the home.
1956: Maria must give a speech to the University because she was selected Miss University for the coming year. She pays great tribute to Eljef Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.
1957: She must finish her degree on her own. She goes back home. She has feelings of sadness and loneliness because she has not found her true love yet. Minerva and Manolo drive with Maria in the backseat. They are speaking quietly in the front seat making Maria feel very uncomfortable. After some time, they stop at a small shack where the other family lives. Minerva moves into the “other family’s” house. Minerva and Manolo are revolutionaries. She joins the revolution and she knows that sacrifices must be made for the revolution.
1960: Maria and Minerva are arrested and jailed for their participation in the revolution. While she is in jail, she begins to understand that the sacrifices that need to be made are due to her wants and desires postponed. While in this reflective moment, she realizes that she has experienced more pain and suffering, coupled with hope and inspiration, in the past seven months while imprisoned. She even gave up the opportunity to leave prison. Minerva convinced Maria not to take the offered pardon.
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