Sons that father would have had

I´m learning to read and write and I like to do it on my own. All help is very welcome

     Fran,

my father knew me extraordinarily. I still remember when in one occasion I said him that my sister was sorting or searching a sheep. He stared at me and suddenly slapped me without saying a word. He knew I was lying, yet it was a lie that was not to my profit. I did it cause she asked me to do it.

     On the contrary, I´m fond of saying the truth. Always and everywhere. I say what I think although sometimes people who are not prepared to hear what they do not like.

     Anyway I must justify pa cause those were bad times. Having to feed seven mouths with our material possessions and stony arable land was very hard. Four sons was what father needed instead four girls, and even being girls, he needed eight strong arms and eight fast legs. To top it all you must subtract two from eight legs cause in my case I could not do the work at the same pace as my sisters. That´s pa was always bad tempered with me.

     To live in squalor was not easy. Working from dawn to dusk for obtain a miserable dish of lentil soup or bread and cheese and milk for lunch and custard for dinner – some Sundays mother came in to the hens house and that day we could eat grilled chicken-. So when I started working in the vicarage, my family had a burden less. I guess everyone gave a sigh of relief. All of them except grandpa.

y. a.

Mary