She Had No Choice (5 page)

He turned and slowly walked back to the truck, his head hung down and his shoulders hunched. Pulling the door open, he slid in behind the steering wheel. Once he closed the door and was totally alone, every emotion he had bottled up came rushing to the surface. He rested his arms on the top of the steering wheel, laid his head against them, and let his tears come pouring out.

After a few minutes, Emilio heard the train whistle, long and loud, and wanted to moan in reply. He wiped his eyes with his dry, calloused hands and watched the train until it was gone. He knew it was time to return home.

The porter helped Sofía find her seat and store her bag. He was a tall, older white gentleman with graying hair who spoke some Spanish, having worked the train routes in the southwest for several years. He watched carefully to ensure no one bothered her and to see she got off at the right station. Papa would be happy to know she had someone watching over her, even if he couldn’t.

Traveling on a train was a brand new experience for Sofía. She was only twelve years old and all alone. Coming from the small village, then living in the farm camps, nothing had prepared her for this event.

What would her future hold? She had plenty of time to let her thoughts wander. This would be an adventure, she told herself, a chance for a new and better life.

Papa had told her she would not have to work in the fields anymore, that she would have a fine house to live in and nice clothes to wear. She recalled how he told her she would also have a soft, warm bed to sleep in and good food to eat. He said she would likely go to an excellent school and learn to speak English. It sounded too good to be true; she thought Papa must be exaggerating.

She didn’t know for certain what lay ahead of her, but what choice did she have? There was no going back. She trusted her father, trusted that he was doing what was best for her, sending her to live with her aunt. Sweet Papa. She had only been on the train for about an hour, but she missed him already.

As the train rattled down the track, she comforted herself with his words about her mother and with the thought that she would see him and her siblings again soon. These were the things that helped her get through this wrenching separation.

But as time would tell, seeing them again wasn’t to be. With her father and brothers moving from place to place as migrant farm workers, Sofía would eventually lose contact with them.

She never saw her sister, Maria, again either. She learned much later that once Maria turned eighteen, she ran off to find her own life. She was envious of Sofía for getting to go to the city and have what Maria imagined would be a new and better life. She resented the fact that she was made to stay in the farm worker camps to cook and clean and take care of Papa and the boys.

But, rather than a wonderful life of privilege with their well-to-do aunt, however, Sofía would soon find herself caught in a life much different from that of Maria’s imagination.

Chapter 4:
A Cinderella Story

1922, Phoenix, Arizona

After a long, noisy train ride, Sofía finally reached her destination of Phoenix, Arizona. The train slowly pulled into the station, brakes squealing and steam spewing out. When the train came to a complete stop, she gathered up her few belongings and made her way to the door with the rest of the passengers. The porter took her arm and helped her step out onto the platform.

“
Gracias, señor,” Sofía said to the porter politely.

“
De nada, señorita,” he responded. She turned and waved at him as she walked away, and he smiled back at her warmly. She headed toward the ticket office to wait for someone to meet her.

Sofía had never been to a large city. All she had known was a rural life. She had spent the first eight years of her life in their little village until they crossed into the United States. After the crossing, her family went directly to the farms of Arizona.

Everything in this city seemed so strange to her – the sights of large buildings and motor cars, the smells of the locomotive engines and the restaurants, the fancy clothes, the sounds of people speaking English. She stopped for a moment on the platform, drawing in a long, deep calming breath to steady herself.

“
Sofía!  Sofía!” a female voice shouted.

Her cousin, Olivia, stood up from the bench where she had been waiting for Sofía to arrive and quickly walked over to her. Olivia was sixteen years old, lovely and well dressed. The deep blue silk fabric of her dress, along with the beautiful tailoring and expensive lace that fringed her sleeves and neckline, was a stark contrast to Sofía’s drab brown cotton dress with a few buttons in the front and a soft belt that tied at her waist. Sofía felt a little embarrassed at her simple clothing, even though Olivia didn’t seem to notice.

Olivia had come with a driver, Ernesto, to meet her cousin at the train station and bring her back to her mother’s home to live with them. She smiled broadly at Sofía and her voice was warm and welcoming.

“
I am Olivia,” she said, as she gave Sofía a quick hug. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“
Gracias,” she replied, shyly. Looking around, she was still trying to take it all in.

“
This way, mi prima,” said Olivia, pointing to where the carriage was. “I know many people are starting to drive motor cars these days, but my mother won’t hear of it. So, we still travel by horse and buggy.”

Sofía didn’t know what to expect coming to her aunt’s home. Her father didn’t speak much about his sister, Consuela. From the way Olivia was dressed and the fact they had a driver, Sofía thought Tía Consuela must be very wealthy. She had enough manners, though, not to ask.

The driver lifted Sofía’s worn leather bag into the back of the large black buggy and helped the young ladies into their seats, Olivia first, then Sofía.

“
Gracias, señor,” Sofía said as the driver took her arm to help her up. She felt like royalty.  She ran her hand gently over the soft black leather seat. She had never felt anything like it before.

“
What must Tía Consuela’s house be like?” she thought to herself. “If only Mama could see it.”  The thought of Mama brought tears to her eyes, so she quickly looked away so Olivia would not see them.

“
How was your trip, Sofía?” Olivia asked.

Blinking back her tears, Sofía tried to compose herself to reply to her cousin. She shifted a little in her seat and turned to face Olivia to answer her. Sofía started off slowly describing her trip, not comfortable yet with these new people and her new surroundings. She felt inferior to Olivia in so many ways – her economic circumstances, her dress, her beauty. She hoped it didn’t show.

Sofía even assumed her cousin was considerably more educated than she was, since she had not been to school since her family left Mexico when she was eight years old. There were no schools in Arizona for the children of migrant farm workers. But, Sofía hoped she would have the opportunity for more education while living with Tía Consuela.

“
Bien…it was fine,” Sofía began nervously. “I…I…I’ve never been on a train before. It was noisy and, um, rattled a lot. I looked out the window sometimes, but mostly all I saw was desert, you know, cactus, rocks and dirt. So, I looked at the people, wondering where they were coming from and where they were going. I sometimes made up stories in my mind of some great adventure they were on or some terrible thing they were leaving behind them. It helped to pass the time.”

“
What an active imagination you have, prima,” Olivia said, impressed with the young girl’s creativity.

Before long Sofía relaxed and began describing all the sights and people she saw and the experiences she had. She found it easy to talk to Olivia, and soon the two of them were chatting like old friends.

After about a twenty-minute drive from the train station, they arrived at their destination on the edge of Phoenix. The buggy pulled up in front of a charming white, two-story house with a profusion of blooming rose bushes in the front garden and a freshly-whitewashed picket fence surrounding the large yard. Sofía could not remember seeing anything so beautiful in her life. She realized her mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it.

As the driver helped Olivia and Sofía out of the buggy, Tía Consuela emerged from the massive wooden front door. At almost six feet tall, she was quite imposing. She wore a long, black dress with a high neckline and long sleeves. Her graying black hair was pulled back into a loose bun. She also wore a scowl on her face. Olivia’s greeting at the station had been warm and cheerful. Tía Consuela’s was cold and direct.

“
Sofía, I am your Tía Consuela,” she said, from the porch, as the girls quickly strolled up the walkway to meet her.

“
You have come a long way. You must be tired. Take your things to the attic at the top of the stairs. That will be your room. As soon as you have unpacked, come downstairs and I will meet you in the living room. Be quick about it.” With that, she turned abruptly and walked back into the house.

Ay, Mama,” Olivia sighed. “You must forgive my mother,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “Since my father passed away a few years ago, life has been hard for her, trying to support the family. It seems all the joy and happiness drained out of her when he died. My little brother, Roberto, and I try to make her happy, but nothing we do brings back her joy. I think she’s determined to keep her heart shut so it doesn’t get broken again. Come on, Sofía, I’ll help you unpack.”

Sofía carried her single piece of luggage upstairs to the attic room, and Olivia helped her store her things in the small dresser with peeling yellow paint. The sparse room was furnished with an old single bed with a tarnished brass headboard, a well-worn wooden chair and the little dresser. The thin lace curtains were dingy and the wood-plank floors unpainted. Sofía had thought her room would be nicer from what her papa told her, but this was better than what she had known in the farm camps.

“
Come, sit,” Olivia said, as she patted the bed beside where she sat. Sofía took a seat and put her hands in her lap, not knowing what else to do with them.

“
I’m so glad you’ve come to live with us, Sofía. We’ll be like sisters.” Olivia told her. “I have to go to work this afternoon at the hotel, but I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast.”

“
You work in a hotel?”

“
Yes, didn’t Tío Emilio tell you? Mama owns a small hotel and restaurant that she started after Papa died. We have some workers, and I help out, too. Maybe someday it will be my hotel and restaurant. It’s not grand or anything, but we make good money from it.”

“
It sounds exciting.”

“
Not really, but it’s a living. I have to go now, but we’ll talk more later.” Olivia got up from the bed and walked out the door. Sofía followed her down the stairs, anxious to explore the rest of the house.

As Sofía reached the bottom of the stairs, her aunt called out to her angrily. “Sofía! Come in here right now!”

Sofía suddenly remembered Tía Consuela had told her to meet her in the living room as soon as she had put her things away. She had gotten so involved in her conversation with Olivia that it completely slipped her mind.

She poked her head into the room. Sofía was in awe of the beautiful furnishings. She had never seen anything like it before – the rugs, the draperies, the crystal lamps, the plush furniture. Maybe Papa was right, Sofía thought for a moment, maybe this will be a good life for me. As she stepped into the room, she caught sight of her aunt sitting in a large leather chair, waiting for her.

“
Sofía!” she snapped, and Sofía froze. Tía Consuela’s frown told her she was obviously not pleased to be kept waiting.

“
When I ask you to do something, you
will
do it. Do you understand?”

“
Yes, Tía. I’m so sorry. I was talking with …” she tried to explain but was cut off in mid-sentence.

“
Silence! I don’t care what you were doing. I will not tolerate disobedience. Since you have just arrived, I will forgive you
this
time.” Her eyes narrowed and her lips were taunt as she spoke. Her voice took on a slower, more serious tone. “But if you
ever
disobey me again, you will regret it.”

Sofía stood completely still, her heart racing. She had never been spoken to like that before. Mama and Papa had asked her to do many things, and she did them without complaining. She was always a compliant child, always wanting to please.

“
I asked you to meet me in here so we could go over a few things. First, you will help Antonia, our housekeeper, with breakfast and dinner each day. Second, you will help at the hotel, cleaning the rooms and the baths. And third, when you are not at the hotel, you will help Antonia keep this house clean when she needs you. Do you understand?”

Sofía was a little confused. This was not at all what she was expecting. She expected to be helpful around the house and do what was asked of her, as part of the family. But she never expected to be coldly treated as merely a worker, a housekeeper, free labor.