Signed, Anna Maria

Chapter 1

December, 1801

A Coruna, Spain

"Amen" We all said in unison. 

"Praise be to God!" The priest rang out. 

"And also with you" The perish echoed.

The ending tune played out and we disassembled as usual. Mama was in a huge hurry to leave today. She didn't say goodbye to the people in back of her, she didn't even stop to say a final prayer. She grabbed my hand in a huff and walked briskly. 

"Come Darling" She said quickly "We've much to see today. I sensed a smile behind her. I couldn't help but grin as well. The sun hit me straight in the eye as we left the Church. I blinked the sun away and inhaled the sweet sent of daylight. 

We walked in a slow promenade down the town square. It was a usual Sunday setting: Brass bells ringing out to declare the end of service, blue skies rolling over the dusted grey cobblestones. Children laughing in the streets and playing games, still dressed in their nice Sunday trousers. Men and women in a hurry to get to the next place or to buy today's groceries. At the time, my world was reduced to a few street corners and the school in which me and my mother worked. 

Nothing in my child's memory could compare to the beauty of Courna, it was all I knew. Rich blue skies and cotton clouds with a golden sun that shone any given day of the year. An ancient city loaded to the brim with life, people, cargo, fashion. All spooled together under handsome red clay rooftops and alabaster walls with waves that crashed against the shore with ports that were forever busy.

The village market was always filled with vibrant colors, sounds and smells. The artisans that lined the streets of our little port city ranged and varied in everything from locksmiths to landscapers to entertainers. Anything you could think of, A Coruna had it. There was everything that one could possibly need in one place. As such, it attracted people from all walks of life. It was not uncommon to hear people of new and foreign tongues roaming the streets with people of every different nationality in Europe possible.

 With this came a diversity in social classes too. Like most cities, the rich and poor felt the deep divide. The rich were allowed to walk in the fanciest and most sophisticated parts of town. Drink their tea and complain and casually complain about the weather while the poor starved on the streets. Hungering and working like dogs for a single cent. And believe me, I would know. That's where Mama and I fell in. 

We had dedicated our lives to serving the wealthiest young men in Spain. Mama and I worked in St. Maria's boarding school. It was one of the most prestigious and revered schools for young men in all of the country. Only the best of the best families sent their sons to be educated there. If I had a cent for each well dressed youth I saw daily, I could afford to dress just as well as them! 

It was a dangerous life, living so low. We all knew very well how one misstep could land you out of it forever. How just one unemployment day away we all were from a life on the streets. I counted myself among the luckiest to have a steady job. I knew there were others who had it worse. At least I didn't have to stand out in the cold every night relying on the charity of others. I didn't have to sleep in the alleys and empty sheds to avoid freezing to death. But that still didn't mean I was safe. 

Growing up, there was never enough money. Not enough for food, not enough for clothes or shoes. Nothing. Hunger was the most defining feature. Not just your its-getting-close-to-lunchtime hunger either. No, it was hunger that tore you apart. Hunger that made you crazy and sick. The kind of hunger where you could collapse. I quickly learned there was nothing worse than that. 

You tried your best to avoid it, but the truth was, you never really could. That's when the going got rough. When you where so desperate to live and eat, you were ready to try anything. I confess, Mama and I weren't saints. Mama always did her best to avoid those methods, but there were times where you just had to.