My Childhood Life on the Farm

I don't know who said that real-life almost always trumps fiction, and I think this applies very properly to my own life, that yes, it is worthy of a book.

To begin with, I am an orphan, I lost my parents at a young age and I have few memories of them. I will not go into detail here about the strange accident that caused her death and led to my being adopted by my uncles.

I was only 6 years old when I came to live on your farm, and most of my most vivid childhood memories come from this time.

It was a large house in front of which there was a dirt road and a large, flowing river full of treacherous rapids.

I was very sad and helpless for the loss of my mother, but I was able to gradually overcome this feeling, due to living with my cousins, who did everything in their power to make me happy.

My aunt who was called Rosa had 6 children. I would be the seventh. One big old-fashioned family.

I was the youngest in the house and the only new girl. The daughters; Renata and Lúcia were already grown up and had recently married. That way I spent most of my time playing with my male cousins: Jorge, Leandro, Marcos, and Juliano.

Having been raised in the countryside, in the middle of nature, among kids, walking barefoot, climbing trees to pick and suck fruit, and participating in various games typical of the place, shaped my personality in a way that I don't do the "little girl" style at all...

Although my aunt tried to dress me up, "beautify" me, put my hair up, she worked in town, and when she wasn't home, all day long, I practically lived like a boy.

The school was about 5 km further south along a dirt road in a small town called C. We went to class early in the morning, driven by an ox cart. A kind of rustic wooden cart, pulled by 2 oxen.

To the north, the road followed the bank, until it reached a huge railway bridge, where the train passed, after which there was another village called I.

During the afternoons after returning from class, we had a lot of freedom, the games only stopped when it got dark, and I only did my homework at night, when I was obliged by my aunt, after my shower.

I have many good memories and it was a happy time for me, but for now, I would like to focus on describing my peculiar relationship by living with my cousins.

Jorge, being the oldest, already worked on the farm and had less time for these recreational activities. Leandro was also in charge of some tasks, so he appeared a little less, but he was almost always present.

Meanwhile, Marcos and Juliano always lived together, on many occasions accompanied by two other girls who were the Cook's daughters, whom we called Tina and Nega.

At that time it was common for employees to be black, but for me, there was by no means any feeling of superiority for being the "daughter" of the bosses, we lived on an equal footing and I didn't even have any kind of prejudiced thoughts in my head.

Tina and Nega soon became my best friends and I loved them with total intensity, just not as much as my cousin Marcos whom I worshiped.

Turns out my cousin Marcos was a real devil, and he always wanted to be the leader, control, and rule over everyone.

When I arrived at the farm he was around 11 years old, and the one who suffered the most at his hands was his younger brother Juliano, who was only 1 year older than me.