The date was September 29,
1917. We were traveling, at
the request of my devoutly
religious mother, to visit
a tiny town in Portugal,
called Fatima, because of
some supposed apparitions
of the Blessed Virgin to a
few poor shepherds.
I was not really interested
in religion; I went to Mass
on holydays and a few
select feast days, but that
was it. My mother,
Madre
,
on the other hand, prayed for at least half an hour
every day, attended daily Mass whenever possible,
and never left the house without her crudely-carved
Rosary beads. The second she heard about the
apparitions in Fatima, she insisted we pack up and
embark on our pilgrimage from Madrid, Spain, to
Fatima, Portugal.
The ride in the tiny stagecoach along the dusty
roads seemed to take forever.
Madre
could just sit
there, clutching her Rosary and praying, seemingly
oblivious of her discomfort. I could think of nothing
else but my pain. My eyes and lungs burned from all
the dust, and I could feel lice crawling on my scalp
under my hat. I kept a handkerchief pressed against
my face, trying to keep out some of the dust, but
all of my handkerchiefs were filthy with the dust. I
was terribly cramped and uncomfortably sore from
sitting for so long, and I knew it would be a long
time after arriving at our resting spot for the night
before I would be able to stand without pain.
Suddenly, the stagecoach lurched to a halt, snapping
me out of my thoughts. I heard the driver say
something, and looked out the window. He jumped
off the box where he had been sitting and walked to
the back of the stagecoach.
“What is it, sir?” a woman who was also traveling in
the stagecoach called out to the driver.
The man looked annoyed. “We lost some luggage. I
was able to retrieve most of it, but we lost one or two
cartons.” He shrugged. “Sorry, ladies. Gee up,” he
flicked the reins, and the horses started their steady
plodding once more.
That particular day stands out in my memory
because we found that the “one or two cartons” the
driver had mentioned had gotten lost were mine. It
10
Grade
First Place
CHANTAL LAFORTUNE
22
