Manuel and Elisa's Unfamiliar Journey

The sun was burning my head.

I sat on the porch, with my eyes closed and my legs stretched in front of me. The glass of cold water rested on the wood planks near my hand. I had been outside for a while and it was already late afternoon. The heat was still intense and I could feel it radiating through the wooden boards of the porch and invading my body, but I didn't mind. In fact, I enjoyed it.

"Manuel?" A voice came from inside the house. It was Elisa's daughter, Rosa. She wanted to ask me something about the farm, but she wasn't sure if I was listening or not. I opened one eye and looked at her, then closed it again when she saw that I was still asleep.

"Manuel?" Rosa asked again, this time louder. She stood in front of me for a moment as if debating whether or not she should wake me up, then turned to leave the porch. "Nevermind!" She said as she walked away.

I heard her footsteps echoing in the room below mine and then the door closing behind her when she left the house. I opened both eyes and raised myself up on my elbows so that I could stare at the sky above me. The clouds were moving lazily across the sky and darkening gradually, warning me that soon it would start raining again.

That was why Elisa had bought this property to begin with, because of its proximity to an ocean which brought rain when needed most. We lived in a desert, where rainfall was scarce and most of the crops died due to drought before they could be harvested. Rains were rare here too, but Elisa found a way to grow enough food to sustain us by making use of every drop of water that fell from the sky around us. Her farm was a marvel - green and lush even during dry seasons - but it didn't hide how poor we were otherwise.

We were living on her husband's old inheritance money and his pension check until he died eight years ago; after that Elisa tried her best to save enough to survive until his pension checks stopped arriving too, but she never managed it entirely. As a consequence we always lived in fear - fear of being discovered by local authorities for example - so we remained hidden in our little home in the middle of nowhere trying to find ways to make ends meet without drawing unwanted attention toward us; at least until Rosa turned sixteen last year and could finally help us by bringing some money into our household by working as a waitress in town...

But today was different: today Rosa had left for work early in the morning with enough money for us to get out of here for a couple of days... And today we would have a good time like proper people! No more hiding from townspeople who might recognize us; no more waiting anxiously for Rosa's return every evening; no more worries about running out of food or money... Today we were going back to town!

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"Are you ready?" Rosa nudged me lightly on my shoulder and I opened my eyes slowly under her gaze: her face shined with joy as she looked at me lovingly while taking off her shoes next to mine at our feet; but there was also some tension between her eyebrows which betrayed how excited she really felt inside... "Just say yes!" She added enthusiastically when she saw how happy I looked now that I had woken up!

I looked around: Elisa had packed all our bags into our car parked outside and now she was standing next to Rosa impatiently waiting for our answer... We were ready!

"Let's go!" Rosa shouted happily as she ran ahead toward the car before any other hesitation could stop us again! Elisa walked calmly behind her daughter with a smile on her lips while looking at me over her shoulder: she raised an eyebrow playfully questioning how fast I would follow them... And so we started our journey towards freedom!