A little girl is used by her parents to become their best source of income. As time passes by the girl departs from her parents wishes, but will she be able to free herself from her family?
Was it in Naples, was it in New England? Maybe it was in your home town, some time ago…perhaps yesterday, perhaps time does not exist, and as I tell you the story, characters become living beings, and a pretty girl is born…
She was so cute, they used to say, like a movie star, like a model in petite size. Always smiling, always brushing her almost white hair… By the time she turned five, Guillermina became the light of her neighborhood, talking like a racing car on the go, smiling to young and old. Her parents noticed Guillermina was very photogenic, and started to take shots of her, since it was a lucrative business
to sell children’s pictures to the right sources.
And soon the albums became larger, and larger. Guillermina in front of the lake, Guillermina under a tree, Guillermina with a white, transluscent dress, Guillermina just the way she was born…
“Smile Guillermina, show the world who you are! “, her parents used to say. Business was blooming and so was the demand. Creativity was a must, the sexier the better, in color, in black and white.
“Used your hair as a dress, Guillermina.”
“Now, open your legs, like that, no…maybe more, yes! That’s it!”
And so, the years pass by…
When the little girl turned eight years old, she made a grown up decision, she announced to her parents that she did not want strangers to see her pictures anymore, and wanted time to swim by the lake, or walk with her friends.
Her parents respected Guillermina’s decision.
“If that is what you want, we agree on it. No more pictures!”
A year passed by, and finances became an issue to fight about, to dream about…the first and only alternative to explore? Guillermina…
“Sorry baby, but this is the only thing we can do…It’ll just be for a little while…”
“You don’t want us to miss our weekend trips. We’ll get you new clothes, better shoes…”
And on, and on they went to explain the advantages of having extra money in a regular middle class family.
Pictures of Guillermina on her bed, by the morning sun light, in the darkness of her little town, her little world…
The market became more and more demanding, they wanted to see action. Integration they say. Clients get bored easily, and we can’t dare to lose them!
So at first mommy became part of the shots, together with Guillermina. They created a series of shots with stories behind. The series were well done, and money started to flow like loose goose feathers once again. Dad became part of the pictures too, partially dressed, undressed… By then everybody was used to working very hard. They used to say: ”It’s the price for success.” Guillermina’s parents told her that one day she was going to be the most beautiful model in the whole world, and she smiled, a sad smile, and kept working very hard. Clients used to love Guilermina’s big, sad eyes, her broken smile, her fragile body, and her long, now dirty blonde hair.
And so years passed by… Guillermina’s parents eventually went out of business. No more clients, no success. No one cared that much for seeing pictures of their two grown, crooked bodies. They had no fresh smile, no big, sad eyes…
“Remember the good, old days, when Guillermina was
ten, and we made a fortune just for having so much fun…”
“Yes…too bad that darn train killed her… it killed our business too…”
And so the years passed by, only the train guard remembered her, a little blonde girl jumping in front of the train, with big, silent eyes, she didn’t scream…almost like she was embracing the wind, flying from time…
Determined to confront the hazy memories of his troubled youth, Oliver Matthews, a retired detective and confirmed bachelor, returns to the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames for the first time in years.
May I offer you a Round the World Cruise of a lifetime for the price of a novel?
Not only do the seas roll on but two romances,a death at sea, uncovered past lives, history uncovered in Brazil, caves in Australia, poetry in Senegal, the Lux Mundi
