Women Laundering Along The River

Still existing in some parts of the world. Women wash clothes, while children play.

The main character of my story, still to finish. Based on facts from childhood memories.

     It is mid afternoon, the sun is still strong, the river is calm, the water is warm, filled with soap suds floating around on one side, and clear on the other. Children play nearby waiting for their mothers to finish their working day. For these women, this is almost a daily routine; they bring their laundry and those of others whom they work for, to the riverbank down the road from where they live, in a remote town located in the center of Portugal. This is their job and the only source of income for some of them. For others, they also have their husband’s, as they work in the fields, as laborers for those who own them. Life is the same for these men and women time after time, who have never left the area, just like it was for their ancestors, and those before them, perhaps even for generations to come. This summer of 1964, is like any other, hot, dry, and filled with the same scent and aroma, the habitants smell every year, when flowers bloom, fruits appear on trees, and homemade food is sold during those unique festival weekends, that take place in most villages of the country, during summertime. These festivals, organized by the most avid ones, come not only with music and dance, but also with candle lit church processions, where one can feel the faith, devotion, and love for one another. Life is very simple for them, monotonous, almost hard to imagine, that it can be so different from the city just a few hours away, where electricity and water are a luxury, not an essential, and where civilization starts to bring more light into the night. These women need to use the river to wash their clothes, and of those who can afford to pay them. They work for the well off and most privileged couples in town, and consider themselves lucky, to have a job, so they can feed their kids, and to help their husbands with supplemental income. They organize their baskets, and know exactly which clothes belong to whom. They wash with their own hands, lathering with lots of soap, rubbing each piece carefully. They dry them along the river in ropes connected to a couple of trees, under the heat the sun provides. They sing along, they are happy, after all this is all they know what the world has to offer them. Children grow up knowing this is what they live for, and what they will be doing someday, when they grow up. Mothers and daughters work side by side, while fathers and sons do the same on the other side of the river, they labor. Once all the clothes are dried and placed inside their baskets, neat and well organized, these women go home, but first they have to drop off the job well done to their patrons. Some are given bread and food, in addition to their monetary pay. Everyone in this village lives a very simple life, but honest. Children follow along their mothers’ steps, helping to carry the baskets, learning the trade, through soap bubbles, suds, lather. Young and old live in an environment of simplicity, poor economic growth, in villages of 1 or 2 streets, filled with cobblestones. There is only one school, a few roads down and an hour away, where all kids walk to, twice a day. These children come from nearby villages, belonging to the same community, city hall, and church. The day goes by too fast, even though it may seem an eternity for most of them. One can hear the sound of early awakening at sunrise, as men prepare to start their day, working in the fields, some miles away. One can smell the baking of the bread, and feel the warmth each house transpires, as each woman starts their day, with only one thing in mind, to help their family go their way. At the end of the day, everyone sits together at the same table, regardless if poor or rich, as family time is very important. A prayer is read, and dinner is served, more abundant in some households than others, but what is important is the sharing of love, and the communication everyone cherishes for one another. It is 1964, in a remote town, with no modes of transportation, where people walk miles away, for many hours during the day, and their bond prevails at nighttime.  But for this young lady, with so much in her mind, with a vision of a lifetime away from home, she decides to break the pattern and leaves to another part of the country. Her name is Alice, and she is only 19, beautiful with big brown eyes, long curly black hair and with an everlasting smile. She leaves the river behind, her family and friends, and moves to a city where a couple awaits for her, professors in a university, willing to accept her as their live-in housekeeper, and child babysitter.   This is an opportunity of a lifetime for her, as she gets free home education, while working in a nice home, for a very well established couple, who provide her with the best living arrangements. Alice is also a very conscientious young woman who knows this is her chance to help her parents in the village, and to learn more of the outside world away from washing clothes along the riverbank. Although she does miss the sun, the river, the long narrow streets, the smell of the fireplaces, the quiet mornings, and the long nights spent sewing old and raggedy clothes with her mother, for the family to be able to wear over and over again, Alice knows and she is fully aware that she cannot miss this great opportunity to become someone, the village will be very proud of someday. She is very enthusiastic, and does her best in providing her new masters, with service of excellence. She becomes a great housekeeper, honest, reliable, and a valuable babysitter for the children she is responsible for, their confidant who end up loving her so tremendously. Moving from a small rural town to a big city can be a challenge for many, emotionally and psychologically, but for Alice it was easy, as she spent years developing her mind through a vision, a vision she created beyond reach, and the dream to open every wall surrounding her, so she could step out and go in search of more wide open horizons. She would live happily ever after, her ambition to do well and learn about everything, would make her masters very proud of her, and she became very popular among their acquaintances, family and friends. She became the perfect and respectful employee, everyone wished and hoped for. Her charisma and beauty enchanted everyone around.  But one morning, on the way to the bakery she met a young man, walking along the promenade, who stopped to look at her so visible beauty, making Alice a bit uncomfortable but who reciprocated with a smile and an obvious sense of enjoyment. One could feel the chemistry between them. That moment was the beginning of a future Alice could never imagine in her wild dreams. The young man was Antonio, an immigrant from France, on vacation for a month, in the same city where Alice was living and working. Not from the same village or backgrounds, both would eventually meet again next morning on the way to the bakery, during Antonio's early morning walk. Their fate was about to link them together, to change their destiny. After a year of long distance courtship, Alice married Antonio and moved to France, There she found another job as a Nanny for a young business couple, and was very, very happy. Antonio helped her adapting to the new country, as he  already had lived there for a few years working in the hotel industry. Both became parents of 2 beautiful girls just like their Mom, and were promised a future, a much brighter future in a country with so many great opportunities. Living near the French Riviera, where the ocean is miles long of coastal beauty and admiring beaches, Alice knew her daughters would never be laundering there, and working for others, as she did with her mother and grandmother decades before, in the local river of their hometown.  Her daughters' future had another path, the one their father was providing, away from the Riviera  and along the promenade, walking side to side to encounter many other better things!
(Still thinking of this story's end)