Carrying Dedication
Written by F.R., Class 8L3
Few years before Ines and Antonio arrived in the United States. Ines is graduating, she is feeling very excited and joyful, her body is shaking nervously. She is happy that she is finally graduating high school and is now going to be a full-grown adult and have a title. She soon realizes that working here in Ecuador will not help at all with money since Ecuador is a poor country. Antonio had graduated before Ines, but not in high school, in fact that graduation would not be considered as a graduation. Antonio’s family were very poor; they could not afford money for Antonio to go to middle school, so sadly Antonio had only spent his time in elementary school and he had to continue building his intelligence along the way. So Ines and Antonio both decided to go to the United States where there are a lot of opportunities and to earn more money. Ines and Antonio arrived in the United States in 1993, she just entered the United States with Antonio Rojas. Everything is like new, huge towers close to the clouds, technology billboards, and buzzing noises from the electricity flowing. "¡Oh, qué bonita es Nueva York!" says Ines. But they also knew that they did not have time to go all out and buy stuff, they first had to go get a job to earn money. Ines got her first paycheck, as she opened the white envelope, there was cash inside as her payment. Unlike other people she was not really excited as she got paid little. Antonio also got paid little just like Ines.
Ines keeps applying for more jobs to have a good amount of payment for the end of the week, so did Antonio. They both had enough money to live in a property, but the sad part is that Ines and Antonio had to live with random people. Neither of them liked this property, both Ines and Antonio disliked this place but they have to be there as long as possible in order to survive, The property was a bit small so everyone was all crammed together, it was only two rooms, one room is the living room, it was plain beige walls and floor in dirty wood, and the other is the bathroom, old green tiles as the walls and tiles so old Ines and Antonio need to have socks on so they can walk more comfortably. Both rooms are dirty yes but not too dirty like a trash can. So their experience of getting a place to live was a bad experience because they had to live with different people. Time has passed by and they finally get their very own property or house, this time it's just them.
"¡Por fin una casa en la que no estamos encerrados con un montón de gente!" says Ines.
"¡Sí! Por fin tenemos algo de paz" replied Antonio.
But the downside was rent, rent was a lot of money to pay off so Ines and Antonio had to work real hard to pay off rent, so they kept working and working. Paying rent in America is quite expensive, being told America was the best place to earn money may now seem like a lie. One of the problems they had was food, since during work you can't really have so much food, more like a snack, they both were hungry. So they try to eat the most food they can at night so they are not starving to death. Sooner or later they both had money to buy stuff they wanted, and they also made a decision to save some money for more important stuff. One of those important things was them getting married, it was a day Ines was full of joy, the happiest woman ever you could say, same goes for Antonio the happiest man ever. Ines had a beautiful dress, long down to the floor, while Antonio had an amazing suit, soft texture of the fabric.
“Tienes un bonito traje Antonio.” says Ines.
“¡Y tienes un bonito vestido Inés!", Antonio replied
"¡Ahora mismo siento nervios pero también emoción!" says ines.
“¿Por qué estás nervioso? ¡Este es el día más feliz para ti y para mí!” Answered Antonio.
"Sí, tienes razón, no debería estar nervioso, ¡este día nunca se olvidará!" Answered Ines.
Antonio and Ines are finally married, now they have a happier home and life together. Fast forward some time now we are in the year 2000. Antonio was playing football with his friends and siblings of Ines. This is also a time where Ines is pregnant, Ines does not know the gender of the baby but she will soon realize it is a girl, then it happens. Ines was rushed to the hospital because soon the baby was going to be born, she was brought to the bed, the air smelled like some type of medicine or fake air just from the ceiling fan kept spinning and little dust had fallen.
“Este lugar es una porquería” says Ines.
Then a few more moments the baby was born, and the doctors ran some tests and the baby is a girl, then later Antonio and Ines named her Lynette. All three had a great life, Lynette had a wonderful life, with her school, friends, parents, and more. Her life becomes even better when she realizes she is going to have a baby brother. Lynette was full of joy, and in the year 2009. Frank was born, all problems and struggles that Antonio and Ines had from 1993 to 2009 were all gone.
They can finally enjoy all of their life.
Now leading up to this moment we are in the year 2023, Frank is in middle school, Lynette is living in a new home, and Ines is still working but soon to relax and go back to Ecuador after Frank gets his very own life. Frank is now the son that is going to help his parents along the way, Lynette did her part and now it's Frank’s part. Frank is also soon going into high school. From there his career may start or change, but a question Frank kept asking his parents because he was curious.
“¿Papá?” Says Frank.
“¿Sí, hijo?” Replied Antonio.
“¿Cómo era la vida de mamá y la tuya antes de tenernos?” asked Frank. Antonio is thinking either to say yes or no.
“Te lo explicaría, pero va tomará bastante tiempo, porque es una larga historia” said Antonio to Frank
“Por favor, dímelo, me encantaría saberlo, ¡no importa si la historia es larga!”says Frank
“Bueno, es una larga historia, pero voy a tratar de explicar en palabras más simples” Answered Antonio.
Antonio actually remembered he had a book in case this time will come, he said to himself he was glad he wrote all of this down. Antonio will now be saying the story over to his son, from the beginning. Antonio opened the book and started to read it to Frank. Everything has been settled, no more dying from hunger, no more hard working jobs and getting paid less. They finally have an even and right life.