«Це дешево», — сказав він, голос був сповнений попередження. "Але тут немає майбутнього."
Тереза не сперечалася. Вона не купувала майбутнє. Вона купувала шанс.
Будинок здавався не стільки притулком, скільки спогадом — розхитані дошки, двері, що висили криво, дірки в даху, куди проникало сонячне світло, мов мовчазне осуди. Чотирирічна Ана міцно трималася за руку матері, широко розплющивши очі.
"Тут, мамо?" — тихо запитала вона.
Teresa swallowed the lump in her throat and forced strength into her voice.
“Yes, my love. Here. We’ll fix it little by little.”
That first night, they slept on worn blankets spread across the dirt floor, listening to insects and distant animals calling into the dark. Little Rosa stirred restlessly in her sleep. Teresa lay awake, watching her daughters’ chests rise and fall, wondering whether a woman’s strength alone could truly hold up an entire life.
Before dawn, she tied Rosa to her back with a faded shawl, took the only tool she owned—a battered hoe—and stepped outside.
She worked as if every strike of the earth were a prayer. She patched holes with scrap wood, hammered nails with aching hands, cleared years of neglect inch by inch. Sweat soaked her clothes. Blisters split her palms. Still, she didn’t stop.
After a few days, neighbors began to appear—not to help, but to watch.
They leaned against the fence, arms crossed, observing the way people observe a slow, inevitable failure.
Doña Petra arrived first, her face hardened by decades of sun and disappointment.
“You’re the new owner?” she asked.
Teresa nodded without pausing her work.
“Alone. Two children. On this land.” The woman clicked her tongue. “Nothing grows here. The last owner fled. You won’t last.”
The words landed heavy, like stones dropped deliberately at her feet.
Teresa straightened, inhaled deeply, and replied quietly, “I don’t quit easily.”
Doña Petra laughed—a dry, humorless sound—and walked away.
Teresa kept going.
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