Arriving

*The girls were tired and sore from riding in the truck all day. It was a bumpy road and dusty dirty in the back of the truck. They were hoping for a good bath and clean clothes when they got to their new place.

The truck pulled up in front of this old shack and stopped. Brya and the girls could not imagine it being the new place that needed all these girls, but they were stopping for some reason and it was late.

“Get out of the truck, all of you,” yelled the guy as he shook his hand toward the shack. “Get in there and be quiet.”  

Once all the girls were in the little shack he slammed the door shut and locked it. The girls wondered how long they would be here. There was no food or water or place to go to the bathroom. It was damp, dirty and crowded with everyone in the shack; at least it did have a wood floor and they were not on the ground.

Brya gathered the girls and took them to a corner she had cleaned out a little; she sat down and let them lay with their heads on her lap. Maybe the girls could get some sleep at least.  Brya listened as the truck started and left, they were here alone now, locked in a dirty room. She soothed the girls to sleep with a song that her heart sang but did not feel, but it was a good calming one for them to hear.

The next morning Brya woke to the door being opened, her neck hurt from sleeping sitting up but otherwise she felt ok, she had slept ok once she got to sleep. Two guys came in, one was tall and gangly probably only 16 or 17 himself, and the other one looked like a grandpa man. “Get up girls it is time to go to the mansion,” the older looking man said; with a sweet smile and cheery eyes as he spoke to them.

The girls all got up and quietly started filing out the door, there was no truck or van or anything they could see, were they going to walk to where ever this was? They followed the gangly kid around the trees and there were two small planes.

Autumn froze and started shaking, and spoke for the first time, “Oh no, please no plane.” She looked up at Brya with a terror on her face Brya had never seen. “Brodick’s Mum and Da died in a plane crash, we cannot ride in a little plane.” Brya but her arms around Autumn and gave her a hug.

The older grandpa man came over, “is there a problem here?”

“She is afraid of flying, our brother like friend’s parents died in a plane crash.” Brya softly spoke to him, “Brodick back at the farm.”

“Oh“, He gently spoke, “No worries, you ride with me I have been flying since way back in the war, I will keep you safe.” He patted Autumn on the back and held out his hand. Autumn smiled a little and took his hand, but she never quit trembling.

It seemed like hours in the plane flying to this place called the mansion, Brya was tired of sitting and ready to be there when the plane started its’ decent. Brya wondered how her papa was going to find them now, they were getting further away she was sure. She would never give up hope and never let the girls see her fear, but she was afraid for the first time.

Also she knew how mad Brodick was going to be when he got back and found the girls had been taken. She was glad that he was not home when they left because he would probably have ended up in trouble trying to stop them going. Brya was sure going to miss Brodick, he was her main source of laughter at the farm, he worked at keeping her in a good mood.

They finally landed and were taken to a small hotel in town; there the girls were joined by two ladies. The older girls were made to shower and change into nice dresses; while Brya, Autumn, Anya and Tayla were showered and changed into little uniform dresses. Brya was shocked, the ‘uniform’ that the girls were given were cute blue dresses with ruffled skirt, beaded belt and boots, and they looked western for a Brazil home. Brya was glad that they were all going here together, but was sad for the older girls; they were not there to serve.

“You Brya?” one lady asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Brya answered.

“You help train girls, Kevin says you care for them.” She talked with a thick accent you could tell that English was not her first language. “You girls learn Portuguese now.”

“Yes ma’am we will work had at learning Portuguese fast.” Brya assured her.

“Good”, the ladies rounded all the girls up and headed out the door. Brya and the three girls were taken in a car and driven out of town, she had no idea what happened to the older girls; they were loaded into another car and did not seem to follow them.*