Her G.O.A.T. (On hold)

Make do

While being old her grandma was far too tough to just be dead. 

Suffering from a fractured hip and leg she was immobile and it did not help at all that there was no way they could get any help. 

Their house was bad but everything around was worse. 

The house her father had bought years ago when settling with her mother in the Caribbean was a century old, sturdy farm and large house in the style of a Hacienda. The thick walls had taken a lot of damage but the house was still standing. 

The rest of the street. Hell, the rest of their beloved island was not so fortunate. 

The apocalypse (as Mara referred to the day for herself) had destroyed almost all houses, destroyed the streets, gruesomely killed thousands of their neighbours and cut the supplies for EVERYTHING.

There was little food to get, or medicine, or help in general. 

Their home, though damaged, was their only rescue. And Mara shared it with as many neighbours and friends as she could. The few official shelters that had survived in the next city were far away and had been overcrowded just hours after the disaster. 

Gently smiling she watched the kids play in the front courtyard of the hacienda. 

Thankfully the school had been one of those places that were build sturdy enough. Boring, cheap concrete box that it was and that she had hated for all her years studying there. It had been strong enough to withstand the disaster striking in the late morning. Again thankfully during a time, where all of the children were at school and not asleep in a house, that would have crumbled over their heads. 

A lot of parents weren't so lucky.

Exhausted she placed one foot in front of the other. Despisingly looking at her boots. 

How she now hated these boots. Ever since "the apocalypse" she had been wearing them and now only connected them with the shards and broken walls she walked over. 

Of course she still wore them while taking care of her horses which where pegged inside the garden. 

YES THE GARDEN. 

Her grandma had almost freaked out when she had brought them into her sanctuary but she couldn't have left them in the paddock. Everyone needed transportation, the streets were a complete disaster. Most cars and scooters were trash - if one could get their hands on fuel anyways. She thought ironic. Where should it come from, fall from the sky?! 

And this wasn't the most critical thing that was missing. Food was really, really sparse. The possibility that one of her beloved horses would end up on a plate was frightening. Just NO!!

Again Mara thought she was surprisingly lucky. One has to count every tiny positive in this giant negative. The horses were essential for them so it made sense to keep them close and take care of them. 

Also, Mara added to the positive list, her grandma was much improved. Her fever had gone down and she was currently resting on the best couch they still had. 

Like all the rest of the usable furniture it was placed in the cleaned up entrance hall. The first room she had taken care off with the help of her two younger brothers. 

They had made it, nobody had died. Well, her family was quite small and it wasn't as if her parents could die a second time, she thought bitter. 

Naming her a lucky girl would still be debatable. 

Especially when thinking about the future. Today would have been the day she would have departed for her studies. The target of many years now vanished into oblivion. 

She had counted the days since the earthquake like someone in prison with stripes on a freaking wall. A working phone? Working internet even? HAH forget it, maybe in a few months again. In normal times the infrastructure here wasn't the greatest. Now? It would take weeks to get things working in the cities let alone around here in the back country. 

She lectured herself not to be bitter and grim. "Stick to the positive sides" was nicely said in easy times and freaking hard work in dire ones.

The hacienda was supporting and protecting their little community. It was a blessing and that was were her focus now needed to be. All of the needy people she had managed to welcome were helping her for the shelter of a stable roof. Everyone did their part. And so must she.

Nobody challenged her leading the community. She was a Gómez after all. As if that meant anything when everything lay in ruins. 

She was exhausted. She was at the end of her wits. The food became an increasing problem. 

Her grandma being an old-school donna that had been heading a large household for a big part of her life and had helped her enormously without planning to do so. Due to her the pantry had been overflowing with homemade preserves. The garden had been full as well. With the help of their guests and their outer walls nothing had been stolen. But they were just too many.

Nodding to Alfonso, one of the older boys standing guard at the end of the garden. 

"Everything all right?"

"Yes, no one in sight." he answered not taking off his eyes from the landscape around.

"Well, let's see if there is anything I can bring to the kitchen today. Cross your fingers." she tried to be cheerful.

She hated to have to chase away the groups that came looking for food. But they were strong enough to go looking. The 18 children in the front courtyard were not, two being her brothers.

In total she had 29 mouths to feed: Her family were 4 including herself, then additional 16 children (9 of them orphans) and they had welcomed some adults, too. Two neighbour couples and 5 widows + widowers. 

TWENTYNINE. That was not manageable even with the best stocked pantry.

All of them had been eating way too litte the last 3 weeks since the earthquake. Her trousers were already sagging around her slimmed frame. She had always been slim, now she was as thin as a rake.

Checking the apple trees she saw some ripe ones. YES, yes, yes. 

She would ask her brothers to harvest them. They were just 12 and 13 but the last weeks had matured them instantly. Making them a great help and support. 

... But nobody at least nobody of them could work miracles. If not one of the  relief organisation would find their way to this area she would need to take drastic actions.  

Patting her horses, tears entered her eyes. No, it could not come to that.... 

Damn.