The Indomitable Lady

1. Time travel or alternate world?

Teresa remembered reading, watching movies and series about time travel. actually considered herself a fan of this type of movie or book, but nothing had prepared her for the strange situation she found herself in.

She had boarded the plane, happy to go to Brazil with her boyfriend, but in the middle of the trip , panic had taken hold of her and everyone inside the Airbus. A sudden and strange storm had made the commander lose control and the plane would have fallen into the sea, or so it seemed. Teresa found herself in the water and with a beach visible I managed to swim to dry land.

After a rest, she saw that two men, one white, the other black, had approached and were talking to her. Their clothes were strangely recognizable from 19th century movies. And they too were shocked by the material of her jeans and t-shirt and the fact that she was a woman in pants. They insisted that she wrap herself in a shawl, so as to cover the shapes of her rear, they helped her onto a wagon and took her home.

They spoke Portuguese , although the pronunciation was strange and during the first hour of contact she had difficulty understanding them and no words came out of her mouth. The shock, the water in the ears, the fatigue dissipated and the situation was analyzed

It was a typical colonial house, well-to-do for a time well before the 21st century

It was a couple with 5 children, 3 girls and two boys, all teenagers or a little older. The boys were fascinated, the girls curious. There were also several blacks in the house, servants, or rather, slaves ... She chose not to speak the whole time, while she tried to understand what was going on and what the best plan of action was.

They accommodated her in the guest room and a black woman made her get into a large basin of warm water and helped her take a shower and put on a dress for the girls of the house. A long, flowing dress that completely covered her legs. Underneath, she wore culottes, petticoats and hard shoes with heels. Then she was invited to sit at the table with the family.

At that time she just said that her name was Teresa and she didn't know how she was there, but they seemed to know...

-Oh, my dear, - said Mrs. Graça, the mother of the family, - you were certainly traveling on the S.Vicente, which must have suffered a shipwreck. We've been waiting for you for a week... You must be a survivor. Poor thing! What must you have been through!

-Don't you remember anything? Asked one of the daughters, perhaps Antonia, to which Teresa shook her head in response as she tried to organize her thoughts.

The father of the family, a serious man, who had rescued her on the beach, asked carefully:

-But surely you will be the bride? Did you come to meet your fiancé?

Amazed, Teresa just nodded her head again, this time to say

~I told you , woman, she is the fiancee of Colonel Fernando Montieiro 's son !

Teresa's eyes widened.

-You're scaring the girl, Eduardo. Let her explain...

- Yes , she explains herself and may she rest. I 'll send someone to Montieiro 's farm . The things that happen! That boy wanted to ask for a bride from the mainland, not knowing anything about her. I already thought that the girl had died at sea and here she appears dressed in pants, and a week later than expected. And from the boat, not even a shadow ... I'm glad we found it... if not, it would be this little one...

When the father left, the young people all started talking and asking questions, but the mother told them to leave. They wanted to know why she was going to marry a stranger, why she was wearing pants, and so many other questions that Teresa didn't even understand.