The beginning of a new life

Part 1: The strange man

     Hello dear reader, you stopped to read my story. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Andres Rivera and I am a 19 year old farmer. I am the eldest of five siblings, followed by Adrian, 14 years old, Leandra, 12 years old, Camila, 11 years old, and the youngest, Miguel, 8 years old. My father passed away when my little brother was barely 1 year old. Since then it has been me, together with my mother Carlota, who have taken charge of raising the family. Since the day my father passed away, when I was only 12 years old I had to be the man of the house.

     Things got complicated for our family since my father was the only breadwinner in the home, he worked hard every day on the farm to sell the products to the market and thus earn money for household expenses. Being the eldest, I was always with my father learning everything he could to help and that was what allowed me to continue his legacy on our farm. I took care of the heavy lifting to the extent that he could. My mother helped me when she could because she had to take care of my brothers. We stayed like that for around two years, doing what we could to support the family and also not to lose our farm. I was already exhausted, I had too many tasks to be just a young man. But despite the circumstances, something inside me knew that everything was going to get better one day. I continued going to school, I learned as much as I could, although there were days when fatigue overcame me and I fell asleep on the books. But that never made me give up.

     One day I went down to the market to sell the products of our farm and while I was organizing the table where I placed my products to sell, a very elegant gentleman approached me and greeted me very politely. He was very interested in the vegetables, fruits, among other foods that I had to sell. He introduced himself with great respect, telling me: "I am Gabriel and I have just arrived from a trip, but I was born and raised in this town, I have come back to live here with my family." I immediately took money from his suitcase and bought all the products that I had taken to the market to sell. He gave me extra money than what I had asked for. I returned very excited to my house to tell my mother what happened. My mother was very happy and she was surprised by what happened.

     After spending a few hours we sat at the table for dinner. My mother, very curious, asked me the name of the man who was so kind that she had bought me all the products. Immediately, I replied that his name was Gabriel and that she told me that he had lived in our town, in his youth. My mother changed her expressions of joy to ones of concern when she told him the name of that man. My mother asked me not to go near that man again until she knew who he was and with what intentions she had bought all our products.

     A few days passed and again I had to go to the market to sell the food from our farm. When I was preparing the cart and placing the products in it, I saw my mother approaching me telling me that she would be the one who was going to go to the market this time and that I would take care of the children while she returned. With great surprise I agreed to what she asked me since she had noticed that she was very sure of what she was going to do.

     The following week I again had to go to the market to sell the food from our farm. When I was preparing the cart and placing the products in it, I saw my mother approaching me telling me that she would be the one who was going to go to the market this time and that I would take care of the children while she returned. With great surprise I agreed to what she asked me since she had noticed that she was very sure of what she was going to do. My mother went to the market and I stayed with my brothers but I couldn't understand what was happening because she had made that decision. A few hours passed and I saw the cart arrive at the farm. I immediately approached the cart to see if she had managed to sell the viberes. To my surprise, more than half of the products were still in the cart. She had not managed to sell them. My mother got out of the cart and she very seriously told me: "You are forbidden to speak to Mr. Gabriel again, I don't want him near you, much less receive money from him."