Utah, 1922
Where those who have power are in charge, the poorest are those who suffer at the hands of the richest. In this case, a father and a daughter, living on the land, are about to be left with nothing.
Colonel Brown and his henchmen rush about late at night, with torches lighted up in fists, scurrying through the woods, burning what appears before them, with nothing to fear and no worries from those inside their homes to rest.
Listening to the horses' hooves, Raymond Steele wakes with a start, seeing a flash of orange from the windows and the hooting of the horses, when they pull the reeds to make them stop.
"Get out Raymond!" The colonel screams with all his might.
"Get out before I set fire to this house, with you and your daughter in there!" The colonel warns.
Inside the house, Raymond tries to wake up his daughter, who was so fast asleep.
"Ana, my daughter, wake up!" Raymond tries to wake his daughter in a loud whisper so he is loud enough to wake her, but low enough for no one outside to hear.
"Ana, wake up!" Raymond shakes her.
"Horses ?!" Ana wakes up, startled as her father woke up, listening to the horses.
"My daughter, the colonel is there to come and take our land. You have to run!" Raymond tells his daughter.
Outside the colonel continues to shout indignities and dark desires.
"Raymond walks out! What would I do with your beautiful daughter!"
"Ana, my daughter, you have to run away." Raymond asks with the greatest of desires.
"No, my father, I will defend what is ours!" Ana still in a nightgown and touches her head, which covers her head and her brown hair plaited around her head, picks up a stick with all her strength at will and goes to the door to defend what is her and her his father from Colonel Brown's fret.
"No, my daughter, you have to run! run in the background, what will happen if the colonel gets you!" Not wanting to imagine what might happen to his daughter and his virtue if the colonel gets his hands on her, Raymond rushes his daughter to the back of her small house so that Ana can literally escape to save her life.
Putting on a long coat over her nightgowns, and not forgetting the glasses that are fundamental for her to see, round brown glasses, which cover the brightness and color of Ana's blue eyes.
"No father, come with me." Ana begs her father to go with her.
"My daughter, if we are both, they will persecute us. It is better to stand here and defend my land as a man." Raymond tells his daughter, not wanting to say goodbye to her, because deep in his heart he knows it will be the last time he will see her. Ana also feels the same, does not want to leave her father alone with these henchmen, who comes with the mission to destroy everything that is theirs.
Tears run down both faces of father and daughter.
"You know, wherever I go, I'm looking out for you, because you're the best daughter in the world that any father will ever want."
Ana cries, shaking her whole body.
"Promise your father that you will study, study and much, that you will have a better future than your father. Promise me, my daughter!" Raymond appeals to his daughter to do her sole will.
"I promise my father, I promise."
Outside, the colonel orders the men to set the house on fire.
"Go Ana, go to my brother, with your grandmother. Go on! The colonel has given orders, there is no more time to lose."
Giving a single last tight hug to his daughter, Raymond pushes Ana through the back door.
"I love you my daughter."
Raymond sees Ana running through the woods behind the house. When he no longer sees her, he goes to the front door to meet the colonel.
"Karl, look inside." Colonel sends the man named Karl in the house, in search of Ana.
"Thou art a thief of thy land, thou steal that which is not thine!" Raymond confronts Colonel Brown. And this one still laughs, imposing on his horse.
"Kill me! Finish it, kill me!" Raymond shouts.
"Colonel, the girl ran away!" Karl coming inside the house, informs the colonel that Ana ran away.
"Left my daughter away, take my land, kill me!"
"With pleasure!" And the colonel shoots Raymond's chest, and he staggers backward, until he feels it and walks to the floor. Still alive, he heard the colonel say:
"Go after her. Got her."
...
Ana ran through life as never before. She ran through the woods, through the trees, ran and ran. But when a distinct sound sounded through the air, the sound of a shot, Ana became frightened and fell to the ground, almost losing the glasses that aided her vision. She cried even more, because she knew that that shot had taken the life of his father, for sure.
She almost gave up running and preferred being caught by the henchmen. But she remembered the promise she made to his father, and then she rose from the ground and continued to run.
As she ran, she heard the distant cavalries, a sign that the bad men were heading in the opposite direction.
But a depression in the forest caught Ana off guard, and when she put her foot down, she gave a little cry that echoed through the woods that alerted the bad men of the direction Ana was taking.
Ana ran back, but the men on horseback were much faster and quickly saw Ana running away.
They were quick to reach her, they surrounded her almost everywhere, and the great horses frightened Ana as well as her horsemen. Jumping from one side to the other, never seeing where to put his feet, eventually dropped and dropped the glasses on his face.
Very quick to palpate the ground, she managed to catch her spectacles and take off, only seeing a few big horses a little out of focus. Still jumping with fear and without putting the glasses on her face, Ana ends up getting through a small space that leads her to a bridge. Seeing that evil men are still pursuing her, she hides under the bridge. With the current of the river too strong to cross and running the risk of being seen, Ana begins to sway through the boards under the bridge.
But when one of the bad men begins to cross the bridge, he puts one of Ana's hands in the strong current of the river, taking her without the strength to get out of it. Ana lets herself be carried by the current, keeping to the top, trying to breathe.
As the stream begins to subside, Ana can swim to the shore, out of the icy water of the river. The area is familiar to you, but she do not remember where. The horses' hooves still ring in Ana's head.
Exhaustion is killing Ana, running away to save her own life is not easy, especially for a helpless girl like her.
In the distance, Ana sees sheets stretched out, but when she sees that someone is pulling the sheet away to see her, Ana can not take it anymore and faints.
...
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas look at the girl who has grown up without a mother, but with all the love of her father, crying for what those evil men did to her father and their house. They give her all the support, clothes to warm her and food to feed. These neighbors, though far away, are well aware of what Colonel Brown is doing to the people of Utah. People die of fear. Either they are held as slaves or killed like Raymond Steele. They also say that the Colonel has more power than the president and that neither can he do anything against him.
These people live terrified and running away is the best medicine for them.
Ana tells the Thomas that she will see how her father is. The Thomas decide to follow her in fear that they will come after her.
On arriving at her old house, completely burned, only wreckage on the floor, Ana sees her father, lifeless. With no pomp or circumstance, Ana buries her beloved father. The man who created her, after her mother passed away, when she was still a six-year-old. Now 18, Ana says goodbye to her father.
"Good-bye Father Good-bye, Daddy, I know that you died to protect me, I know, and I promise, wherever I am, you are still proud of me."
...
Later, Ana prepares for her things to go to meet her paternal grandmother and her uncle.
"Ana, take this money, half for you, half for us, we know that the train for your grandmother is still far." Mrs. Thomas gives Ana a small bundle of money because she has nothing else, and train travel is expensive.
"I can not accept, this money is yours."
"Ana, my dear, accept it." This time it is Mr. Thomas to foretell.
"One day, when someone needs help, you help, as today I am helping you. This is how life should be." Mrs. Thomas says with all love.
...
Ana arrived at the train station and bought her ticket bound for Seattle, Washington. The landscape of the trip is beautiful, mountains, rivers. Her luggage is very small. No clothes were burned in the fire. Only two chickens he managed to catch in the yard. The only thing left of his house.
The trip is long and Ana is tired, so she falls asleep.
...
Seattle
Celebrate the anniversary of the city, so the whole city celebrates. The children and adolescents of the school, the politicians of the city, the sellers of the groceries, etc ... Everybody wears the best that has, with the most brilliant and expensive jewels, because today is the day to celebrate. Even the city is decked out rigorously.
At one end of the city the march is already preparing to enter the city with music. A student band.
In front of her are 3 of the most beautiful girls in the city, students in the last year. They wear white uniforms with skirts too short for the time, but the boys like to see. The first in line is Leila, the daughter of the Seattle police commander. Leila is the acrobat, so the honors of making the wheels and the pirouettes is hers. But Leila is also what they call the leader of her group of friends.
Behind her in the same uniform are two sisters: Suzanna, the oldest and the closest to Leila and Mia, the youngest, not so close to Leila, but quite a bit influenced by both.
The musical march is composed of trumpets, saxophones, drums and many more musical instruments, which help the music to be animated, as are all its participants.
"Stop, stop, stop!" The police commissar, Boyce, orders the march.
The music stops and the gossip begins.
"What is it, Dad?" Leila asks her father.
"The mayjor of the city and the honored one aren't still on the stage, so you're going to have to stay here for a while."
And the gossip turns to indignation.
"Daddy!" Leila complains. "It's too sunny! My snails are going to fall apart and I'm going to be like an old broom, a witch!"
The sound of a hype is made and by Leila side, Christian Grey appears - the charming of Seattle - and eternal flirting.
And how his charm is his greatest triumph.
"Stop making a ribbon, Leila. You're never going to become a witch, you're a beauty." And to top off a triumphant smile that made Leila sigh.
"More respect, boy!" Boyce draws attention to Christian.
"But it's true, when the girl is beautiful she has to be compliment!"
"We'll talk about it later, but for now you'll have to stay here." Boyce tells the crowd that he has to wait and the indignation resumes. Turning around, Bouce returns to the city.
On the other side of the march, Tony, the father of Suzanna and Mia, catches the attention of his eldest daughter.
"Suzanna, I do not want your sister to talk to this boy in the middle of the street."
"All right, Dad."
Mia is talking to her eternal love, Lucas Sawyer, who is in his final year of schooling and inspires to be a successful lawyer. But, for some reason, it is a forbidden love because Tony - Mia's father - does not approve of it or even give any explanation to his daughter. Both are very much in love with each other, but there is always something to get in the middle ... and the millimeters of your lips touch ...
"Mia, Daddy warned you!" Suzanna interrupts.
"I know, I know ..." And looking at Lucas "I was not talking to Lucas, Lucas came to talk to me." And their eyes exchanged a thousand and one messages of love.
…
And in the big house of the city's mayor, Carrick Grey eagerly waits for his wife, Grace Gray, to get ready to pack up, for the whole city is waiting for them.
"Grace, please hurry up!" Carrick begs.
"But I can not find my other earring!" Grace exclaims.
"You'll end my political career because of an earring ?!" Carrick asks incredulously with the woman's futility at such an important moment - after all it's the city's birthday and he's her mayor.
"Found it!" Grace screams in euphoria after finding the earring on the floor near the sofa.
"For me, you don't even need ears!"
...
As in all major cities there are also great deals and in Seattle the big deal here is the chocolate factory. It belongs to the great Lincoln family. Great in wealth because people are very few. The factory belong to the older brother Richard, but since he has many health problems, he prefers to live in Argentina where the air is fresher and healthier. So the factory is run by the younger sister, but not so young, Elena. A widow who has at her charge an eight-year-old daughter, as rebellious as a boy.
Most of Seattle's residents work there, and the business in the surrounding towns and cities moves a lot. Also at work are Jason, the factory's chief confectioner, known for his culinary skills and the best cakes ever to be tasted.
And on this city party day, Jason is too busy making the cakes to Elena's house. Mrs. Elena's secretary approaches Jason and tells him that he must deliver the cakes to her mistress's house.
"I'm sorry, but I really can not today. My niece is arriving in the city and I have to pick her up at the train station." Jason explains.
...
However, in the largest house in the city, a house that deserves all the splendor, a house that looks more like a palace, is Mrs. Elena to argue with her butler, because of the hundred dresses she has, none seems to be strictly to be used on the city's birthday.
"But Mrs. Elena, look at this pink here ... So beautiful." The butler shows her the dress.
"I've worn it twice! Do you want the gossip in town to tell me I'm broke for having to repeat clothes ?!" Elena's voice ranges from tone, to a more aggressive one.
"And this one here green? You had it made especially for celebration."
Taking the dress and looking at the mirror and sadly says:
"And I've tried the dress and I look like a lettuce. I can not go up on stage to be honored looking like a lettuce."
Grateful to your mistress as she always does, the butler tells her that she will never look like a lettuce, even though he is lying.
Elena ends up finding another dress, one in shades of brown, and despite being aware that she is late, takes her time. Because, she considering herself the owner of the city, Elena does what she wants and when she wants to.
…
Across the city, the band is still waiting under the blazing sun.
...
As Elena likes to boast about her deeds, she called her brother, who is in Argentina, just to tell her that she will receive the key to the city.
"My brother, this is an honor to the chocolate factory, to our factory!" Elena says very happy.
But Richard is a very earthy person and very fond of putting the points in the i's.
"First all firsts my sister, it's my factory, I built it, you're just my sister and factory manager." Richard declares, because nobody else takes pride in that factory than he does. After all, he built it with his effort and dedication.
"Talk about the factory." - resuming the speech - "I have been analyzing the accounts and these last months has not given much profit, so I'll go to Seattle."
Watching your little world fall apart. "But my brother, it's just a little crisis ..."
"It's not worth making me change my mind, I even bought the ticket." Richard closed the subject. "See you in a while." And hang up the call.
If a couch did not have Elena behind her, she would fall round on the floor because she did not expect her brother to come so early to Seattle to see the chocolate factory.
But the secretary's intruder was there and to put more fuel into the fire.
"Mrs. Elena, I do not like gossip, but Mr. Jason left the cakes to pick up the niece at the train station."
Fire leapt from Elena's eyes.
"What?"
...
Luck has not yet appeared on Ana's side. Ana had fallen asleep in her seat. She had been able to buy the economy ticket - the ticket of the poor - but something strange and absurd happened during the trip.
While Ana slept, the door of her chickens' cage opened and one of them ran away. Since it was not enough to have run away, the chicken still wrecked the luxury class carriage, where all the ladies were left with their dirty dresses because they had never seen a chicken in life much less touch it.
The reviewer eventually discovered that the chicken belonged to Ana. Ana ended up carrying a huge sermon including stopping the train to drive Ana away. The train stopped and Ana begged him not to expel her because she did not have any money to buy another trip. The reviewer tried to negotiate her trip if Ana got rid of the chickens, but Ana explained that she would not do it because those two animals were the only thing she had seen that grew up without a mother and had just lost her father.
These words touched the heart of the sir who forgave Ana, even putting her job at risk. This gesture led to the whole carriage applauding him because a gesture of this magnitude is not always present in people's hearts.
"What's your name, girl?" asked the reviewer.
"Ana. Anastasia."
And Ana only needed one train station in order to meet her uncle.
...
Finally Elena arrives on stage and the party can start. Especially for the joy of the band.
"Dad, we have to go straight to the stage. I'm cramped to be waiting here." Leila complains to her father.
"My daughter," the nun, who also heads the school where Leila, Suzanna, Mia and other girls study, says "you're the one who wanted to be the leader of the march."
"I did not want to! They voted for me." Leila says.
"Beautiful like that had to be a leader." Christian does not miss the opportunity to flirt with Leila's beauty.
"Stop talking to him, daughter." Boyce warns his daughter. And looking at Christian. "I already warned you, Christian! I already warned you." The warning is given in authority.
"When the girl is beautiful like a rose, she needs to be praised." Christian says leaving the heart of Leila rapturous and the other girls who are in the parade.
And at Christian's orders the march is begun. Finally.
...
At the same time, at the train station Jason looks for his niece who is not difficult to find, because he recognized it by the photographs that were sent for many years.
"Ana, my niece!" Jason greeted with great joy. Covering it. For the only contact she had with her were the letters and photographs. "You look so beautiful!"
"Uncle, how nice to see you." Finally, Ana's luck seems to be changing.
...
In the city the party continued and the speeches were made. The far-reaching speech of Mayor Carrick Grey that in addition to keeping its electorate seeks new votes for future elections. And, of course, Mrs. Elena who is given the key to the city as the current face of the chocolate factory.
The parade continues through the city, rejoicing its inhabitants, waving joyfully to all those who want to be part of the celebrations of the city.
Meanwhile Jason and Ana arrive in city on a horse cart. Ana is amazed by the whole party that is happening, with the colors, the music and the fanfare.
"I'll get closer for you to see, Ana." Jason tells his anxious niece that she knows all the goods that goes on in this town.
But the horse does not want to walk.
"Do not worry Annie, he can not see a pretty girl sitting here with me that gets jealous. I'll talk to him." Jason tells Ana, Annie how he lovingly treats his niece now. Passing the reins of the horse to Ana, he descends from the cart and tries to talk to the horse so he can walk.
But what Jason did not count on was that the horse was afraid of the noise of fanfare. And as the sou approached, but nervous the horse stayed. And Jason was trying to pull the reins for him to walk and the horse did not want to, until the horse lifted its front paws, making poor Jason fall to the ground and scaring Ana, the cart began to walk mismanaged by the city, through the people.
People were frightened, they started running everywhere, the music stopped, the important figures who were still on the stage were shocked to see that situation before their eyes.
And poor Ana was dying of fear. Luck was definitely not on her side. Ana screamed for help. But the horse ran unruly and she did not know how to control it. She was running towards the stage, where Mrs,. Elena was already afraid for her life.
However, Christian Grey as well as charming also likes to be a hero. This one was climbing a column from which, trying his luck, jumped on the cart very little time of this to hit the stage, and of course to Mrs. Elena.
Ana, however, had already lost her glasses again, and Christian managed to stop the cart and made a little celebration, of victory, of heroism, for he ended up saving the day, but especially the day of the city's birthday. Christian celebrated and the people celebrated with him, not looking at Ana.
"Christian!" Leila comes running and calling for him.
It is at this moment that Ana looks at who has saved her. Ana is dazzled by the beautiful face of Christian, with those gray eyes that shine with joy, but also with the joy with which he is, to celebrate. Christian is in his world, not interested in anyone in particular, not even in Leila or Ana, who is definitely delighted with him.
Ana continues to look at him, then every move he makes.
If what they say is true, love at first sight does exist.
N.A.: It seems like I enjoyed writing stories. Unlike Ecstasea, this story will be based on a Brazilian telenovela that I like immensely, is now the warning for anyone who finds similarities. I just really like the story and I think it looked great for our favorite characters - Ana and Christian. The telenovela has the same name "Chocolate with Pepper" - "Chocolate with Pepper". Hope you like it. It will be a temporal story, so do not get too attached to local realism, history, etc.
DatsunGirl