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Hey Friends! After months and months of undecision, I have finally decided to start again with the story. I told you that you needed to move with your lives and if you have and aren't interested anymore, it is fine. I write this for me as much as for you. You will find many changes, thanks to a very good constructive critic, and I hope there are less inaccuracies and plot holes. As English is not my first language, do not hesitate to comment. I try to read it but a writer is very subjective. Enjoy!
The trip home was long. Everyone was sad in their own way: my dad by being grave and silent and the rest of us by crying openly. We had mixed feeling about coming home. Coming home meant the end of our lovely vacation and the beginning of a new chapter in our lives.
Mr Phelps had left the country with his family too and taken his old place back, meaning my dad too. I was amazed by how fast my family forgot the Cuba life. I had my books, Susie her friends and mom her social circle. I was determined to get into Radcliffe and knew now more than ever that I wanted to make a difference in this world. I had seen it in Havana, how people used their words to make revolution even when disguised in singing. I got rewarded for my hard work, I did get in. My parents launched of course a huge party where all my friends were invited. I didn't enjoy it, hid myself in my room, reading Pride and Prejudice to avoid socializing with all the people outside. I was disgusted with my friends. They were the same as before, living like the world would grant every wish, which it probably would. The only difference was that I had changed. I had seen that there was a life beyond problems like wrong hair colour or a cheap dress. I missed my Havana life.
But then I moved to Radcliffe and started my life as undergraduate. One year after I started, the Radcliffe institute for advanced study was founded. This provided new opportunities for us girls. I was very happy there. I joined Amnesty International shortly after its creation. I really believed (like I do today) that the world needed to be more equal and just. My parents didn't see that with a good eye, they thought it better for me to focus on my studies which I ignored totally. Girls at Radcliffe wanted to get married, it didn't matter who, as long as he was rich and handsome. Going to university was to show that you could afford it, a pass time until you became somebody's wife. There were a few serious ones, which were my friends. I graduated year 1963, at the same time James Bond was at the theatres. I got a job at the local newspaper where I was the only girl. I was assigned the political column, which was unconventional since girls were not "interested" in politics. True, we got the right to vote over forty years ago but politics was men's business.
My boss believed in me like no one would have. I thanked him many times for the opportunity. I hid my signature because according to my boss, it was easier to get readers. In the beginning, I was so willing to keep my job that I agreed but understood after a while that it could not continue. I quit. My chef was angry but admitted that I was a good journalist. I remembered his words. "You are great; you can become even greater if you stay the same." I moved to New York, an outrageous move for my parents. They weren't sure that I would make it in the big city. New York was disappointing; I took a job as a waitress to pay the rent but fate was with me. Tom Wolfe came in one day and I had the audacity to throw a couple of my texts as well as my address in his bag.
One week later, my career as a waitress ended and my new life begun. I didn't need to disguise my name this time, everyone would know that Katey Miller wrote this. My life was finally beginning.
And here I am now, five years later. I am still part of Amnesty and I try to integrate it in my work as much as I can. I am happy with my life. I succeeded in escaping the married life. I heard from Susie that Eva had married Phelps. Susie is in college now, she is studying to become a nurse. I love my sister but I pity her because she could be so much more her but she is happy and so am I. Resuming life after Cuba was not easy but I feel now that I had been lucky. I have a career and am independent, which Eva is not because she have two kids already. James is the one with the money. I feel a little sorry for her nevertheless. No woman should endure life with James. At twenty-seven, I am the woman I wanted to be.