Life’s Twists and Turns

Episode 1

My name is Isabele, and everyone calls me Isa, well, some people who still talk to me do.

I am the daughter of Mr. Joao Figueiredo, owner of a farm around these parts of Minas Gerais, and a productive farm with a lot of beef and dairy cattle. Mr. Joao was a widower. He lost his wife, Mrs. Ana, a gentle, loving woman full of virtues, my mother, 18 years ago. She passed away from an unknown disease. To this day, no one knows what made such a strong and healthy woman die, so suddenly. She fell ill in one week, and the next, they were burying her. It was very sad and painful for Mr. Joao, especially because I was only 1 year old, and he didn't know how to handle me.

At that time, there was a cousin of my father's who claimed to be a close friend of my mother's, Iolanda.

Iolanda was a beautiful and young woman, and soon my father fell in love with her. In less than six months after my mother's death, they were already living together, and soon after, she became pregnant. My half-sister Renata was born. I don't quite remember where it started, but I know that as long as I can remember, I have been extremely mistreated by my stepmother, and later by my half-sister. They made my life a living hell. I had no peace, and my father became so foolish and sad, without sparkle, after my mother passed away. He never defended me, he never did anything for me. Sometimes he even helped with the punishments, which over time became worse.

I never had new clothes; it was always Iolanda's leftovers, what she didn't wear anymore. And the worst part was that I was much bigger than her, so the clothes were tight, small, and uncomfortable. My luck was that I had my Bah, who sewed the clothes, putting in patches to make them fit me.

Bah had been a loyal employee of my mother's; they were inseparable. And when my mother died, she took great care of me, and often she would step in front of me so I wouldn't get beaten too much and hide me in her room. In fact, for years I had been sleeping in the employees' wing. I put a bed in Bah's room and slept there with her. Today, at almost 20 years old, I already knew how to take care of myself a little and stayed away from the two of them. I knew how to make sure they didn't see me, so they left me in peace. I had gone to school little but had learned to read very well with the help of my Bah. So I read romances and one day imagined a handsome prince who would come to free me from the hell I lived in.

Then I looked in the mirror and what I saw made me very sad. I was very ugly. My stepmother cut my hair with the same scissors she used to cut the manes of the farm's horses, cutting it short. I washed it with bar soap; I never had shampoo or conditioner to use. Perfume only the ones Bah could afford with the pennies she earned. Meanwhile, my sister had everything good and the best: perfumes, moisturizers, creams, everything chic, and my father never questioned it.

I was thinking about this sitting in the outside area of the house when, without me seeing, the two of them, mother and daughter, arrived, pulled my hair, and knocked me down in a way that I fell on some branches, hurting my arms and face, and then they laughed, laughed a lot like hyenas. They felt pleasure in seeing me in pain, hurt.

Mr. Francisco. I am Francisco, a very rich and well-known farmer. I work with beef, dairy, and insemination. I have several farms spread throughout Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, and also outside of Brazil. I have the best cattle genetics on my farms, my animals are worth millions.

I am the father of Thiago. My son is now 25 years old and doesn't have much sense, very hardworking, but doesn't want to take a girl seriously and get married, so I told him that if he didn't get married, I would disinherit him. He was furious, but I didn't give in. He tried to negotiate in every way, but I didn't budge, so he said that I should choose a woman for him to marry. He would even marry, but he didn't promise me anything.

But I know that if he marries a good, responsible girl, he will fix himself and develop some sense. I am very afraid of him becoming a frivolous person like his mother was.

I heard that in the house of Joao Figueiredo, my neighbor, there were two girls. I went to find out about them and learned that there was a very beautiful one in the range of 18 years, educated but very spoiled and frivolous. In contrast, there was the older one, 20 years old, who was not beautiful, who was very mistreated by her stepmother and lived as a servant in the house, and they hadn't even let her attend school.

I thought about it and went to visit my neighbor Joao, to see if I could arrange for one of his daughters to marry my son.

I arrived at Joao's house. We greeted each other at the gate because he was arriving from the city. He invited me to enter. As we were arriving at his house, I heard some laughter, and when I looked, I saw a depressing scene. There was a girl lying on the ground, actually on some branches, and two women, actually a young girl and an older woman, laughing hysterically at the girl who was on the ground, even bleeding. That hurt my heart.