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Mijita is pronounced Mee-hee-ta, meaning "my little daughter".
Mater - Mah-tehr, "mother" incl. "mother-in-law", responsible overseeing female
Pater - Pah-tehr, "father" or "father-in-law" responsible overseeing male
Perla - Majita's beautiful sister-in-law
Achilioin - Orpah's deceased husband
Mahlon - Ru's deceased husband
1. Mijita Ru
I woke to the sound of snuffling, Mater was crying again. My own eyes felt heavy and resisted opening. I rubbed at them, so puffy it was a wonder they opened at all. The hollow emptiness in my stomach hurt worse. Even my arms felt drained of the energy to rise off my cot and go to Mater.
“She wants to be alone, Mijita.” My sister in law stumbled back into her cot, flopping onto her back. “She sent me away.”
“I’m sorry. This sorrow should be yours and we should be comforting you.”
Perla sighed.
The funeral for her husband had lasted all week. A widow of three years, myself, I felt her pain freshly. Our father, Pater, had sunk into the ground last year with something that slowly ate his health away. The passing of Achilion last week was my sister, Perla’s, heartbreak, certainly, but all three of us women grieved for our former lives. Women could not own land. We were effectively homeless.
These thoughts churned ‘round and ‘round in my head like a never-ending circle. It always came back to the same question, What do we do now?
Perla echoed my thoughts whispering, “What do we do now?”
