Published with permission by G.S. (one of my students). Copywrite 2022.
One of my Latin students wrote this short story integrating lesson words, in lieu of a weekly quiz.
In the beginning of Abel’s life there was only his house, his father, the road that led to the island and the little island down the river. He would often run to the little island, and he loved to play in the forest of the island. The breeze of the forest was so nice, it felt like a gentle mother’s hand across his face. Other children had mothers. Abel knew this and often wondered where his was.
He had asked his father about his mother, but his father got angry, and told him, “I will not talk about her at all. Her story is almost unknown to everybody. I have not told her story to anybody since she died. She was a queen and I loved her more than anything.”
Abel felt a longing in his chest. He wanted his father to tell him her story. He wanted to turn the page of the story that his father was not willing to continue. His only goal was to find out who his mother was.
That night, while he and his father were sitting at the table, eating dinner, he asked if he could start to go to school. His father told him that school was too expensive and that their homeland did not have good schools, “I don’t work so you can go to school.” Abel was disappointed and immediately left the table.
He found his way back to the forest, which he entered with a certain sacredness. All of a sudden, he stumbled across a ditch. Inside the ditch was an old broken statue of Our Lady. Abel did not know who she was, but her tender smile looked like none other. On the base of the statue were the words, ‘Salve Regina’. Abel picked up the broken pieces of the statue. He placed them carefully into his pocket and returned home to the gate along his house.
Late that night, he stepped back to see his finished product. The glued statue looked beautiful, and Abel thought it the prettiest thing on the earth. When Abel looked at that statue, he knew who his mother was.
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