With a smile on her lips, Lark woke up. Having felt love for the first time, her chest burned with happiness. The night before she had been very emotional. Her voice captivating the Jutiapa audience who applauded each of her songs.
As she got up from the bed, Lark sighed remembering Saul, and her cheeks flushed, the brightness of her eyes betrayed her revealing that she was in love. Although she did not know anything about Saul, Lark knew that very soon she would see him again, because Jutiapa is not a very big town, which was evident in the way everyone knew the address of her house; and so she knew that sooner or later they would meet again.
Lark was so happy that for the first time in many years she decided to go to the fair and asked permission to take her siblings with her. As she walked again on the streets of Jutiapa without feeling fear of the rejection of the people, she restored her self-confidence and her desire to succeed as a singer became stronger. Lark was playing the “lottery” with her siblings when she heard Saul’s voice behind her, “I am very lucky, without buying tickets I have won the lottery, because I have found the most beautiful woman in Jutiapa.”
And without saying anything else, he sat next to her holding her right hand. Alondra remained silent and despite the music and the noise that all the people made, the rapid beating of her heart was heard like a drum inside her chest.
“Do I make you nervous? Because you drive me crazy!” Saul asked bringing his mouth close to Lark’s ear, with a sickly sweet tone of voice. “You know, I couldn’t sleep last night. I spent all night missing you and my heart because you took it with you. “
Saul began to fiddle with Lark’s hair, causing an electric current to flow into her back, which in an involuntary movement of her left arm knocked the lottery card to the ground. Saul got up to pick it up and when he handed it to her, then both looked into each other’s eyes. In that instant the infatuation turned into love, and both began to laugh. The ice broke through the warmth of their laughter and from that moment they began to talk as if they had known each other for a lifetime.
The trips that Lark made with Manuel to sell their merchandise at fairs in other towns were not an obstacle that stood between her and Saul. Because in every place that Lark went to sing, Saul was always there, applauding her, smiling at her and telling her how much he loved her. Lark never questioned Saul about how he always had the time to follow her, or how he paid all his expenses, or where he worked. She was only interested in having Saul by her side no matter where she had to travel.
Thus, passed fifteen months during which Lark fell madly in love with Saul and one day when Lark shone on the stage during a white night, where the sky was full of stars that shone with the light of the full moon, illuminating the field of the fair with flashes of silver, Manuel wasn’t waiting for her to escort her back to the sales booth. Lark was restless, as that was the first time that her father was not there to protect her since she started singing at the fairs.
When Saul observed Lark’s restlessness, he offered to accompany her. When they arrived at the sales booth, Manuel was not there. So, Saul entered in the cab of the truck where Lark slept and began to kiss her passionately. Lark did not object, she simply let herself be enveloped in Saul’s caresses. She forgot the outside world; she was letting the torrent of new sensations that she was experiencing roll over her as she gave herself to her love for the first time.
Saul stayed with Lark all night. The next day when Alondra woke up, she was alone. Saul was already gone, and his father still hadn’t returned. But she was not worried about being alone in the sales booth as she was feeling immensely happy. From then on, Lark slept with Saul every time she found the opportunity to be alone with him.
Saul asked Manuel for permission to be Lark’s boyfriend. Manuel accepted and was happy that there was someone to help him take care of his daughter. Manuel soon gained confidence in Saul and left him alone with his daughter, tending to the sales position, while he had fun living his messy life every time they went on a trip.
Saul on many occasions had proposed to Lark that she stop working with her father and dedicate her life only to singing, because that way she would earn much more money and she would not have to stay out of Jutiapa for so long. He also proposed that she start her own business. Saul also told her that he had friends who worked at radio stations and that they could record her singing so that she would become famous throughout Guatemala. But Lark always refused. She did not want to leave her father alone because she was concerned about the well-being of Hilda and her siblings.
In time Saul and Alondra became inseparable. Hilda and Manuel were happy with their relationship, as Saul was very affectionate with Alondra and he treated her very well. One day as the whole family was having dinner at Manuel’s house, Lark suddenly stood up and said, “I’m pregnant.”
TO BE CONTINUE…
EMOTIONS AND PAPER STRIPS 
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