Julio: Part Iii

By Dorila A. Marting

Julio, a ten year old bright boy, is the only survivor of his family when the flood of the century killed about five thousand people on Saturday, December 7, 1941 at the northern part of Huaras, Ancash, Peru. His cousin, Esperanza, takes charge of him. Together they go to Lima, suffer hardships to earn their secondary diplomas in order to enter the United States of America as immigrants and become worthy, naturalized citizens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503569829

Dorila A. Marting

Dorila A. Marting gives us a riveting portrait of a land and a culture very unlike our own. At the same time, her universal themes—the eternal struggle between the generations, the ties that bind—make for an astonishing debut novel filled with colorful characters and intriguing situations anyone can relate to. Coming to the United States as an immigrant, Dorila A. Marting is proud to be a naturalized American citizen. From 1959 to 1968, the author was a correspondent for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix and the Arizona Daily Sun of Flagstaff. A member of Arizona Press Women and the National Association of Press Women, she has received ten State Press awards and one national award for her journalism. Following graduate work at the University of Arizona, she became a Spanish language and ESL teacher. Now in her golden years at age eighty-seven, Marting is in perfect health and continues to write creatively from her home in Tucson.

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Copyright © 2015 by Dorila A. Marting.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Photo by Barton Robinson

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 05/12/2015

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JULIO

I n about nine months, at age 16, Julio will be one of the youngest students in his senior class to graduate with honors from the academically designed five year high school curriculum in Lima, Perú, South America.

Julio was only ten years old when the December 7, 1941 floods destroyed most of the new part of Huarás and surrounding areas in Cojup Valley, killing about five thousand people including the young boy’s entire family.

He has come a long ways under the protection of his cousin Esperanza, 23 years old, also an orphan, and the generosity of Lolita, an elderly lady and family friend, who provides shelter, love and some food to both of them.

Now that Esperanza had earned her high school diploma, one of the recommended prerequisites by the US Immigration to speed up the entrance to the United States as an immigrant, she thought that it would be easier now. It was not so. In those years, she had to have a sponsor or a job awaiting her in order not to become a welfare recipient. She did not have either one. Furthermore, she could not take Julio along with her, even though she waited for him to graduate from high school. She was depressed searching for temporary office jobs in vain. The best deal would have been if one of them had become a USA naturalized citizen, and then pull the other; but that would have taken five years to achieve.

She had already quit the stressful domestic job she was doing for the two single, elderly ladies, while attending the five year high school classes, part-time, in a full time private high school. The ladies had already filled the vacancy. For Esperanza that little income was now lost! She had quit much too soon. However, she had no regrets.

Esperanza, where there is hope, there is a way. You taught me that. Do not worry too much about money; I am going to find a job to help out with expenses. I have a conviction that one day, you and I will live in the United States, Julio said.

"What type of job are you planning to find? You must concentrate in your school work to graduate with honors where you are headed now. I will find another