Twelve Brown Eyed Girls

"Someday I will live in a big house on the mainland and have a handsome husband and lots of babies!" Lena the youngest dreamed a lot."You'll have what papa says you can have! Lena you know papa will have to say when we will marry." Lisa is a tad older and knew the choice would not be theirs. His spoon rattled against the plate and they couldn't help noticing he missed his mouth often. Because they knew in this house papa was God. Papa sat up straight in his chair and without hesitation he said, “I've thought about it he cleared his throat and continued. "Something has to be done. This weekI will go to America." He picked up his fork and began to eat. The girls glanced around the table then back at the old man. 'What did he say?' Six pairs of brown eyes turn to stare at the face of a man they thought they knew. "I'm going to America, mama. The girls will travel with me." He swallowed. "They are ready for husbands. There are none here. Make them ready for travel. They'll carry their own satchels and the food to sustain them. I'm told the trip could take months with great hardship for some." Like always, whatever papa said, papa did.
‘Did he mean what he said?'’ They never recalled a time when he announced an intention he didn't follow through. ‘Were they never to see their homeland again?’ To be brought to a strange land to be sold, traded, or to be given away as slaves? America? Was it the place of horrors and hardships? Did they sail that week? Six men had paid and now they waited for the shipment!