Maria’s officemates planned a long holiday weekend going for upland hiking up north, where the native tribes of the Cordillera, collectively known as the Igorots, still lived. They expected to see the magnificent sea of clouds that were rumored to be witnessed at the top of the mountain as the sun rises. The crystal cave, celebrated for stalactites and stalagmites, could also be explored cruising along the cold underground river. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Rice Terraces, was something she had been dreaming of seeing. With all these reasons, she agreed to tag along.
They left the city one Friday night straight from work and arrived early the following afternoon. It had been a long trip, first by plane and then by bus to get to their starting point, but they were glad to be there. All of them agreed to take an early dinner and get some sleep in preparation for the hike before the break of dawn. All of them, that is, except Maria.
She decided to take a walk and explore a little bit, enjoying the fresh air which is rare in the city she lived in. Maria began strolling down a wooded path leading from her hotel into the forest of big tall pine trees she could see from the hotel room. At the end of the path, she found a small village and wandered around in it looking at the houses and sights until she found a small old rustic Spanish mansion with a big sign "The Library” hanging on the gate.
Maria's natural curiosity hit her, and she decided to look inside the mansion a little bit. Inside, it was more like a museum than a library, but a spotlessly clean museum and everything in it looked strangely brand new. The furniture was old Spanish designs in heavy kamagong wood, an extremely dense and hard wood from trees found only in the Philippines. Old paintings hung on the walls in the living room and in the dining room area which was furnished with a long mahogany table and chairs, and glass window cabinets filled with Chinese porcelain plates and silverware.
Wandering from room to room down the long hallway, she finally reached the last door - the library, where the smell of old books mixed with the smell of pine trees coming in from outside through the large open windows surrounding the room. The scents wafted through the room hitting her nostrils and making her feel at home.
Almost hypnotically, Maria slowly walked towards the books on the shelves. Her hand softly touched the spine and caressed each book with care, reading the title of each hardbound book as she went along the shelves. Some were science texts dealing with things like agricultural farming, weather, and chemistry, while others are about mineral mining and a few didn't have a title on spines at all. And each book was an 1809 edition, which Maria also found quite curious.
Suddenly one title caught her attention as she browsed the books and she felt it seem to beckon her to get closer to it. The book title read:
"Freedom: Maria's Journal"
Maria, in a trance, carefully pulled out the hard-bound book from the shelves and seated herself comfortably on the sofa in the well-lit corner of the library. She started browsing the first page, a dedication:
"To my beloved, Señor Miguel"
Reading the strange old leather-covered book; about a native girl sold by her adopted parents to the Spanish Conquistador, a mine owner in a remote corner of Benguet, a province of the Philippines.
He was called Señor Miguel; he was described as a widower and strict, but generous landlord. His full physical details were also given; a very tall man, a mestizo - a man of mixed native and foreign descent. He had a pointed aristocratic nose, golden-colored knowing kind eyes, unruly dark brown hair and thin sensuous lips with a perfect set of white teeth.
She was called Maria, a typical shy native woman, curvy, five feet tall with her wild black curly hair, eyes as black as midnight, natural red pouty lips and dark cinnamon brown skin.
She became one of the house slaves in the mansion, doing all the cooking and cleaning exclusively for the Master of the house, then later on serving him in bed. He never raped or forced her to join him in his bed, he only asked her discretely to submit to him and become his mistress.
However, in time Maria found herself falling in love with him. She didn't mean to, she didn't plan to, and she didn't realize it was happening until it was too late. But it did happen, nonetheless. Miguel was also very fond of her as well. All the other servants and service people noticed the way his treatment of her changed. She went from being a simple slavegirl to a cherished mistress.
But to Maria, she was still just a slavegirl... a slavegirl who happened to be sleeping in the Master's bed. And while being part slavegirl and part Master's concubine had certain perks and privileges around the mansion, it meant little in the village and outside the mansion's estate.
One night after their typical sexplay was finished, Maria sat up in bed with the sheet wrapped around her young firm breasts as Miguel came back to bed from the bathroom.
"Señor, may I please speak to you? I wish to talk about my freedom. How can I earn my freedom or how much would it cost to buy it?" she asked.
"Your freedom? What do you mean, Maria dear? Are you not happy here? Do I not treat you well enough? I don't understand," he said confused.
"Oh yes Sir, you treat me very well. Please don't misunderstand, Sir, I am very happy here. I do not wish to leave at all. It's just that when I go into the village to shop or do business, I am treated like a slavegirl. I am looked down on and treated as if my opinions and my desires are not important. I am always the last one served or waited on if I am served at all. I have to sit at the back of the bus and crowded even then. I wish to be like the other women - respected, listened to and treated as if I am more than just the dirt they scrape off their boots.
Sir, I want to be free to come and go as I please, to conduct business on my own without telling everyone that my Master says this or Señor Miguel wants that. I want people to pay attention to me not just because I represent you. Can you understand that?" she explained.
He looked at her as she spoke and when she had finished he thought about what she had said. "Yes, my dear, I do understand. How long have you felt this way?" he asked.
"For some time, Sir. Since right after becoming your mistress. I would have said something earlier but I felt that it was too soon after you brought me into the main house. I didn't want to seem ungrateful for that," she said.
"Well, I wish you had come to me sooner... I don't want you to feel like you don't matter. I don't want you treated like that by anyone here or anyone in the village either. You do represent me and when others see how you are treated in the village it reflects on me - as if I am not taking care of you. And I don't want that.
I will tell you what I will do. Let me think on the matter for a few days and see what I can think of to solve this. I am not saying no, my dear, I just need to look at this from all angles before making my decision. Okay?" he said.
* * * * *
It was several days before the matter of Maria's freedom came up again. Miguel was sitting in the living room in his favorite chair, relaxing after dinner. It was a warm night, as most are there, and with the big double patio doors wide open, a nice breeze blew softly through the mansion, cooling things down a bit.
Maria brought him a drink as he sat there digesting his delicious meal. "I thought you might like something cool to drink, Sir," she said smiling.
"Thank you, my dear," he said as she sat the drink down on a small table next to his chair. Just as she turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist. "Come, my sweet, sit down. I wish to talk to you," he said, patting his lap and indicating that he wanted her to sit there. Maria smiled and crawled up into his lap, straddling his legs and facing him.
"I have considered what you and I talked about a few days ago...about your freedom. And I think I have a solution we both can live with... " he began.
Engrossed in her reading as the sun set on the horizon and the room started to get cooler, Maria was unaware of the room's dimming light. Someone lit the fireplace, warming the room and a lit oil lamp appeared on the table beside the sofa near her corner. Raising her head up from the book and looking around the room, she saw that she was still in the old library alone. She also noticed that it was getting dark and knew she would have to be getting back to the hotel before it got too dark to walk the forested path.
Just then a commanding male voice coming from the darkened doorway on the other side of the dim living room. "Maria, dinner will be served in an hour." The voice startled her - she thought she was alone in the library!
Maria curiously got up from her comfortable sitting position in the library sofa while closing the book to see who was calling her. As she walked towards the doorway with the oil lamp illuminating her way, she suddenly came upon the source of the voice.
There standing just inside the ring of light from the lamp was a tall well-dressed man in a crisp white shirt and black pants. He wore a bolo tie with silver medallion and tips on the strings, black wingtip shoes, and a white Panama hat. He smiled as she stood there in the lamplight.
"I am terribly sorry to have bothered you, Sir, I am going now. Thank you for allowing me to stay and read in your library," she said. Looking past him she noticed the mahogany dining room table had two formal place settings as if she had interrupted a private romantic dinner he was planning for someone. It was only then that the delicious aroma of the food hit her nostrils and it made her stomach grumble reminding her that she hadn't eaten all day, either. Maria blushed at her ignorance and lack of awareness.
"If you are done with your reading, shall we eat dinner, Maria?" he asked in an authoritative voice. He removed his hat and set it on the hallway table, looking back at her. Their eyes met, and she froze in shock looking at the man’s familiar face.
"Going to stand there on your first night of freedom, Maria?" the man smiled.
Maria, still in shock, stared intently at the man. A nagging feeling of familiarity kept kicking in. The book described the man in front of her in detail as the man called Señor Miguel!
"Señor Miguel" she breathlessly whispered.
"I am Miguel to you now, Señor no more," he said, as his kind eyes twinkled.
"You look lovely as ever in your yellow dress," he said, offering his hand to her.
She automatically lifted her hand to his, placing her palm on the back of his hand as she scanned her clothes. Indeed a yellow off-the-shoulder summer dress had strangely replaced the blue jeans and white button-front blouse she had worn since arriving at the hotel earlier that day.
Looking at his eyes, she whispered "Gracias, Señor"
"You're still beautiful, Maria. How do you like your freedom, my little one?" he asked.
"I have missed you, my love," as his lips softly grazed hers.
The kiss paralyzed her mind, taking the breath from her lungs. The room melted away for her and nothing registered but the soft lips caressing hers. Slowly her eyes closed on their own accord and her hands gripped his upper arms as he pulled her into a deep kiss.
"Señor" she softly moaned.
"Ssshhh, just kiss me," he whispered, kissing her hard again. Gently she bit her lip as he slowly unbuttoned the front of her dress. His lips traveled down her chest to the now exposed breast. His mouth closed over one hardening nipple as she moaned again. Her head fell back and she arched her back offering herself to his ravenous mouth, running her fingers through his hair as he devoured her.
