Chapter 1

Not every saying was meant as some religious spiel. In this except there could well be many meanings to the words.

‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.’

‘A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.’

‘A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.’

‘A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.’

‘A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.’

‘A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.’

‘A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.’

‘A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.’

It had been too many years, or perhaps too much pain had caused Samantha to give up hope, and lose sight of any future, her future. ‘What will be, will be’ as the saying goes.(quel che sarà sarà) This she could not change even if she wanted to. Sam’s future was ordained. The auspicious day happened on her 12 th birthday. Remember, nothing is forever.

The ‘time to break up’ had lasted since she was born; today would start the ‘time to build up’. The day began like most of her days, perhaps fewer beatings by her ‘day to day’ dad and less humiliation from her loving(not) Mother. The escape to the outside world would begin several new seasons in her life.

As far as Samantha knew, she was now enrolled in ‘The Williams Academy For Girls’; a private educational facility in Boston. There she would stay all the way through 12 th grade. Those next 5 years or so would give her the basics for College and beyond. Her benefactor had arranged for this in a ‘not so acceptable’ way. Three days dangling several feet above the ground being held by a chain to their wrists had made whatever he had suggested very agreeable to her so-called parents; they both now saw the wisdom of whatever Mr. Black had suggested. Their agreement might have been prompted by the desire to extricate themselves from just ‘hanging around’ though.

There was a period of adjustment for Sam; one that required more care and understanding than usual. This was planned for long ago. Within 1 year, Samantha was as normal as any other teenage girl. In other words, she did not act in a way any man might understand. The healing had begun. With age, proper food, rest and care now our ‘ugly duckling’ was starting on her way to becoming the swan she was intended to be as was deemed by the Fates.(The ancient Greeks believed that many aspects of a person’s life were determined by the three mythical women known as Fates. Their names were Clotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Allotter), and Atropos (Inflexible). These were three sister goddesses that appeared in Greek and Roman mythology and were believed to have ‘spun out’ a child’s destiny at birth. They determined when life began, when it ended, and everything in between that should happen. At the birth of each person they appeared spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of life. However not everything was inflexible or pre-determined. One destined to become something one day could still choose what they rather wanted to do. The gods could simply intervene with decisions that could be helpful or sometimes harmful. In a sense, they controlled life of every mortal born.

Considered ready to begin, each of the selected modern languages, German, Chinese-Mandarin, Russian, Japanese, Spanish and French were added to Sam’s courses in school. More and more study of the Classics, Greek, Roman and Egyptian history became her reading material until she entered college. In those five years none would recognize how Sam had gone from waif to the ‘reputed Princess’ she had now seemed to become. Mr. Black had made it a point to be with her at least once a week, take her to his home on ‘freedays’ and accompany her each summer on some kind of extended Foriegn Holiday or to attend a notable world event.

The Olympics, The Moscow Ballet, a visit to Cairo to see the Pyramids, tour the ruins of Greece and Italy even to travel The Great Wall in China were gifts to her. Mr. Black had pretty-much taken over her life these last few years. Having his support, money and constant interest, companionship and encouragement helped allow Sam to mature into a Lady of Distiction, as most males who met her had called her. She had become a Woman of the World in a literal sense. Her cultural, language skills and hands-on real world experiences had prepared her for the next step. Further education and exposure would be next.