(This is a fictional plot but inspired by historical facts and a previous fictional story that i had read,
The images are not my creation and the right to use this images is given after contacting the artist.
This is a historical short story first and not fantasy.)
(Adult readers)

Introduction

In the real world the system of convict leasing or chain gangs was a very real system of forced penal labor which was practiced in the Southern United States from 1844 and not only for males but females convicts also ( usually African Americans)

In the earlier forms the convict leasing provided prisoners ,which was imprisoned for frivolous accusations, to labor for private parties, such as plantation owners and corporations.

Five years convict

Prologue

In Mexico's the population exploded at the end of World War II.

The emphasis in economy shifted towards the development of new resources.
The mass production system in the agricultural-industrial complexes replaced the small landlords of the countryside.
The economic integration was accomplished.
But not without significant cost.

The female chaingangs

From the begging of 20 th century inside the female chain gangs of South America the things was different than in the southern USA.
There was a totally different world.
The races were not matter for the system.
They were all convict's destined to work for years or or even forever some times.

Here both mulatto, white and black girls were at the mercy of their overseers, and the farmers or factory owners who practically own them.
They usually did the lighter jobs as the male convict's had the hardest roles in this industry.

On these chain gangs were very few women that they had committed murders or other serious offences.

The majority of the young women who worked in chains here, were sentenced for minor offences.

The chain gangs were profitable and many wealth businessmen had invested whole fortunes there.

Some of the provinces and governors were alleged to have made a ten or more millions dollars a year, by leasing these unfortunate women to flower field plantations, road cleaning companies and small factories.

This made the local police and judges eager to send as many imprisoned women as possible to the camps.

Especially young women living alone, female travelers from foreign countries or wandering artists and dancers were in a great risk for being arrested for the most frivolous charges.
This women usually sentenced to 5 , 10 or 20 years on the chain gangs.

Those who received this sentences had them very often unfortunately lengthened by the prison staff.

Chapter 1

This story begins in the summer of 1947.

Gabriela or Celina de Monette as her French father named her after the divorce with her mother was a beautiful young woman who lived in the expensive Parish.

She had just finished her studies in Journalism there.

Now she wanted to find a new exciting job opportunity that would help her career to rise as a journalist.

She was just twenty three and she had finished her university with excellent grades and recommendations.

Not all the women  had the opportunity to attend the university after finishing school.

But she was from a wealthy family of France from her father side and her difficulties was far less than the other girls in her age.

Although the university wasn't the only interest that she had .

She was already columnist in two Parisian newspapers with strong connections with the socialist and feminist movements in France in the middle of the 20th century.

The clever young woman was in fact an active member of the socialist party there, despite her parents disapproval .

And that was the reason why she preferred to be called with the name that her mother gave to her .... Gabriela.

Women had won the right to vote in several countries since the end of the 19th century.

Many women like the suffragettes activists in the recent past was known to her .

They had been imprisoned while campaigning for votes  and went on hunger strike earning the public attention with their determination.

They had  chained themselves to railings, smashed windows, set fire to postboxes and empty buildings to make their demands heared by the authorities.

Some went so far and even try to set bombs in order to damage property but not human lives at least !

Their efforts fascinated the young girl and she wanted to become an idealist, a true activist that she would crush men and their views  !

But Gabriela wanted also to travel and see the world with her own eyes.

At first she moved in the United States where she had some relatives already and soon she started her career working as a journalist for a local newspaper in Chicago.

Of course finding a job in a foreign country and especially in a male dominated working environment wasn't very easy.

And definitely ,as every educated woman that had a job that wasn't relating with the housekeeping ,she faced at times, the ironical comments of her boss and some of her colleagues.

Sexism and all kind of discriminations was not unknown in the middle of the last century.

But this made her even more eager to prove them wrong.

However the opportunities to accomplish that from this position was few.

Her everyday tasks was boring and soon lost any interest for her new job.

Thoughts about the exotic Latin America was now in her mind.

Her mother was a white Spanish woman ,but born in Mexico and she had heard many stories about her birthplace.

Gabriela knew the language already and she always desired a journey there.

But despite all that she was ashamed about her mother origin's.

She not even spoke to her any more now, not even to inform her about where she was.

Her father a nobleman from Amien always pressed her to marry since the age of eighteen.

But she really didn't want it.
She never felled in love with anyone in her life until now.

She believed that she didn't needed someone to love her.

Even her friends were few.

Her half sister and in the past inseparable companion Sienna had stopped to talk with her since last summer.

And she knew why.

Sienna was always honest and open hearted girl.

But every relationship is somehow tested one day.

When Sienna met a comely young man from her university she felt neglected by her sister.

She couldn't accept that someone else was between Sienna and her now.

She tried everything to separate them.

But when she lied accusing her sister lover that he had tried to seduced her , Sienna decided that she could no more accept her jealousy.

She never forgave her for that lie that almost cost her future marriage.

Gabriela wanted a new start now.

An adventure, something more interesting than the normal boring office work that she could found with her family connections in Europe.

Soon she started corresponded with a promising larger newspaper ,with office's in Mexico and Panama.

It was a very popular newspaper at this time and notorious for the criticism that often did towards the political system and existing social structures.

After a while with the unexpected encouragement of her previous boss she was invited to work for them for a short time contract as they said.

The newspaper owners was sometimes exchanged their employees to serve their current needs.

She was told that she will quickly become a promising young journalist at their newspaper.

Gabriel was brought from Chicago with the expenses of her employers who accommodated her in a large comfortable house in Mexico city without asking her to pay nothing !

Everything seemed too good to be true !

One day the editor called her to his office and told her about a great new idea that he had got.

The newspaper was to do a big article about the chain gangs in Guerrero.

It wasn't easy to send some of their reporters there.

The plantation owners never allowed that in the past and the communities was small and easily a stranger could be spotted from the locals.

To get some inside information he was looking for a volunteer who would commit a minor crime in Mexico and get a short sentence on one of the farms.

He thought that she, being both young and intelligent (and pretty), would be the right person for the job.

She knew very little things about this female chains gang's.
But eventually she accepted.

But for the rest of her story we can best follow her steps reading her small diary that she always kept with her.

March Saturday morning 1947

"Well - Here I stand waiting.
The officer drove me to this place and left me in handcuffs.

He told me that I would wait here for the overseer to come home from the fields, and that it probably would not be before evening.

It's both a bit frightening and exciting.
I never had such an adventure in my life !!
How many stories i could tell for all that after i will finish ?
That made me smile.

This would be a life changing experience ,i thought !
I wanted an adventure or not ?
This will be my chance.

But from the beginning i wasn't very lucky.

They gave me eight weeks on the chain gang for shoplifting in a local store.

It's a lot more than I expected for sure !

My boss had promised me !

"It would only be for ten days or so Gabriela ... don't worry it will be over before you notice it .

I promise you that ."

That was his words !

Certainly not two months ! But I will go through with it!

I am educated and know what i am doing !

Getting the story about the chain gangs published and this will be the start of a brilliant career !
My own name in the headlines of the news !

Everyone will be learn about my adventures in this mysterious place !

This is far more important than my personal comfort ...for a short while at least ...

It was all arranged between my boss and the grocer.

Everything will be fine.

However it was not very pleasant to be arrested by a policeman and have to walk all the way through the streets in handcuffs to the police station, while everybody watched you with surprise.

One of the overseers was so "helpful" in assisting me to hand over my old clothes and personal belongings.

He took almost everything of value including my shoes !

He said that his daughter always wanted such a nice shoes.

I never show my clothes again either.

But before that he hurried to ...secure me as he said ...

"Come on girl ! Let me make you a proper lady" he said ironically.

He was a smith and pulling my left ankle in a small table he quickly started his job.

Being chained was terrifying experience.
But also strangely exiting !

I could still feel his hands on my ankles as he adjusted the cold irons on my bare feet.

-"It is for your own security my dear. It keeps you girls feet from straying, when you shouldn't !» he said with a wicked smile.

But at least we finished with that now.

My clothes now is only cheap cotton and a little bit dirty.

I have only walked a few minutes with these chains, and they already chafe my ankles.

Wonder how it will be having to work in the fields all day with them ?
It would be a challenge ?
Intriguing.

It will be interesting to meet the other girls.

If I can make some of them tell me their stories,
it will be of great value to the newspaper !
Thats why i am here anyway.
This is my game and will win !

The strange thing is that there is no racial segregation in the chain gangs.

I have to confess that i was a little racist before i came here.

In the past i never wanted to sit in my homeland next to a dark skinned woman from Africa or similar places.
I was a white woman growing up with specific ideas and stereotypes.

But here were one.
Liked or not.
Definitely i didn't like that.

We worked , ate and slept together. And of course we wore the same dresses and chains.

The outside world could learn a lot from us, if they wanted to.

How different one's life gets after been put in chains.

Few months ago men would have greeted me happily and given compliments when passing me, a beautiful woman in the town, as i was.

Now i am wearing leg irons and a simple, bad quality, cotton dress.

The hard soil is giving me difficult times as my soles ,tender and soft wasn't used to touch the dirty dust as some of the dark skinned girls from the black continent.

People look at me as if I were slave.
In chains a girl's beauty means less than how fast she can work.

I forgot for a second about what I had become.

How i ended up here ?

Saturday of March o 1947

"I and some other girls were assigned to work at a farm.

Farmers lease girls from the chain gangs, to do cheaply the most of the work.

The job herself wasn't heavy because we are working in a flower plantation.

Unlike us many male chain gangs is being worked in more heavy and difficult jobs, as i learn later.

But the extreme heat and the lots of hours without enough breaks was a real punishment in the end ,even for us.

When the farmer and his young wife came out to view us, I smiled and said good morning to them as I always would have done, before my arrest.

But slaves, oh sorry, I mean convicts, are not allowed to talk to anybody without permission.

The same people, who only some weeks ago, would have helped me if I had slipped in the street, now stood and looked at me as if it was something normal.

Without any thoughts about helping me in any way.

At least I only have three days left of my sentence.

Monday of April 1947

Today I fainted in the field, overheated by the burning sun and exhaustion.

When the overseer found me and woke me up shouting and swearing in my face i was so much behind with my work.
I had no chance of catching up with the others now.

I am afraid that in few moments he is going to call my name again.
Oh no.
He just did it...

I know the punishment ...
It's going to be a long night for me alone down there in this wet cellar that i knew already.

Ahh!
- It's a strain having to stay like this for the whole night, but it's the normal punishment, when a girl doesn't complete her work quota.

Sometimes they even pick out a girl and put her in the cuffs, just to scare as.

Wonder what my friends at the university will say, if they ever find out that I was forced to stay like this, without water or food for almost all night !

I don't think I will ever tell them that I experienced it myself this situation !
It is so embarrassed !

The next day, without warning, one of the overseers suddenly pushed down me on the ground.

He and an other one grabbed me from both of my wrists and ankles ,held me still.

-"I hadn't done nothing wrong !" , i shouted ... please...

"Did you all see what she just did to me the man said ?

"The stupid girl throw a stone directly in my face without any reason !"

"She is crazy !"

"Yes - There is no doubt about that i saw her ! agreed the other one trying to hide his sly smile.

We will report her for what she did to me Dave ! And hey! - if she tries to get up, you better tied up her !

She is an dangerous individual "

After a while he returned back with a horse.

"Come on! Get going !

At least he heard my entries and slowed down enough for me to follow walking with normal pace.

This is terrible! They accuse me of having attack an overseer !

I should have been released today, after having served my final days sentence.

Instead I am being dragged to town walking after a horse, to be put before the judge once more.

This time for a crime that can earn me an extra five years sentence.

The other girls had warned me that this could happen.

The overseers and the farm owners made trumped up charges against healthy convicts serving only very short sentences.

Good workers are valuable and they do not want to lose them, if it can be avoided.

I have to contact the newspaper.

They will of course help me out!"
I am valued for my employers and won't let this happen.

Thursday of May 1947

The next day in the Court's waiting room.

"I'm sorry, but please understand ... We all appreciate the great effort you have made and are very grateful.

But we are a small newspaper and can't afford to pay a lawyer to take your case.

To attack an overseer is a serious crime, and it was not the smartest thing for you to do!"

She begins to get seriously scared.

Even her own boss doesn't believe she is innocent.

If the judge finds her guilty, it will mean she will have to remain in chains for another five years of her life.

She will never have a family and a home for herself if this continued again and again.

The rest of her life will only consist of sweating and working under the hot sun.

Sunday October of 1947

"No! - This must not happen!

I could now have been lying in a warm bed with clean sheets, and with my head resting on a soft pillow.

Instead I sit here with a almost empty stomach, chained to the wall in this cold ,damp cellar.

I should have been released today, but the judge believed their false charges, so now they can keep me on the farm in chains for years !

I tried to write to my father and friends with strong political connections in Europe but when i finished they confiscated my envelope and took me by force without explanation !

How could I be so stupid !

The editor with all his fine words, and my friends in the party always talking about liberating the country.

They had all only looked at me as a pawn in a game of chess.

Ready to be sacrificed for the cause!

I must try to find a way out of this nightmare !
No matter how small the chances are,
I have to try to run away!
I just have to!

Three years have gone by since Maria was sent back to the farm.

The reward for stopping a runaway was 3000 $.

This was a large amount of money for a mere guard.

It sometimes happened that a guard would fix up a false escape attempt to earn extra income,

And to get revenge on some poor girl who might have offended him refusing to sleep with him or even salute him with a smile every time that he passed by.

None of these incidents were ever investigated.

Wednesday December of 1947

"One day me and another prisoner were ordered to run back to the farm and fetch two sacks of cornstarch to feed the other girls in the field.

While crossing a small river on the way suddenly i felt like my heart stopped beating for a second, when i saw a large iron nail lying on the ground.

Trembling with excitement i began hammering, trying to break the bolts holding my leg irons.

Nothing happened.

The dammed chains was just too strong and even the stones that i used broke !

Oh damn ! I can't wait any longer !
They will find me.

The other woman had walked on. She probably ignored me as she was in hurry.
This might be the only chance i would ever get.
I had to get it off very fast, if i wanted to manage to get away in time !

I hear voices approaching me !

I managed to hid in a nearby forest and after i used a stream to hide my tracks.

I climbed in one old tree to spend the night safe from the hounds sensitive smell but my sleep was full of nightmares.

At least two times i woke up checking the ground if someone was there ready to grab me by my ankles and take me prisoner again.

I can't stay there , and in these striped clothes i will be spotted easily from the farmers.

So i decided after washing quickly my hair in the stream to sneak up inside an isolated house.
It seemed empty.
I found bread and some fruits in the cellar downstairs.
I managed to take some provisions with me inside an old cloth that i found in the table.
As i prepared my self to leave i saw a glass bottle with some banknotes hidden inside.
Thats was probably all the money that this poor farmer had.
But i took them all.
I will need them for my new start after the borders.

The night was hot but quiet.
No bird or animal sound could be hear then.

But this made me anxious.

I held my leg irons, trying not to make any noise.
I was afraid that someone must had been heard the sound of my beating heart.

Ever step, every breath was a risk.
I started sweating again.

Still fettered i won't be able to run if somebody spot me now.

Only if i remained unnoticed i have a chance to succeed.

"Likely no one saw me when i left stealing the clothes.
I learnt also to hide almost all of my traces when i crossed the rare forest paths.
I was like a fox that she had just outmanoeuvred her hunters.
I knew that i was smarter than them.
I always was.

I changed clothes in order to look like a girl from the nearby villages.
I hid my irons as well as i could and after eight days i believe that i am very close to the borders with the US.
I am free !! I thought.
At last !
Even the soil seemed softer under my soles now !
I cover each day more and more ground towards my freedom.
Even the nature seemed to share this joy with me !

One time i met a local woman in the road.
But i was clever enough to sit down quickly by the side of the road so she wouldn't sees the cuffs on my ankles hid in my dress.

I pretended that i was resting.

I spoke first asking for directions for somewhere to prevent her to get suspicious about what a girl was doing alone on the road.

Tuesday December 1947

Next morning i eventually release myself from the shackles !
The nail saved me this day .
Now nothing can stop me !

Late in the evening i allowed myself to fall to the ground in a corn field.

I was both happy and totally exhausted after having been running as fast as she could all afternoon.
It felt strange not to feel the heavy iron rings around my ankles anymore.

It was only a matter of minutes, before i fell fast asleep.

Big mistake."

"No! I must have overslept!

The sun is already high in the sky. And those sounds !
It s the dogs ! Oh no! "
They are coming directly in my direction !"

I have to run !"

I turned to leave but then i felt a strong hand grabbed me from behind.
His other gloved hand in my mouth block my air supply as i struggled to get free.

"The next few hours i found myself stand tied up in a barn.
In the first few hours i tried in desperation to get free, but the ropes were tight and my body too weak now to continue the struggle.

But i tried again and again."

Eventually the ropes in my feet started to become loose.

Then he entered.

For the elderly hunter who had recognized me from a poster, 3000$ was a significant amount. "

Gabriela was still healthy and she could have fought when he grabbed her, but at that moment two others came.
And she was again captured almost fainted after her vain efforts.

" I tried to convince my captor to release me.

-Please let me go ...i have money ...i can pay ... please sir don't let them take me back again !!"

But my tears and entries didn't make the farmer to change his mind.

"I took the money that you had already sweety" he said bluntly.

He needed the money.
And a convict girl couldn't offer him anything.

Instead noticing that my feet was started to become loose he tied again my ankles on the rough wood.

There was no chance for me to escape."

I just hope that all this is a lie.
That i will awake in this trees again and i will continue my travel north."

Sunday evening December 1947

"I had never felt so sad, as after being refitted with the leg irons, which the foreman had found lying by the stream, and chained me together with the other girls."

«All of you, girls! Look at this dumb girl !

She thought she could get away and be a free again!

I promise you - none of you are ever going to be free ! Not without twenty good years here !

You will serve the community for the crime's that you commited.
And i do my best to make you stay here for as much as possible !

If any of you tries to, you will end up just like this one with triple sentence ! Understand?!»

If she didn't believed it before, she is now convinced, that she will never leave the chain gangs again.

Her future life will be as a field convict and she has to adapt herself to this life, if she wants to survive the years to come.

Friday January of 1948

"Leg irons.
Now they are a part of my body.

As time has gone by, I have got accustomed to my noisy steps.

I can bear the scratches in my ankles, without showing any discomfort.

Maybe it was destiny that put me in these clothes and cold chains.

If my former friends from the socialist party in France or the newspaper could see me now.

They are surely still trying to undermine the system in every article.

When I was there my mind was not free.

Now my ankles are chained but my mind has been freed from believing in their flowery phrases.

be continued ...