Time for Thursday Doors and this month (May 2020) Dan is hosting a writing challenge.
I chose Sofia’s Door from Guimarães, Portugal
Here is my writing –
genre: Historical Fiction
Title: Momanita Lives On
Fredrica slowly opened the door.
Two more visitors were there, asking for a tour of the house that hid Allied snipers during 1944.
“Come on in, but we’re almost done for the day. In fact, if you had arrived five minutes from now- the door would have been bolted up for the day.”
“Whew, glad we made it on time. Traveled all day to see Mamanita’s place.”
“If you are here to see the hidden rooms, they are upstairs to the left. If you want to see the sniper training area, it is out back near door 619.”
“Um actually, we’d love to see both. Thanks, ma’am. However, we also heard that sometimes guests are able to sample Mamanita’s famous hamburger recipe.”
“Huh?” Fredrica replied, with a strange look on her face. “That has not been served around here for at least two years.”
The air in the room felt heavy and quiet.
Fredrica looked at the clock, glanced back at the door, and turning slowly to the newly arrived guests, she said, “I would be honored to make Mommanita’s hamburger meal.”
A faint smile surfaced on her face as she added, “Go look around and come back to the kitchen at 5:30.”
–
A few hours later, the sound of quiet laughter and conversation could still be heard down the entire block. It was coming from Fredrica and the visitors. Their chemistry led to anointed conversation that was fueled by a hearty hamburger meal. Hours flew by.
Now it was late and Judy and Blanche stood at their doors – wondering about all the clatter.
They were captivated by the smells and sounds. It had been many decades since Momanita was around – yet for that moment – you could feel her essence. Momanita always had food simmering with conversation happening. It smelled and sounded like her.
Standing there, in the doorway, they both remembered the 1940s and how everyone pulled together. They remembered how freedom was gravely threatened.
Then, Fredrica slowly opened the door to let the guests leave.
She glanced down to see Judy and Blanche. “Hi ladies, extra burgers tonight if you want some?”
They nodded.
“I’ll bring some down before I bolt up for the night.”
They nodded again – and looked up to the sky.
Because Momanita’s essence –
was right there –
in the sweet bye and bye.
Author Notes
1)May is National Hamburger Month and so this inspired the choice of food for my historical fiction
2) Even though the photo I chose was from Portugal, my setting was Tyrol because I recently watched a WWII documentary about Tyrol (article is here). I also watched a doc about the snipers of WWII. The Allies were scrambling to train snipers during WWII. The United States snipers had better long range and the British snipers had better field craft. Nazi German snipers were trained well for both. Eventually, the Allies had snipers work in pairs for more effectiveness. This was on my mind when I was thinking about a story for the culture-rich doors.
3) The OSS mission in Tyrol had an inspirational soldier named Frederick Mayer – and so I named my hostess “Fredrica” in his honor.
4) The Tyrol OSS team had help from a lady named Momanita – and so having her essence linger reminded me that the sum of many parts helped the allies enjoy victory back then so we could have freedom now.

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Excellent story, Yvette! Thanks for sliding it in for the writing challenge. And I am also a fan of hamburgers, so that’s an added bonus.
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Thanks Dan
And cheers to hamburgers
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Terrific post all the way around, Yvette!
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Thanks for reading and by the way – I meant to drop by and leave a comment – I received your interview replies and will have the post up for Memorial Day
Thanks again
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Didn’t want to be a pest, I just wanted to make certain that long comment didn’t create any problems for you.
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Wonderful a d it was a smart way to send the replies / be in touch later today
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Great story and good use of the inspiration image! Historical fiction is my favorite genre.
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Thanks so much for reading Janis
😉
And cheers to historical fiction
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Lovely photos, Yvette, and a beautiful story 😊
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Thanks Clive
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Wonderful story and the photo of the doors at the start is a perfect introduction.
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Hi Anne! Thanks for reading and hope your holiday weekend is enjoyable
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Tasty tale, Yvette. And I just dined on burgers this past week. Chorizo and beef burgers with plantains on the side. Que rico!
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Mmmmm plantains are so good and that meals sounds like a nice combo
– and like how you said “tasty take”
Good word play
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It was. I made the maduros, which are the sweet ones. Nice balance with the savory burger.
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Oh my goodness does that sounds good
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It was
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Wonderful!
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Thanks and love your photo
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A great read, Yvette!
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Many thanks Sue
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An excellent photograph with so much intriguing content, and a fascinating story. “That has not been severed around here for at least two years.” – might contain a happy typo.
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Hi Derrick – just fixed the typo and found one more while there – really appreciate you noting it!
Sometimes those words look like what we want them to be!
And wishing you a great day
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🙂
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I love the doors and enjoyed the heart and hope in your story.
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Hi Norah – love how you said heart and hope!
I was going for that while also trying to advocate for real meat hamburger and not the rubber land made fake things they are trying to sell – hahah – jk
Be over to visit soon
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I’m not too keen on the meat substitutes but my daughter seems to like them. I guess it depends how determined you are to be vegetarian. I don’t eat a lot of red meat, but I’d rather not eat the fake meat either.
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It does seem like the younger generation is preferring the vegetarian route – and I stated skimming a book this weekend and the author noted a little nugget – something like the older people brought brisket while the younger folks brought hummus –
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I believe that.
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This looks lovely but unfortunately I can’t read the blue on black text, sorry!
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Hi! I think the blue on black has more to do with your device display settings – because it is actually a dark blue font on white — and I only do that because the light gray that is default these days is too whisper light.
Anyhow – you might have a dark setting that has balcony as the backdrop /
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Thanks for that. I’ll have a look at my settings. I’m new to blogs so have lots to learn still!
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What a great piece by you, Y. So thoughtfully woven together and I could feel the sense of community and appreciation amongst the characters. May I ask which photo was from Portugal? Lovely photos all round 🙂
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Hi Mabel – the photo with the two ladies in the doorway and the laundry hanging was Sofia’s Portugal photo as an option from Dan – I will go in and make that clearer so other readers know.
Thanks so much for the feedback – and I like how you noted the sense of community being felt –
🙂
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Thank you so much for clarifying, Y. The doorways and windows in the first photo look almost like chocolate bars to me – and I mean that in a good way. Very nice shade of brown and looking good 🙂
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This is a lovely story, Yvette. I really enjoyed it.
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thanks for reading Robbie
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Yvette, your story was awesome and the doors too were so beautiful. Architecture at its best.
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[Yvette – I apologize for my tardiness in commenting – we had a computer crash at work that has wreaked havoc on my work life as well as encroached bigtime on my personal time. I am still ten days behind in Reader but aim to catch up a little at a time.] I like the picture from Portugal – old-world city and living conditions make it very quaint on this street and building. I also like the bright door from Tyrol. I was in Tyrol when I traveled to Germany and Austria with my parents – it was beautiful wasn’t it? I came home with a hiking cane that had all metal shields nailed on the side of it from all the towns we had visited in the Bavarian Alps.
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Lovely door! We enjoyed Portugals architecture when we visited. Feel free to check out our Portugal doors as well when you have a chance:
https://wordpress.com/post/awaywegomk.com/8070
https://awaywegomk.com/2021/05/07/thursday-doors-from-the-islands-to-the-highlands-of-the-world/
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