Camila

There aren't many options, living in the campo. It makes people grow up quickly. Camila is in her mid-teens. She dresses nicer than any of her family. Each authoritative broom stoke she leaves on the orange dirt floor of her house counts the days down to her still unforseen wedding. They say here that if you sweep well you'll get a handsome husband. She's well on her way.

I stayed with Camila's family during Long Field Practice and felt a little child-like in her presence. Here was a woman, several years my minor, who looked as if any day now she'd be prepared to run a household and make babies. The maturity train must have skipped the Ptates and gone straight to Paraguay.

The last day I was there, her suiter made a house call. He was just leaving as I emerged from packing my things. Passing the family sleeping area, I caught a glimps of this Paraguayan beauty laying on her bed, sucking her thumb. Sometimes I wonder if the campo makes people grow up too fast.