HomeFor young peopleCarmen, Chon and Lolita
For young people

Carmen, Chon and Lolita

Tags: The Escriva family, Spiritual childhood, For younger readers
© Paulina Mönckeberg
© Paulina Mönckeberg
Carmen had long plaits. She was a very lovable child, kind and devout. But she was also a little bit bossy.

“Josemaria, come here!”

This got her nowhere, and the minute he got the chance Josemaria pulled the ribbons off her plaits. Poor Carmen had to go and re-plait her hair for the second or third time that day.

Four-year-old Josemaria would wait in ambush to reach out and pull the ribbons off again, and then run away victorious.

Josemaria had another little sister called Chon, short for Maria Asuncion. She was nearly two years old, a sweet little fair-haired baby. He liked to slip silently into Chon’s room to rock her cradle, but he did it so vigorously that Chon would wake up and start to cry – and Josemaria ran out again before his mother came.

Another little sister was on the way, so that by the time he was five, there were four children in the family: Carmen, Josemaria, Chon, and Maria Dolores or Lolita for short. The Little Watch-maker was pleased to have two more Guardian Angels in the family, but he knew that they would not be keeping him company for very long.

Between them, the four Guardian Angels looked after the children as they played happily. They had a hardboard horse on wheels, and Josemaria would give his little sisters rides on it, tugging it along with a string. They had a wonderful time. The rides were always noisy, because Josemaria soon discovered that the faster he went, the louder the little girls shrieked!

When his younger sisters were asleep Josemaria sometimes played with lead soldiers. He loved to invent complicated battles and imitate the noises of shooting and cannons. His Guardian Angel would whisper in his ear, “Good little child, say to Jesus many times a day: ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’.”

From Vida y venturas de un borrico de noria, © Paulina Monckeberg, Madrid: Palabra S.A., 2004.