Felipe Nery

The Transitions: a Novel Felipe Nery

This is a story of Miguel Chaves, a person who was born in Macau of a Portuguese father and of a mixed race mother. He is categorized as a Native of Macau or Macanese. He received his initial education in Macau at the Seminario de Sao Jose (a high school) and Liceu (a junior college). In 1937, he went to Shanghai to embark in a career and to establish what he believed to be a secure future for himself. He first worked for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. for three years, and then he worked for the Shanghai municipal Council until the outbreak of war in the Pacific. In 1946, he married Marina Cherkov, a white Russian. He and his wife remained in Shanghai during the war years and left for Macau in 1951. In Macau, he worked for the Macau government, (a colonial government) until 1953 when he departed for the USA. His wife went ahead to America in 1952. Miguel Chaves was destined to work for various forms of governments, each at its separate and appropriate time. This time, in America, he joined the California State Government where he remained until 1986, whence he retired. During his tenure with the state government, he attended night classes, for 21 years, at the Golden Gate University majoring in Transportation. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree, in 1974. This book describes Miguel's ups and downs, adventures and relationships with many people during the various stages as an employee of a municipal government, a colonial government and a state government. It also describes a person who aspired to come to America to fulfill his highest dream. This dream has reached its realization. As a government employee he incurred the wrath of a few malcontents, for being a stickler of law and order, whose aims were to amass fortunes regardless of the consequence and sufferings they might inflict on the middle class and underprivileged people.