"What do you do with the money" was her least favorite question. Her host family knew that Lisa had to save for her return ticket, but they never left her alone.Lisa wondered how they found out if she saved money. Did they spy on her room when she was away?
The host family was always counting the money Lisa had stored away. Always. It was like she wasn't allowed to keep anything to herself anymore. Lisa felt that they considered her as their property, as well as her goods and money.
"Lisa, you have just received your salary. Why don’t you cook for us?“ Marc asked.
"You are our family member. You should take part in our family finances,“ he continued.
The host family suggested she could have spent her salary on a nice dinner for them.
Lisa swallowed and said nothing. How could they compare her salary to their managers‘ salaries? They were so egoistic. They never thought about someone else except themselves.
Another time, they suggested she should take a trip into the nearest city.
"Lisa, why don’t you go to the nearest city? A ticket is only 100 dollars. You will have plenty of money left over and be able to do so much with it. "
Lisa knew that 160 dollars was not much “extra” money. In fact, there was very little she was going to be able to do with that much. All she could do was try her hardest to save and save. Then, she was questioned for that as well.
Lisa's host family once asked her if she would invite them to a nice restaurant for her birthday. They believed that she had plenty of money. Lisa knew that after she paid for her monthly card and her personal needs, she had almost no money left over. There was no way she could invite the family to any restaurant. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't. She knew that a simple burger restaurant would have been enough for her, but the host family would want to go somewhere nicer. Lisa couldn't afford that. Instead, she baked a huge cake at home. She decorated it so lovingly, it was simply beautiful. It didn't cost very much to make, but it was the thought that counted. Lisa served the cake to the host family, excited to share it with them. After it had been eaten, she asked, "How did you enjoy it?"
She was excited to hear their response. Although it wasn't expensive, it did take her quite a bit of time. She had to mix the ingredients, then bake the cake. Then, icing it had been a chore. But, Lisa was happy with the way it turned out. She was sure the family would be too.
"It was okay," was the answer she was given. There wasn’t any enthusiasm from anyone in the family. Lisa felt bad. She did her best to try and do nice things, but it was never enough. She was never good enough for this family, the same way she hadn't been good enough for the last family. She knew that she wasn't the problem. The problem was these families were selfish.
"Okay," she mumbled, clearing up the kitchen.
Later on in the evening, the parents were nervously smoking.
"Lisa is extremely greedy. She does not want to invite us to the restaurant. She is so ungrateful,“ Angelica said and continued to smoke.
33
Lisa was tired of crying, just sick of it. With a groan she got herself up, moved the crutches to the back of the closet, then went into the bathroom. In the shower, the hot water stung her face and stiff body. It felt nice. Steam rose and billowed. Droplets started to cry down the glass wall. She stared. She stopped shampooing. Her soapy fingers went to the glass, and touched the face. A weeping face melted under more droplets.
Afterwards, Lisa took Ben to kindergarten, and then sat in the library on the third floor of the glass house, learning the language by listening to the news.
"I need to wear something decent, " she thought. She went to her closet and found a cheap, blue shirt. This colorperfectly set off her blue eyes,and as she walked past the mirror, she saw a very pretty girl with magnificent wavy brown hair and blue eyes like the sea. The girl, in whom it was impossible not to fall in love with, had a beautiful smile.
Lisa looked in the mirror, touched up her eyelashes, her lips,and her hair. She smiled to herself,and she was glad for the first time for her beauty.
Some time later, Lisa was lying on the bank,and reading an interesting book on her little, white laptop.
The sun warmed her bare arms. A caressing breeze swirled around her legs in her soft cream dress, and the sweet fresh air made the environment cool.
One of the tasks that Lisa had was to iron the T-shirts. There was a room in the basement devoted to the ironing board and chores related to using it. This room was also where many articles of clothing hung to dry, or to prevent wrinkling. Ironing was a very boring task. It didn't require much thought, but it required quite a bit of time. Lisa often found herself with little to think about while she was ironing. So, she would turn on the radio that was in the basement. She enjoyed the talk radio program she found on one of the channels. She didn't want her knowledge of the language to fade. She thought it would help to listen to the language being spoken while she worked. There were a variety of subjects talked about on this particular station. There were news stories told and local events. Lisa didn't understand everything that was talked about, but she had a good grasp of what was being said. It always interested her to hear a language other than her own being spoken. It was educational for her. One day, the host father came down into the room she was in. He looked from her to the radio and asked what she was listening to.
"I'm listening to the news on this talk radio," ahe answered simply, continuing to iron the shirt in front of her. The host father seemed upset by this answer.
"You can't even speak the language," he argued, motioning towards the radio. She shook her head.
"I can," she corrected, looking over at him. He shook his head and walked over to the radio. He picked it up and turned the dial to off. Then, he sat it back down on the counter it had been on.
"You don't have enough of a brain to understand these difficult things," he insisted. She knew better than to argue, but wanted to state her opinion anyway.
"I thought I might try to learn," she answered quietly.
He shook his head. "Don't waste your time learning something you don't need to know. You should be focused on your work." He started back up the stairs. Before he left, he turned around tossing a pile of t-shirts in her direction. He headed back up the stairs and shoute,
"Iron these T-shirts as well," he commanded and closed the door.
Lisa obeyed.
34
One evening, Angelica dressed up in one of her most glamorous dresses. It was a designer name, which was very expensive and sure to make a statement wherever she was doing. Marc was dressed accordingly, in one of his most expensive suits. They were both stunning, looking like movie stars.
“Lisa, we are going to a nice restaurant today.” Angelia started, which didn't explain the outfits. They were dressed far too nice for a simple dinner reservation.