Her working hours went far past the twenty hours a week that she had agreed to. In fact, she was left in charge of the children for three days in a row. It was a weekend, but the parents left the children with her anyways. They even treated themselves to a nice movie night in a larger neighboring city. It was almost midnight, but Luca did not want to sleep. He wanted to play all night. He kept crying “railway” when Lisa wouldn't play with him. Lisa was very tired and had a headache. “Even if it would work, your working day ended long ago,” her inner voice said to her.
Lisa was too tired to listen to the endless crying. She wanted to make the baby stop crying, but she knew there was no use. He wasn't going to stop, even if she played with him. Besides, her work day ended hours ago and she knew it.
That night, she went and stayed in the family's summer house. She needed away from the constant crying.
Along with working all the time, Lisa noticed she was rarely addressed. Aside from her duties, the host parents never spoke to her. When she asked any sort of question, she was answered with a cold and short response. There was no encouragement for further conversation. She knew the host parents had no interest in even speaking to her.
“You should earn the name of a ‘family member,” Lisa once heard. She decided to earn the confidence and love of her family with her diligence. So, she devoted herself to her duties. She did everything she was asked. She cared endlessly for the children. She was mostly looking after Luca who could barely speak. The only words he really knew were “bread” and “butter”. It was better than being demanding, like his siblings. Lisa worked hard for this family. She never complained aloud and rarely even complained in her own head.
But in hindsight, she realized it was never going to change the way the family treated her. She realized she needed to be tougher and defend herself better. She should narrow down with the parents very clear working hours and very meticulously count her overtime and enforce her rights. But back then she was too naive, too uncertain, and wanted to show herself at her best.
Lisa had expected her host family to be more appreciative. She did so much work for them and she never complained. She put her own needs on hold to help out the family. All she wanted was the occasional sign of appreciation. Even a thank you would have put a smile on her face. Instead, the host parents acted as though she didn't even exist. They often ignored her, hardly ever speaking directly to her. Unless they were leaving instructions or making demands, she was invisible. She realized that the family didn't notice anything she did. She wondered if she stopped doing any of the work if they would even notice. She knew they didn't see her determination. They didn't see how hard she worked. They didn't care to see. At least the children cared that Lisa was around. They always wanted to spend time with her. Their parents, of course, were too busy with their glorious careers and fashionable toys. They spent all of their time doing their own thing, hardly paying any attention to the children at all. They paid no attention to the upbringing of their own children. For that, Lisa was always available in their eyes. She was raising their children and helping them with homework.
Lisa knew she being naive to believe these parents would ever see her hard work. She wanted to be diligent and hoped that would prevail. After a month of working for the family, Lisa started to feel like she was going crazy. She was working at least seventeen hours a day. She had no time to herself. During that first month, she saw almost no one. Outside of the family, she didn't socialize with anyone. She didn't have a chance to go sight-seeing or visit the local shops. She only travelled into the town once. It was hardly a memorable trip. She went into the town and came right back to the house. She wasn't allowed to enjoy herself. She wasn't allowed time to herself. She wasn't allowed anything. She even had to ask to eat. She realized quickly that she wasn't a family member, like they originally said. Lisa felt that she had become a living toy that they could use and abuse.
13
Two months had passed. It felt like almost a century must have passed since Lisa was put in charge of these spoiled children. She was trapped and stuck inside the four walls of a golden cage. She couldn't go out, because the house was in the middle of no where. When she first arrived, she had been so excited she hadn't realized how far out of the city this family lived. Every day, exciting things happened. The world was spinning. People were laughing. It seemed to her that life happened elsewhere but not at that God-forsaken place.
Lisa found that she had no free time at all. She was never left alone to think her own thoughts, allowed to go exploring, or even free from work. Every morning her day started with cleaning up the table after breakfast. After she cleaned, she would have to ride the bike she was given into the town. This ride took up an hour of every morning. She had to take this trip daily to go to the grandmothers' house and watch the children there. This was the instructions the host parents had given her when she arrived. The children spent the day at their grandmothers, but Lisa was still required to watch them while they were visiting. Of course, there was no room in the family vehicle once the four children piled in. So instead of getting a ride each morning, Lisa had to find her own way to the house. She would stay with the children and their grandmother until around five pm every evening.
Then, one of the parents would pick up the children and head home. Lisa would have to take the bike and ride an hour back to the mansion. Then she was either to make dinner or simply set the table. Every night, dinner was served around seven pm. After dinner, Lisa would have to play with the children. They would play on the piano or play games for at least an hour. Then, after eight pm, Lisa had a few moments to herself. At least on those rare occasions she got lucky enough to have spare time. Often, the kids would want to play right until bed time. By the time Lisa was finished her day, she was too exhausted to do much of anything else.
But what could she have done in this small village after eight pm? There was never anything open or anything to do. By the time Lisa got into the town, it was dark. The shops were closed and the street lights were on. There were no people around. The town was almost silent. Even during the day hours, this village was so small that there was only one shop. The only thing she could ever buy was a chocolate bar. There wasn't a selection of much else. In the next village, there was nothing but corn fields and wooded areas. It was a beautiful sight, but there wasn't much to occupy her time with.
There were rare occasions that the host family took Lisa out with them. Once, the whole family went on a day trip to the museums and Lisa was brought along. They were dull, for the most part. But Lisa was just happy to be out of the house. She was finally getting to see some of the town and it made her happy. Another time, the family took her along to a pizza restaurant. She enjoyed the food, but she didn't enjoy the price tag. She noticed all the prices were very high. She realized that alone, she wouldn't be able to afford any of the food in the town. The family took Lisa to that restaurant as a part of the cultural program that she was participating in.
Afterwards, she found herself working for an entire week straight. During that work week, there was absolutely no free time for Lisa. She suspected that it was her payment for getting to enjoy that pizza restaurant with the family. It would have been a nice gesture otherwise. Lisa had come to expect this kind of behavior from the host family though. Every time they did something nice for her, it seemed to be followed by an excessive amount of work.