“I will take my vacation hours and go on a trip to Thailand. I will find a new au pair in person. That way, I will know what we are agreeing to as well. I don't want to take any chances,” Clara announced after a few moments of silence. The host father swallowed loudly. Prior to Lisa's arrival, it was the father who looked after the children. If Clara was taking time off work, that meant he would be in charge of them again.
“Mom, Mom, I love you. Can I come with you?” Nataly asked, suddenly speaking in a sweet tone of voice.
Clara shook her head.
“No, Mom, please take me! I would love to go with you.” Julia pleaded. Suddenly, all the children were shouting “take us with you” in unison.
“No. I am going alone.” Clara announced boldly. Silence fell back over the table as the conversation ended.
23
At the end of the school holidays, Lisa bought a train ticker. It was expensive for her, but she didn't care. She wanted to get away from the imprisonment she had felt. She wanted to meet a new family and work for someone who appreciated all the effort she put forth. After two months of living with goats, Lisa was excited to finally see civilization. Lisa had never been more excited as she stepped off the train. There were people everywhere. There were bright lights and so many shops. Here, she could buy anything her heart desired. There was a supermarket with a great deal of food. It was everything she had imagined when she first arrived with her host family. Now, it was finally a reality.
It had been so long since she had been acknowledged that she had almost forgot how to speak to people. She found herself tongue tied at first. Her new family was more understanding and sympathetic. There was only one child in the new family. They also regulated her spare time. She was allowed to do anything she pleased when it was her free time. She was no longer a prisoner.
After a few months in this new home, Lisa called a friend of hers. She was now living in the same town as her previous host family. Her friend told her that the entire village was talking about her. They were talking about how demanding she was. How ungrateful. Lisa sighed to herself. She didn't understand how the family could have believed her to be ungrateful. She was locked up, with no access to the outside world. She looked after four children at almost all the hours of the day. How could they believe she was demanding? She was supposed to be a family member, yet she was treated very badly.
When she boarded the train, she felt happy and free.
Soon Lisa arrived in the city. Her host family brought her to their home. Before her stood a three-story house, built in a modern style. From the street, it looked pretty ordinary, but from the other side, it was made of glass so that passersby could see the inside. The house was surrounded by a small garden with some trees. The ever-busy managers had no time for proper garden maintenance, Lisa realized later. It was located in an area with other villas surrounded by nature.
When Lisa entered the house, she was amazed at how clean, cold, and lifeless it was. The few pieces of furniture were modern and new. It looked more like an office space than an apartment. Or a museum. It didn’t look like a child was living there.
Dinner was already on the stove. The caring host mother had prepared a culinary masterpiece with a fancy name: “Spaghetti Bolognese.”
She distributed it on four plates, and they went to a large table made of bamboo and sat on red leather chairs.
While they ate spaghetti, the new host family questioned Lisa about herself. Lisa finally felt like she was part of a family. These people were interested in her.
Suddenly they started to speak quieter so that little Ben could not hear: “So, your tasks are the following: Bringing Ben to school and back, sometimes cleaning up a little and cooking, and helping us in the household.”
“Lisa, you will be his personal assistant, or a slave,” Angelica giggled, saying this with her Hollywood smile, sipping an apple juice.
It was probably meant as a joke, but suddenly Lisa realized that this family could not be just smiling and cute (like the people that Lisa saw in the photo), but also haughty and arrogant. In any case, her smile was probably not addressed to Lisa, a poor babysitter.
After dinner, the family offered to give Lisa a tour of their huge house. Little Ben accompanied them and proudly showed her his toys and his skills. Lisa was surprised at how well she was able to understand the language, and expressed her joy and gratitude.
The host family showed her the friendly house where seemingly no one lived, so clean and heartless. The second floor had a library—this room was also called “Winter Garden.” There also were Ben’s and the parents' bedrooms. On the first floor, there was a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room.
On the ground floor, which was actually used as a cellar, there was a small room which the family was preparing for Lisa. The room was tiny: a wooden bed, a mirror in front of a small table, and a TV stand, but it did not work and apparently served only as decoration. There was also a bathroom with a shower nearby.
“Well, here you can take a shower and recover from the trip.”
“Thank you.”
“Good night and see you tomorrow,” Angelica said to Lisa as she locked the door and looked around. The friendly look of this little room smoothed the impression of the dull, empty hall, the huge unlit staircase and the long, cold corridor.
After a warm shower, Lisa slipped into the small wooden bed. She realized that after a day of physical fatigue and mental stress, she had finally reached a safe place. Her heart was filled with joy, and she knelt beside the bed, feeling deep gratitude and giving thanks. On this night, it seemed to her that her bed had no thorns and that her room did not have any hidden dangers. Tired and happy, she quickly fell fast asleep.
The next morning, Lisa woke up in the big city, took a shower, put on jeans and a light blouse, and went upstairs.
“Good morning,” her host family greeted her, already satisfied with the freshest crispy rolls from the nearest supermarket. “Do you want to have breakfast with us?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Actually,” said Marc, “On the weekend we do not need a babysitter. We like to spend this time with our family. You can do whatever you want on the weekend, but today we can show you the city.”
“It would be very kind of you. “
After cleaning the table after breakfast, the host family and the new nanny, well-fed and happy, jumped into Angelica’s huge luxury car and drove around to explore the City. They showed the main attractions of the city to Lisa.
Ben was hiding under all the pillars and jumping with joy. Here, in front of the girl of the little town was a huge city, with views of the old town hall and the trendy new buildings, modern hotels and street musicians, a city of contrasts and endless mysteries.
24
And on Monday her work as a nanny began. Lisa’s tasks included ironing clothes, sometimes cooking dinner, taking Ben to kindergarten, and being his personal assistant.
Lisa soon became an ordinary part of her new host family. She ate a modest serving of cereal or some apple pieces for breakfast and accompanied Ben to kindergarten. Then she had a few free hours. Lisa spent them learning the English language (a difficult language!). For this, Lisa went to the library upstairs, where she practiced endless grammar exercises. Then she picked up Ben and took care of him until his parents came back home from their stressful management jobs.