30
It was a normal day. That day she ate cereal for breakfast, and carefully ate a slice of apple, which she lovingly cut into small pieces. She then took Ben to kindergarten and now she had a few hours of freedom, which she used to spend studying the difficult foreign language. Lisa sat in the library with her little laptop, doing some grammar exercises, and then she started emailing her old university friends, telling them about her life and asking about life in a quiet town.
For lunch, Lisa ate a piece of bread. It was all she could find in the refrigerator. The clock was already approaching the time she had to go and pick up little Ben. She got onto her bike and rode to his kindergarten.
“Ben, we need to go to the supermarket before we head home. I need to buy something for dinner.” She announced. He agreed, hoping onto his tricycle. They headed towards the supermarket, but Ben was racing too far ahead.
“Ben, don't ride so fast!” she called to him. He slowed down, but it wasn't by much. She had to peddle faster to keep him in sight. When they reached the supermarket, he hopped off his bike and ran to a gaming machine. There was only one machine free. Lisa figured these machines were installed so that parents didn't have to bring their children into the market. Instead, the children could loiter in the entrance. It saved parents from a constant “buy me this” call and temper tantrums from the children.
Lisa wanted to cook pies for dinner. Not for herself, of course, but for her host family, as they sometimes allowed her to cook for them. She wanted to make them out of a puff pastry and fill them with vegetables and cheese. She went through the supermarket, leaving Ben at the gaming machine. After she collected the ingredients and paid, she picked Ben up. They got back on their bicycles and rode home.
“Lisa, I want to go to the beach. It's so nice out,” Ben announced.
Lisa thought about it. Ben was used to soulless career parents who never had enough time for him. He loved Lisa and considered her to be one of his best friends. She was a contrast to his parents. Although his parents could buy him anything he wanted, Lisa could spend time with him.
On this particular day, Ben was restless. So, Lisa agreed to take Ben to the beach. She packed up a blanket, her laptop and a couple toys for Ben to play with. Then, they headed in the direction of the beach. Ben rode his tricycle through the woods while Lisa ran behind him.
“Ben, slow down! Why are you going so fast?” She jogged along behind him.
“We have to find a nice beach.” He peddled to his heart‘s content. Lisa followed along as Ben kept peddling. It felt like they had searched all the beaches and Lisa was out of breath. Finally, they approached one of the beaches and Ben yelled, “This is it!”
Lisa was relieved that they had finally found a place to sit down. She wasted no time pulling out the blanket and laying in the sand. She had worn a light, white blouse. She felt like she was sweating through it. She also chose to wear jeans, but she realized it was hard to chase after Ben in such a restrictive material. Lisa sat down, and stretched out under the shade. The sun was shining in their eyes, and through the branches of the trees, Lisa saw a wonderful beach. Her young naïve heart began pounding harder.
She sat on the beach in the shade. Ben ran off and started building sandcastles with the other children. Lisa pulled out her laptop and wrote a letter to her distant friends. She told them all about her adventures and her travels. She ran her thin fingers through her hair, then endlessly re-read her writing. Her mind could not concentrate.
Lisa lay down in the shade with her little cheap laptop to write letters to her distant friends. But at this moment her thoughts were not about the letters, but about answering Alexander’s email. “Oh God, why am I thinking of him,” she thought, she thought, “I'm an au pair and a decent girl...”
From: Alexander
To: Lisa
Subject: :)
Hello Lisa,
I had a very nice day with you!! I hope you liked it as well. I am looking forward to Thursday. (It will probably be somewhere like a children's festival ;)
Best,
Alexander
PS: Please write where and when I should pick you up.
After Ben was done playing in the sand, Lisa brought him home. That evening she fried pancakes, which little Ben loved. If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to the heart of little Ben was through pancakes.
It was an ordinary family dinner. The host father came home from work, tired and worn out by stress in the jungles of the office and sat down at the table in his office a chic suit.
They ate in silence for awhile.
“What did you eat today for lunch, Ben?”
“Spaghetti with sauce. I went to Marc’s birthday party. We ate cake, and I brought home gifts.”
“Well done.”
Ben rolled his pancake with the chocolate cream filling and formed it into the shape of a cigar. He leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up onto the table. He pressed the “cigar” to his lips. He pretended that he was smoking it like an important chief, sitting in a chair. Then began eating his work of art joyfully. He was enjoying the freedom of doing whatever he wanted.
“Ben, what are you doing?” his dad asked from across the table. There was a scolding tone to his voice. Ben laughed.
“Whatever I want. I'm the boss here,” he boasted, crossing one of his legs over the other. Lisa moved her chair over to the side.
“How did you come to that conclusion?” Marc asked, looking at his feet.
“When my dad is home, he's the boss. When he's not, my mom's the boss. When they're both gone, I'm the boss,” he explained.
“And Lisa?” Marc asked him. Ben finished eating his pancake, and pulled his feet down to the floor. He dropped his hands on the table loudly.
“She's just a servant,” he dismissed, looking over at Lisa. She looked down at the ground, turning a light shade of red. She did what she could to avoid eye contact, shuffling her feet. She had no response. She had previously considered that she wasn't really part of the family. Ever since she came to live in this house, everyone had been really nice to her. They told her that they were happy to have her. She let almost half an hour go by while she stood in silence, feeling awkward and uncomfortable.
Lisa headed downstairs to her room. She opened the door, and looked around. Her usually pleasant room felt dark, and gloomy. She went to the corner of her room, and dropped down to the floor. She couldn't help but wonder, did her “family” lie to her? Had they been truthful when they said an au pair was considered as an equal? Was she nothing more than a servant to them? Where had Ben heard those words? Was that what they told him when she wasn't around? Did everyone talk about her this way?
It seems to be an ideal host family, but it was not. Her life turned to be hell.
She huddled in a corner and sat down on the floor. That magic power, which still supported her, began to dry up, the reaction came and swept grief was so irresistible that she fell down and began to sob. Nothing supported her. Left to herself, she gave way to tears, and they watered the floorboards on which she was lying.
31
That Thursday came, with its usual routine of doing the laundry and the ironing. Lisa thought about her upcoming meeting with Alexander as she was folding skirts, pants, t-shirts, and blouses, putting every article neatly into its respective drawer.
That is it, thought Lisa, combing back her curly brown hair and putting them into a bundle.
Sighing, she began to mechanically comb her hair. She had done it that way every day for years. It was a simple hairstyle, practical, and most importantly, cheap. To make ends meet, she had to take care of every penny she earned.