Lisa thought her host family hated her. Although, she was not guilty at all. Luckily, her host family didn't make her pay for the repairs.
7
One night, Clara and her husband were heading to the opera. There was a premier and they wanted to go. Clara had planned for this evening. She was dressed so fancy before she left. Her dress was long, and it glittered. She looked glamorous. Lisa imagined how everyone else would look at the opera. They would look rich and classy, like Clara.
Before closing the door, Clara informed Lisa, "Take care of the children. Cook noodles for dinner."
Lisa did as she was asked. At eight pm, she put all the children down to bed. This was their regular bedtime. Then, she headed down to her room to enjoy a bit of time alone. Less than an hour passed when Nataly came down to her room. She knocked loudly and when Lisa opened her door, she heard the baby crying.
“Lisa, the baby wants to play,” she whined. Lisa sighed.
"Our baby does not follow any regime. Sometimes he wants to play at night," her host family once told her.
There were times the baby wanted to play at night because he had slept through the day.
This was going to be one of those nights.
Lisa followed Nataly up to the babys room. Nataly went back to her own bed. Lisa took the pink, screaming baby in her arms. It didn’t take two minutes for Lisa to stop him crying, and got him to smile up at her. Lisa played with the baby. She was exhausted. She hoped the baby would play for an hour and then feel tired. But hours passed, and the baby was still wide awake.
The host parents came back after midnight.
"Thank you for taking care of the baby," Clara said.
"You are welcome," Lisa answered, then went back to her room.
She was even more exhausted than before. But, she was kept awake by the nightmare she was living in. How was she supposed to explore the country, if she was always looking after the children? How was she supposed to learn the culture or customs if this family was all she was around? She was trapped in this golden cage. These spoiled children took all of her energy.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
8
Sunday morning was Lisa’s day off. It was the first day off she had had in a long time. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the moment. Suddenly her peaceful, momentary rest was soon interrupted by the sounds of little feet running towards her.
At seven o'clock, the kids jumped up on Lisa’s bed. She looked at the baby and with a bleary-eyed, tired smile, forced herself to get up.
“Play with us!” they shouted.
“Okay,” Lisa said, even though she hadn’t slept enough. She didn’t know how to reject the kids.
“Where are their parents?“She guessed that they wanted to spend lazy weekends, having enough sleep and not being distracted by the noisy kids.
They played peacefully. Lisa read them a book aloud. She washed and combed their hair and brought them downstairs to the kitchen. Afterward, all four of the children rushed down to the cellar, playfully pouncing on Lisa.
“Play with us Lisa!“ they shouted.
“Okay, but let’s play a quiet game,“ Lisa said, trying to hold onto the blissful silence for a few moments longer. They settled down to play a board game right there on the table in the cellar. The hum of the huge fridge was louder than their voices, so loud in fact that it caught little Nataly’s attention!
“May we have an ice cream?“ she asked in her sweetest voice.
“Ask your parents,“ Lisa said, in order to avoid possible trouble. She had gotten in trouble before for allowing the children candy before a meal. She wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
Nataly immediately ran upstairs to ask her mom, with an excited grin on her face.
“We are allowed!“ she yelled, as she speeded back down to the basement.
"But you are not allowed to eat an ice cream. Ice cream is only for children, not for a maid,“ announced the six-year-old Nataly proudly to Lisa. Julia shot Nataly a look, that told her it was an inappropriate comment. Julia was ten-years-old, but somehow wise beyond her years.
Nataly finished her ice cream in what seemed like one minute, and very quickly began asking for another. Lisa did not want the kids to eat too many sweets. She also did not want to get in trouble with the family again, and secretly, she was also happy to get Nataly back for her rude comment, but she’d have never of admitted that.
"No. One ice- cream is enough," Lisa said firmly.
Nataly’s face dropped. She looked at Lisa with dark, soulless eyes. She stormed off upstairs, while the others continued to enjoy their ice cream and game.
Ten minutes passed, and Nathaly had still not returned.
“I’ll go find her. She’s probably in a mood,“ said Julia and she left to search for Nataly.
A few moments later Julia came running back down the stairs in a panic.
“Lisa! Lisa!“ she yelled. Lisa immediately got up from her seat.
“Whatever is the matter, Julia?“ Lisa asked, sensing she was clearly frightened.
It didn’t take long before Lisa realized what the issue was. Nataly had followed Julia back down to the basement with a huge knife.
"I am a pirate. And I am going to get my ice cream! " she shouted. Lisa looked at her for a moment, unsure the best way to progress. She was worried Nataly was unhinged, but she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and write it off as a childish prank.
"You can not play with the knife," Lisa said.
"Would you like to ban it?" She threatened Lisa with the knife, her voice sounding a little too menacing for a child of her age.
"If you don’t let me eat as much ice-cream as I wish, I‘ll tell my parents that you're a very bad au pair girl, and they will throw you away." She was not just a pirate, but also a blackmailer. Lisa was not going to be won over by Nataly and her spoilt ways.
"And, I'll tell your parents that the children are not allowed to play with knives," Lisa came back with quickly.
"Try it!" Nataly said and took the knife to Lisa’s neck with one swift move. She had a lot of strength for such a small child, and the other children watched on in horror, two of them crying quietly in the corner. It was as if Nataly had done this to them before and they were afraid of her.