Chapter 5 expensive maid

Father tilted his head to the left, as if a little confused by the question. "Soldier, Bruno," he said, "and the secretary, the staff, you must have seen them before." "No, not them," said Bruno, "the ones I saw from my window. In the little house, far away. They all dressed alike." "Ah, those people," my father said, nodding and smiling slightly. "Those people...well, they're not human at all, Bruno." Bruno frowned, "Aren't they human?" He didn't understand what his father was saying. "Well, at least not in our understanding," the father continued, "but you don't have to worry about them now, they have nothing to do with you, you have nothing in common with them, just settle down in your new home, this is me It's required. Accept your circumstances and you'll find it's really easy."

"Yes, father," Bruno agreed, but was not satisfied with the answer. He opened the door when his father stopped him and stood up, raising an eyebrow as if to tell Bruno if he forgot something.Bruno remembered his father's gestures and slogans, so he imitated them again. Standing at attention, heels together, he swung his right arm into the air and spoke as deeply and clearly as possible--as fatherly as possible--as long as he was away from the presence of soldiers. "Hi, Hitler!" he shouted, which, he thought, was really saying, "Okay, bye, have a nice afternoon."

6. Costly Maids A few days later, Bruno was in his room, lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling above his head.The white paint was cracked and peeling, very unsightly, unlike the house in Berlin that had a good paint job, where the paint on the walls never cracked, and my mother had to hire a decorator to maintain it every summer.Here he lay this afternoon, looking at the cobweb-like crack, squinting and imagining what might be behind it.He pictured the little bugs that lived in the space between the paint and the ceiling, pushing away, making the crack bigger and bigger until it opened up, creating a gap where they could squeeze in. Come out and run from the window.Bruno thought, there is nothing, not even a bug, that would choose to live in "hanging out together".

"Everything in here is disgusting," he said aloud, and although there was no one around to hear him, it made him feel better to hear it himself. "I hate this house, I hate my room, I even hate the paint job. I hate everything. I hate everything." As soon as he finished speaking, Maria came in with a large pile of his washed and ironed clothes.She hesitated when she saw Bruno lying on the bed, but she lowered her head slightly and walked quietly to the wardrobe. "Hello." Bruno said, although talking to the maid is not comparable to talking to those friends, but there is no one else to chat with here, and besides, talking with someone is better than talking to yourself.Gretel was gone too, and he was beginning to worry that he was going crazy from boredom.

"Master Bruno," Maria replied quietly, and then separated his vest from his trousers and underwear, and put them in drawers on different levels. "I think you, like me, are not happy with this arrangement," Bruno said.Maria turned around and told him with a look that she didn't understand what he meant. "Here," he explained, sitting up in bed and looking around, "everything here is annoying, isn't it? Don't you hate them too?" Maria opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again.She seemed to be carefully considering her answer, carefully choosing every word, and when the words came to her lips, she thought about them carefully, and then swallowed them all.Bruno knew her too well—Maria came to work in their house when he was three—and they got along very well, but she didn't seem to have the first half of her life, and she didn't have any information.She just went about her own business, scrubbing the furniture, doing the laundry, helping with the shopping and cooking, sometimes dropping him off and picking him up from school, more often when Bruno was eight; but when he was nine, he thought he It was old enough to decide to go to and from school alone.

"You don't like it here?" was all she asked at last. "Like it here?" Bruno replied, smiling, "Like it here?" He repeated, this time louder. "Of course I don't like it here! It's disgusting. There's nothing to do, no one to talk to, and no one to hang out with. You're not going to tell me you're having a good time here, are you?" "I like the garden at my house in Berlin very much," Maria replied irrelevantly. "Sometimes, when it's warm in the afternoon, I just like to sit outside in the sun and have my lunch under the ivy by the pond. The flowers are beautiful there. And The scent of flowers. The bees are busy around the flowers, and if you don't disturb them, they won't disturb you."

"So you don't like it here?" Bruno asked. "You think it's as bad as I do, don't you?" Maria frowned. "It's not important," she said. "What's not important?" "What I think doesn't matter." "Well, of course it's important," Bruno said angrily, as if she was playing tricks on him. "You're part of the family, aren't you?" "I'm not sure your father thinks so," Maria said, smiling because Bruno's words had struck her. "Well, you were brought here against your will, just like me. If you ask me how I feel, I think we're in the same wrecked boat, and it's still leaking."

There seemed to be a moment when Bruno felt that Maria was going to tell him what was on her mind.She put the rest of her clothes on the bed, her hands clenched into fists, and she seemed very angry.She opened her mouth, but froze, as if if she did speak, she would be terrified by what she had to say. She looked away from Bruno, and after a moment, shaking her head sadly, turned to face him. "Your father knew what was best," she said, "and you should believe that." "But I'm afraid I can't believe that," Bruno said. "I think he may have made a terribly wrong mistake."

"A mistake we all have to bear." "I get punished when I make a mistake," insists Bruno, furious at the discovery that the rules used against children seem to be inapplicable to adults (even though, in fact, the adults are the ones who enforce them). "Stupid father," he added breathlessly. Maria opened her eyes wide and took a step towards him, putting her hands to her mouth for a long moment in fear.She glanced around to make sure that no one was listening to them, that no one had heard what Bruno had just said. "You can't say that," she said, "you can't say that about your father again."

"I don't see why not," Bruno said.He was ashamed of what he had just said, but he just sat back because no one cared what he thought, he was an outsider. "Because your father was a good man," Maria said, "a very nice man. He took care of all of us." "Bringing our whole family to a place like this, a place that is nothing, you mean that's taking care of us?" "Your father has done a lot," she said, "a lot of things you are proud of. Where would I be if it wasn't for your father?" "In Berlin, I suppose," Bruno said, "work in a nice house. Lunch under the ivy, with the bees."

"You don't remember when I first came to work for you?" she asked calmly, and sat down beside Bruno's bed, something she had never done before. "But how can you remember? You were three years old. Your father took me in and helped me when I needed help. He gave me a job, a home, and food. You can't imagine craving food. You never Never been hungry, have you?" Bruno frowned and thought about it.He wanted to say that he was feeling a little hungry right now, but instead of saying it, he looked over at Maria, and it occurred to him that he had never fully seen Maria as a person with a life and experiences of her own.After all, (as far as Bruno could see) she had never played anything other than his housemaid.He hadn't even seen Maria in anything other than a maid's uniform.But when he thought about it, he had to admit that there should be something more in Maria's life than serving him and his family.She must have ideas in her head, just like herself.She must be missing something too, and she must also want to see her former friends.After coming here, she must have cried herself to sleep every day, just like those little boys who are younger and less brave than her.Bruno noticed that she was still pretty, and it amused Bruno to think so. "My mother met your father when he was your age," said Maria after a while, "and she worked for your grandmother. Your grandmother toured in Germany when she was young, and my mother was in charge. Her costumes. She takes care of all your grandma's costumes—cleaning, ironing, mending. They're gorgeous! And sewing, Bruno! Those clothes are like works of art, every design Ingenious. You don't find such a good tailor these days." She shook her head, smiling, reminiscing, while Bruno listened patiently. "She will make sure to come to the dressing room before your grandmother's performance, and when your grandmother arrives, all the costumes will be ready. After your grandmother retired, she kindly invited my mother to live with her and gave She got a small pension. However, times were tough and your father gave me another job, my first. A few months later, my mother became seriously ill and required a lot of Hospital care, and your father arranged everything by himself. Although he had no such obligation at all, he paid for the medical expenses out of his own pocket, just because my mother was a friend of his mother. It is for this reason that he Take me with you. When my mother died, it was your father who paid for all the funeral expenses. So, you can no longer call your father stupid, Bruno. Don't say it in front of me, I won't allow it." Bruno bit his lip.He originally wanted to win over Maria in this battle of escaping "Getting Out Together", but now, he saw Maria's loyalty to her father.But when he heard the story, he had to admit that he was very proud of his father. "Well," he said, at a loss for what to say, "I think he's all right." "Yes," said Maria, getting up and going to the window, from where she could see the huts and the people in them in the distance. "He's been good to me," she continued, thinking, looking at the people and the moving soldiers in the distance. "His soul is merciful, it is, and it makes me think..." Her tone changed suddenly as she looked at the men, sounding like she was about to cry. "Thinking of what?" Bruno said. "How could he..." "What can he do?" Bruno pressed. Downstairs there was a loud slam of the door, echoing throughout the house - like a gunshot - Bruno jumped and Maria screamed softly.Bruno heard footsteps thumping up the stairs, faster and faster, and he climbed onto the bed, clinging to the wall, suddenly terrified of what was about to happen next.He held his breath and waited for trouble, which was nothing but Gretel, the "incorrigible" one.She poked her head in and seemed surprised to see her brother talking to the maid. "What's wrong?" Gretel asked. "Nothing," Bruno said defensively, "what do you want, get out." "You go out," she responded, even though it was Bruno's room.Then she turned to look at Maria, squinting suspiciously. "Give me a shower, okay?" she asked. "Why don't you take a shower yourself?" Bruno said angrily. "Because she's a servant," said Gretel, "and that's what she's here for." "It's not her job," Bruno yelled, standing up and rushing to his sister. "She's not here to work for us every minute of the day, you know. Especially when we can do it ourselves." We have to do it ourselves." Gretel stared at her brother like he was crazy, then at Maria, who shook her head. "Of course, Miss Gretel," said Maria, "I'll come to you as soon as I've packed your brother's clothes." "Okay, don't take too long," Gretel said roughly—unlike Bruno, she never thought Maria would have feelings like her—and strode back into the room, slamming the door .Maria didn't follow Gretel's eyes, but a blush appeared on her face. "I still think he made a serious mistake," Bruno said quietly after a few minutes, as if apologizing for his sister's behavior but not sure if it was the right thing to do.Scenes like this always made Bruno uncomfortable because, in his mind, there was no excuse for being rude to someone, even someone who worked for you.But this happens from time to time. "Even if you're right, you can't say it out loud," Maria replied quickly, walking up to Bruno, as if trying to instill something in him. "Promise me you won't." "But why?" he asked, frowning. "I just said how I really feel. I can do that, can I?" "No," she said, "you can't do that." "I can't say how I really feel?" he repeated, seemingly in disbelief. "No," she insisted, as if a little exasperated. "Keep silent, Bruno. Do you know how much trouble you're going to get into? For all of us?" Bruno glared at her.There was something in her eyes, a frantic anxiety he had never seen before, and he gave in. "Okay," he said softly, standing up and walking toward the door, suddenly wanting to leave her, "I'm just saying I don't like it here, that's all. I'm just saying that while you're getting dressed. It's not Doesn't mean I'm going to run away or anything. Even though I said it, I don't think people will criticize me for it." "Do you want your parents to worry to death?" Maria asked, "Bruno, if you knew anything, you would keep silent and concentrate on your schoolwork, on what your father told you to do Up. We have to keep us all safe until it's over. That's what I'm going to do. What else can we do? We can't change the status quo." Suddenly, Bruno had no reason and wanted to cry a lot.The thought surprised him a little, and he blinked desperately, not wanting Maria to know how he felt.Although when he met her gaze again, he felt something strange in the air, because her eyes seemed to have tears in them too.All in all, he felt embarrassed, so he turned his back on Maria and walked towards the door. "Where are you going?" Maria asked. "Outside," Bruno said angrily, "you don't care about that, do you?" He walked slowly at first, but as soon as he went out, he walked quickly towards the stairs, and then rushed down quickly. He suddenly felt that if he didn't rush out quickly, he would faint in this house.In seconds, he's outside, running up and down the road, doing something positive, something that burns him out.He saw the gate from a distance, and outside the gate was the road leading to the train station, where he could take the train back to his home in Berlin.However, when he thought of being alone after escaping home, he felt that it would be better to stay.