Afterlight by Jaap Robben

Author:Jaap Robben
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Editions
Published: 2023-12-08T14:52:46+00:00

28

Otto had promised to wait for me around the corner in his car. I went up the stone steps to the front door. A sign in one of the tall windows said ROOM TO RENT.

The house stood on the corner of two nondescript streets but to me it looked like a castle, albeit a small one that rented rooms to single ladies. Otto had already made inquiries.

I had managed to secure two nights’ respite from my parents, but after the second night I got up to find the front door key missing from the ring in my coat pocket.

“Elfrieda, please.” I jumped at the sound of her voice, which came from the unlit kitchen. “Let us help you.” Ma hadn’t said a word to me since the priest’s visit. “We only want what’s best for you, Elfrieda.”

“Then let me stay.”

She had no answer to that.

There was nothing else for it. I went upstairs to pack my big holiday suitcase. My mother didn’t stop me. And by the time I stepped out of the front door, there was no one home to say goodbye to. A shaky state of relief came over me.

Beside the castle door was a copper bell with a string you could pull. I had to tug for all I was worth before I heard it ring inside.

“Good afternoon.” A slender Indonesian woman opened the door a fraction and eyed me up and down without the least embarrassment.

“I understand you have a room to rent,” I said brightly. My hair, my nails, the buttons on my coat, my shoes. I felt the urge to check every part of me her eyes lit upon.

“You would appear to be in urgent need.”

“What makes you say that?”

She nodded at my suitcase.

“Yes … well, I …” The door swung open.

“Come in for a moment.” The hall was laid with marble and the floor beyond was like a chessboard of yellow and black tiles. The whole situation felt dreamlike. I had only ever lived with my parents. I wanted my mother to see me there, to understand that I didn’t need them at all. I was going to live in this castle of a house and manage all by myself.

“All of the other ladies are out at work, so it’s quiet during the day.” Behind every door lived an unmarried woman my age and soon I would get to know them all. So many friends to be made. “There’s a kitchen in the basement which you are permitted to use.” The stairs were carpeted in the same deep red as the hotel where I had stayed with Otto. “The recently vacated room is on the first floor.” Seen from behind, the woman had the appearance of a child, but her face was as old as a grandmother’s. Unsteady on her feet, she zigzagged moth-like through the hall, from table to doorpost to bannister, always within reach of something to hold on to. “The rent is thirty guilders a month. Payment in advance.”

“That’s what I thought, yes.

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