"Two Queens and a King" "Her pulse is weak, but calm." "Her breathing is good." "And she does not cough up phlegm." "The nurse's gesture, going with the palm of the hand over the nose," "I had seen that before with my father." "And I knew that the process of dying had begun." "At home, we called this the enemy's stronghold, because only rich tourists were staying here." "Yes." "The cost has almost tripled since my father's death." "At that time, the rate was 36 Guilders, and four Guilders if you wanted a room with a view of the sea." "Do you know that, back then, they went on strike at my father's wharf for a weekly salary of 36 Guilders?" "My father also went on strike for that very reason." "And as a boy, I remember hearing your father speak during such a meeting." "Yes." "And your mother..." "I should take her out of her bed now, dress her, and tell her that I am coming to get her to bring her home." "Now it costs 150 Guilders." "Yes." "Everything is getting more expensive, but is not getting more beautiful." "Everything in the city is broken down, and what is built in the place..." "I should tell her that she can die with us." "I know that I cannot do it, that I will not do it, and I am ashamed for it." "How was your mother this morning?" "Is it very serious?" "Let us buy something as well, and drive around everywhere in the nice caravan." "Are you serious?" "And why would I not be serious?" "Do you think the street and the neighbours are that nice?" "There, a new pair of pants." "Earned from building the carnival." "I exchanged the papers." "Money is more." "These you can spend right away." "Our charming rope dancer, Princess Ledina." "The valuable diamond ring sparkling on her pinkie is a present from none other than the Duke of Wellington." "But Princess Ledina did not fall for his enormous wealth." "She even told me that her heart belongs to the handsome guys from Zeeland." "Maybe there is room for these gentlemen?" "Please join us." "Come in." "Focus." " Yes, join us." " Yes, please come in." "Go and sit down." "Here you are." "Thank you, there you are." " Shall we go home and eat it?" " I do not want to leave yet." "Neither do I." "Magnificent!" "Bravo!" "Hello, Levien." "This poke from my aunt Coleta, uncle Piet's wife, made me realize for the first time that I was not completely indifferent to her." "It gave me a feeling of happiness and uncertainty." "I see love for you, much love, and I see a dark woman." "I see two dark women who are giving you their love." "It was obvious to me that she was talking about aunt Coleta." "What I did not understand back then, was that she meant that my mother was the second dark woman." "And that I would have to choose between her and Coleta, and that I would never be able to do that." "I am going back for a while, to say goodbye." "Why don't you do that tomorrow?" "These people are not leaving tonight, are they?" "Don't bully me." "In my opinion, my father was right." "Mother should have come upstairs with us." "Father had bought the expensive eel especially for her." "Go inside." "Right now." "But, he shouldn't have thrown it." "Here, this is Italy." "This is the place where we always stood." "And here, nearby the great waterfall." "And here, at the river banks." "The weather is always beautiful there, always sunny and nice and warm." "And we have been there as well, in the north, in the mountains, where the snow never melts." "Did you never want to stay somewhere for ever?" "Would you not like to live with us?" "He would never tolerate that." "Why not?" "Because being free is not the same as being happy." "Later, you will understand." "Hello my boy." "Your mother is still saying goodbye." "Should we not go and look for her?" "I believe that she is joining Marcus for a while." "She will be back, today or tomorrow." "She did not come back for nine days." "All of us were happy, and, as far as I can remember, it was never discussed where she had been." "All our money was spent during the carnival." "Nothing was paid during that time, and definitely not the rent to our landlord Cyvat." "Because, if you are not paying, I will evict you from the house." " Is that true?" " It has been seven weeks now." "Well, you can climb the stairs." "People said that the love of money was oozing from his eyes." "Dirty fish!" "Go inside, you guys." "They are carrying him outside." "Come and have a look." "There is nothing to cry for." "Open the door." "What happened here, ma'am?" "I kicked Cyvat down the stairs." "And I hope he doesn't survive his fall." "You will have to make a statement." "No need for a statement." "You should go downstairs." "I will come and see the chief of police of my own free will." "I am expecting you within thirty minutes." "He deserved this." "Has the guy gone completely crazy?" "Come here, and help with drying the dishes." "This is the way to do this." "You should never be afraid." " Go and play in the street." " I do not dare to." "Just push them aside if they are still standing in front of the door." "Hello, grandma." "How are you, my boy, are you coming to play with grandfather?" " Hello, grandfather." " Hello, my boy." "Please prepare the game for your grandfather." "Look here." "Eat and enjoy." "Great." "So many people at once!" "One." "A mouse." " How are you, mother?" " Hi kids." "Hello, mother." "Come in kids." "Piet, please bring the chair." "God, you are here?" "Did you run away from home?" " How are you, father?" " Hi child." " Hello father." " How are you, Piet?" "So you haven't heard it yet?" "Levien's mother kicked the landlord off the stairs." "...and from there, they carried him to the hospital." "She was more than right." " And where is his mother now?" " At the police station." " They will lock her up." " Yes, she will surely go to jail." "Are we not allowed to visit her?" "We are allowed, but she doesn't want it." "Why not?" "Don't you know why?" "No, that I do not know." "Are we also living in a slum?" "Well, not really a bad slum." "Only that we don't have electricity, no running water, and the washroom upstairs even smells in winter." " So, that is why mother did it?" " Yes, that is her way." "But, don't you want us to have a toilet that we can flush?" "There are many landlords like Cyvat." "Your mother would need a whole day if she wanted to kick all of them down the stairs." "Why do they not want it?" "Because it earns them money." "I will explain it to you later." "All right?" "Only one week left, and then she is coming home." "Mommy!" "Come." "Hi mother." "How are you, buffalo?" "Watch out." "The thorns are sharp." "An article had been written in the newspaper about Cyvat." "She nailed it to the wall as if she wanted to fight him again." "...the cause here." "When the honourable gentleman, Mr. Cyvat, merchant and the legal owner of many houses..." "legal owner... presented himself at one of the houses to collect the rent, he was rudely told that the rent would not be paid." "The rebellious tenant of the house even went so far, when the unfortunate man presented himself, that she..." "And have you ever seen anyone that cross-eyed?" "I have never seen anyone that cross-eyed in my entire life." "I laughed wholeheartedly." "I do remember how the latter filled me with pride, but I also remember very well that, for the first time," "I compared my mother to Coleta." "I had been looking forward to her return so much." "But, all the time, I had to think of my beautiful aunt." "How are you, Levien?" "Get up." "Get dressed." "And bring the can of fuel." "She should hit it with a pitchfork..." "Nothing, and do not get involved." "It's OK." "Come, my sweet little horse." "Be quiet." "Come my sweet little horse." "She kept on talking with sweet words, with a voice so soft, a voice that I did not recognize, and that I later never heard again." "Too bad your boss is such a dirty slumlord." "She told me to bring the horse to the sea dike, up to the wall of the soldiers' barracks." "This was her way to fight injustice." "She has always remained an anarchist." "And all by herself." "My father, who was a reasonable man, had come to learn after several years that the workers would not gain anything by being anarchists, and he joined the social democrats." "Mother always considered this as treason to the old ideal, and never forgave him for it." "However, she voted for him in the elections for the Municipal Council." "She didn't vote for the party, but she voted for him." "...are more than abominable." "There are hundreds of houses that one would not even want an animal to stay in." "Any society that tolerates such conditions, is a society based on egoism and self-interest." "There are many dwellings in my Father's house, says the Bible." "This is what the representatives of the Christian parties copy from the Bible." "But, if they were actually Christians, they would do everything, in the name of the Father, to promptly declare the houses unfit for human inhabitation." "These slums must be demolished to the ground." "And they must be replaced by nice and roomy houses..." "It may sound rhetoric and pompous, but, as my father was speaking then, and as it is etched in my memory forever, this was all true, and without a trace of affectation." "My whole body was glowing, I was so proud." "I was overwhelmed with a surprising sense of pride." "And I had the same feeling when my aunt Coleta stopped me at her house and asked me to come in." "...likes it that you come and visit us." "I had been passing by the house every day for weeks now, without them having seen me." "Here you are, go and sit down in uncle Piet's chair." "Shall I brew some coffee?" "Or do you prefer hot chocolate?" "No, please make some coffee." "I always go barefoot in the house." "I gave them some colour, so they wouldn't look so sad." "You may touch them." "They won't hurt you." "I am very ticklish." "Do you think that I am pretty?" "Yes." "There is your uncle Piet." "Hi, this is really decent." "You are the first one of the family to come and visit us." "Don't you think this is really decent?" "How are your father and mother?" "Fine." "Your mother is someone." "Do you know that Coleta believed that she had put fire to Cyvat's stable?" "Don't be silly." "But I believe it's great." "Coleta is pretty, isn't she?" "Mmm hmm." "You may say "Yes", you are not a little child anymore." "Come." "You should return home." "Yes." "Bye, uncle Piet." "Bye, my boy." "You should come and visit us as often as you like." "That first visit made me completely fall under my aunt's spell." "The only thing I wanted to do was to serve and obey her." "I would allow nobody to come between me and Coleta." "I would even defy my mother for her." "But when my mother came to pick me up from my favourite spot in the dunes, and she immediately noticed that I had been crying," "I told her that I had been teased at school, because I didn't have a white sweater for the phys ed class." "That was true, but mostly, I had been crying because of my desire for Coleta." "While I was walking alongside my mother, I was torturing myself to find out what I should do if she would find out about my secret with Coleta." "But the only thing she said was, stop crying, we are getting a sweater." " I need a white sweater for my boy." " My shop is closed." "Show me some white sweaters." "You may as well come in the middle of the night!" "Well, what size do you need?" "This one fits, just add it to my account." "I didn't dare to say that it should be a woollen sweater with a collar." "Hi, wear this one." " I saw him in his underpants." " Underpants?" "You, come here." "You know that the rules prescribe a woollen sweater, with a collar." "Well?" "If you can't answer, you may go and sit on the bench." "Who granted you permission to stand up?" "Go and see the principal." "You are not coming here another day without a sweater." "We are continuing class." "Please, a bit more energy." "Please." "Close the door." "I was sorry that I had told her everything." "Or that I believed that she was tired of fighting, and would leave me alone for the first time." "I cannot see it." "Let me put your glasses on." "...coffee... coffee with liqueur." "Hello, mother." "Good day, Mrs. Bos." "Hello, mother." "Good day, Mrs. Bos." "Aren't you glad that the buffalo is here also?" "You love the buffalo the most, don't you?" "Please stop." "She doesn't remember." "Not true, she does, sometimes she knows everything precisely, and recognizes everybody." "Look, here, your buffalo." "I am not deaf." "You see, she hears everything, and knows everything." "These are beautiful flowers." "They don't forget you, do they, mother?" "I gave them." "Who are you?" "I am just a man." "A man?" "Where is she going now?" "She will be back shortly." "Like last time?" "When she stayed away for a week?" " Shut up." " Why?" "She may never come back." "I want to go to mommy." "I am so scared." "She will be back shortly." "Just believe me." "Just believe me." "Because my little sister sought my protection," "I was able to put on a brave face." "What I felt for my sisters at that time, is something I can't remember." "Just believe me." "Just believe me." "This I will use one day to poke an eye out of this man's face." "What is she doing now?" "What are you doing?" "Anyway, it is still not good." "I would go and see that man, and ask him for an explanation." "Ask for an explanation?" "Discussions do not help." "The guy is a royalist." "These people hate us." "I don't know what you have started by sending him to this lousy school." "I'll remove him from there." "You will do nothing of the kind." "I want him to do better in life than me." "Even by accident, I had never been able to throw a ball in the basket." "I just hung on." "And if I had the ball in my hands," "I was never able to do something decent with it." "That is nice of you, to come and meet me at work." "Would mother want it to be OK?" "Come, let's go home." "I felt pity for him, but, ashamed as I was, I also felt relieved." "Now that mother was in jail again, I had my hands free for my aunt Coleta." "My father never noticed anything anyway." "What is the matter?" "Hey," "what is the matter?" "Is it because of your mother?" "You are a real man." "What did she mean by that?" "And why did I cry?" "I was thinking of my mother in jail, while I was betraying her with Coleta." "But I was also doing it partially on purpose, so that she would console me, and that I would be very close to her." "Why did you have to cry so suddenly?" "I don't know." "For no reason." "I really don't know." "I believe that I know the reason." "It is because you have waited too long to come and see me." "How old are you exactly?" "Almost 16." "Piet is over 40." "This summer, I was not allowed to go and swim." "A married woman should stay at home, he said." "And swimming was something for younger girls." "We almost had a fight, back then." "And of course, later, I just did what I wanted to do." "And often, when he comes home at night, he looks as if he knows that I did what I wanted to do." "But he doesn't ask anything, you know." "And then, for the rest of the night, we don't speak to each other." "I do not want to sleep with him any more." "God, I am so disappointed in that man!" "Sometimes, I really hate this nice uncle Piet of yours." "And I used to believe that he was the only one in your family who would not bully his wife." "But of course, I don't mean you when I say your family." "You are nice." "In fact, Piet is also nice, he is a good husband." "But he is so dull." "And, when we were dating, he lied to me and told me that he just loved swimming." "Do you swim?" "Yes, of course." "Well, let's go and swim together." "Piet shouldn't know." "And your father and mother won't know either, of course." "We are doing it secretly." "And now, you must go." "Piet will come home soon." "We are going to swim, in secret." "Tomorrow after school, where the red buoy is." "From that moment on, the question that concerned me the most was if she would swim naked, because that was what she was most notorious for in our family." "Or would she wear a bathing suit this time?" "I didn't know what I would like the most." "How much this week?" "5 Guilders." "That is not very much, is it?" "And if you are also buying these swimming shorts..." "That I had just added the swimming shorts to our account was, I think, the most reckless and brave thing I had ever done." "Just tell your mother that there is a large amount past due." "Look at me." "We were going to swim." "Don't you want to swim?" "Of course, I want to swim." "Then you should undress." "Your mother must have told you to wear these, didn't she?" "With so much cloth around your body, you will never be able to have a good swim." "Now, untie my buttons." "These also." "And now, look closely at me." "Come here." "You should know everything there is to know about a woman." "Here, start with my hair." "And now, you must caress my face." "She told me exactly what to do, I didn't have to take any initiative myself, and that was a big relief." "I only wanted to do what she liked, and I wanted to learn from her how everything should be done." "Pull it." "Much harder." " Do you feel cold?" " No." "Pull the hair in my arm pits." "Push with your thumb in the little cavity in my neck." "Harder, much harder." "So hard that it stops me from being able to breathe." "You see?" "You are not getting ill, are you?" "Now that your mother is almost coming back home." "What is the matter?" "Nothing." "Do you miss her that much?" "Grandfather has told me that you visited uncle Piet." "And that you were afraid of telling us." "It must be because your mother is always talking badly about Coleta." "You shouldn't take it so literally." "It is just that she wants to keep her buffalo to herself, as long as possible." "I don't object at all, as long as you don't go there on Saturday, because that is the day when your mother is coming home." "Saturday?" "Fortunately, I had another date with her before Saturday, at the same site." "If the water is too cold, then we will warm it up, was what she had told me in her defiant way." "Of course, she had not come because she didn't want me any more." "She must have found it childish, the other time, because I hadn't dared to take the initiative." "I hadn't been able to meet her expectations, and I had failed to give her what she wanted." "I had already made plans to do things differently this time." "But maybe it was too late for that." "The despair that overwhelmed me gave me the courage to go and visit her at her house." "This would prove that I was able to behave as a man, and that I was not afraid, not even of Piet." "Hey Levinus, well, well." "There is no fire, I hope?" "Please come in, my boy." "Your aunt went shopping." "I just dropped by to say hello." "But you can stay a bit longer, can't you?" "Come in, I like it when you drop by." "Please, sit down, so that we can have a little chat." "Is everything going well at school?" "Yes." "Are you still being bullied?" "It's all right." "But, I really should return home." "But, sit down for a while." "Your aunt will not be happy to hear that you came to visit us and did not wait for her to come home." "She will be angry if I just let you go." "You must have a date with your girlfriend." "That's why you are in such a hurry." "I don't have a girlfriend." "Then I was wrong." "We like you very much, Coleta and I." "You are the only one in the family who doesn't hate us." "Well, just leave, boy, your girlfriend has first priority." "I don't have a girlfriend." "God, are you here?" "Give that cloth to me." "Coleta always drops her clothes everywhere she can." "I left the house for a while." "Piet and I had a fight." "Yes, we had a fight." "Coleta wanted to go for a swim, and I believed that she should have stayed home." "It is much too cold, this time of the year." "It is almost October!" "When the sparrows fall off the roof dead because of the heat, then you also complain." "That is not true;" "you should know better." "You hate swimming, because you cannot swim." "Let's stop this discussion, and make some coffee for our nephew." "I have no business with our nephew." "You make the coffee." "Do you believe that Coleta is behaving reasonably?" "Just stop talking about being reasonable." "Even if I wanted to go swim in the middle of winter, it would not be any of your business." "You went swimming recently, didn't you?" "These things are different for boys." "But, I won't oppose." "If you want to go for a swim tomorrow, then feel free to go." "Shall we go together?" "Then, I will join as well, let's make it an outing." "Actually, I don't feel like going tomorrow." "You come and visit us as often as you like." "It couldn't be worse." "I had to go and visit her Saturday afternoon, at 3 o'clock." "Saturday afternoon, when my mother was coming home." "She had underlined the day and the time twice, and underneath she had written nothing but a capital "C"." " Hello, mother." " Mommy!" " How are you, girl?" " What is this?" "I like it!" "Hey, what about me?" "My little buffalo." "Hello mother." "This is beautiful!" " Did you make this?" " I did." "But together with Mientje, right?" "Yes, I made this." "Magnificent!" "I am so thirsty, and I would like to have a beer." "Yes, me too." "This is good!" "I rinsed the clean cups a second time." "It gave me some time away from my mother's eyes." "If I could only be outside, I might come up with a plan." "Well, well, I am glad that I am sitting." " And now you must tell your story." " Yes, tell us everything." "You must imitate them again, the people from jail." "Was the cross-eyed one still there?" "With the farmers?" "There are only four." "Pour that one in the container." "We'll have a party and get drunk today." "What is the matter?" "Nothing." "You don't look well." "You will probably get ill." "Fortunately, you don't have a fever." "You're just cold." "If I were you, I would stay home and go to bed early tonight." "What kind of errands do you want me to do?" "If you still want to go outside, then don't complain later on." "...type of person... make them pay for a chance." "What are they thinking?" "Steak is out of the question." "You owe us too much." "But I can sell you head meat." "Two pounds of head meat is OK?" "Here you are, everything is paid." "And here is a bouquet of dahlias." "For your mother." "Thanks a lot." "It had taken a year to pay off the flower shop owner, since the dahlias were for sale again." "I was still unable to think of an excuse." "I knew that I was unable to fool my mother." "But maybe, once she would see her favourite flowers, she would forget to call me back when I would be leaving." "Here are the errands." "I am going for a bike ride." " Shall we go to bed?" " I don't dare." "If you don't dare, then just leave." "It is not that I don't dare, but what if Piet comes home?" "What business do you have with him?" "But if Piet catches us?" "Even then, he would not kick me out of the house, you know." "He would say, "How were you able to do such a thing?"" "But he wouldn't be angry." "I would be angry if my girlfriend dated somebody else." "Yes, you would." "But Piet is not a jealous man." "That's why I hate him sometimes." "I won't stay with him for the rest of my life." "Maybe I would want to become your wife." "But you are too young." "And you love your mother too much." "Don't look at me like that." "I do understand that you love your mother." "I find her a fabulous woman myself." "I didn't understand why, just then, she had to start talking about my mother." "It made me totally confused." "Come on, get undressed." "Come here quickly." "I am cold." "Undress completely." "You are not a child, are you?" "What is the matter?" "Don't you want to do it?" "Are you afraid?" "Don't be afraid." "You've never slept with a woman, have you?" "No." "Then, just caress me, as you did in the dunes." "Wait." "Put a bit of spit on your finger." "Now, don't touch me for a little while." "I wish you were my little brother." "I will make some coffee." "I was overwhelmed with a feeling of embarrassment and malaise, as if I had failed an exam." "Don't look so sad." "The first time is often a failure." "These are things that you must learn." "I was sure that she didn't love me anymore, because I had been unable to do it." "That was the only thing I could think of." "That I would have to explain myself at home, was something I had completely forgotten." "Where did you go?" "That is none of your business." "Your mother went shopping." "She didn't want the bad meat you had brought us." "It is dark like hell in here." "Give me some light." "Give me some help." "What is this?" "Jesus." "Can't you see what this is?" "How did you get it?" " From Hakkert." " From Hakkert?" "The butcher?" "Who else?" "I just lifted it off the hook." "Give me a glass of water" "Jesus, help." "Didn't they stop you?" "Didn't they want to take it away from you?" "That is something I didn't pay attention to." "They shouldn't have tried to do it." "This would scare the life out of you." "The dirty man, with his head meat." "Let me do it." "You are not doing anything." "I will do it." "Please be careful with the damn lamp." "Damn, damn." "I was watching my mother, and I couldn't believe that she didn't see in my face where I had been." "She always spotted everything." "And?" "What should we do next?" "We can't eat everything ourselves." "We will give some of it away." "That too." "Do you want to eat everything at once and by yourself?" "Jesus." "The largest one is for us." "And these are for..." "Droge..." "I noticed later that father always went out to take care of the damage after one of mother's escapades." "What is going to happen?" "We have to come down, and bring old newspapers." "He always acted as her guardian angel." "Hakkert's pig was just added to our account." "From Hakkert." "But these are slums also." "Why did you not tell us?" "Because it is none of your business." "These are my houses." "Yes, but he should know, shouldn't he?" " Not another word on this." " Yes, listen." "How are you, boy, shall we play?" "Help me to prepare the game." "No, I don't have time." "I have to return home right away." "You do want a sandwich, don't you?" "I just wanted to let you know that we are coming at coffee time tomorrow." "But you always come on Sundays?" "Yes, but I was told to come and let you know." "Come on." "Shall we start?" "No, he has to return home, I will play with you." "I just don't feel like playing anymore." "He indeed is dealing with the housing situation." "Do I have to justify myself in front of my children?" "Fortunately, it is not too big, more like a big beet than a pig." "Was it too small for your liking?" "How was grandfather?" "Uncle Piet was saying that grandfather also had slums." " Uncle Piet?" " Yes, he was visiting grandfather." "With Coleta?" "Yes." "There is a line there, at the beam." "Was she wiggling her behind?" "She doesn't wiggle her behind." "Coleta is no good." "She is chasing guys." "Ah, you just talk without knowing anything." "Coleta is really not that bad." "Well, you must be right." "Nice family you have." "What do you mean?" "If he doesn't tear down these slums to the ground, then he will not be welcome here in the future." "Of course, it would be better if father got rid of them." "You mean, sell them?" "I carefully watched mother's figure, hands, face and hair." "I was comparing her to Coleta." "And the people who live there?" "From one slumlord to another." "The comparison did not result to her advantage." "Maybe he could sell to Laarnoes." "Just shut up, woman." "The slums must be demolished." "That is what you said in the Municipal Council." "Why don't you tell your father to demolish his slums?" "Do you really believe he would do it because we are telling him?" "Ah, man, just cut the crap." "Don't skirt the issue." "I am not skirting the issue." "Let's all go and lie down in the alcove." "Pinch-me-now and Pinch-me-not sat in a boat." "Pinch-me-not fell off the boat." "Who stayed in the boat?" "Pinch-me-now." "Get out of bed and get dressed." "Take the saw from the coal shed." "What good will that do?" "..." "I had never asked myself before why she was always taking me with her." "And at the same time, I started to doubt if everything that she did was indeed as great and necessary as I had always thought." "Get up." "Be careful and watch your fingers." "I will be with you in a minute." "The sawing was taking a lifetime." "And the sawing never ended, for the rest of my life." "I was no longer her devoted companion." "Times have changed, don't you agree?" "I have never known if father also paid Laarnoes back for the trees that we cut down." "They must have written in the paper what we did together." "Vandalism." "Last night, in the orchard of the honourable Mr. Laarnoes, merchant in corsets in this town, and also a well respected member of the Municipal Council, unknown hooligans cut down 17 young fruit trees." "The Chief of Police, Mr. Stoofman, informed us that his investigations have not been successful in determining the identity of those who committed such senseless acts of destruction." "However, it is suspected that they were political opponents who do not dare to confront Mr. Laarnoes in the appropriate forum, and therefore moved their opposition to the street." "And therefore moved their opposition to the street." " I don't mind standing." " But, please sit down, ma'am." "I don't need to sit down, Vander Rijdt." "If I stand, I can hear and see everything better." " Then, please allow me?" " Please, feel free." "Thank you." "Now, it is up to Mr. Laarnoes to take the floor." "The viewpoint of my party and all others here with regard to public housing and relief for the poor is deeply rooted in the prescriptions of the Bible." "Speak louder!" "And what the Bible prescribes in the first place on this issue, is that our Creator, God our Lord, did not create us to serve nothing but professional, narrow-minded interests in this meeting, as Mr. Peskens and his fellows from the social democratic party advocate." "How can Mr. Peskens think that we do not have the same desire as he has, and that we do not want certain houses to be replaced by nicer ones?" "As far as this issue is concerned, namely human dignity, my party's standpoint does not differ from yours." "Only, you earn money on it, and we have to live in it." "Allow me in this context to indicate that some of the houses referred to by Mr. Peskens are owned by, and rented at high rates by a certain J. Peskens." "If I am not mistaken, he is the father of the honourable Council member with the same name." "Yes!" "Leave it." "Leave it." "Damn." "Leave it." "I saw my mother watching my father." "I suddenly realized that she no longer needed me, and that our association had irrevocably ended." "So, you are here?" "Please say hello to your aunt." "How are you, auntie?" "Hello, Levien." "Come, it is time for you to go to bed." "Coleta had never visited us at home before." "And the feeling that she had exchanged me for her came over me." "Is that the purpose of your visit?" "Yes... and they are trying..." "I was certain that Coleta had come to visit us to give away our secret." "But the next day, she baked a cake to celebrate the victory over Laarnoes." "I just didn't know what to make out of it." "His piece is bigger than mine." "He earns it." "I also want a large piece like that." "Well, you all be quiet." "There is enough." "All right." "I wish that you would accept the money." "These people collected the money because they all love you." "You are not starting again, are you?" "I am not accepting it." "And I will leave you if you pay behind my back." "Paying the fine for the fight, for my mother, meant that she would confess that she was guilty." "She preferred to go to jail." "Father's companions didn't want that, and they had collected the money." "I later heard that Coleta had opposed this plan, and that, that night, she had come to warn my mother about their plan." "How are you, Levien?" "I just came to see you." "I didn't ask her why she had come to see my mother, because I was certain now that she had chosen my mother's side, that mother was glad she had done so, and that there would be no room for me between the two of them." "We should stop this." "Your mother is coming to visit me tonight, and I don't want her to find out about us." "Find out about what?" "Well, this was good for you." "I felt alone and unhappy." "Left by my mother and betrayed by Coleta." "Mister Peskens, your table is ready." " No improvement yet?" " No." "It is an agony." "Please sit down." "Enjoy your meal." "Telephone for Mr. Peskens." "Yes?" "One moment please, I will transfer you to the head nurse." "Your mother ran away." "I paid the fine." "Why did you finally decide to do it?" "Did you want your mother to be taken to jail?" "I didn't accept a penny from anyone." "I paid from my own pocket." "I pitied him, because I felt that he regretted his payment of the fine after all." "I thought that her running away was all my fault." "She will be back, today or tomorrow." "She has always returned home, didn't she?"