The Lost Son - Chapter 2

S. Döpke The lost son - Chapter 2

The farm consisted of two buildings. First there was a shed that was built of red brick. It already looked a bit old and scruffy, and on the roof there was a lack of some roof tiles. But the residential house next to it! It was so beautiful that I liked to settle in, straightaway. It was a half-timbered house, its walls looked like newly redecorated, shining whitely like snow, and in front of all the windows there were boxes with the most beautiful flowers growing inside. But the best things of all were the clouds of steam that were leaving the smokestack when I arrived and the wide open front door. I looked around on the courtyard between the buildings, but I couldn’t see or hear another person. And somehow I got the feeling that all the inhabitants of the farm were inside the house, just waiting for me, coming home, too. Maybe somebody was brewing a tea for me and the front door was so wide open that I could enter without ringing the bell first. Yes, maybe this is my real parental home, I continued to fantasize. And the woman who is brewing the tea for me is my mum who is just waiting for her son coming back from the woods. And my brother who had hoaxed me by putting me in a boxboard on the pasture had already get his just punishment. He had to chop wood the whole afternoon and in addition he had got two weeks of house arrest, too. I approached the front door and noticed disenchanted that it wasn’t left so wide open for me. The real reason was that the ground was newly mopped and could better dry when fresh air could get in and out. The entrance hall that was bigger than

other one’s whole flats. It was almost completely dry when I looked in, but a bucket, filled with water, and a swab, leaning against the wall, were still signs of the previous cleaning event. I looked at the nameplate next to the bell button: Brockmann. I couldn’t remember that name and at once I felt that this farm was dead certain not my home. I still didn’t know my real family name, but I was sure I would recognise it as soon as I read it or heard it. Just the same as I would recognise my parents if I just could look them straight into their faces, eventually. “Hello”, I called shyly into the house, but I didn‘t get an answer. Just a gentle echo that resounded in the big entrance hall. I considered if I should ring the bell, but without knowing why, I rejected this idea. And so I stepped into a fameless house without having asked for a permission, before. The huge entrance hall with its ochre-coloured, cleanly shining floor tiles was so awe-inspiring for me that I hardly didn‘t dare to move. But however I tiptoed slowly and quietly to the next door and opened it. Behind I found grey concrete stairs that led down to a dark, wet and musty cellar, cobwebbed in all the corners. By no means I wanted to go down, except on my way back, maybe. If the house had been really empty, I could have searched for some food to pilfer, there. I moved on to the next door and wasn‘t really sure if I should promptly open it or if I should better knock at it before. For a while I stood there, harking and looking through the keyhole. But when I didn‘t notice anything conspicuous I slowly pressed the handle and opened the door. Behind I found something like a guest room. There was a small, modest bed that looked like newly made because it hadn‘t been used from time immemorial. Furthermore a little table, a chair, a wardrobe, and that was all. It was pretty cool and there was no smell inside. I didn‘t waste anymore time to look around in this room because I knew I wouldn‘t find the thing that I was looking for, there. So I closed the door as silently as I could and sneaked to the other

side of the hall where I approached another door. But behind it I just found a dark room with a groaning heating and some oil tanks. Disappointedly I closed that door, too, and afterwards I wasn‘t sure if I should continue my way into the heart of the house or if I should disappear as long as I had the time to do. Several times I switched my sight between the open front door and the end of the entrance hall and with every step the frightening feeling to come closer to the mouth of a lion, that just waited for me to devour me greedily, grew. But after every step I also noticed that the time hadn‘t already come. Still the front door was open… And suddenly I startled at the sound of a voice that I almost began to scream. But this panic was absolutely unnecessary, because it wasn‘t the vicious roar of a lion, but rather the warm-hearted voice of a woman who was singing with zest: “…May has come. The trees are turning green…“ I knew this song, I liked this song and I was also sure that I had always liked it and that it was reminiscent of something in my former life. Of what? I didn‘t really know. Maybe my mother had always sung it when we went for a walk with our dog, in springtime. No, I didn‘t know it, but maybe I‘ll get beck my memory if I see the woman who sings it, I thought. And so I decided to continue my way through the hall until I approached the door, it was the second last, where the sound of the voice did come from. I knocked at it, but at the very moment the woman began to lilt that loud that she just couldn‘t do anything else than miss hearing it. I absolutely didn‘t dare to knock louder, and so I opened the door without asking, first slowly, then at one go because otherwise I would have lost my courage again. Behind the door there was the kitchen. On the table there was a big basket of potatoes and a bowl of raw meat. On the stove there was a big pot of water and in front of the kitchen sink there

stood a chubby woman, wearing a blue apron and splashing with her fingers in the sink. Sometimes she took some light green-white leaves out of it. Maybe it was cabbage, maybe it was salad. However, the woman wasn‘t distracted by her work, although she had noticed someone coming. “Heinz?” she asked. “Is it you? Can you be a doll and bring me some…” “No!” I answered swiftly. “It‘s me. My name is Pe…” The woman turned around more rapidly than I expected. She looked at me wide-eyed and one second later she shrieked as if an accident had happened. Wildly she slashed around herself whereby she hit the sieve that the cabbage leaves fell on the ground. But she didn‘t care about it. She touched her reddened face and even screamed louder. It sounded so terrible that I was no longer sure if a person could be killed by just one scream. “Sorry for rushing in without asking”, I said when she made a break. “I just want to ask if you could maybe…” “Heinz, Heinz!” the woman screamed. “A burglar! He wants to assault me! In the kitchen, in the middle of the morning. Come now!” The woman had to be absolutely crackers! She was an adult and moreover a very burly woman, and I was just a boy, a pretty slim at that. Why did she just scream at me that panicky? Did I look so extra hazardous? I tried to appease the woman, but I didn‘t succeed a bit. Her panic just increased and finally she took a cup and pelt me with it. I was lucky that her arms were shivering that much that she couldn‘t aim at me precisely. The cup shattered on the ground, directly in front of my feet. I looked at her strong arms and imagined how painful it could be if she really dashed a cup full tilt against my forehead. I perceived it made no sense to discuss with her any longer and decided to betake myself. If I run fast I‘ll maybe still have the chance to escape before her husband arrives and spank my butt, I thought.

But I undervalued the woman‘s changeability. “Wait!” she shouted as quickly as I turned around. This time her voice didn‘t sound panicky or frightened at all, but rather clear, determined and as deep as the one of a man. I turned around and was scared stiff. And that wasn‘t good because I should have run away, as fast as I could, I should have absconded from her and especially from the butcher‘s knife in her hand, aiming straight at my heart. But I couldn‘t. The only thing I knew at that moment was that I wouldn‘t start to bleed if she stabbed me. Because the blood in my veins was already frozen. “Yes, now you‘re speechless with fear!” she said. Her voice was shivering, but with excitement, not with fear. I hold on the door frame when the woman made two big steps, seized me hard by the neck and threatened me at knifepoint what made me completely breathless. “What were you thinking? That you could break into a house, frighten a poor, decent famer‘s wife and afterwards just clear away, without a consequence? Not on my watch, my dear fellow!” Oh, how mean and malicious her voice suddenly sounded! I almost couldn‘t believe that it had sung so beautifully, just one minute ago. But now I could undoubtedly conceive her to kill me without showing a little bit of mercy with me. But why? I was just a little boy who hadn‘t done anything worse than entering a house without having asked for permission. Sure, this hadn‘t been decent, but it still wasn‘t any sort of reason to threaten me with such a knife! And if the people are leaving their front doors open it is somehow their own fault. But the woman obviously was of a different opinion. The reason for not stabbing me, immediately, was her pleasure to harrow me, before. So she grasped me back into the kitchen, put me up against the wall, there, boxed my ears with her free

hand and shouted and screamed at me as if I was a dangerous criminal. Mum, Dad, I thought. Where are you? Why did you abandon me? Don‘t you see that your son is in danger? What‘s just happening to me, here? But my parents couldn‘t help me. They were far, far away and I was alone in an unknown kitchen, together with that gorgon, that termagant who wanted to kill me, although I hadn‘t even stolen anything. But at the end I obtained yet again help. But not of my parents, but a stranger that actually didn‘t want to help me, but the woman who was threatening me. “Frieda?” I heard his voice calling for her. “Frieda? What‘s going on with you? Why did you call for help?” The woman loosened her grip and turned around. “Oh, Heinz, hurry!” The brutal fury in her voice was suddenly away and instead of it the panicky desperation came back. As if it was me who threatened her and not conversely. “A burglar is in the kitchen!” she continued. “A real beggar! Come fast, I‘m not able to manage him alone. ” “Coming!” the man answered, leaving the other side of the window. The woman wanted to attack me a second time, but I took advantage of the situation by swooping for the cooking spoon to thrust her under the chin as hard as I could. The walls were shaking when the woman began to scream. With shock she dumped down the knife and stumbled over the sieve that was still lying aground. Finally she lost balance and toppled over backwards. Again I took advantage of the situation by jumping out of the kitchen and slamming the door shot. Finally out I wanted to run away instantly, but when I heard the key falling on the ground inside the kitchen, I opened the dooe once again, took the key and hurried to jail this beast in her own kitchen. I was

just fast enough not to be hit by the knife she cast at me, but I still heard the sound of the jolt when it bored itself into the wood of the kitchen door. Cut and run! I thought, but just when I was on my way to the front door her husband came rushing in. That was all I needed! Where else should I go now? The man wasn‘t as big and burly as his wife, but he was still an adult man and I anything else than a little kid. He looked at me hate-filled and was fast approaching me, without saying a word. So I didn‘t have another choice than escaping through the big door at the other end of the hall. Behind it there was another kind of hall but in contrast to the entrance hall it was carpeted in red what really looked awfully. If you want to celebrate a family party that will be the perfect room to arrange the long tables. But at that moment the room was nearly empty. Without thinking I chose the door in the face of me, wrenched it open and jumped in. Inside the room it was pretty dark, but I didn‘t find the time to turn on the light. I palpated the door until I luckily found out that the key was sticking on my side of the keyhole. My hands were shivering when I locked myself in, but afterward Heinz could shake the door handle as much as he wanted, he didn‘t get it open. One time he even tried to force it open but the only result were sore shoulders. He cursed me loudly, but soon his curses were drown out by the hysteric screams of his wife. “The burglar did knock me down!” she complained. “Did you catch him?” “This bugger locked himself in the bathroom”, he answered. „But he won‘t be able to escape. I swear it!“ I heard a loud clatter. Probably the man tried to pull up the little commode, one of the few pieces of furniture in the hall. Panicked, I looked for the light switch and turned on the light. And really! I was standing in the bathroom, the room I had wanted to enter all the time. But I completely forgot the things I wanted to do, there, because I was locked in this room and

the only way out was a tiny, uppermost window, I couldn‘t reach on my own. I looked for a thing I could climb onto, but the shelves were braced in the wall and a stool didn‘t exist. The only possibility I saw was to climb into the washbasin and from there… And suddenly the moment came when I saw my own face in the mirror for the first time. I was touched by a very strange feeling, a feeling of calm that made me forget that I was in really great danger at that time. At the beginning I didn‘t have the courage to look straight into my eyes because I feared that I really was as ugly as the shepherd had told me. But at last my curiosity became stronger and I saw my whole face in front of me. Afterward I felt relieved because I had found out that the shepherd was a liar. Certainly, I wasn‘t the most beautiful child in the world. My face seemed to be pale and gaunt. I had sunken cheeks and a tiny, sharp nose. Everybody could see that I wasn‘t a powerhouse at all, but on the other hand I had beautiful dark hair that was short at the back of my neck and a bit longer on the top of my head. My eyes were brown, too, with broad eyebrows over them. It looked quite mysterious, I thought, as if I had something to hide behind them. But it fit to me because I felt that I was a pretty closed child. No eternal shining sunbeam that was always able to cheer up the whole family, and who was everybody‘s darling at school, but rather someone who sometimes liked to be alone, secluding himself. My whole face looked scared and intimidated. But that was hardly surprising, if you think about my strange situation. But when I braced myself up for a smiling, I found myself looking really good. Indeed, my lips were a bit slim, but I had some healthy snow-white teeth. Additionally I wasn‘t hook-nosed, jug-eared or had any other mistakes in my face. What more could I want? No surprise, my mum loved me and my dad was proud of me. I didn‘t care about the words of that stupid shepherd any longer.

Next to the mirror there was a cabinet on which I found a yardstick. I took it to find out my height. But unfortunately I wasn‘t very tall. Just about one metre and forty centimetres. Maybe also a bit taller, I was too excited to find it out precisely because in the next moment I heard Frieda‘s angry hissing, coming closer, again. Obviously her husband had liberated her from the kitchen. “Do you say, he‘s in the bathroom?” I heard her screaming. “Then he‘ll get a cold shower first, and afterwards he can only hope for god‘s mercy!” I heard them pulling the commode back again and didn‘t have one doubt that Frieda would break the door with her shoulders, as fat as she was, because the door of the bathroom didn‘t seem to be as solid as the one of the kitchen. Startled with fear, I abandoned the yardstick and climbed into the washbasin. It wasn‘t in juxtaposition with the window and with my little height it wasn‘t easy to take the handle and open the window from that position. Especially not, if the edge of the basin was wet and you could slip off easily. But at the end I coped with it. I was smelling fresh air when I hold fast onto the window frame. And one moment later two things happened almost simultaneously. The first thing was the break of the door when the fat Frieda jumped against it. The second thing was the washbasin falling on the ground with a noisy clank, breaking into one thousand pieces that jumped into the face of the shocked Frieda. But I didn‘t waste any time fore being shocked. Freedom was just one handbreadth away and I tried to catch it before destiny could recapture it. I had put my feet on the towel rack timely. But it seemed to be even less solid than the washbasin, so I heaved myself out quickly. I was moaning because of the big efforts, but nothing and nobody could still stop me. Not even Heinz who tried to grab my boots. I just kicked him into his face what made him stagger back screamingly.

And finally I did it! In a single bound I touched the ground on the other side, in the garden. How relieved I felt! I still heard Frieda crying for the expensive basin, but I didn‘t care about it any longer. Without looking back I began to run, through the green grass, through the rhododendron hedge and… directly into the bike that was going along the small way, carrying a young woman on the saddle. I still tried to slow down, but it was already too late. The front wheel swerved because the woman wanted to avoid a collision. And at that point she really succeeded because I wasn‘t affected by the accident. She and the bike where the only ones who lost their balances and toppled down. “Are you blind?” she screamed at me after the most terrible sounds of shock and pain were out of her voice. Then she touched her legs while I was standing stonily next to hear, being as quiet as a mouse. Fortunately her bones weren‘t broken, but she saw her trousers having been chafed on the gravelly soil of the path. “Fucking shit!” she cursed. “The trousers were new!” I was all of dither that I didn‘t really know what to do. Finally I gave her my hands. “Shall I help you up?” I asked. “Don‘t touch me!” the young woman screamed back. “Ruthless brat! But you‘ll have to pay for my trousers, either you or your parents!” I smirked although actually the thing wasn‘t funny at all. “Do you think that‘s funny?” the woman asked grouchily. “Oh, be sure you‘ll soon laugh on the other side of your face!” Of course, she didn‘t understand why the situation was that amusing for me. Because I did have no money and no parents, and so I couldn‘t pay for the trousers and there was also nobody who could punish me for my delinquency. My stiffness slacked from second to second and I noticed that the woman was on her way back from a shop. In her bike basked she had had a bag filled with goods that were now lying along the way.

Reflexively

and

without

considering

I

embraced

the

opportunity. I took the bag and put in all the things I could get in this exciting moment: A tub of yoghurt, a paper bag of rolls, a package of sausage, a little bottle of lemonade, a bar of chocolate and two apples. Holding the bag of prey at my back, I ran away, just leaving a dust cloud behind me, because I did have nothing at all to lose. The woman was thunderstruck by such a cocky act. But after some seconds she began to scream: “You thief! You bloody, insidious thief! First knocking an innocent woman flying and afterwards even robbing her! You villain!” But I didn‘t have to be afraid of this woman, although she had a bike to pursue me. The thing that really threatened me was the sound of squeaking wheels that surely belonged to a starting car. And then I heard Heinz‘s voice shouting: “Sabine! Get out of the way! I have to pursue a burglar!” “Catch him!” Sabine shouted completely enraged. “He robbed me, too. Catch him and spank his ass as hard as you can!” Soon the sound of the wheels returned because the car could drive on. I tried to run even faster, but I knew I couldn‘t persevere much longer. I had already run too much this day, without having grabbed a bite to eat. Desperately I looked for a way to escape but on the meadows on the left and on the right there were grazing horses. I didn‘t know if they were dangerous, but I didn‘t want to push my luck. I looked around and saw the car being pretty close to my heels, already. And Heinz on the driver‘s seat! His face was so hatefilled and it became even more determined when our sights met each other. He revved the engine by stepping on the gas even harder. He‘ll run me over, I thought. He‘ll surely run me over! Fortunately just some metres in front of me there was a sharp bend. If I reached it before he reached me there would maybe be a last chance to escape, I hoped, because he‘ll have to break if he don‘t want to cause an accident. I activated my last reserves of energy and ran and ran and…

was almost run over! But not by Heinz. At the same moment when I reached the bend a tractor arrived from the reverse direction. Actually I had to have heard him earlier, but I was so panicky that I had paid it no mind. Fortunately, I managed it to leap aside and clinging myself to the branches of a tree that was growing directly next to the way. “Be careful!” the man shouted, but he forgot about me when he saw the other thing, dashing from the converse direction. It was Heinz, of course, who tried to break his furious car at the very last moment. But it was all for nothing! Poor Heinz. You could almost feel a bit sorry for him. First a broken washbasin and afterwards a broken car, too! But he was still lucky because he seemed to be pretty healthy when he left the car by the right door. The door was a bit squashed but he had just eyes for me. “You‘ll hear of this, you bastard!” he screamed, making me quickly looking for a way between fence, tree and tractor to escape. “Stay!” the tractor driver shouted, too. “You‘re my witness!” But of course I didn‘t give a rip about it when Heinz wanted to collar me. But he didn‘t bargain with the tractor driver who retained him roughly. “Don‘t hurry, my friend” I heard him say. “I‘ll find that boy if need him. But first we will have a serious talk. What do you presume…” “Shut up!” was Heinz‘s answer. “Let‘s take care of it another time. I have to catch the boy, that‘s more important!” I heard the men having a battle of words, but I couldn‘t really understand it because I already was too far away. But the tractor driver seemed to be the winner at the end what was a big luck for me because he prevented Heinz beating the living daylights out of me. In front of my way two other farm houses appeared, afterwards crossways. I took the left way, treading a narrow road that led me directly into a forest. I cocked my ears

and heard the two men still arguing with each other. But finally silence came back. Probably Heinz had indulged and accepted himself as being the main causer of the accident. Triumphantly I entered the forest, hoping strongly not to see or hear Heinz and his fat wife once again. I left the street and walked my way criss-cross through the trees. Sometimes I turned around, but I never noticed any pursuer. Finally I found another little path through the forest and some seconds later a huge pile of wood. And because I was sure that Heinz was no longer on my tail I decided to hide away behind the trunks to rest for a spell.