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The choices we make 11
“Thank you, ma’am. It will certainly do just fine, and I promise to work just as well tomorrow,” Mary said and curtsied. Soon after, she swept through the corridors tightly on Jossi’s heels.“It’s forbidden to have men in the room,” Jossi said, looking over her shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about that for a couple of years, I guess. The room should be tidy and clean; sometimes both Mrs. Karrots and Mrs. Meata do inspections of the rooms. If you ask me, Mrs. Meata is a real bitch, so you better make sure to stay n her good graces,” Jossi continued. Mary nodded and followed the woman as she desperately tried to remember the way they were walking. Jossi stopped in front of a door. “This is your room. Toilet and bath are two doors farther in that direction,” she said, pointing. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, so you don’t get lost. Okay?” Mary nodded and Jossi left her outside the door. Mary opened the door and walked inside. The room was minimal. At one side stood a bed, next to
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“Yes,” said Mrs. Karrots. “I think it can be arranged. I already have a new helper that I’m training,” she said, nodding toward Mary. “I guess another one wouldn’t be a big inconvenience. He’ll need to be here from the start of the day until we finish, and he’ll eat all the meals with us?”“That sounds agreeable, and I don’t want him to be treated any differently because he’s my son,” he said. Mrs. Karrots nodded, and the man disappeared from the kitchen, leaving the boy behind. The boy stood next to Mary and looked at Mrs. Karrots.“What’s your name, young man?” Mrs. Karrots asked him.“Zerden, ma’am,” he replied.“Nice to meet you. Mary here will show you where everything is and how we do things around here. I expect you to work hard and fast and do things the right way. Is that understood?” The boy nodded. “Excellent. Mary, take Zerden and bring water for the vegetables; two pots are enough today. When you are done, I want you to come to me. I have a special task for both of you,”
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When they returned, however, there was no time for any lessons on how to read and write. They were busy and soon it was time for dinner. Just as Jossi had done for Mary’s first day in the kitchen, Mary made sure Zerden could sit next to her. They didn’t talk much; they concentrated on eating. When the afternoon’s work was completed, Zerden returned home and Mary walked towards her room.“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, waving at him. He waved back before disappearing out the door. Mary thought it was nice to have someone her own age in the kitchen. He wasn’t as nice as Erik, but right now she wasn’t picky. When she fell asleep that evening, she dreamed of branches getting sawed off as she sat on them, long streets lined with people, and of a room with an empty bed.The days went by quickly. Mary discovered most things were easier now she shared most of her chores with Zerden. He had stopped being grumpy and angry and for the most part she liked him. Sometimes they had a few minutes
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Inside the pharmacy it was dark, and it smelled of different spices and medications. The pharmacist was an old man with a bent back and round glasses. Mary walked carefully towards the counter.“Good day,” she said.“Hmm,” the man answered.“We’d need three sticks off cinnamon,” Mary said. The man looked at her and then at Zerden.“Three cresi,” said the man, turning toward a cupboard with lots of small draws drawers and fishing up three sticks of cinnamon. Mary didn’t want to talk to him; she didn’t like him. But she couldn’t pay that much money for the three cinnamon sticks. She tried to haggle but the man told her that in his pharmacy the price was fixed. Mary looked at Zerden, who seemed to have the same opinion of the man as her. He shook his head and she understood that he just wanted to take the cinnamon and go.“Well then, Zerden, I guess the court can eat apples without cinnamon,” Mary said, walking toward the door.“But Mary,”, Zerden whispered to her as he followed. She gav
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Time seemed to pass quickly when Mary finally began to accept her new life. She enjoyed her new chores and she quickly learned how to chop carrots and dice parsnips. She had started to make some of the porridge they ate in the mornings, and she discovered after watching how one of the other assistants did it, she could cook porridge that neither floated into the milk nor got stuck in the pot. Filled with new confidence, she learned how to clean meat and fillet fish. The days weren’t any shorter, but the chores suited her better. Her hands would still hurt when she went to bed at night, but now it was due to cuts from knives or she had burned herself on a hot saucepan. She also had Wednesday afternoons to look forward to. She and Zerden met in the courtyard outside the kitchen and practiced. As spring passed into summer, he began to master the letters better and better. He, in turn, used the time to tell her about all the exciting things that happened outside the kitchen. He often knew
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Thursday seemed to never end. Never had Mary waited so for the evening to come, it seemed. Even when Mrs. Karrots tasked her with peeling and cutting apples into archers for a pie, she couldn’t stop thinking about dinner at the castellan family. Mary tried to concentrate on the apples. It was a job she was not used to, and it was tricky to get the pieces even and the same size. When she had sliced a whole bucket, she sighed and felt relieved it was over. But instead of being given an easy task, she was set to knead dough. The prince would be bringing bread for the hunting party, so Mary stood for a long time and kneaded one loaf after another. She could feel her muscles slowly turning into trembling jelly and her hands almost go numb. No matter how slowly the day crept along, no one could stop time. Mary looked up when Mrs. Karrots called her.“It’s time to get ready,” she told Mary. Mary nodded and ran to her room. She washed herself thoroughly and combed out her hair, which she then
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“What do you mean it is your fault, my child?” asked Zerden’s mother. Mary looked at her and suddenly, the words poured out of her mouth. She told them about how first her father got sick and then her mother; she told them no one wanted to help them and how she took care of them. She told them about the day she opened the store and how she had gone to the market.“It was my fault,” she said in a low voice. “I should have stayed with them and taken care of them. Instead, I went to the market and when I got home, I milked the goats and looked for eggs. I should have taken care of them, but I was stupid and selfish and that’s why they died,” she told them. She continued to tell them about how she ran and looked for the Lady, how she had found her, but that it had been too late. “That’s why she brought me here,” Mary said. She was sitting with her head lowered now. There were no tears, and she was calm, uncomfortably calm. She didn’t dare look at any of the others sitting around the table
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The days Mary spent working in the kitchen always seemed to go by quickly. It was the daily routines which divided the days into breakfast, lunch and dinner that made them float together into a formless memory. Wednesday seemed to appear out of nowhere and before Mary knew it, she stood outside the kitchen waiting for Zerden. She was wearing her grey cloak and in the pocket of her dress she had put her purse with some of the money she had saved. She was hoping Zerden wanted to go with her to the seamstress. Mrs. Karrots had told her where to go. There was apparently a seamstress who used to sew clothes for the servants in the castle. If Mary told her she worked in the kitchen, the seamstress would choose the fabric and the model which was standard. Zerden came running, Mary saw he was happy. He came up to her and gave her a big smile and his eyes was full of anticipation.“Mary, you’ll never believe what Dad told me today,” he said before she had time to say hello. “I’m going to go hu
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