What does the city want, what do the people want, what does life want from Jeus?

They cannot do anything to him, Crisje.

He has not been without work for a single hour.

So there are no worries.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, a letter came asking if he would just come immediately.

“Now, Bernard?

What did I say?

If you had bet with me, I would have won.”

Jeus will become a chef.

They weigh it all up.

It is true, he can now make something of himself, and chefs earn good money.

A chef is a good trade, and ... you are close to the pot, Crisje.

He can now cook what he likes for himself, and the food is really good there.

And on top of that, he will look elegant, because a tie like that around your neck looks neat.

Rie will get her five guilders, it is his love and happiness, but he also knows it!

Jeus now appears before his boss.

He can start immediately.

“What was your name again?”

“My name is Jeus, sir.”

“What did you say?”

“Very simply; Jeus, sir.”

They do not understand it properly.

Never heard of it.

What kind of a name is that?

The boss asks:

“Is that ... Je ...us?

Has that anything to do with ... Jesus ...?”

“Oh, no, sir, not at all, sir.

But, how can I explain it.”

He suddenly knows ... “Just like the ‘eu’ of your keuken (Dutch word for kitchen), sir.

And that is what you call Jeus!”

They understand now.

He sees that the boss is dressed in a nice suit and he will soon get one like that as well.

It is elegant.

Now you are something in the world.

“Yes”, the boss says, “if you do your best ... Je-us ... Jeus”, he says a moment later, “then you can achieve a lot with me.

I can make you into a chef.

Here you have prospects.”

It is exactly, sir, what Jeus wants.

He wants to get on in life.

They all agree with him, and they look at him as if they have never seen a young man before.

Especially the girls.

But they have trouble pronouncing his name.

When he says that they may also call him Jozef and that Jeus means Jozef, it stays Jeus, because it sounds so nice.

He feels that it is different here, compared to that other place.

He gets a better reception here.

These are people with more feeling and understanding, he determines and it is true now.

He sees, they live here in a rich neighbourhood.

You see, now they already understand; Jeus is Jozef.

No, it will stay ... Jeus!

He now experiences that people squabble about his name and he likes that the best of all.

The sun is shining again for his life and brightly, as well.

He is now lying again with Fanny on the heath and accepts everything.

It is a miracle!

He will be grateful for all this happiness, Crisje.

And he will give them the proof.

Now they introduce themselves one by one to him.

“This is Sissy, the first.”

Why is he laughing now?

The boss asks: “Why are you laughing, Je-us ... Jeus?”

Well, what can he say, but the truth.“ I also got that name, sir.

They called me Sissy when I was doing my national service.”

He tells them how that came about and they understand that.

But the family continues to call him Jeus and nothing else.

Sissy is in charge here when the boss is not there.

She takes care of everything for the lodgers, because they keep a boarding house.

And there are Betsy and Marietje, two sisters.

Here is the lady of the house, Jeus.

Well, well, that’s all of us and now to work.

Sissy will give you plenty of work.

He does his best to please and is very polite, Crisje.

He pretends to understand everything.

Sissy gives him his things.

First a red striped jacket.

Just come with me, Je-us ... Jeus, then I will take you to your room.

A moment later he is standing in his own room, he can sleep well here.

There are no worries.

And then he gets his striped trousers, it is the chef’s trousers, and he looks good.

He has never seen himself like that before.

Oh, Crisje, can’t you see him?

Now that he is in the kitchen, a flow of thoughts reach his life, as clear as a film, he absorbs picture after picture, and he could tell sir that the real mistress is not here.

He feels that the people here live behind ‘masks’.

This Sissy has eyes like suns and a good heart, eyes, which say everything, if you have feeling and understand what those lights mean.

He now knows that she is in love with sir.

And that lady there with her red face and snub nose, those thick lips, she looks like a country girl, is mixed up in a fight with Sissy.

It is very obvious that these two cannot stand each other.

This is a very clear picture, which he sees and experiences, and he absorbs each scene.

In a few seconds he has seen a drama, his personality was open to it.

Here, he feels, a human drama is taking place and he will soon be involved in it.

Two chickens are fighting for that old cockerel.

And it is not even a handsome cockerel.

This life does not have a single tooth left in its mouth.

The man looks horrible; he has lost his plumage, aunt Trui.

But this is a person and my boss at that!

The human analysis has started, Crisje.

Why this happens, Jeus does not know that, but the images are pure and conscious.

Sissy will give him his work now.

She can say Jeus and he says to her: ‘Yes, lady!’

Sissy laughs at this.

It apparently does her good.

She is glowing and takes a look at her new acquaintance, the messenger and galley boy; he follows her to a small cubby-hole.

What a nice face this boy has.

Jeus looks at himself and compares himself to his boss.

There is still something missing in his outfit, it is not yet complete, Sissy.

He is still missing his hat and tie.

Sissy feels what he wants, but still asks:

“What’s the matter, Jeus?”

“Don’t I need my hat, Sissy ... lady ... and my tie?

I haven’t got them, lady.”

Sissy really has to laugh, but this laughter is very different to that of the men in the factory.

This tickles you inside.

Is that a joke or does Jeus mean it?

Sissy walks away.

The others also have to chuckle; it is worthwhile.

Everyone is having fun.

Will that misery perhaps start here as well?

When the boss returns he explains to Jeus: “You will get that later, Jeus!

You will get your hat and your tie later.

When you know a bit more about it.

You are not yet a chef, after all, are you?”

He can understand that, it is just like in the army.

You only get stripes later.

And the hat and the tie are part of the stripes.

Yes, certainly, he can understand that, sir, of course.

What a nice boy we have got, the girls think.

He is just like a child, an unspoilt soul.

Jeus has a think.

He sees himself doing his national service.

The boss is the captain, of course, he must be patient for a while.

But, Crisje, this course of study has nothing to do with murder, it now concerns radishes, tasty soup, almond pudding, baked fish, lettuce, bean soup, caramelised sugar and cake; and it is very different to the mess in the army.

“What’s the matter, Jeus?” his boss asks.

“How long does this training take, sir?”

“Well, Jeus”, the boss has to have a good laugh first, because they have got such a nice boy, “that depends.

That is in your own hands, as it were.

If you can learn quickly.

But that will be fine.

You are smart, I see.”

Now he is still none the wiser, but Sissy says:

“In four months, Jeus, you will be on the first step of the ladder.”

When he comes away with: “Oh, then I will be a corporal”, they have something else to giggle about and he doesn’t mind that, because they mean it.

The boss laughs, like he has not laughed in years and his giggling also starts the others off.

It is party time again in this depressing house.

The sun is shining; it was misty here recently!

The grumpiness of months has disappeared in one blow. They all feel it disappeared, thanks to Je-us!

... Jeus!

All that sarcasm and depressing thoughts make way for enthusiastic happiness.

Youth is here!

He has brought the sun.

That is certain, Crisje.

You see it.

You certainly feel it.

You know, Crisje what they are thinking?

Jeus is worth his weight in gold, and Betsy and Marietje also think that.

Yes, Crisje, it is Jeus!

The girls join in.

Marietje is already giving him sideways glances.

It will be a nice fight for the two sisters, and, Crisje, they feel like kissing.

Of course, that is very dangerous and Jeus will have to watch out.

But, we know, after all, what he thinks about the girls.

Therefore, do not worry yet.

Do you not see it, Jeus?

Even Sissy, who is fighting a battle of life and death with her opponent, the lady of the house, is laughing happily.

She will also experience your happiness and absorb it.

They will feel younger here.

Jeus thinks it is very scary, because these people cannot hide their feelings.

They are completely open, but do not know it.

You can look through these lives just like that, the doors of the souls are wide open and they call to you to have a look.

It is childish.

Are these now city people?

Sissy takes him to a tub with potatoes.

The machine is broken but he learned peeling in the army, and he is very good at it.

Now he is sitting there and peeling the potatoes.

He is also thinking and following all these people.

He has got a house, good food and drink, kind-heartedness and understanding.

The girls go in and out of the room.

They already miss his face, he feels, that is also obvious.

Who could have dreamt this?

Just a moment ago he looked straight into Betsy’s face and at the same time she blushed.

Her eyes started to flicker and she was also trembling.

But why?

Does she not see or feel that he does not like girls?

Does she not feel that he is afraid of girls?

Girls only want to cheat you.

Do these girls not understand, and do they not see that he has protected himself from their lives and kisses?

That he has closed himself off to the city, with its terrible dangers?

Oh, Crisje, this child and that Marietje want to kiss him.

However, I am telling you, do not worry; he has had a heavy blow.

The experience with Irma will protect him against all these troubles and it is now a gain for his life.

These nice little things will not open his life, Crisje; it is nonsense to him.

This cooing does not mean a thing to him; he will not fall for it.

They are not beautiful peacock tails, Crisje, which is clear to him, and it says everything!

Jeus knows that Betsy is besotted.

She’s in a bad way.

She is a strange soul, but Betsy sees him, she feels something, she does not know what it is, but she has not seen a boy like that before.

While he is sitting there peeling potatoes, he is looking, thinking as well; you can feel it.

Will you smile at me?

You would like that, wouldn’t you?

I will not do it anyway.

Well done, Jeus, that’s how it’s meant to be!

Betsy, is this something for your life?

Yes, just look into his eyes, then you will see something nice.

But be careful, if you can feel his eyes properly, then you will suddenly be completely mad as well.

Can you feel his warmth?

He placed himself under your heart for a moment; did you feel him?

In just a few seconds he fills your life with nice thoughts, and then, Betsy, it is as if you are floating.

Did you feel his spatial kiss in your heart, Betsy?

Probably, but, I am telling you, do not go into it; you will now be beaten, because you cannot get him yourself!

Jeus can do it!

You will get to know him and then you will immediately begin to fight for his life.

Now you are faced with Casje.

I do not believe that he wants to be kissed, Betsy, but that will be the case!

And Jeus does not want a girlfriend.

He is afraid of girls, even more afraid than of the Grim Reaper!

Jeus compares Betsy to Betje from the country.

Betsy is from the city of course, but there is no difference.

City girls are meaner, of course, than girls like that from the country.

Or is that not true?

Of course, because in the city, they have more opportunities to get up to no good, and they do not know each other’s business.

In the country everyone knows that, they know exactly what you are up to.

Here they can hide everything, but not from him.

He sees very well what they are planning, their tricks, he could tell all of them a thing or two.

Yes, of course, Betsy, he has already looked into your life.

Oh, no, what has he seen?

However, this Betsy is a bit different, nevertheless, she is just as black as Betje.

These two are exactly the same inside and outside.

Ugh, isn’t that something?

You can see that in the eyes, you feel it from her drivel, and the rest is lying there in the kitchen, or she is on top of it.

However, Marietje is different, very different, but she is also not up to much.

No, he will not court, Betsy.

Irma destroyed him.

Here they are also starting to fight for his life, Crisje.

Life is remarkable, and strange, you keep on experiencing something different, Jeus thinks.

What one life kicks, Crisje, another one fights for, and you can get everything for free, just like that.

He was not here an hour yet when human love was already following him and wanting to be experienced.

He closes himself off hermetically.

Do your work, Jeus, and watch out, if you do not want to lose this job or end up in trouble.

He does not look, even if they walk back and forth.

And when the boss sees that, he knows that it is okay.

He gets a visible complement from him, that does him good.

Even if Betsy wanders around him continually, he does not see her.

He studies and peels potatoes and that is more than enough.

Also Marietje, who also comes to have a look, has to admit that he can do it, Jeus peels enough for four men.

He gets the chance to also look her in the face and he knows that that little soul is different.

Then Sissy comes to have a look and he says, ‘Yes, lady’, and yet again very politely, ‘Yes, lady’, which they are not used to here from a messenger boy and which is very revealing.

How is it possible, Sissy thinks, a messenger boy who is so polite, it is a revelation.

Sissy is very surprised.

Jeus touches her inner life; it is blissful happiness!

Jeus is sitting there like a minister behind his desk and feels on top of the world.

And if they ask him something, they all get to hear, ‘Yes, Betsy’, ‘yes, Marietje’, ‘yes, Sissy’, ‘yes, lady’, which they cannot resist, but they feel the human love and that will perhaps be a kiss later, but it is nothing for him.

Yes, of course, lady, I will do that immediately!

Have they not succumbed yet?

He hears that the ladies over there are discussing him.

A boy like that should study.

Do they feel fully and loving for his life there?

Should a boy like that play the part of messenger boy?

The boss also hears it and he does not accept it.

Jeus hears him say:

“Will you just stop?

Will you shut your mouths about the messenger boy?

Must he leave already?”

The boss comes to have a look.

Jeus thinks that he may say something, now that the boss lays his hand on his shoulder and tells him that it is going well.

“Ladies have little mouths, sir.

Don’t you think so as well?”

When the children hear that from him, they are almost wild.

But the boss says to him:

“Now, now, you are peeling quickly, Jeus.” ...

The boss now knows that he will no longer forget the ‘eu’ of the Dutch word kitchen in the word ‘Jeus’.

He answers:

“Yes, sir, but I like doing it.”

Now he does not want to say any more to the boss.

You must let a gentleman finish speaking, that is polite.

You achieve everything in life with politeness; he learned that from the ladies from Montferland.

And then the boss has his way and feels that also, of course.

You must only say something then if he wants you to, and people feel that.

In this way you get your own politeness returned, it is called respect for your boss or the other life, which you are involved with, but it is yourself who decides.

Isn’t that nice?

But they do not understand that here.

Jeus has already learned that at the brush factory!

“Where did you learn to peel potatoes, Jeus?”

“In service, sir.”

“So, is that so, Je-us ... Jeus.”

The boss now has to laugh about it himself.

“Only the ‘eu’ of the Dutch word ‘keuken’ for kitchen, boss”, he answers, and then?

“I like doing it, sir.”

“Good, Jeus, you will achieve something in life.”

“I will do my best, sir, of course.

You just tell me how you want it.”

As boss you are now flabbergasted and well aware that this is certainly not flattery or boasting.

Jeus means it.

“Are your parents still alive, Jeus?”

“Yes, sir, my mother is still alive.”

“So, is your father no longer alive?”

“No, sir, father has already been dead for, let me see ... ten years.’’

“Do you have a good mother, Jeus?”

“I have an angel of a mother, sir.”

“So you love your mother a lot?”

“Sir, I love my dear mother very much.

Mother is everything to me, sir, everything!”

“That is nice, Jeus.”

The lady of the house and the girls are also listening, he feels.

The people here want to know all about him and he can understand that.

“Do you also have brothers, Jeus?”

“Yes, sir, there are six boys and one girl.”

“What did you say?

Your mother had six boys and one girl?”

“Yes, sir.

I am the third.

And mother was left with all of us.”

“And how is your mother now that you have left?

Who is taking care of her?”

“I got a second father, sir.”

“Oh, I see ...”

“Yes, sir, mother had terrible worries, of course, when father passed away.”

The boss now knows that Jeus has also had his troubles.

But the boss also knows that he is a good boy, because the blissful feelings for his mother are written on his face and that means everything.

“And now you are also taking care of your mother, of course, Jeus?”

“Yes, sir.

I will write and tell her how well-off I am.”

“That is great, Jeus, that is very sweet of you.

Really, I mean it.”

He now feels that the boss has a heart, yes, of course, and a good heart, doesn’t he?

He saw a tear in the boss’ eyes.

Are these people so sensitive?

“If you do your best, Jeus”, he also says, “you can go far with me.”

“You will have no complaints about me, boss, I will make sure of that and even if I say so myself, I know what I want, boss.”

The boss walks back to the kitchen and Jeus overhears him:

“That boy is from a decent family, a decent household.

I have never heard anything like it before, Sissy.”

Do those people always talk so loudly and so openly, so that you can hear everything?

It is time for coffee.

Good heavens, Crisje, that on top of everything else.

The girls fight about who will pour his cup of coffee.

It is a fight between Sissy and Betsy.

Betsy wins.

When this child hears him say: “Thank you, Betsy”, she almost faints.

And when he also says: “It is delicious, thank you very much, Betsy, this cup of coffee is really nice”, it is a tide of love for her being and Betsy does not know how to react, because she blushes up to her ears.

Why must that child blush immediately?

It is strange.

What is the matter with this Betsy?

Am I too polite for you, girl?

We are used to that in the country, dear child, but I believe that city people cannot take that.

What I have is instinctive respect; I have that from my dear Crisje.

My dear good father taught me that, you see.

Father was very strict, but he taught all of us, Johan, Bernard and me, something.

The other children were still too young, but now I am reaping the benefits of it.

Did you think, Betsy, that I was not grateful for that?

Of course I am, and father knew it beforehand.

I have heard it at least a thousand times, Betsy.

Father said, ‘Then they will be able to do something, Cris, then they will later know how to behave, when I am perhaps no longer here.’

Now father is no longer here, but he is, Betsy, sir; did you see father walking round in the kitchen a moment ago?

I am grateful, Betsy.

I was able to learn something from my own father.

Is that so strange?

Then Sissy remarks:

“That boy has a born intellect”, but he does not understand that.

What kind of word is that?

And Sissy uttered it just like that.

But the coffee was nice, delicious.

Now he is drinking real coffee, Crisje, there is no surrogate in it.

Not at all!

Good heavens, mother, how well off I am now!

It is scandalous!

The potatoes are peeled as fast as lightning; another boy would have taken hours longer.

And then Sissy has something else for him to do.

“Do you see that little machine, Jeus?”

“Yes, lady, I see it.”

“Just call me Sissy, Jeus, that is easier.”

“Well done, Sissy, I will be pleased to, I will do what you want.”

Sissy, he sees, is also trembling already.

But what is the matter with this life?

He beats them with his politeness and kind-heartedness.

In this way he wins over all these people in one morning, Crisje, he has become number one here and they would not miss him for the world.

Now he hears how Sissy feels about him, he says:

“Yes, Sissy, that ‘lady’ is so far away, now we are nice and close to each other.

Aren’t we?

I mean ...”

Sissy blushes, he may admire that and he finds that strange; they cannot take anything, these women and girls.

Sissy, aged forty, can still blush?

Yes, he sees it, like a twenty-year-old girl, and that is understandable, of course, they do not know any kind-heartedness or they want some love, and all that together is called love!

Yes, he knows that very well, he once also blushed.

But what a lot he has learned in his short life!

The blow from Irma was not so bad after all and love is love, everyone wants to experience some of it, and all of them here are crying out for that love.

Just look at those faces and you will know!

But it is and will remain childish and heated.

It is the cooing of childish, very ordinary doves.

Yes, do you not know that yourself?

He sharpens the knives; it is going quickly, a quarter of an hour later he is faced with Sissy again.

“Are you always so fast, Jeus?

How quickly that is going.”

“Yes, Sissy, I am just as quick at everything.

And why would I take longer to do it if it is not necessary?

Have you anything else for me?

Can I now help sir?”

You see, Sissy, that is why he is working until he drops, he wants to stand in front of the stove; he wants to study.

But Sissy has to snigger again.

However, she is starting to understand him.

Jeus wants to get on!

Jeus wants to stand behind the big stove, but she has something else for him to do and that will not go so quickly.

A while later he is sitting with a chest of silver.

Now it is polishing, real silver flies through his hands and that is something different compared to a dead bare door.

You feel so happy if you have something nice and good in your hands, but do they not know that here.

Now he is no bother to them, he is thinking and working, his soul is creating and sending thoughts to this small space, which people who feel the tickling inside are open to.

Nice sweet girls would want to kiss him immediately.

Is it strange?

It is as natural as anything, but he does not want it.

And now that the boss shows him his heart and also offers him a cigarette as well, tears of happiness stream down his cheeks, Crisje.

They are good people.

When he asks the boss whether he may smoke a cigarette while working, the boss is surprised and comments:

“What did I tell you, Jeus?

Whether that is allowed?

If I give you a cigarette, you still ask whether that is allowed?

Listen, it is okay and you may smoke, but not if I do not say so.”

The boss offers him a light, but Jeus politely says:

“May I wait for just now, boss?

I like to smoke when I have plenty of time.”

That is something else, sir thinks.

Our messenger boy is like a professor.

You can learn something from that life.

Jeus continues:

“Of course, sir, it is clear to me.

I do not smoke of my own accord, but thank you very much.

Do you mind if I wait a while, sir?”

The man laughs.

But what a pleasant boy he is.

He laughs in a satisfied way, like a happy person, because they have never seen anything like it before and they are fortunate to have him. Jeus reads that on that old, toothless mouth and face, yes, certainly, that is the case!

He polishes and rubs, works hard, but he also thinks so much that he breaks out in a sweat, and Betsy sees it.

“Boy, do not work so hard, Jeus.

You have plenty of time.”

Just look at that chap perspiring.

He lets them talk, how interfering these ladies are.

They must see here that he wants to work and he does not think about anything else for a single second, but a child can do this, he can therefore think about everything!

Sometimes thoughts come to him about that ‘Stolzen Fels am Rhein’, and he sees himself back in the blue room. It is there that a person appears to him, while he is working in this little room, however, he does not want anything more to do with her, nevertheless, she would like that.

But then he starts comparing and this Betsy collapses, then everything shakes in this little castle, because Irma was beautiful, this one is just a snub nosed girl!

No, I do not want any more girls!

Surprise, the silver is finished; isn’t that something?

A while later, he is sitting at the table with Betsy and Marietje and they are going to have a nice bite to eat.

Oh, my Crisje, how well off I am here and how I like it.

Sissy, he sees, eats upstairs with the management; he knows, he will now experience a precious moment with these two children.

Betsy dishes out the meal, but her sister looks put-out, because she had also wanted to do that.

He feels that the sisters have started their fight over him.

Both of them wanted to serve him, to experience this honour, it is enough to make you die laughing.

Betsy grabs hold of the soup ladle before Marietje.

When the plate is in front of Jeus, he says politely:

“Thank you, Betsy, thank you very much, it is delicious.”

The child blushes, he sees, as far as her ears.

That life cannot take kind-heartedness, or pure love, that hurts her inside.

The ladies are now sitting with him at the same table.

It is an unbelievable paradise, and he enjoys every second of it.

He eats mannerly, which he also learned from the Tall One, but the ladies slurp, he hears.

That is a pity.

Not even a minute later the slurping has ended, they sip, spoonful by spoonful, the girls now eat nice and calmly, and they take that over from watching him.

Their thoughts are filled with: What kind of a boy is this?

What kind of gentleman is this?

Is he perhaps cheating all of them here?

What does a gentleman like that actually want here?

Jeus looks like a gentleman in all aspects.

He does not yet talk, and the soup is really tasty.

He now wants to enjoy every bite, if you know how to enjoy your food, ladies.

But dear Crisje, he has not yet forgotten the time at the brush factory or at home.

He once saw people eating in a café, and he thought that was so great that he absorbed all of it, and has never forgotten.

So you see, open your eyes to everything and master all that wisdom, if it is needed you will have it!

But they do not know that, Crisje; they slurp here!

When they observe him a while later, the ladies’ pinkies are raised and it is lick-lick, they now eat the tasty soup with small spoonfuls, Crisje.

But are these city girls?

You should have tried slurping in father’s presence.

He would have kicked you from the table.

Betsy and Marietje, did you not have a father like that?

He now knows for certain, he is reaping the benefits of the Tall One’s strictness, his happiness!

He can now show himself amongst people, and that is thanks to his own father.

Is this not something to thank your father for?

The sisters are jealous of each other, but that is their own business.

Now Marietje wins.

“Yes please, Marietje, I would like another ladle full of soup from you.

Thank you very much, Marietje.

This soup is particularly good, is this chicken soup?”

“Yes”, she says politely, softly and in a ditty thin voice, therefore lilted, “yes, Jeus!”

I like that, he thinks, I am being served here like a count, how is it possible anyway.

Yesterday I lived in a hell, now in a heaven and with a real paradise around me.

My God, as long as this is not suddenly too much, but You can put a person in a difficult situation.

But is this not simple?

I am very grateful to you, Our Lord; for it is really enough to kiss Your feet.

The sisters are getting into an argument, because of the daily bread they arrive at human envy, but now it concerns some love and happiness.

Marietje is slurping again like a dog and for that reason alone he would never want to kiss her, he does not like slobbery kisses, that is slimy and it makes you feel ill.

Marietje cannot take small spoonfuls, Betsy can, but she is putting it on, it is too obvious. Her mannerisms are like a babyish carry-on and do not mean a thing to you anymore, you can see that she has never had silver in her hands before.

How tasty food is if you eat with silver cutlery, he senses.

Along with being allowed to eat in such a tidy, clean kitchen?

The place where he sleeps is also like a paradise, so white, you can see immediately whether there are fleas, but there are none, Crisje.

Jeus is looking directly into Marietje eyes, and Betsy cannot take that. He observes this and looks through Betsy as if she is no longer there.

Now he is sitting alone at the table with Marietje and what he feels is quite something, but that does not mean a thing either, it is pretence, Betsy, and I am familiar with that!

Jeus appreciates his new-found life and utters:

“How grateful we people should be when we have food and drink.” The sisters do not know anymore, because they do not feel this gratitude within themselves and they have no idea about it, but that is the truth for his life and personality, and besides that human gratitude, a prayer.

However, he feels that they do not understand that here, these souls just slurp away.

Put that pinkie down a bit and it will look different, people will then see that you are a very ordinary person, now you are something, but the way you are behaving, you are nothing!

People know immediately where you come from, certainly not from a city, I already see that, no, I saw that this morning immediately.

I am from the city, you ask?

Don’t make me laugh, I come from Montferland!

And then he says again, which they do not understand either:

“When people eat and drink, it does your heart good” ... There rejoicing starts, but he now feels that they have never heard of that. It is now so different at the table.

Different, yes, certainly, if the management saw and heard this, they would ask Jeus to their table.

Does the food not taste better now than just a moment ago, children?

Did you not know that, children?

Sisters from the city?

Did you not know before that when you are eating, yes, exactly when you are eating, you could have such a nice conversation?

Did your parents not do that?

Then you should have heard my father and mother.

When father and mother began to eat, all the sickening and nice things about life were discussed and we could all enjoy that, all my brothers, even if they did not hear it the way I did. However, for me that was always a heaven on earth and, children, that made this half an hour or hour into a paradise!

You should have heard Crisje, you should have experienced her: ‘Yes, Hendrik’ and ‘No, Hendrik’, enclosed it in your heart, then you would tremble and shake from happiness and father enjoyed it, children.

Do you not know that?

Then I will teach you.

Now life is good, girls; but you have none of it, as long as you know.

“What did you just say, Jeus?”, Betsy wants to know, but he feels that she is inviting conversation.

“I said, Betsy, that people should be grateful for food and drink.

Life can give you so many other things and they are too hard to bear anymore.

Have you never had any troubles?”

Betsy feels that Jeus is a bit different and he feels that Betsy wants to chat.

Marietje thinks she wants everything again, and Betsy will pinch Jeus before her nose, you will see.

Betsy forces herself on him; that child is rude, Marietje isn’t.

However, Betsy is like a small dressed-up doll, with the face of a country girl and a snub nose, and those little glasses which she has to wear are a laugh, a school mistress is not a patch on her. Jeus can giggle loudly about it; it is nothing for his paradise.

When Betsy takes off her glasses she is cross-eyed, and he would never want a woman like that.

Imagine that he had to look at that nose and those glasses for the rest of his life.

No, you would become cross-eyed yourself from it, no, mother, just give me Anneke Hosman, she was a princess in comparison to Betsy, and Betje from the Hills was a queen in comparison to this bird, because that is the way it is!

Betsy is a real bird!

Jeus now sees that she is cross-eyed when she takes off her glasses; she has to clean them because they are steamed up from the soup or whatever.

If Betsy therefore thinks that she will get him, Crisje, she will be completely off the mark.

And as if Betsy feels what he is thinking about, she asks:

“Do you not have a girlfriend, Jeus?”

“Me a girlfriend?

No, God preserve me.

I do not want a girlfriend.”

Then Betsy almost falls from her chair, Crisje, she cannot understand that, of course, but a nice chap like that has plenty of girlfriends, doesn’t he?

And then it is the chance for Marietje to ask something:

“Why do you not want a girlfriend then, Jeus?”

“Yes, Marietje, that is something else entirely, and it has nothing to do with soup, nothing, but what can I say to that?”

Betsy comes back with the second course, he sees potatoes with delicious steak and beans, good heavens, it is enough to make you jump for joy.

Marietje retaliates, she wants to know more about his life:

“Why do you not want a girlfriend, Jeus?”

“A girlfriend”, he comes out with, “costs too much money and I have nothing, nothing, Marietje.”

Then they see a smile.

Betsy knows what to do.

“Money means nothing, Jeus.”

And if Betsy thinks that she has now worked it out, that she knows how to win over a boy like that, she gets to hear something and that is a slap right in her face. Betsy is becoming too forward, it is going too fast, he must tame her, but in such a way that Betsy chokes on a potato and has to run away from the table, when Jeus asks:

“How much does a pair of glasses like that cost, Betsy?

Are those things expensive?”

The girl almost chokes, she can suddenly no longer eat.

It is a blow right in her face, her glasses fall off her snub nose and almost break.

But then Betsy runs away, very quickly, he heard crying as well, but that did not mean anything to him.

Marietje asks now:

“Why did you ask that, Jeus?”

“Why I asked that, Marietje?

That is very simple, Marietje.

I suddenly thought about that because my dear Crisje needs glasses like that.

Why did Betsy have to get such a fright and run away from the table?

I find it very childish, Marietje, don’t you?

I thought that a pair of gold glasses like that are very expensive, of course.

At our school there was also a teacher who wore glasses like that, and she had to work a month to pay for them, she once said.

And are you not allowed to ask a thing like that, Marietje?”

He knows that it had the correct response, and that Betsy can now forget it. However, this paradise is like everywhere in the world, exactly the same, all those ‘Eve’s’ are cockroaches, are boasters, put on an act, and if they are not like that, they are dead or grumpy and naïve, which he does not want anything to do with.

But, what is also true, that Betsy is sensitive, she understood him immediately.

She therefore knew exactly what he meant.

Yes, it was a bit harsh, but even then it is not honest, you may not twist any thoughts or words, for that matter.

It is true, Crisje will need glasses, but, only in twenty years’ time, you see, Marietje.

And now the tasty food is getting cold.

Is that not a shame?

Betsy comes back, the child had to have a cry.

Did you think, now, Betsy, that you touch me inside?

Bleed to death for all I care, Betsy.

It is possible, of course, but you cannot do it, if you want to bleed to death, then you will not cry so quickly, at least I have learned that.

Anyone who quickly cries cannot bleed!

Did you not know that?

I can look through you, Betsy, those tears of yours mean nothing at all!

Just ask Crisje!

What can he say now?

“Were you insulted, Betsy?

But I really meant it honestly, my mother needs glasses, but I will never ask you anything, never ever, you frighten me, Betsy.

Do you have to make such a fuss about that?”

That remark hits home.

I do not like you, dear!

I have already had enough of your crying!

If you wish to know, you have been crying all your life.

If you do not get your way, then you start to cry!

Good gracious, Betsy, how cheap that is!

You are not worth anything at all now!

Just give me your sister then, yes, if there was nothing else in the world, but there are plenty of girls!

It is too dangerous for me, Betsy!

It is going well like this, Jeus, my compliments, you have learnt something in your short life, and this is the proof!

Betsy!

Look for yourself, what have you done?

You run away from the table, you forget that you have nice food and drink.

You only think about one thing: the chap! This makes me sick, as long as you know, I do not want to be a chap!

A girl who makes her boyfriend out to be a chap is a fancy thing, Betsy.

I do not want to have a fancy thing, Betsy, I want a real girl, I want to have a real mother, but I do not want anything!

Have you always been so mad about boys, Betsy?

How many boyfriends have you already had?

Ten?

Twenty?

It is quiet at the table and that is a pity, the precious happiness from the food has gone, it is because of that one girl, this small and insignificant girl, that it is ruined.

It is a pity, Crisje, I now see Antoon van Bree, but that was something completely different.

Snub nose!

With glasses!

Fairground girl!

Cockroach!

Trotting poppet!

Fob unctuous one!

You cannot screw me, as long as you know.

He almost uttered an expression from the country, but he must never do that here because he would lose his prestige.

He understands that. You achieve everything with politeness, if you talk politely, you may sit at the table of a king, but this is stuff and nonsense!

It is worth absolutely nothing!

That whole Betsy!

Jeus sees something and asks:

“Was your father a painter, Marietje?

I mean a decorator?”

“Yes, Jeus, but how did you know that?”

“I am only asking, there is no more to it.”

Is that not a bit strange, Marietje, he can see through you.

This is something about Jeus, for which you would like to fight.

Suddenly Betsy is different and calmly eats her dessert, she is also back with the people, but the first dinner has been interrupted in a terrible way.

It is a pity.

“Why do you behave so sentimentally?” Marietje asks her sister.

“What kind of a word is that?” he asks.

“Do you really not know that, Jeus?”

“No, Marietje, is that perhaps something to make a fool of yourself with?”

Now she runs away from the table.

Jeus feels that he has been landed with fairground people, these souls are mad about everything, you do not even see that in the country.

The boss puts an end to the inner commotion, he has work for him to do.

May he help sir to beat some eggs?

Good! However, the boss asks him to follow; the delivery bicycle needs freshened up.

“Yes, sir”, he says to the authority, “that will be okay.”

Within ten minutes, the bicycle is shining like a new pin and he runs back to the kitchen.

“What’s the matter, Jeus?”

“I’ve finished, boss.”

“That is impossible.”

“Look for yourself, sir.”

When the boss sees that the delivery bicycle is shining, he utters with his toothless mouth:

“That is witchcraft, Jeus.

Boy, you can certainly work.”

“Yes, sir, I am quick and a thing like that must be clean, everything which has to do with food and drink, sir, demands freshness.

Doesn’t it, sir?”

“That is true, Jeus.

I must say, you have sense and you understand things.

My compliments.”

“It is my work, after all, isn’t it, sir?”

The boss cannot understand it.

What Antoon van Bree used to experience and could not deal with, which hit his life and which his personality did not know what to do with, the city ‘self’ cannot understand either.

This boy beats you to death with your own kind-heartedness, with attention to duty, etc., etc. ... the cook thinks, and that is something special.

The afternoon flies past, it is time for the dinners.

Let’s see, I will not take the delivery bicycle, Jeus thinks, but the ordinary bicycle, I am not mad enough to pedal until I drop for one dinner, I will do that in a different way.

Now just ask where the streets are, Betsy is pleased to help him.

‘Thank you, Betsy.’

You should see that child now.

May he not even be grateful?

But why is that little soul trembling?

Two dinners in your left hand, and now pedal, cycle to earn your living; he did not earn a cent for it before, it was an art then.

There is the address.

‘Here is the food, miss, it is lovely and hot, a tasty meal today, with greetings from sir’, will you not forget that?

I certainly did not spill any, look for yourself, goodbye, cutie.

‘Goodbye, see you tomorrow.’

The same nonsense somewhere else and now back.

“Is the bicycle broken, Jeus?”, the boss asks, when he is back.

“If the bicycle is broken, you ask?

No, sir, everything is absolutely fine.

I said to the people that the food is so tasty today.

I also passed on your best wishes, sir, all that is allowed, isn’t it?”

“That’s impossible, Jeus.”

“Did I do the wrong thing, sir?

Then I will no longer pass on your best wishes to the people.”

“No, that is absolutely fine, Jeus”, the boss laughs back at him, “but are you really back already?”

“Yes, sir, you can ask the people.

Do not forget, sir, I am an acrobatic cyclist.”

“What are you?”

“I can ride on one wheel, sir, do tricks on the bicycle, I am a good football player as well, but I do not have time for that now.

But everything is absolutely fine.”

“Where did you learn that?”

“At home, sir.”

“You are a miracle, Jeus.”

The last boy took an hour to do that.”

It is unbelievable.

Everyone is talking about how fast Jeus is.

There is something in this life.

Jeus has something, can do almost anything, what an interesting young lad, and he is acting as messenger boy here!

He gets a feather in his cap from Sissy, and Betsy is behaving like Mary Magdalene, but he does not want anything to do with it.

He sees that the child has got herself dolled up, she may serve the guests upstairs, she wants to show him how tidy she is, but he does not see it.

Marietje takes care of the washing-up and the brushes, and also looks tidy. Sissy and the boss take care of the dinners for delivery, it all runs smoothly and he delivers the dinners just like that and they cannot even understand it.

The boss is cutting meat, may he not lend a hand, boss?

When Jeus asks there is laughter again, of course.

“Can I help you, sir?

I am just looking now.”

“What do you want, Jeus?

Just look, I am nearly finished.”

The boss does this himself, Jeus, you will learn nothing, but you will see that soon.

“Here, Jeus, three dinners for the Parklaan, the furthest away.

You will not be back so quickly from there.

We have sixteen today, not too many, but people are already leaving the city.”

“Where is the Parklaan, Betsy?”

If he follows the tram, he cannot get lost.

Then it will be okay.

He has a think about it.

The delivery bicycle?

No, three dinners in his hand and then quickly, otherwise it will not work, it is called running!

And he runs, he flies, a while later he is standing in front of the first house in the Parklaan.

There is the number, now the other address, that is there, and now, back as fast as the wind, no one can keep him.

He is fighting for his life, his legs do not refuse, the bicycle is good.He is already back before the boss has checked the next meal and has been able to prepare it.

“What’s the matter, Jeus?

The bicycle has to be broken this time, hasn’t it?”

“No, sir, I am back.”

Everyone, including the lady of the house, is dumbfounded.

The people enjoy their meal, but the boss is talking about ‘great benevolence’ and ‘that is not true’, ‘you are casting spells, what kind of man are you anyway, Jeus?’ However, it is the truth and they do not need to make a fuss about it, it is very ordinary.

“What kind of boys were they, sir, which you had before me?”

The boss tells him fairly and squarely:

“If you stay like that, Jeus, I will make something beautiful of your life.”

“I will stay like this, sir”, is his only response.

Woe betide the boss if he tries to cheat him, do not do what ‘Knerpie’ did, then you will lose him, sir.

In one hour it is all taken care of, the people have been served and he is finished for today.

Now he can go. They first have to hear all about him there.

“May I go out, sir?”

“What did you say, Jeus?”

“But I have finished, haven’t I, boss?”

“Look, Jeus, you are an intern here.

There is always something to do here.”

“But I have to fetch my washing, sir.”

“That is a different matter.

But, you get one evening a week to go out.

Have you understood that, Jeus?

And be back at eleven o’clock.”

That is a pity, but nothing can be done about it.

He would really have liked to go to Scheveningen, he only saw all that water for a short while, and he really wants to talk to all that water.

But that will come, he is still owed that.

What a pity, only one evening in the week to go out?

It is a strange carry-on, but then he will make off.

Betsy asks him whether he has anything to mend.

That on top of everything else.

They serve him here in a way in which even a king could not expect to be served, and that is absolutely fine.

But, watch out!

Before he leaves for his one evening out, the boss gives him a nice coat, and it looks good on him.

Then he races up the stairs.

They must know everything.

It is Bernard who anxiously asks:

“What kind of girl is that, Jeus?”

“She is already completely mad, Bernard.”

“But be careful, my God, that is dangerous, isn’t it?”

“I know that, Bernard, and I will be careful.”

“She will throw you out, as long as you know.”

“But I am telling you, Bernard, do not worry, I can take care of myself.”

He is also warned by Johan and Rie; it is dangerous there.

Did you think that those people would put up with hanky-panky in their house?

Bernard asks:

“Have you done any cooking yet, Jeus?”

“No, Bernard, but that will come.”

“As long as you can learn something, that is everything.

You will not be finished there in a few years.”

He knows that, but everything is absolutely fine, there is food, drink, and a warm bed.

Bernard can quickly make something for him to wear.

He is standing in front of the door at eleven o’clock; Sissy opens the door.

That is also remarkable.

This boy has everything.

He goes upstairs, now he will write to Crisje.

The girls sleep on the other side of the big house, under sir’s orders, of course, all kinds of things could happen.

‘My God, mother, what a good life I have.

You will not believe it, I have been blessed by Our Lord.

I will soon send one guilder fifty, mother; you can buy something with it.

I am lying here under white sheets, and I have already seen the sea, mother.

Good heavens, Crisje, but what a lot of water there is, you should tell that to Teun and Miets.

You see water everywhere.

I am here in Scheveningen, mother, in the woods, and I will become a chef, you couldn’t have imagined that, could you?

The praying has helped, mother.

And I will do my best, just do not worry about me.

Just tell the boys that I am fine, they will be surprised about that.

Who could have dreamt this.

In a few weeks I will get my cap and only afterwards my tie, mother.

And only then will I be a chef.

My God, mother, what a lot of food they have here.

Sir is a good person.

Kisses from your Jeus, mother, pass on my best wishes to everyone, I will write again soon ...’

Right, that is for Crisje.

A while later he dozes off, he feels rich and happy and does not dream of love, because his inner life is tuned into the cook’s life.

He rises in the morning in good spirits, the people also see that and it means something, there is no question of grumpiness for him.

He immediately rakes the garden, but a while later he is served again, tea and delicious bread, it is heaven on earth, Crisje, he is engulfed by happiness.

But what will he experience today?

Yesterday he got to know the people here, that nonsense from yesterday must not happen again today, because it spoils life.

But nothing happens; only Betsy continues to court him.

He has mastered the work, it is now a question of waiting to start his chef’s training.

A fortnight later he hears from Betsy:

“You must not believe the boss, Jeus.

You will never be a chef here, that is just nonsense.”

“What did you say?

Do you think that the boss is stringing me along?”

“Just wait, then you will see for yourself.”

A few days later, when he asks his boss whether or not he can help him, he has to accept Betsy’s words.

“Get out of here”, he utters, “you are just getting in my way.”

That is then quite enough for Jeus and he knows it immediately.

Here they also promise people the world, and then you can drop dead.

It is a blow to his life, you are always left stranded, you cannot count on people, they just drivel and are untrue.

Dirty dog!

The name-calling has started, Crisje!

Yet he gets a raise of fifty cents, but that does not mean anything to him, he wants to get on in life.

But the boss is like Knerpie ... and no better.

How did he learn this trade then?

Perhaps through years of delivering food?

Betsy fights on, Marietje has given up, but Jeus watches out for his hide, there is nothing special, Crisje, it is going well, only he has been cheated again.

It always starts at night in his little bed, the talking inside to his life and then he feels: be careful, Jeus!

Do not give space to Betsy, Jeus!

Leave that girl alone, Jeus!

Be careful, Jeus, you are being cheated by everyone here, Jeus!

Never give in to a kiss, Jeus!

Never ever!

The voice inside now also rocks him to sleep and when he wakens in the morning he is ready for Betsy in order to be able to receive her love.

No, he hears inside, and that is very consciously, I do not like your love, I will darn my own socks, that is too dangerous.

Betsy does not know it, she cannot follow his life, but Betsy is faced with Casje!

Casje does not want to kiss her and does not want anything to do with her, but Jeus does not know that!

You will be out on the street, Jeus, when you start on love!

You will immediately be out on the street, Jeus, if you risk just one kiss!

And Casje hammers those feelings into his soul, he cannot get away from them, he is driven by them.

No, Betsy will never get him!

His heart is and will remain closed.

Is that a pity?

Oh, Betsy, you mean nothing to space, but Jeus does!

And that is the way it is!

This is the only danger for Casje.

A girl ... love, because they then steal Jeus before his eyes and that must not happen.

And the time when Casje begins for himself and the Heavens has not yet come, Jeus is still too playful for that, too childlike!

Betsy begins to call him names, she thinks he is a cold customer, a useless lad.

It is like he is frozen.

Is he a boy after all?

She begins to doubt that.

Does Marietje perhaps have a chance?

No, but who does then?

Does Jeus not want to kiss?

Is he really stone dead?

Three weeks later the actual fight begins for the first time, he experiences Sissy’s battle. The endless hours of this tells him that they are playing a dirty game here, that this Sissy is after something, is leering, and it concerns her, the lady of the house, and that old stick, the bluebeard behind the stove.

Has this been going on for some time, he wonders?

Sissy’s face looks paler, she is off-colour, and does Sissy want the boss?

The lady of the house antagonises Sissy, it is a fight to the finish, hearts against hearts.

No, it concerns a living, food and drink and a warm bed, security, Jeus.

Sissy and the lady of the house, he feels, could physically attack each other.

When he has a moment, then he will have a talk with Sissy.

Perhaps he can help her now.

And now Sientje hears from the messenger:

“Why do you not look for something better, Sissy?

You are far too good, you must not let them bully you, Sissy, and you are much too good for it and too beautiful.

You are so sweet.

But do not let yourself be insulted.

Why don’t you laugh right in that old man’s face?”

Has he gone too far?

Good heavens, Crisje, what is he interfering in now?

He is polishing the silver again and is thinking, once again scenes flash into his mind.

Sissy runs back and forth, she has now had the fright of her life, lightning struck her heart and that is because of Jeus.

When the boss hears that he has come between him and Sissy, he will have to go of course.

Jeus now knows for certain, that Sissy is fighting for her life, her existence, she is involved with the old stick.

Yes, of course, I see it!

She wants to have security in her life, but there is another person.

Jeus now looks through Sissy.

Her life is also being cheated and is turning into a horrible mess, which no one would like.

Sissy shuffles about the house like a sick person and still does her work, but these women are fighting for bluebeard, a toothless cheat, because this is the case!

What he sees is lying and cheating, it stinks here of a dirty carry-on, of filth.

The women are fighting over an old wreck, it is mad!

The things that people make a fuss about!

And the boss is divorced, he now sees, he threw his first wife out of the house, the boss is a deliberate cheat, a women chaser.

He now sees, this profession is dangerous; you are continually involved with women.

It is a fickle thing.

Just look at Betsy and you will know.

That is Sissy!

And now have a look at the others.

If you are open to that then you will see all kinds of things!

Now open your eyes wide, Jeus, but, be careful, he now hears in his little bed, then you will experience something nice.

But stay away from it, do not interfere in any way or you will not see anything!

One evening, how did she manage that, Betsy is also free.

Does Jeus feel like going to the cinema?

Well, what will he say?

Must he steal her heart from those little ribs?

No, now say it yourself, it is not possible.

Yes, there he is now, with the snub nose in the cinema, with her glasses, and he isn’t saying anything.

She thinks he is a dry customer, but Casje has come between them and he is not flirting.

They come home like sister and brother; she has not been given a single kiss.

Jeus is just a dead dog!

He talks about football and cycling, about the great Montferland, where she wants to go with him, she really wants to meet his mother.

That might be so, but then you will be having a nice break with me and – good heavens – that is not possible now, because then people will think that we are courting.

You would like that, not me!

What Betsy now knows, is the happiness of his little brothers and little sister, his mother, his everything, but she knows nothing about him!

It is going well like this, Jeus, it couldn’t be better, the enormous blow dealt by Irma gives you knowledge; Casje can be satisfied.

Jeus now knows he is a dead dog and will remain so.

And weeping does not help at all ... how easily this child can cry.

This morning Betsy looks very pale.

Marietje says that she did not sleep.

Now this child is fighting for her sister, but that does not help either.

Weeping is Betsy’s weapon, he feels it is very cheap, just leave her to cry!

And now he experiences fun and games here, people are fighting all over the place for some happiness and love.

He, Sissy, the boss and the lady-in-waiting, with Betsy, live on a war footing.

Jeus feels that the boss does not know yet that Betsy is so mad about him.

The man thinks that it is another boy whom she has fallen for, because he says to Betsy that she must look around her, she could find love closer to home.

However, if it goes on like this, he will have to leave, this is just a pile of misery.

Now he has to run away from love, Crisje, and that means something, after all.

It has become a circus here.

One person gets rid of him because he is too well-dressed, now he has to flee from human happiness, but which does not mean a thing to him, he does not want that happiness, it is danger to him and his life.

Yes, Crisje, just imagine that she became pregnant?

Can that not happen?

How quickly can a boy not be up to his neck in misery?

Human cooing, Crisje, takes you to the unprepared ... and he is right in it.

That happens every day, but Jeus must be protected from that, or Casje will be right in it, and that will not happen now!

That would smash all his work to smithereens. But space is following both Jeus and Casje.

All of that will be revealed later!

Betsy has awakened a dirty fire inside herself, but that is her business.

Her life breath is already boiling and Jeus sniffs wildness, but he now has no understanding of it.

As a result of this, he gets to hear each evening: be careful, Jeus!

Do not go into that heart, and do not feel sorry for her either, or you will be destroyed yourself, and then you will be faced with a pile of worries.

Won’t you, Jeus?

It is Casje who now influences him, in another way, the laws of which Jeus does not yet know.

He used to hear talking inside, now it is just feeling, but that is sufficient, he gets up with it in the morning and he can act according to it.

In this way, Crisje, Jeus experiences his development anyway, you can call it inspiration and that’s what it is as well, pure, astral inspiration for the better!

In this way millions of children were already inspired by Our Lord and forced to do their deeds, so that this is also very natural and understandable for a person in this world.

The thoughts, which Jeus receives, Crisje, work infallibly!

Therefore do not worry, I know: you feel something.

The angels are taking care of Jeus!

A nurse in Arnhem is still agonizing about this love, there is another child here who is racking her brains in order to capture this life, but it is not successful, Jeus is for Casje and the angels!

Of course, he will experience his love, but later!

When the time is ripe, Jeus will also receive his love and then, dear Crisje, he will suddenly be on fire and he will know for certain, she is the one!

She is already living somewhere else and will come to his life later.

That will also be a miracle for his life then.

Casje now gives him it bit by bit, he will get to see these lives in dribs and drabs, or it would be too much at once and he would make serious and big mistakes here, and that must not happen.

This way, Jeus doesn’t pour out dirty water before he has clean, Crisje.

And Casje meanwhile makes an instrument of him; Casje still wants to dethrone the Grim Reaper!

And believe me, Crisje, if Jeus had to experience this under his own power, then he would already have kissed Betsy, which would have led to an engagement. So, believe it, because who can avoid this as a person, as a boy with a passion?

No one can do that, Crisje!

Then you would have had him at home, Jeus would never have left you alone, and Anneke Hosman would probably have got him.

Jeus will become a cook, yes, of course, but one who will prepare the spiritual food and who will later give it to this humanity.

He will then say, ‘Eat and drink of my food, it comes from the heavens, it is eternal nourishment, and conscious, it comes straight from Our Lord!’

That, Crisje, is a very different story anyway, I would say, and that is the way it is!

There is something else, Crisje.

A person must love or he will remain like the living dead.

Because of all this squabbling Jeus has awakened.

As a result of this he is becoming more and more sensitive and that is the intention.

Only love prepares him, it is love, which can serve and Jeus will serve love!

Now that the boss starts to feel sorry for Betsy, Jeus starts to become suspicious.

The boss also says that he is a dead dog.

What does that life want from him?

What is making this life take an interest in Betsy?

He follows Betsy in his thoughts and sees it, she tells him herself, and that slams the door of his heart completely shut, and it is bolted!

Dirty, filthy scoundrel!

Stinking bluebeard!

Now I understand why Betsy has to sleep upstairs in that little room and the sisters are not together.

Now that is also clear to me, sir, you have three women here.

Betsy has also opened her life to your kitchen; you are a libertine, a dirty figure!

It is certainly not a shock to his life, that is your and Betsy’s business, but I will keep out of it.

Yuck, scoundrel that you are, you break hearts, you have also got Sissy.

Not Marietje, you see and feel that from everything, but in Betsy’s, and Sissy’s eyes, also the eyes of the lady of the house, you can admire those little lights, boss, smacker, dirty rascal!

Now Betsy is in your way.

Betsy is too much, because Sissy and the lady are there as well.

Now I must take Betsy, is that not the case?

But then Betsy will have to accept the terrible blow of his life.

Now that too much love is revealed, Jeus utters:

“Just ask the boss.”

And when she does not wish to understand it, he continues with:

“I said that the boss knows better than I ... know ... saw, that is clearer.

And that is now just everything, there is no more to it.”

Betsy is already running.

It is a blow right in her soul; she is being emptied!

Jeus has seen through her and the others; it is a dirty mess here.

But good Marietje does not know anything and has nothing to do with it either.

She is too childish for sir. Betsy lays everything at his feet and the boss took it!

But Marietje blushed as far as her little neck; does she perhaps know something about her sister?

She cannot bear it here any longer either and runs upstairs.

Now he is alone, thanks for nothing, but mother’s prayers have helped.

Oh, if you saw all of this, Crisje.

But do not worry, I can see all of it.

Sissy dishes out the dinner.

Are the ladies coming back?

No, where are they, Jeus?

Now it is becoming serious.

Now that Sissy also wants to link him to Betsy’s life, he also strikes her and tell her:

“I do not want any second-hand goods, Sissy.

Girls who see and want to experience old, discarded creatures, do not mean anything to me.”

What does he mean by that?

Sissy suddenly knows the score and she also makes off and runs away before his eyes.

That life is also beaten.

Now have a look and see what is cooking today.

He serves himself.

A nice piece of meat, some soup, a pear for afters, and then almond pudding, it couldn’t be better.

He laughs until he cries, they can hear his tenor upstairs.

He really enjoys it. Sissy suspects that the boss is a bluebeard, because Betsy is also wearing nice clothes.

Is that perhaps not true?

But what do these midgets want?

That toothless soul is like a wild stray dog and the rubbish ‘I will make a chef of you’ is stuff and nonsense.

That will not happen!

You will see.

He must see that he gets something else, it is becoming a dirty mess here, the peace has gone and they did that themselves, sorted it for themselves, he is not to blame.

Well, well, Sissy thinks, is Betsy playing a dirty game?

Is she also between this?

Is this why Jeus must have Betsy?

Jeus knows that the boss thinks: dirty skunk, get lost for all I care; however, that will work out fine.

And Sissy throws herself away, because the lady of the house will win, that stupid pig still does not know anything.

But how long has this really been going on?

He now knows all of them and if the lady of the house understands any of it, only then will it become a real circus, and then he will experience something as well.

When the children come home, he must save what can be saved.

Do the girls not want to have a nice bite to eat?

But come on, children, do not make life so sour for yourselves, it is bad enough already.

“Will you not have a bite to eat, Betsy?”

“Yes”, he hears, in a trembling voice, which makes him laugh to himself and have fun.

Dopes!

Idiots!

Half-wits!

Girls like porcupines!

Come on, dears, eat!

And now they eat, he dishes out the dinner, he has something to say here and no one else, the little mites have to listen now.

And really and truly, he gets them to do this.

They eat in a sweet way, the little children.

Betsy eats like Mary Magdalene, but with the manners of someone from The Hague. Jeus feels that she has none of the things of ‘Jerusalem’ and all those nice things, the mice are lying dead in front of her heart.

This child is a pile of misery, a lot of trouble and nothing else.

Since Marietje does not want any trouble, she also sees things differently.

A person protects himself, Jeus also does, and he is bursting inside from the fun of it, it is so stupid!

But he examines himself.

Was he not also completely mad, a while ago?

Now he sees what a person is like when that same person no longer knows what he is doing.

Never reveal your love, never let your love be seen like that, you are now completely mad, and it has no value.

This love stinks!

It is a pity, but you see, there is nothing else to experience.

Half an hour later, it is peaceful again, but inside these hearts, it continues to brew.

This evening, the boss is going out with the lady-in-waiting, Sissy goes pale, he sees, but the others do not see it, and the boss is now hesitantly naïve.

Can he explain that?

The lady of the house can come into the kitchen any moment now.

Is there something the matter?

Does she know something?

Did she see the ladies running upstairs?

Yes, she saw Sissy running, and from that moment, she wondered: why is she running upstairs so fast?

And then, Jeus feels that, she knew why.

We are going out this evening!

And Jan the boss has nothing more to say, the baroness is now in charge, but that is for Sissy.

That is all, it is a dirty mess.

Sissy has to hear that they are going to Piet and Corry’s house after the Theatre, and Wally can agree to it.

He is called Wally, but he does not accept it, he does not approve of her calling him Wally with people present.

Sissy now has her own things to swallow with the boss and that is the possession of the lady of the house; does Sissy not know that?

That poor child is standing there in front of the stove and is annoyed to death. Why do you want to fight against this cow as a person, Sissy?

Do you not understand then that the lady of the house is far ahead of you?

She sits upstairs with him day and night, you are a kitchen princess here, and you will lose, because this rotter is sucking you empty.

Just sort it out for yourself then, but you are also flinging yourself at him, Sissy, and you will soon mean nothing more, your maternal life will be kicked.

Nevertheless, the lady of the house continues to fly through the kitchen, until Wally gives her a scolding, and then she leaves.

Sissy is blazing; she is burning inside with envy and now feels well and truly humanly beaten for the first time, of which Jeus knows every depth.

Yes, don’t tell me, Sissy, I know that hurts!

However, this is why I understand everything here as well.

How happy I am that Irma beat me like that.

No, I am not happy, but I have learned from it, but you still have to begin.

How old are you, boss?

Sixty-four?

Sissy is forty, and so is the lady of the house.

And they are fighting about your unfortunate power of reason.

It is a very ordinary farm!

What are men and what are women?

They are wretched dogs!

Old people, no longer look.

Young people fling themselves at them, give all those nice things away just like that and do not think any further.

For shame, it is a poor show!

Here, love keeps putting on a different face and these souls do not look behind it.

But does everyone not fight for some love?

But Sissy, you are beautiful, you can certainly meet someone else.

Do not give yourself away to that old wreck.

But that has already happened.

And now you are peed off with it.

Did you think you could get around the lady of the house?

She is going out and you can polish the bell, you can cry until your tears run dry in your little room, but no one will hear or see that, only Our Lord sees that you are completely mad!

This is looking for trouble!

This is asking to be beaten.

And why do you do that?

Jeus now sees that men and women in the city fight about food and drink.

That business in the past with aunt Trui was just child’s play.

Here they sell themselves for food and drink.

The lady of the house does as well, Betsy and Sissy do exactly the same. Is that now loving?

He does not like that mess!

But, Crisje, Jeus will now get the proof.

He is learning to see what city love is like, and that makes him strong and aware!

He is learning a lot here, Crisje.

Mothers and girls fight here about a wretch of more than sixty years old, they are calves!

Maternal beauty means nothing if you are hungry.

It is wretched here.

It is enough to die laughing about here!

Betsy, you can get the sacred ‘droodles’!

Sissy is bleeding to death, but that is her own fault.

She is standing there shaking, but who can feel it?

The boss is really and truly blushing because of it.

He leers towards Sissy, his conscience is talking.

Just look at that man trembling.

The bitter macaroons fall out of his hands like crumbs, it is a picture!

Sissy looks like Mary, but she is not holy enough for that and now her radiation hits back to the soup, which she is holding.

Yes, it is soup; it is all about soup and nothing else!

Good heavens, mother, I will never go out again, we are experiencing theatre here such as you have never seen before.

It is not so real anywhere as the way it is being acted here.

And I am the man who raises the curtain; I let them perform one by one, Crisje, that is the case!

Just a moment ago a bowl of soup rolled across the kitchen, Crisje.

Sissy is dropping everything.

Betsy and Marietje are now trembling as well, and the boss is ‘flattering’, but he does not dare to talk too loudly to Sissy or we will hear it. However, what is said, mother, and what we can make of it, the man condemns himself to death at the stake and Sissy too, because, if you are not involved with a person, then you do not need to blush, after all, do you?

And you should see him blush.

The boss is trembling, he is faced with a fight, mother.

No, it is not that, the boss must now prove what he wants, but the boss chooses that other cow or the whole house will be turned upside down and we will experience a huge argument.

Do you feel, mother, what I mean?

The boss now has to choose between herring and roe and he takes the whole herring.

But Sissy will end up on the street as the tail and the head.

I can see that, I can feel that, mother, but Sissy cannot feel that yet.

One thing the boss now knows as well, he will never get involved in love again. The man has suddenly grown older, you feel sorry for him when you see how his little lips tremble and that is because of Sissy, of course.

But he will go out, Crisje, you will see.

Everything has been cleared away, the daily tasks are finished, and upstairs people are getting ready to go out.

These people are going to the Theatre ...

Sissy now knows that she has lost it, now that she is being ordered about by both of them.

The lady of the house laughs right in her face, however, she does not know, Crisje, that it was already at that stage. The lady thinks, that she has anticipated this exactly, and prevented it. If Sissy could still have children, Crisje, then this cow would soon see, but that is now no longer possible, because Sissy is not able to have children!

But did you see those envious people leaving?

Sissy does not know what she is saying, when Jeus hears:

“Betsy is a good child, Jeus.”

What does she want now?

Does she want to make up for something with regard to Betsy?

Is that little brunette capable of everything?

Did they talk to each other upstairs?

Now women become mean, he feels, they get out of it what they can.

No, too obvious, I don’t like them, I will have a nice rest upstairs in my bed, and I will write to Crisje.

Just die of the pure ‘droodles’!

After a week the air has cleared here again, the boss must have made an agreement between himself and Sissy. They whisper together a lot, they experience each other more; and the lady of the house is in a stronger position than ever before.

Then he unexpectedly hears from Hendrik.

Hendrik is coming to Wassenaar, doesn’t Jeus want to go there?

The chef does not want to lose him.

If they need more people there, he will warn him.

But that is okay, Hendrik, it is sour here, it is terrible here, you suffocate here.

A few days later there is something else nice for his life, and that lands in his lap just like that.

A baron is living upstairs in the rooms.

The man has apparently followed him and asks Jeus whether he wants to be employed by him.

He will get thirty guilders a week, with food and drink.

Isn’t that something?

The man tells him that he is a good boy; the boss has told him everything, and sir knows more.

“Will you come with us?”

“Yes, please, I would like to, of course.

But I am going to Hendrik and Gerrit.

My brothers will be in the countryside, and I will go there.”

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, you can”, and now they help each other.

Jeus knows it, he will go away; the baron will help him and he will help this family, until Hendrik writes that he can come.

Even if the man had given him a hundred guilders, then he would still have gone to his brothers.

He has his doubts, but now his life is told: go to Hendrik.

Go, Jeus, that thirty guilders will give you everything, but do not believe everything either, go, go to Hendrik and Gerrit.

And now he is looking for the right moment to do this.

The boss must collapse from the shock.

Betsy must choke on her soup. He doesn’t care two hoots about the rest of them.

But, can he carry this off?

Does he have the certainty?

Jeus is careful.

Now he takes up the shoes of the family, the baron puts twenty guilders in his hand. Now nothing else can happen to him.

He is sure that the man is serious.

It is just a short transition period, Jeus.

You want to leave here and so do we, believe me.

I know everything, I appreciate your attitude, you are still young, but you are also smart, you know what you want.

Does sir know everything?

I know a thing or two, Jeus, but enough to take you with me.

It is for four weeks, then we will go to our own villa.

They are sitting at the table, the food is tasty, the girls are chatting about nothing, Betsy is still trying to catch him, she does not give up.

Just like that, before your very nose, the bombshell falls.

The boss comes back to get something nice to eat for upstairs.

That is the moment, Jeus feels, now they will hear it.

There comes:

“I am leaving you on Saturday, boss.”

Didn’t he just know it?

The cakes fall to the ground, Sissy and Betsy stiffen, Marietje laughs.

The boss is momentarily speechless, then utters:

“What did you just say?

You want to leave, Jeus?

That is impossible.”

Sissy can serve the tasty food upstairs, the boss has something else to do.

Betsy does not cry, but has become furious.

“Yes, boss, I am going!

I am leaving!”

That was certainly a blow.

How was it received. Good, I no longer need that beating about the bush.

Has sir not understood me?

I am leaving a week on Saturday!

Betsy’s world collapses, she has to believe it.

But it is not yet a week on Saturday, all kinds of things can still happen.

They do not know that he already has the money in his pocket; he is going!

Nevertheless, the boss says: “No, you are not going.

I will give you seven guilders more, Jeus.

I will make you into a chef.

Now we will start with it.”

So, did you think that?

“Then you are just too late, boss, I no longer want to be a chef.”

“Have you got something else, Jeus?”

“No, I haven’t, but I will no longer let myself be cheated.”

Marietje and Sissy tell him ... what a guy he is.

They are proud of Jeus, the boss isn’t.

But the boss has other means of making him change his mind.

That will be fine, Betsy.

I have something else to say as well.

“Jeus, I will give you fifteen guilders a week.”

“Even if you gave me thirty guilders, sir, I am still leaving!”

Would you not give a boy like that what for?

But that can’t be true, that can’t be happening.

Great, Jeus feels, they’re all affected by it now.

The cow does not want to miss him either, but he laughs right in her face.

Now the syrup changes into honey, it couldn’t be better.

They do not want to miss him for all the money in the world, Crisje, but he is leaving, you know him.

And the good man upstairs knows Jeus as well, that man had thoughts, that man started to think. Then the boss shouldn’t have talked so stupidly either.

That life is too good to be consciously broken down, which is not permissible.

You see, Jeus, Casje is now working in this way for your life, everything is going really well, and good human understanding and inner life know how to appreciate real obligation to duty.

“Would you like to go to the opera sometime, Jeus?

Come on, you are also entitled to something.

Betsy will go with you, would you like that?”

What will he do, Casje?

Go, and I will go as well.

Jeus drinks in the Tosca opera and he enjoys it tremendously.

But Betsy can drop dead.

He does not touch her. She feels, the poor child, that he wants to lose her life. He enjoys himself, of course, and she may not disturb him.

But now back home again quickly.

Isn’t that something?

“Are you still leaving, Jeus?”

“Yes, I am leaving!”

“And do you not feel just a little bit sorry for me?”

“No, why?

May I not leave?”

“Have you something else then, Jeus?”

“No, I have nothing else, but I will not let myself be cheated any longer.”

“Come on, stay, Jeus, but we can look for something together, can’t we?

The boss will set up a large boarding house and you will become a chef, he says.”

“Just tell him that I will set up a boarding house myself and that he may be a trainee with me.

I already know the profession.”

It is absolutely obvious, Betsy must win him over.

And he does not want to beat her any longer, only when she comes too close to him she will get a slap, because Betsy is asking for it.

No, I do not want to be kissed, leave me alone, I ask you, is that enough now?

Betsy runs upstairs as quickly as she can.

She cries until her tears run dry.

The boss approaches and asks: “What is he doing, Betsy?”

“He is going!”

Good gracious, what does a boy like that want?

Have I nothing more to say then?”

No, nothing, boss, you can get the ‘droodles’.

Just pay me on Saturday and I will leave.

I put your business on the rails, I gave new life to your business, didn’t I, and did you not receive more customers?

Are people not satisfied?

And how did your last boy treat them?

Jan kicked your customers out the door; you said so yourself.

I gave you everything and you cheated me!

You can all drop dead, except for Marietje!

She is a good child and she is honest.

I am going!

Now he is going to see the Scala (opera), the boss does not yet give up, he does not want to lose Jeus.

Betsy has to go with him again, she must talk him around, but it does not work.

And Jeus goes along, because she has cheated him all that time, he evens up that old score, he is enjoying himself, and he is now experiencing something, as a result of which he feels happy.

Crisje hears it, he feels like a king under all those people from the opera.

An operetta is heavenly; he experiences again, and only now completely, his father.

My God, but what a lot father could have achieved.

If father had been allowed to live, he would also have been on the stage, which is certain, because his voice was excellent.

They now know, nothing more can be done, Jeus continues to refuse stubbornly, he does not want a raise and does not want to become a chef, it is over.

Now they become angry, he sees, really angry. Can you understand a lad like that?

Exactly, if only you had never said lad, Betsy, then everything would probably have been different for you, now you can do what you like; he is going!

Jeus now looks them in the eye one by one.

Sissy says:

“Jeus, you are a man.

Men must prove what they can do, you can do it, you know it, you will achieve a lot in life.”

Betsy has her nose in it and is crying again, it is also a lesson for her life.

The boss blushes, he can accept it, what Sissy gave to Jeus, is also for him, but he has none of it.

What he has of it is hypocrisy, it is nonsense, it is sullying, and no one believes it any longer!

And then it is Saturday.

How is it possible, Crisje.

They are standing around him as if they are saying goodbye to a king.

There are tears in the human eyes.

There are people here who do not wish to miss him for all the money in the world.

However, Jeus is leaving, he has a bit of time to talk to the boys, and then he will go to the baron and from there to Hendrik and Gerrit.

Goodbye, everyone ... I have learned a lot from you, sir, I have seen and learned how not to do it.

I will do it differently.

Very differently and we will probably see each other again in this life.

The battle has been won by Casje.

He has gone, a while later he will have forgotten this mess.

Goodbye, Betsy.

Take care of yourself or you will become a cropper yet.

You will never see me again, never ever!

You are going in a dangerous direction, child, you are also strange inside.

This love was too transparent.

Casje, thank you!

He has grown older; it is going well like this.

I understand you, of course, Jeus must experience something, he must become older or he will not be able to bear the violence of space later.

But now what, if they want to make a servant and a chauffeur of his life?

That is also in your hands, and of course, Jeus has nothing to say, everything is certain; we will carry on!

And what he learned, he will never forget.

And now carry on!

Our Lord knows that it is going well.

The angels follow him, planets and stars are already asking: when are you going to begin?

How long will it be yet, before we get to see Jeus?

Have you already told him about our ‘Wayti’?

Betsy’s Wayti was like nothing on earth and poor Sissy sees herself shrivelling up, she disengages herself from this life, because you kill off this unhealthy inspiration as man and wife.

Is it perhaps different?

Do you know better?

Do you see it more consciously?

Crisje may be satisfied, her prayers help, they were answered again, because was this not pure protection?

That’s what it was!

And people will read about all those other things in his books, as a result of which they can experience their inspiration, also this, this passage, this chapter, yes, of course, so that we will not forget anything.