Annerieke knew that Huib would talk to Margreet about the contract and show her the desk. She also knew that he would tell her about her parents' booking. She wondered how she had reacted. Even though she felt as strong as Huib, strong inside, she could sense what it must be like for Margreet. She was glad that their friends, Anton and Joke, had added a week. She was sure that Joke would be able to listen, to comfort, and that Anton, in a practical sense, would be able to go on with it with Huib if necessary. That in the worst case they would send those people home earlier. She hoped it would not have to come to that!

Through the window she saw Margreet arrive. Her heart went out to her when she saw her slumped shoulders and serious face.

Annerieke greeted her lightly: "I’m glad Margreet, that you come to help me. I was actually a bit mistaken about the amount of work. That rarely happens to me, but it did today... I wanted to stir-fry various vegetables and add a sauce at the end. The sauce is ready, but look at all these vegetables. Our guesthouse family is quite large and I make too much by default, so no one finds a dog who licks the pot empty."

Margreet looked at the various washed vegetables lying in a large plastic container on the dining table. And next to it were about ten onions and a bulb of garlic.

"That's a big pile yes, what are we going to start with? Does that matter?"

"No, it doesn't matter. Everything we cut up, we put in this container here. Then we stir everything together and divide it between the woks. In this frying pan I'll fry pieces of chicken filet, and in the other pieces of beef, so people can choose which meat they want with their vegetables. And in this big pan I'm going to cook rice, which I've already weighed out in this bowl. At least we don't have to peel potatoes, that saves time."

Margreet smiled, impressed by the large quantities. She picked up the bulb of garlic.

"I've never cut up several of these vegetables, my mother always wanted to do everything herself, so I have no idea what to do with these."

"No problem, by doing you'll just learn, Margreet. We use all the cloves of that bulb. Many people push them through a garlic press, but I prefer to cut them into very small pieces. First take off those white sheets, and then you'll find the cloves by themselves."

Margreet braced herself against the unpleasant feeling threatening her, the feeling of not knowing, not being able to. She began to pull off the sheets with her fingers and plucked the cloves loose from the end. She looked for a moment at how such a clove looked like and seemed to be put together. With a sharp knife she cut off the base and saw that the sheets around the clove could be picked loose. After a few cloves she got the hang of it. She put all the cloves on a glass cutting board, thought about the best way to cut them into small pieces and began to cut lengthwise into slices, turned the clove a quarter turn, and cut lengthwise through those slices. Then from one end to the other she cut small cubes, trying to hold all the strips together with her other hand. It went fine, only the last piece was a little trickier, it threatened to fall apart, but finally she had diced her first clove and started with the second confidently.

She did not notice that Annerieke was observing her a bit in between her own work. After a few toes, she complimented her: "How cleverly you do that! Had you really never done that before?"

"No, really not," Margreet said as she continued cutting quietly. "I didn't even know those things. I had only seen them in a supermarket once, but not otherwise. I just looked at it, and imagined how to do it: slices, strips, small cubes. It seemed very simple, almost too simple, but really, it's just that simple! Aren't the cubes too big or too small?"

"They're fine like this. You know what smells great? Melting butter in the wok and then frying such garlic pieces in it, on low heat. That smells wonderful!"

"But today they have to go through the mass?"

"Yes, I was going to, but we can also put the garlic and onion slices in separate bowls, and fry them for a while before adding the rest. That's fine, then you can smell it right away."

Annerieke picked up a small bowl for the garlic and a larger one for the onions. Silently they worked on, until Annerieke got the feeling that Margreet was starting to feel a little calmer. Then she dared to ask if Huib had told her anything special.

Margreet shot into laughter: "Funny, how you ask that! You knew for sure, didn't you, that Huib would tell me this afternoon that I get a permanent contract?"

Annerieke laughed: "That's right, I was so happy that he came up with that idea. It is totally not businesslike and totally unusual, but we both knew it was right. Well, that voice inside, that click you feel... So we leave the business for what it is. Other people would call it a risk, we don’t, we are sure about it. Sjaak, and Anton and Joke will be happy for you too!"

"Otherwise I will! And the desk Huib is making for me, have you seen it yet?"

"Yes, I saw it this morning. Handy hey, those drawers with the compartments! He said this morning that when he had finished his work here, he would go to the barn to continue with the decorations. That dear boy, he's completely in his element there with his wood!"

"Yeah, it's really all his thing," Margreet confirmed. "I'd love it for him if he could make it his job. For here, in the guest house, but also to sell and make other people happy with it. Maybe make things on demand or something, or just make a stock and then sell it in a store, or have his own website. I am just thinking, but I would like it if he could spend a large part of his day doing that. It makes him happy, it suits him!"

"Yes, that's it, I'll think about it further, what the possibilities are. Anton is quite handy with those business things, maybe he has a good idea for it. But how did you like the desk?"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so happy with that!" Beaming, she looked at Annerieke. "It's so beautiful! He was working on the decorations on the legs. And so special, he hadn't said it was for me, so I actually assumed he wanted to put that table somewhere here in the guest house. Seemed a little big to me, but maybe he had something in mind. Then he said he still had no idea what to do with the fronts of the drawers, how to decorate them. And so suddenly, without thinking, I blurted out: gems! He didn't think it was weird, he knew from the way I said it that it came from my inside, and that it was something I liked. Only then he told me that the desk was for me. I felt completely overwhelmed! A permanent contract, a desk he was making so beautiful... for me? My day couldn't be broken anymore! I thought..."

Annerieke interrupted her, "And then he came with the hard news?"

As Margreet calmly switched from the garlic to the onions, she replied, "Yes, that my parents are coming next week. Only a midweek, but yes, that's still four full twenty-four hours! He told me that Anton and Joke are staying an extra week to be there for me, and I also know that Huib and you will be there for me. But I still find it extremely exciting! I know from too many experiences how they are used to denigrating everyone. Even your most beautiful and tastiest pie they would be able to criticize, you know?"

Annerieke started laughing loudly, "Hahaha, when they do that, all the guests will turn against them. I have really never had a negative word about my cakes! But I understand what you mean. I also used to find it very difficult when people around me were so negative. Now that Erik has helped me through it with his worldly patience, I feel that I am so much myself inside and therefore feel so strong that everyone can nag at me all they want. And no, I won't like that, but it won't really touch me inside. Such behavior can spoil the atmosphere, but the extent to which such people succeed depends very much on how the people around them feel. Anton will shrug it off as far as he is concerned, it will not affect him. Joke may have more trouble with it, but then thanks to Anton she will be strong again. People like Lisa will have a hard time with it. She has also been treated so wrongly, leaving her emotionally horribly broken. I'm glad for her that she won't be here next week, so she can't be hurt even more. All the guests who are here now are good to her."

"Except her own husband..."

"Yes, that's her biggest problem right now, I think. But we can only be there for her these two weeks, as you did yesterday, really sweet of you."

"How do you know that?" asked Margreet.

"Because Lisa told me, she was happy about it, you did her well. You have it in you Margreet, being there for other people, helping them, spiritually, emotionally. Is it true that your deepest desire is to help people so that they become who they are?"

Margreet thought for a moment: "Yes... I think it is, but it doesn't work out yet, I don't really know how I could do it. I think I'm getting in my own way. But I do think it's an important part of the flower bud that's inside me."

"What you did to Lisa came from that flower bud, from your soul. If you get an impression from within, just do it, you'll bring something that gives healing to that person. It works that simple. And your presence, just being somewhere, that's how you're bringing healing too."

"By being? How so? How is that possible?"

"Your soul radiates power and light to the people around you, and sometimes to certain people even an extra heavy ray, you can usually feel that, too, like a stab of pain or something."

"I have never heard of that, but I do know that when I am somewhere I sometimes get a stab like that, in my head, in my side, usually it frightens me, but it also goes away quickly. So that's a kind of power ray to someone... for emotional healing... that’s special. So actually..." she waited for a moment, too stunned to speak out what was getting into her mind... "so actually I have something inside of me, something very special, that I never have had any idea about. It's been hidden away under the dredge of negativity, of wounding. Is that right? It came to my mind like that, but do you think this is what it is?"

Annerieke laughed, as their knives continued cutting, "Your soul knows better than anyone else what you live for. And yes, your soul is telling you now, that it is suffering from what you call dredge. Your soul also knows perfectly well how to fix that, but you have to be in an environment where there are as few destructive people as possible. That's why I'm glad Anton and Joke are staying an extra week. You won't be alone next week lady!"

"Thank goodness, otherwise I would succumb, as far as I am concerned. That sounds dramatic, but that's how it feels."

"That's how dramatic it is too! I saw you when you came here. You were pretty broken up. A pitiful, broken sparrow... And now, after less than two weeks, you've already learned a lot about yourself, and about your inner self, and you've also gone through a piece of the healing process. That flower bud in you is going to bloom, be assured of that!"

To chapter 42. Home...

Or to the Table of contents