Huib walked home from his work shed. He walked straight to Gloria, who was snatching at her funny toy in the playpen. Every time he escaped her, she tried to find it and grab it. This time, she couldn't reach it...

"What do I see, Gloria? Has Fanty run off again?"

Huib grabbed her little hands and let them caress his cheeks. Gloria shrieked and had already forgotten about her stuffed animal. Tapping her nose with his nose, Huib kissed her on her cheeks and made a cuddly romp. Then he picked up the stuffed animal he had named Fanty because it did not represent an existing animal but was more of a fantasy animal. He made him make little jumps from her feet, over her legs to her belly. Gloria was trampling with fun. She grabbed with her little hands, and once she had him, she pulled him against her.

Huib smiled at her, stroked her one cheek again and then walked on to Margreet. He stood diagonally behind her to watch with her the fiddling she was doing.

"I won't distract you too much now, I'm going to work at the PC to add a page for Danielle." He gave Margreet a few kisses on her neck, which earned him a soft chuckle.

"Good luck," Margreet moaned softly, "I'll struggle on with this for a while. Ah hell, is Gloria starting to cry just now."

Frustrated, she poked the needle into the fabric and stood up. Huib caught her in his arms. "What's happening, girl, just too much tension?" he whispered.

"Yes, as much as I love this work, sometimes there are those moments when I almost can't get it done. Like now, and Gloria's crying is just the drop that makes the bucket overflow."

"Too much tension, that makes the fuses blow, that's how it works, but I do feel bad for you. And now? How to proceed?"

"Well, rather simply, I have to go and see Gloria. I think she needs to go to bed, or has a dirty nappy," Margreet replied irritably.

Huib grinned into her hair. "Can she cry too, just for a little while? Is that bad for her?"

Margreet looked at him in surprise: "Shouldn't I be there for her then? I can't just let her cry, can I?"

"No, not hours, even preferably not half an hour, but just a few minutes... and then again, that little darling has a father too, maybe he would like to take care of her for a while. What do you think?"

Margreet nodded. "Yes, he could, too, but I think I'd rather take her myself for now. I feel guilty..."

"Because you don't run and fly for her right away? Do you feel like a bad mother?"

"A bit yes, it just doesn't feel right."

"Honey, you don't have to rush yourself, not even for our daughter, and not even for me! Just sit back down, I'll check on Gloria, you just go through that emo hump."

"Bloody hell, again..."

"Oh yes, and I assure you there are many more to come, with you, and with me too. Just sit back and relax, I'll have a look at that young lady over there. She's already quiet again... just to see what was wrong."

Huib crept quietly to the playpen, saw that Gloria had fallen asleep. He covered her and put the double-folded tea towel under her head again. So, the princess was lying there comfortably! He went back to Margreet. "She cried herself to sleep for a while, that was what was going on," he said.

Huib sat down on a corner of the table.

Margreet looked at him ashamed: "What was I acting like a baby, huh..."

"Well, huge! Well no dear, just a rotten pain point. Is it better now?"

"A little, I just feel towards you a little... oh, I don't know how to give myself an attitude so well, I'm just embarrassed."

Huib grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her. He looked deep into her eyes, while Margreet did her best to keep looking at him.

"What a struggle every time hey. Fortunately, we get stronger and stronger through it! Shall I tell you some news? I had meant to tell you yesterday, but I forgot. Maureen wants to make works of art out of candle wax, something she used to do as a child. She didn't dare do that in the house, afraid she would set things on fire. The house is just too precious to her, I think. But where could she get to work?"

"In a corner of your work shed?"

"Exactly! I cleared a corner there, put up the camping table and a folding chair, and yesterday the ladies went to the thrift shop together for candles. Today Maureen started working on it. It is a job to be done slowly. If she would work too fast, she gets soot particles in between, and then she has to scrape them off again. It's already starting to take some shape, she wanted to make a wedding dress. She pretty much has the core of the skirt now, the decoration of it will come later, she said."

"Great! I already saw you walking with them to the barn, which is why I guessed she got a place in your barn."

"Aha, clever woman! I love it so much huh, now three women already know which direction they want to go. Oh well, I hadn't even told you that yet either. Ilse is eager to become the administrator of our website and take care of correspondence and administration. I'm about to put Danielle's photos on the site and send her a message to ask if she likes it that way, and to mention that we have a website administrator who also wants to take care of the rest. I suspect she will soon have her shop open for fewer hours and eventually close. Then she can be wonderfully creative all day!"

"Just like me, I love putting in lots of hours!"

"Exactly, just like me with wood. I'm glad it can be like that! I'm going to work at the PC for a while!"

It didn't seem difficult to him. He created a new page on the website, gave it the name 'Danielle's Gemstone Art' for now. She could still change that name with ease if she wanted to. Perhaps it was more convenient to remove all first names from the pages and just include the type of art in the name. He decided to suggest that at the meeting.

He took a quick look at his own page, which text he had put at the top, and placed a similar text on Danielle's page. Then he made collages for each artwork and posted them on the site with the sizes and price she had given with it.

In this way, he slowly built up her page. In between, he sent her a message saying that he had made a start with her page. It took a while before he got a message back: 'was busy with client, now looked, looks nice, simple, but really nice!'

Huib sent back message: 'thank you! Soon evening meeting with the artists and... website manager! Discussing how to proceed, she will also do correspondence and administration. Which evening can you next week?'

'Great!!!! I can do all evenings, just let me know when, what time and where'

'Will do, you'll hear from me. I'll get back to your photos.'

'Good luck'

Huib smiled, convenient contact like that, short but sweet!

When he was done, he drafted a message for the other artists, as he called them for convenience. He decided not to make a group email yet, that could always be done later if everyone wanted.

In the message he briefly explained that the group of artists using the website was growing and that he had found a manager for the website, correspondence and administration, that he wanted to discuss this and everything else on the table one evening in the coming week, at Margreet's and his home. He asked them which evenings they could come on.

Piece by piece he sent the messages and finally the same message to Ilse, adding: 'I have just sent this to all the artists, I will let you know which evening we choose'.

.

That evening, he had already received replies from everyone. It surprised him that everyone still had so many evenings free. These people preferred to work on what they could put their hearts into and did not run to other appointments very often.

He chose the Tuesday evening, because that was the first evening on which everyone was available, and sent a message to everyone inviting them to their home at 7.30 pm. Soon after, the replies poured in - everyone would attend!

To chapter 32. The education inspector

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