About every other day, Joke received a message from Annelies that another book was ready. Each time she went there, beaming, and bought five books for the Bloemenhof family and their guesthouse, and of course for herself. And each time, she took photos of the front and back cover, and sent them to Ilse. Her page on the gallery's website grew steadily, and now that she was over that threshold, she enjoyed it to the fullest. Her work was her hobby, her work was good, her books were selling smoothly, unbelievably!

These days, little work came out of the hands of the ladies of Bloemenhof. They had something else to do: reading! Lisa and Margreet sometimes even struggled to be there for their child because they were so absorbed in the story of Jokes books.

.

Bert and Annelies' brand-new small print shop was running at full speed, to stock Rosalie and Joke's books. They had started at home because they wanted to stay with each other and with Jan, but they found that they could barely cope even now, while they were only printing books for two writers.

They realised that they had now become equally busy around Joke's books because Anton had delivered her first batch of books in one go. Joke had told them, she took at least six months to produce a new book, so as far as Joke was concerned, they would only be busy for the time being to keep the stock up.

Rosalie was a different story. She wrote a new book almost every week. She was something of a top athlete when it came to writing books. Somehow, they did expect, she would eventually start having an eye for other areas of development, but writing was overwhelmingly her main goal.

The nice thing about her books, Bert and Annelies also noticed, was that they marketed well to children as well as adults. They had never heard from anyone that it would be too childishly described for adults. Indeed, adults often could not believe that the writer was a child of under six. They were drowning in her stories, feeling one with the animal she was writing about. There had already been several comments from readers that her books made them start to look at animals differently.

Annelies enjoyed the reviews, they were all laudatory, including Joke's books. She sent them all to Ilse, who created a new page for them on the website, 'Reviews'. On that page, Ilse decided to make sub-pages for each artist again. At the moment, she only had reviews of the books, and therefore only sub-pages for both writers, and she actually thought that was a shame. So she decided to create a standard email, asking buyers afterwards if they wanted to comment on the product they bought. A few days later, she was able to create a sub-page for other artists as well. She decided to copy the picture of the sold work from the artists' page, and put the comment next to it. She chuckled and muttered, "Huib would say... child can do the washing, Ilse can create review pages!" All in all, the review pages became more and more fun, brightened by the photos of the sold works.

.

One evening, Bert took some time to talk to Annelies about the work in the print shop.

"It's already becoming too much. We need an extension, a big extension, because if it goes on like this...

Annelies asked, "Bert, we started with the idea of just printing books, but you know what I wonder? Could we set a specific target? Like those books by Rosalie and Joke, those ladies have obviously been guided by their inner selves. Their stories flow from within and are so powerful because of that. What do you think about the idea of only printing books like that and thus becoming a kind of soul print shop?"

Bert laughed: "I have never heard of a soul print shop, but because of what we experienced with those people from 'I discover myself !" and Bloemenhof and that gallery, I honestly have a desire to follow their example in that. But that does mean, you have to keep reading your way around to find out if newly arrived books are really written from the writer's inner self! Do you fancy that?"

"Hahaha, I'd love nothing more! Although I can imagine that at some point it becomes too much. Ineke likes to read too, maybe I can slip books to her too. Or Annerieke..."

So they continued looking for possibilities, Bert drew a sketch for a bold extension and asked Simon if he could arrange the rest. That was no problem, Simon was happy to help him along. "It looks like we are becoming a soul village in itself," he had laughed.

Not long after, when Jan came home from the discovery centre, he heard not only the rather quiet sounds of the print shop, but also of the builders from Simon's team, who were building a larger space behind their print shop. Together with his mother, he went there every afternoon to have a look. He loved running into Simon there every time. "That's Gloria's grandfather hey," he had once said to Annelies. Annelies didn't feel she had to start explaining family relationships, and had only nodded.

.

Meanwhile, Bert pondered how to get staff for printing, someone who would share their vision. Annelies started looking for reading staff. She inquired with Annerieke.

Annerieke was very honest: "I love the idea of having a book pushed to by you regularly, but actually I would like to refer you to Cynthia Schutte, who is currently living in The Shelter. She loves to read, and she doesn't have a job yet, doesn't fancy a job either, she just has a soulmate-like connection with books. If she could do this for you guys... that could be a great solution for her yet! Just put me on a reserve list, I'd love to do it sometime, but of course I already have my work at the guesthouse."

Annelies understood completely and walked on to Cynthia's house. Cynthia did not see her coming, because she was, as almost always, with her nose in a book, and was startled when there was a knock at the door. She peered through the window for a moment before opening, an old habit she had kept after her years of abuse. Vaguely she recognised Annelies, as someone who was also in touch with the people of the estate. She opened the door and greeted her kindly, but awaiting.

Annelies told her, having just come from Annerieke's place and what her question was. "We started a print shop, now have books by two writers, and we are already almost overflowing with work. We knew we might have to expand on our premises, and we can easily do that. Simon is already working on it with a crew of builders. But, going back to the beginning, we got off to a bit of a general, a bit silly start, but we are now experiencing the power of books written from the inside of the writer, and have decided to become a Soul Print Shop."

Cynthia interrupted her with a beckoning gesture: "Come in anyway, do you have time for a cup of coffee or tea?"

"Lovely, coffee please," Annelies replied. "By the way, what an incredibly nice house this is. Gosh, that tapestry here... Margreet's work?"

"Yep - good guess! She made something like that for all four houses. Absolutely soul work too, speaking of such! I love that you choose that too, it's in line with the family here, from how The Shelter was set up, from how our court cases were done. It's all soul work. I also see it in the books I borrow from Annerieke, hahaha, shelves full of books by Nora Roberts. That woman has written herself to bits! But beautiful, Annelies, beautiful! She is clearly one of those people who writes what she feels coming up inside. Pure enjoyment! No, I don't need any more books that are not written from the inside out!"

"Super, then we understand each other!" laughed Annelies. "Perhaps you have also read something by Joke Veth? Or by Rosalie van Gelder?"

"Oh yes, I get them all forwarded by Annerieke, great! Rosalie's came first, and I thought: 'yes, stories about an animal... nothing for me!' But I was so wrong about that, after just a few lines I was already into it. I only found out later that the author was not a grown-up woman, but that sweet little girl who always goes to Huib and Margreet. I see her almost every day. Lisa told me, when she saw me with one of her books. I could hardly believe it, but Lisa was quite easy about it, along the lines of 'that's just her thing!' Okay, I've since found out that's right! And after a while came books by Joke Veth... they go deep hey! The style is a bit like Nora Roberts', yet different too. And that's perfect, just her own style, her own topics, the things that come to her mind. Wait, are those two..."

Cynthia grabbed a book from Joke from the windowsill, the one she had just been engrossed in. She looked at the back cover, Print Shop Bakker.

"Is that you guys? Print Shop Bakker?"

Annelies nodded and Cynthia continued, "At Print Shop Bakker, books go over the counter like hotcakes! Appropriate slogan right? You have published a bunch of books at an awfully fast pace."

Annelies confirmed it and said they hoped to find people who wrote in a similar way. She said, it was still manageable for Bert to keep up with things now, but so in the future they only expected more work.

"And then it won't be manageable for him alone. That's why we're looking for someone who wants to work in the print shop itself. And besides... I myself am the one who reads the books in advance. I am going to select them, try to sense if it is really soul work, but I am not a speed reader, I have a normal pace of reading, and see in my imagination the mountain of books to be read growing! So I just went to Annerieke asking her to help me read and select. She referred me to you, and that's why I'm here. Would you like to work for us, at least with reading and selection, and maybe also in the print shop?"

Cynthia started laughing! She laughed, unable to stop, until her laughter turned into crying, into a violent sobbing. Annelies stared at her in bewilderment. What was happening? What was suddenly happening to Cynthia?

Intuitively, she knew she had to let Cynthia go for a while. It was only when she calmed down and wiped her tears and blew her nose that Annelies asked, "What happened?"

Cynthia shook her head, as if she couldn't believe it herself. "Just this morning, just this morning I thought to myself that I am not capable of anything, except stupidly reading books. I want so much to live on my own in the future, and I want a job, but what? I couldn't think of anything I would enjoy. The only thing that came to my mind this morning, yes really, just this morning, was: 'as long as it's something with books, I have to have books in my hands'. And you come and offer me a job a few hours later where I get to read and print books... Can you imagine that I went over the edge for a moment?"

Annelies laughed: "So I don't have to ask you anymore what your answer is? You probably don't even want reflection time?"

"No, when we finish our coffee, I want to go with you to that print shop, I want to know how it works, I want to learn to do it myself! Because that's the only problem, I have no training for this, I have no idea how it works..."

Cynthia looked at Annelies, slightly despairing, because she was still somewhere afraid that the lack of knowledge and experience might be a problem.

But Annelies was still smiling: "What you can't do yet, you can learn, you can discover, especially if you want it so badly!"

"Discover, as in that discovery centre... Well, the desire is definitely there, so if your husband is patient enough to teach it to me, I'm sure it will work out. Anyway, I'm a genius at reading, I don't need to learn that anymore!"

.

As they walked across the estate towards the print shop, Annelies told her, their little son Jan also went to the discovery centre. "It's a great way of learning, when you get to do something from your own desire, it goes super fast and well, and deeper than according to methods."

Cynthia nodded: "I heard about it, from Ineke. She also lived in The Shelter and still visits once in a while. She told me the other day about a boy who had made a vegetable garden, together with Sjaak. Was that Jan?"

Annelies nodded. "Jan is an outdoor kid, wants to play outside, wants to be a farmer, wants a vegetable garden later. And that was bingo, Patrick went with him to Sjaak right on the first day. It's been a great experience for him."

Annelies preceded Cynthia to the print shop and introduced her to Bert as their new colleague. Bert looked up in surprise: "Welcome Cynthia! And Annelies, how did you manage that so quickly?"

"Via Annerieke, this young lady lives for books, only wants books in her hands."

Bert shot into laughter: "Let me see your hands!"

Cynthia put her hands forward, making Bert laugh even harder: "Girl your hands are just like that, just look at them, exactly how you hold a book while reading! But no kidding, if you are like that, you are more than welcome here. What did you want to do for us? Reading or working in the print shop?"

"Both! I just don't have any experience at all with all those machines!" Cynthia gestured loosely at the devices she saw set up. "But Annelies thought that if I am so one with books, I would find out how to help you print books here."

"Then she must have told you already, that we have good experience with the phenomenon of discovery!"

"Yes, about Jan, I already knew the story about his little vegetable garden, super cool! So I don't mind having to learn something new here, being allowed to discover. That should be fine!"

"Do you feel like getting started right away today? Just to get a taste of the job, feel how it comes across to you?" asked Bert.

"Gladly!" responded Cynthia, rubbing her hands with enthusiasm.

"Great, then I'll first show you the warehouse, where we store the books. Here you can see Joke Veth's stacks, and here Rosalie van Gelder's."

Cynthia stroked her hands along Rosalie's latest stack. "Her latest book child, 'Vlinnie', such a great fun book, so wonderfully fluttery, cheerful, free and happy! Those front and back covers, those pictures are very different from what I was used to from her by now. With those other books, these were pictures of the real animals she wrote about, but this looks like some artwork made of paper."

"True, that' s what it is," Bert told her, "this book she wrote in response to those photos. Those paper butterflies were made from folding leaves, by a woman who also took these photos. She stayed here at the guesthouse last week."

"And Rosalie has already finished the book... I understood she usually wrote one a week, took a little longer at most."

"Yes, indeed, incredible huh?"

"Bert?" intervened Annelies, "We have visitors, this gentleman would like us to print his photos, to make it a photo book. Do we have the facilities for that?"

Bert nodded to the man standing diagonally behind her. "Good day, I'm Bert Bakker," he said.

"Funny, I'm also a Bakker, Koos Bakker," the guest introduced himself. "But as far as I know no family, at most a connection here," he pointed to his heart.

Bert grinned: "You could be right about that! And that's the best kind of family, don't you think? And you have pictures for us?"

"I have, I took a whole series of photos here in the area when I stayed with my wife at Bloemenhof last year, and I started experimenting with a photo editing programme with some of them. Man, how I enjoyed that! Eventually, I got freer and freer, so that you can hardly recognise the original photos. I have them here on my USB, maybe you can look at them here on your computer, if you have time?"

"You've made us curious enough, let's see them!"

Bert beckoned Cynthia over and so a few moments later they stood together in front of the screen, looking in amazement at the various original nature photos along with the edited ones.

"Ingenious," whispered Cynthia, "I can totally see it for myself, the original photo in the middle, and the edited ones around or next to it. Would you like that?" she asked generally, to everyone.

"Would the pictures come across well enough then?"

"If we could make a square book, yes, I think so," Cynthia thought, "or else on the left page the original, and then some edited versions on the right page?"

Bert gave Annelies behind her a wink and raised his thumb.

"Cynthia, you are an asset to our print shop! Koos, this lady has only been working here for five minutes... I mean it! Would it be a good idea, Cynthia, if you take a moment to work out with Koos what photos you want to use for this and what design? What size for the book? The layout, everything?"

"Do you really trust me with that? Super cool! Shall we do that, Koos?"

Koos nodded, thinking it was all great how these people interacted with each other and with him, and how Cynthia responded to his work.

Bert handed Cynthia a laminated paper, on which the standard measurements were drawn and described on both sides. "In the meantime, I'm going to make some emphasis for Rosalie. If you need me, you know where to find me hey?"

"Yeah sure, will do!" She immediately turned back to the paper with all the measurements. "Oh, possibilities enough," she said. "Look at this size, Koos, wouldn't that be something for your pictures? Pretty big, sure, but then your photos will come out nicely too."

Koos looked at the rectangular shape, trying to estimate roughly how big it would be.

"Pretty big yes, but for a photo book great! And what did you have in mind? The original and the edited photos on one page?"

Cynthia nodded: "Of most of the originals, you have two edited ones, it seems. Oh here's one with five..."

"That's the only one, we could use two pages for that then, two pages side by side. The original left with two edited, and the other three edited on the right page."

"Koos, I think we've already figured it out," Cynthia said, looking at the last pictures. "It looks perfect to me! And the paper type... I don't know very much about it yet, but I think... I think I should ask Bert, or do you know too Annelies? Do you know what types of paper there are?"

"Yes, matt and slightly glossy, and extra glossy, and as for the colour white or something tinted, a kind of creamy white. Shall I pick up the samples?"

Koos shook his head. "No need, I already know which one I want. Slightly glossy and white. If it were that tinted, we might run the risk of that affecting the colours of the photos, that would be a shame."

"You're right about that... Annelies, how should we proceed?"

Annelies took a seat at the computer, and looked up the orders folder. She created a new folder in it, which she named 'Bakker Koos'. She slid a copy of the standard order into the folder and started filling in his name. Koos gave her all the details she needed. Annelies consulted with him on how many books he wanted printed first. Koos surprised her by opting for five hundred books.

"That number came to my mind, and I felt it was right, so let's do five hundred!" he said firmly.

Annelies showed him the list of prices. He didn't think it was a problem.

"I've worked all my life, reluctantly, it wasn't the work that had my heart, and now I'm retired and discovering something I'm totally into. I may well use some of that hard-earned savings for that!" he laughed.

"Lovely for you, that you found something so beautiful after all," Cynthia smiled.

"Yes, I really do, and then something else, my wife has also found her hobby. You should see us busy at home in our computer room. Both at a computer, me with photo editing, her with Open Brush, digital painting with 3D glasses on. So great, we are both totally in our element with that! And that's immediately the second thing I come for. She doesn't know, it has to be a surprise. I took pictures from her painting videos, and I have them on that USB too. I would love it if you can make a book out of those too. Same kind of paper, just a smaller size."

Cynthia and Annelies began to enjoy their new customer more and more.

"Let's see Koos, I don't know that programme at all. What should I imagine about it?" asked Annelies.

"Just wait, I will show you its pictures!"

He opened the other folder of his USB, whereupon both women stared at the extraordinary photos in complete surprise.

"I have no idea how she managed to do that, but from the results I can tell she has talent!" said Cynthia.

"Talent Cynthia? It's her soul, she has become so free, unbelievable! As she says herself... she just does whatever. And the results are genius!"

"There's power from it, it's fiery, it's super colourful, really very special!"

"How about we make a rectangular book of this too, only a lot smaller than mine? One picture per page?" suggested Koos.

"It seems a great plan to me," Annelies replied, "you've prepared everything perfectly, even used different templates. Shall I also make an order for this?"

Annelies took the details of Koos' order in a folder for Olivia and thus made the second order. He wanted five hundred of these too.

"Well Cynthia, it looks like you got your first orders. When Bert is done with those reprints later, he can teach you how to get these pictures ready for printing. Koos, do you mind if I take over all the photos you've shown here in our programme?"

Koos chuckled: "Of course, how else will you get started with them?"

"No idea," laughed Annelies, "but I'm not so free as to haphazardly copy someone's stuff into our computer."

"Go ahead, Annelies!"

"Thank you! Cynthia, would you like to watch me do it?"

"Sure thing! Now if you do Koos' photos, can I do Olivia's?"

"Under the guise of 'learning by doing'," Koos muttered.

"That's right, I would love to learn the whole business!" responded Cynthia.

"Good plan, look, it's actually quite simple. I create a new folder here for a new product. What needs to be printed, usually the texts, this time pictures, I copy it here, and then I drag it here to the list of new orders. Bert also has this list on his PC, and this new folder is right there with him. He knows his way around it otherwise!"

Annelies made way for Cynthia, so that she could do the same for Olivia. "Full name, Bakker, Olivia, and today's date... simple! And now?"

"I suppose I can pay now," Koos grinned.

Annelies shot into laughter. "You do make it wonderfully easy for me. I always dare to bring it up, but at the same time I hate it! Cynthia, just stay put and I'll show you how to make the invoices."

Annelies didn't have to point out much; Cynthia quickly understood how the administration programme worked, thanks to its clear layout. She linked the numbers of the orders they had just made, to the invoice, checked briefly that everything was in order, and printed out the invoice.

"I think you have gained a particularly smart employee, Annelies. Congratulations to both of you!" said Koos.

"Thank you, and congratulations to you on both your orders! I'm so curious to see how Olivia will like it..." responded Cynthia.

Annelies helped Koos with the payment, while Cynthia watched and tried to remember what she was doing.

"We'll send you an email as soon as the books are ready and then we'll agree on how to proceed. In any case, they can be sold from here. By the way, I'm thinking... You know Bloemenhof so... do you know Huib too?" asked Annelies.

"Yes indeed! A fine fellow! All fine people by the way. A lot of power emanates from that environment, from those people there," replied Koos.

"Yes, for sure! But do you also know that Huib has set up a digital gallery?"

Koos grabbed his mobile and clicked on the gallery link, which he had open by default. "This one?"

"Yes that one! I was thinking, it might be an idea to sign you both up to that gallery. Art as an expression of the soul... so is your work!" suggested Annelies.

"I think so too. Pay attention, Annelies," said Koos, tapping 'Our Artists' on the site. "What a list hey... and who do we have here?"

"Oh, you're already on it! Sorry, then I haven't looked at the site closely enough!" apologised Annelies.

"Logical anyway, you probably spend all day in the print shop and new books..." said Koos with a wink.

"Yes, that is indeed true. I love it, but I must say I'm glad Cynthia is also going to take over some of those books. By the way, Ineke will also be on the reserve list, Cynthia, I had sent her a message, she seems to enjoy doing it every now and then, but not too often."

"Top!" responded Cynthia, "she's a bookworm too!"

"Hey, what did I see?!" came Bert into the storeroom. "You placed two orders? That second one is a special one too hey, how did you take those pictures?"

"That's Open Brush work by Olivia, my wife. Secret surprise for her, I secretly took photos of it. She makes such beautiful works. We were also added to that digital gallery a while ago, you should see, here you have one of those videos."

"Wait a minute," Cynthia interrupted him, "you should see something like that bigger, much nicer!"

She quickly searched the gallery on the computer and went through 'Our Artists' to Olivia's page.

"Just choose, Koos, which one you want to show," she said.

"They're all beautiful, but this one, 'Fire', I like that one best!"

He clicked it on and they looked at it breathlessly.

"I've seen it so many times now," said Koos, when the clip ended, "but I can't get enough of this one, this is such a special one!"

"It certainly is, really wonderful!" responded Bert.

"What's happening Cynthia?" asked Annelies.

"That movie, it felt like it was burning right through me and like something was crumbling inside. I have no idea what, but boy, it makes me completely emotional."

"Oh my girl, come and join Grandpa Koos," Koos said softly and spread his arms. Cynthia, who couldn't stand the touch of men at all anymore, crawled against him and as soon as she felt his arms around her, she started roaring, crying with screeching fits. Standing, Koos rocked her back and forth very lightly, stroking her hair.

"Oh my girl... oh my girl," he whispered when she calmed down. "That was a lot of dregs that needed to get out. I'm glad my dear wife released that in you! It may not feel so good now, but you've lost a lot."

Cynthia nodded as she wiped her tears and blew her nose with the tissues that were handed to her.

"Thank you, Koos... you should know... I... how should I say..."

"You don't have to say anything, you don't have to explain yourself unless you really want to," Koos said.

"Yes, I want to say it... I had to work as a prostitute for more than ten years, forced. And to be honest, I abhor touching by men, but somehow I felt I was safe with you, that I could let you embrace me. And it was good, really good, thank you!"

"What a horrible life you've had, Cynthia. Do you perhaps live in The Shelter?"

Cynthia nodded and smiled at him. "Yes, a great place to unwind and already heal a bit, find yourself. Today for me is a day with a huge breakthrough, a double breakthrough. What just happened, and earlier, that here I get to do what is my joy and my life, work with books. Printing books, getting them ready for sale, and reading books." She chuckled, "Bert asked just now if I would hold out my hands for a moment, and I did so... and then he said something like 'you see, you always hold books', something like that, right, Bert?"

"Yes, something along those lines, I don't remember exactly. In any case, this work, reading and printing books seems to have been written on your heart! What do you think Cynthia, hasn't it been enough for today? Shall we continue tomorrow?"

"Actually, I want to stay, continue learning, see how to handle those machines and so on, but my brain seems to have become a ball of jelly. I'm not really dizzy, but I do feel very weird. What time will I come tomorrow?"

"Between eight and eight-thirty?" suggested Bert.

Cynthia nodded: "Fine, I'll be there. Sorry I can't help you any further right now."

"Don't worry about that, maybe we should let your working hours come as they come for now. See what's possible," Bert said.

"Maybe all three of us should do that from now on, Bert. We sometimes go through things too, which put us out of sorts for a while."

Annelies gave him a wink.

"Wise woman you have, Bert," Koos said. "Cynthia, I came walking from Bloemenhof. Olivia is there chatting with Anton and Joke, two other guests. Oh well, you probably know them too. Will you walk with me?"

"Gladly! And yes, I know Joke, especially from her books hahaha, great author. See you tomorrow Annelies, Bert!"

"See you tomorrow, Cynthia! Goodbye, Koos!"

Koos raised his hand in farewell and shouted as he walked towards the outer door, "Thanks folks!"

To chapter 77. Karel Mulder

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