"Since my sister is gone, I have to take care of my two younger sisters all by myself. She was the only one who also earned money. Unfortunately, the other two can't work because one is still too tiny and the other has too much Alzheimer's. I think. A visit at the doctor's to find out would be too expensive, because our regular doctor, Dr. Glasses, lives so far away and the insurance I have through work doesn't want to pay for the journey, because there are supposedly also doctors near here. But I haven't found one yet. Except for one. But I don't like him."

"Does it matter if you don't like him?"

"No, almost not at all. Although I told him a very funny joke, he didn't laugh at all. The joke was-Ah! No, for it to work, you have to get close to me first."

Suddenly, the maid stopped. At the same time she stopped Meia over the wrist like an anchor.

With a wide step she came right up to her.

With a short step even closer.

The sudden approach came too as a surprise for Meia. Before she could react, they were already so close together that only a sheet of paper would fit between them. To at least gain some distance, she leaned back with her upper body.

"It's best if you grab my ass." the maid demanded out of nowhere.

The request was so unexpected that it completely caught Meia off guard. She hesitated with objections. In the meantime, the maid was still holding her by the wrist and already during her request, she had started to put it into action on her own. By the time Meia had her wits about her, she already had her hand on her butt. Apart from the ruffles from the skirt part, however, she did not feel that much.

Meanwhile, only silence came from the maid.

Cautiously, Meia looked up with a puzzled expression.

With her attitude, it was easy to forget, but when she looked at her face, it struck her again how intimidatingly beautiful she was. The sconces down the hallway reflected like small fires in her bright green eyes. Her smile was disconcerting but also enchanting. Meia said nothing. She could not maintain eye contact with her either and kept looking elsewhere.

After a moment, she leaned in to her ear and whispered, "There's something that always stands up when I touch it. Do you know what it is?"

Meia swallowed. As she spoke she could detect her breath. The smell was very specific of woodruff.

~It's-is a lewd joke?~

"I-I don't know.", Meia stammered.

The maid grinned even more. "My toilet seat!" she blurted out, at the same time backing away and falling into a crouch, laughing. "Ahahaha... Because I'm a guy."

She burst out laughing as she kept looking up to check if the joke was working.

It did not work.

Meia just stood by, deeply confused.

~She is a man? He is a man? Surely she's not a man?~

She did not look like one at all. None of it made any sense.

"You understand? Because I always have to lift it up," she explained, laughing.

Maybe it was the situation, but Meia still did not understand where that was funny.

Lijeux quickly calmed down.

"Phew... Well, okay, shall we move on?"

Meia confirmed with an irritated nod, whereupon the two set off again.

Along the way, Meia inconspicuously searched her body with her eyes to find out what was under the uniform. Then it occurred to her that she did not sound like a man at all. So she was certainly a woman. Meia would even say, from the voice and her appearance, there was no way she was a man. Surely it had been just another one of her lies.

"At first the doctor thought the joke was very good, but he didn't find the punch line funny. After that he wasn't so nice to me either, so I don't go there any more and would rather go to my old doctor Dr. Glasses. Oh, actually his name isn't Dr. Glasses, but that's what I always call him because he has ugly glasses that look like a dried-up pretzel. Sooo, where was I again? Ah, yes, by now I'm pretty sure she has Alzheimer's. The other day she even forgot that she has to soak my winter coat in pre-wash detergent for 30 minutes before she can put the chemical cleaner in the water. It completely faded because of her. I had to buy a new one. It cost us a whole month's wages. Oh, if only I could get a raise, then I could finally pay for our sister's funeral and then we would finally be able to use the pantry again." On the side, Lijeux fetched something from her bag. " Do you want a sunflower seed?" she asked, holding out her hand to her with many seeds in it.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"No, thank you." ~Am I a hamster?

Indifferently, the maid shrugged her shoulders and stuffed them all into her own mouth.

Cracking noises followed, the kind you would not want to hear from someone chewing.

~How can she eat that?~

While she was still chewing, she started talking again: "Now that you know all this about me, you'll help me get a raise, won't you? You won't let all my sisters starve, will you? You are a kind-hearted person after all. You will help me, will you not?".

"Well I-I mean... I'm sorry, but what am I going to do? I hardly know Mr. Monet. The most I could mention is that you helped me dress?"

"You would do that for me? That would already help me a lot. I was right, you are a kind-hearted person."

Right at the end of the sentence, Lijeux suddenly opened one side of a double door on the left. It seemed very spontaneous and did not look as if she had known beforehand that the door would open. She had probably only tried it and when, to her surprise, it really did open, a joyful grin flashed across her face.

The inside of the room was pitch black. That was logical. After all, they were somewhere in the middle of the house. These rooms could have no windows.

Standing in the doorway, Lijeux signalled her to follow with a quick wave of her hand. "This way," she said and then disappeared into the darkness.

Meia followed her into the room only cautiously, for as it seemed as if they were not allowed to go in there.

"One Second..."

Lijeux turned a regulator on the wall next to the door.

A moment later, the gas candles of several chandeliers on the ceiling lit.

The room would probably be called a cigar room or a gentleman's room. Only the size was inhuman once more.

"Put a lid on that door."

~Am I the maid?~

While Meia carefully closed the door, Lijeux was already moving on.

"Why are we here? This doesn't seem right?" asked Meia.

"Trust me. This is a shortcut. I know my way around."

"We're still going to my room, are we not?"

"Yes, of course. So don't forget that you have to emphasise to Mr Monet how extremely satisfied you were with my performance and that you would have liked to spend more time with me. The subsequent pay rise will then no longer be a problem. I'll tell you a secret now. I know that Mr Monet is very interested in you. He'll definitely wants to keep you. But in order for our plan for the wage raise to work, you should first get to know him better, so that he trusts you from the bottom of his heart. You can take your time with that. My next payment is not until next month. So when you are around him again, you simply manipulate him secretly so that he gives me a pay rise. That's the goal. It's really not that difficult. I always do it like that. The only thing is that he must never notice. If he does, he'll refuse. I've already tested that. So the best thing is to say something like: 'Wow, this Lijeux, you should definitely give her a pay rise'. That's definitely going to work. You just have to do it casually, like it's just a little praise, but not a serious suggestion. Only then he won't notice. After all, he should think it was his own idea, which he remembers when later the gardener praises me too."

~She seems to think he's a complete idiot. And I'm too.~

Getting a pay rise was apparently important enough for her to tell guests some tall tales.

Meia decided to just nod everything off. She was too pushy to argue with.

Once completely through the room, they left it on the opposite side.

At the door, Lijeux quickly turned off the gas on another regulator. In the hallway, she pushed the door shut so that it slammed into the lock with momentum.

When the bolt closed, the light in the room was still on. Such gas systems took up to half a minute to go out.

"Oh, by the way, the gardener is involved in our plan. I already explained to him earlier everything we're intending to do. He wanted almost nothing for it either. You only have to tell Mr Monet that the garden has impressed you exceedingly ..."

~I already have kinda.~

"... but also looks a little like it needs another gardener to unfold its full beauty. The gardener has a brother who's currently looking for a job."

~This will never work. That's way too stupid. They're just trying to take advantage of me here.~

"How am I supposed to do that? It seems a bit too complicated."

"No, it's not that hard. Just say something on the side like..." The maid pulled a bright green notepad out of her shoulder bag, flipped a page to the back and read aloud, "'Oh, What an impressive garden this is! I am delighted. Seldom have my eyes seen ... such a masterpiece of bot-botanical art. The gardener must truly have two green thumbs, if not even three, to be able to produce such magnificence. Hmmmmm, But somehow something seems to be lacking. ... Ah, yes, I know. It looks like it's too much work for one person. It looks as if it would be necessary to hire a second person to lift the garden into god-like spheres. ... That seems extremely obvious to me. Hm, but you couldn't just let an inexperienced lay-layman ... trust to handle with such valuable plants. I think It would have to be someone who was born with the same talent. Oh, but how would you find someone like that? It seems hopeless. It is so tragic. If only the gardener had relatives, something like a brother perhaps.'". Quickly the notepad disappeared back into her pocket. "That's about how you have to do it, but casually."

"How can you mention all that casually? It's half a book."

"Just say it nonchalantly in passing. I trust you. You can do it." She gave her two little pats on the back as encouragement.

It was not successful. The two of them obviously just wanted to take advantage of her.

~Why can't the people here just be normal?~

From the door they had gone left and now they took a narrow corridor with a turn to the right at the end. A staircase to the basement was in front of them.

~I thought my room was upstairs? Then why didn't we go downstairs in the first place?~

"Um, Are we still going in the right direction? Why do we want to go down?"

"Yeah, that's the super correct direction. I certainly which way we need to go. After all, I've been working here for almost four months now, and by now almost a week in full time."

"You were only part-time before?" asked Meia with a posed smile.

"Yes, it was always only on weekends for two hours. We still had coal, after all."

"Ah, I see."

"Ah, that's nice."

Meia held her smile until Lijeux looked away again, which she did a few steps later to avoid falling down the stairs, which almost happened. As she stumbled, she laughed out loud.

~She has no idea where we are, does she?~

.../ End Part