Facing the Lion. Simone Arnold-Liebster
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Название: Facing the Lion
Автор: Simone Arnold-Liebster
Издательство: Автор
Жанр: Биографии и Мемуары
isbn: 9782879531397
isbn:
As we came down the slope, we came underneath the cloud and could see Bergenbach. The smoke was slithering down the roof of the house like a big serpent.
“We made it! Thank God.” But I knew that Grandma believed it was God’s punishment. Whatever happened came from him, especially storms. We still had to walk for a while through a marshy area.
“Look, our path is over there.” We had deviated from the path quite a bit. Now, we were stumbling with great difficulty through the marsh grass. Every time we put our foot on a flat rock, the water would squeeze out of our drenched shoes with a squishing sound. Finally we made it home.
“My dear child, your dress has turned into a sieve.” Warm underwear, heated in the baking stove, awaited both of us. A warm footbath got my blood moving, and with excitement and pride, I recounted our adventure. Grandma looked at me. I could see in her eyes how disappointed she was. My enthusiastic report was not what she had expected. She kept silent while she worked to revive the poor stiff little hog.
The odor of fresh paint got me all excited. I ran upstairs as fast as I could to see what John had done. He was so proud to have had the opportunity to do his first room as a professional. He had even painted my wardrobe light green. Dad had moved my bed to a different location and put flowered material on the wall around the bed to match my bed cover. Above it, John had painted the Seven Dwarfs and put them under glass. I was delighted! What a wonderful room it was—if my door were kept open, everybody who would come into our apartment could see it.
Mother gave me realistic advice. “It’s your room. You keep it clean; you make your bed. The way you leave it in the morning, that’s the way you’ll find it at noon. If you want to have a good reputation, you know what you have to do.”
Mum and Dad had given John a Bible. Dad told us that John was very happy about getting it, but that his mother had become upset and had made a scene. She treated him like a schoolboy. “Maybe because she’s a widow, she wants to hold on to her authority,” Dad explained.
As usual, early one morning Dad had gone down to get the milk can and the bread hanging in the basket next to the basement door. When he came back, he was as white as chalk. He was breathless and sat down as beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Dad told us that he had been downstairs when suddenly the door swung open. There was Mr. Eguemann standing in front of him with an ax raised over his head.
“I ran outside and down the street with my milk can and spilled some of it. He ran after me screaming, ‘You traitor, you should be killed!’ He only gave up chasing me when he saw somebody coming.”
“Emma,” he continued, “you’ll have to buy milk and bread in the shop. I’m sorry for the extra work, but with an alcoholic like him, we have to be careful and smart. I’ll ask for a change in my work shift. That way I won’t meet him alone on the way to work. No use taking a chance.”
What a shock! A good Catholic man like Mr. Eguemann trying to kill my dad! My heart started burning against them. Trying to calm me down, Mother read to me the words of Jesus: “You will be objects of hatred by all the nations.” Then she said that the Apostle Paul said, “Return evil for evil to no one.” Dad would be very careful when he left the house, and we would too. We stopped talking to the Eguemanns to avoid a sudden violent reaction. Zita had to be taken out secretly. Whenever possible, we took her down in the daytime and stayed in the front of the house where passersby would serve as protection. I had never forgiven him for demanding to have me punished in front of him. Now I really hated him!
The last day of second grade was a hot summer day with pouring rain. After the usual admonition to “buy a vacation text and notebook and review one lesson as well as the catechism every day,” the time had come to say farewell to Mademoiselle, who was retiring. Each girl went up to the pulpit, and she had a nice cheerful word for everyone, or rather for almost everyone! In the autumn, we would get a new teacher. What a relief for me!
The gutters were overflowing. Since I was wearing rubber boots, I decided to walk right into the puddles. As long as Mum couldn’t see me from the window, I wanted to be a savage girl, free to do things on my own. I gleefully splashed everyone on the sidewalk because vacation was at hand. But once around the corner, I had to behave like a civilized girl! But my underwear told on me; everything was saturated with mud and water!
The vacation ahead meant a different schedule for us. My parents had finally contacted the Bibelforscher (Jehovah’s Witnesses) and were attending their meetings. A few families, people who loved to study the Bible, met in the city hall. There they learned about a Sunday school held by a retired nurse. Her name was Laure. About eight children attended the classes on Sunday mornings and answered the questions from a textbook called The Harp of God. I got to go. I was offered a Bible with a black cover and red edges. It was the greatest gift—I treasured it! It was my Bible. How different from catechism! Finally, I could freely ask any question and would be shown in my Bible how to find the answer. The hour was always too short for me, but too long for some others. And there were even some complaints when Laure ran overtime.
Aunt Eugenie was upset when she heard about the school. She had made an appointment with Mr. Koch and her brother-in-law. Mr. Koch, as an educated man, would be able to get Father back where he belonged, in the Roman Catholic Church. But his efforts were in vain.
“Adolphe is a poor victim of you, Emma,” Aunt said, wagging her finger in Mum’s face. She continued in a scolding voice, “Mr. Koch told me, ‘Mr. Arnold gave in because his wife wears the pants and he prefers peace in the house!’” How could she say that? Why do grown-ups judge without knowing the facts? My father certainly wasn’t weak. He was the one who took me out of catechism. He stopped smoking in just one day. He was the one who took us to the meetings. He was the one who introduced prayer at our meals. He was the one who asked me to attend Sunday school and to go out with Mum visiting people. But my aunt acted like her mother—she closed her ears tightly, accusing further, “It is a shame to drag Simone from house to house like a beggar.”
“But Aunt Eugenie, I love it,” I protested. Her ears were shut. Her eyes narrowed.
“You’re already poisoned by your mother’s fanaticism!” I learned a new word, “fanaticism.” But as soon as I found out what it meant, I came to the conclusion that it applied more to my aunt and to my grandma!
I often went with Mum as she visited the neighbors. Listening carefully to the remarks of the people helped me to clear up many questions I had asked myself. Strange ideas, like the one of that pastor who tried to defend the Trinity. Trying to prove the equal might, position, and eternity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, he said, “Take three eggs and make one omelet. It is still three eggs.”
Just as confusing to me was the idea that the soul would be judged right after death while the body was reserved for judgment at the end of the world. “When a person sins, which part commits the sin—the brain or СКАЧАТЬ