Child of All Nations by Pramoedya Ananta Toer Read Free Book Online Page B

went to buy the train tickets. Madame Annelies was left in my care. We all climbed aboard the train. We laid Annelies down on a seat with her head on my lap. Luckily, there weren’t many passengers that day.
    The woman sat across from me. She didn’t speak. I forced myself to speak to her. Her name was Annie Ronkel, a widow.
    “I already regret taking on this work,” she then said. “If I had known it was going to be like this…”
    “I don’t.”
    “Who is paying you?”
    “God Almighty, Mevrouw.”
    Madame Annelies didn’t move at all, at least not of her own will. Sometimes the swaying of the train would heave her body a little. She no longer even opened her eyes. She wasn’t interested in seeing the Netherlands.
    The nurse hadn’t stayed with us. The train moved off slowly, as if it hated leaving its stable.
    “Where are we taking this sick one?” I asked.
    “According to the agreement, to my own house,” answered the old crow, who still showed no interest in either my name or where I came from.
    “Agreement with whom, Mevrouw?”
    “With those who have hired me.”
    “Mrs. Amelia Mellema-Hammers?”
    “How did you know that?”
    “Let’s take her to a hospital,” I proposed.
    She wouldn’t agree. It would mean disobeying her orders and she might lose her job.
    It seemed a very long time. My legs had gone to sleep. Madame Annelies showed she was alive only by her breathing. The train stopped at Huizen. We transferred her to a hired horse cart. Only then did I realize that all Annelies had with her was an old suitcase. It was very light, as if it had nothing in it. Were there other things left on board ship? Ah, what meaning did they have, I thought almost in the same second. So I looked upon that lone suitcase as all that came with her from the Indies.
    The horse cart left Huizen and made its way straight to a village, B——., a peasant hamlet. The road was rough and rocky and in bad repair.
    We carried Annelies upstairs. It was a small room, smelling of new hay. The house itself was a farmer’s cottage made from earth and stones with a thatched roof, just like in all the pictures. Its occupants were the old woman herself, her daughter and son-in-law, and their two children, both still very small.
    After all this was finished, Mama and Minke, and Annelies lay in an old iron bed, maybe two centuries old, covered in a thick blanket, I fed her some hot milk. She finished half a glass.
    After many different approaches, I was finally able to obtain the address of Mrs. Amelia Mellema-Hammers. I returned to Huizen and sent off a telegram telling her of Madame Annelies’s severe illness. After that I looked for some accommodation. The innkeeper only wanted me if I paid more than the normal tariff because I wasn’t European. Perhaps they equated me with a demon or devil. It was there, in that inn, that I started to think about what I must do next in order to help Madame Annelies. If there was no word from Mellema-Hammers within two days, I would go and see her.
    My dear Minke, that event which shook all of Surabaya did not reach the attention of a single person here. There is no concern over Madame Annelies anywhere. Everyone seems busy with their own affairs. So I thought again of Miss Magda Peters, our teacher who was expelled from the Indies. Didn’t she once tell us that progress in this age was pioneered by the radicals? I will find Magda Peters and get her help. Sooner or later I will find out her address.
    I write this letter at the inn in Huizen. Forgive me, for I
have left Madame Annelies now for almost twenty-four hours. As soon as I finish this letter, I will be off to the village again.
    May God continue to give strength to Mama and Minke.
    Another letter stamped Huizen read like this.
    I don’t know what I must write under these anxious and worrying circumstances, Mama and Minke. But even so I must write and tell you. I must not make Mama and Minke wait too long. Dear friends, you must