The Notebook + The Proof + The Third Lie by Agota Kristof Read Free Book Online

win war with new wonder weapon."
    We ask:
    "So the war will be over soon?"
    He says:
    "Yes, very soon. Why you look like that at food on the table? If you hungry, eat chocolate, biscuits, sausage."
    We say:
    "There are people dying of hunger."
    "So what? No think of that. Many people die of hunger or other things. We no think. We eat and not die."
    He laughs. We say:
    "We know a blind, deaf woman who lives near here with her daughter. They won't survive this winter."
    "Is not my fault."
    "Yes, it is your fault. Yours and your country's. You brought us the war."
    "Before the war, how they do to eat, the blind woman and daughter?"
    "Before the war, they lived on charity. People gave them old clothes and shoes. They brought them food. Now nobody gives anything anymore. People are all poor or are afraid of becoming so. The war has made them stingy and selfish."
    The orderly shouts:
    "I no care all that! Enough! Silence!"
    "Yes, you don't care, and you eat our food."
    "Not your food. I take that in barracks stores."
    "Everything on that table comes from our country: the drinks, the canned food, the biscuits, the sugar. Our country feeds your army."
    The orderly goes red in the face. He sits down on the bed and holds his head in his hands:
    "You think I want war and come to your filthy country? I much better at home, quiet, make chairs and tables. Drink wine of my country, have fun with nice girls at home. Here everybody unkind, you too, little children. You say all my fault. What I can do? If I say I no go to war, no come in your country, I shot. You take all, go take all on table. Celebration finished. I sad, you too mean with me."
    We say:
    "We don't want to take everything, just a few cans and a little chocolate. But from time to time, at least during the winter, you could bring us some powdered milk, flour, or anything else to eat."
    He says:
    "Good. That I can. You come with me tomorrow to blind woman's house. But you nice with me after. Yes?"
    We say:
    "Yes."
    The orderly laughs. His friends arrive. We leave. We hear them singing all night.
     
     

The Priest's Housekeeper
    One morning, towards the end of winter, we are sitting in the kitchen with Grandmother. There is a knock on the door; a young woman comes in. She says:
    "Good morning. I've come for some potatoes for . . ."
    She stops speaking and looks at us:
    "Why, they're adorable!"
    She takes a stool and sits down:
    "Come here, you."
    We don't move.
    "Or you."
    We don't move. She laughs:
    "Come on, come here. Are you afraid of me?"
    We say:
    "We're afraid of nobody." We go over to her; she says:
    "Heavens! How beautiful you are! But how dirty you are!"
    Grandmother asks:
    "What do you want?"
    "Potatoes for the priest. Why are you so dirty? Don't you ever wash?"
    Grandmother says angrily:
    "It's none of your business. Why didn't the old woman come?"
    The young woman laughs again:
    "The old woman? She was younger than you. But she died yesterday. She was my aunt. I'm replacing her at the priest's house."
    Grandmother says:
    "She was five years older than me. She died, just like that . . . How many potatoes do you want?"
    "Ten kilos, or more, if you have them. And some apples. And also . . . what else have you got? The priest is as thin as a rake, and there's nothing in his larder."
    Grandmother says:
    "You should have thought of that in the autumn."
    "I wasn't there in the autumn. I've only been there since yesterday evening."
    Grandmother says:
    "I'm warning you, at this time of year, food of any sort costs plenty."
    The young woman laughs again:
    "Name your price. We don't have any choice. There's almost nothing left in the shops."
    "Soon there'll be nothing left anywhere."
    Grandmother sniggers and goes out. We are left alone with the priest's housekeeper. She asks us:
    "Why don't you ever wash?"
    "There's no bathroom, no soap. It isn't possible to wash."
    "And your clothes! What a mess! Don't you have any other clothes!"
    "We have some in the suitcases under the