Chapter 4

Nederlands
Chapter 4. Godfather.

My godfather was the grandson of the founder of a chain of warehouses in the Netherlands. During many years, he was the director of one of the warehouses. After his death, the company developed into a network of many other companies.
Nearly all summer holidays, I stayed in his castle in a beautiful park in Wassenaar. Located at the road of The Hague to Wassenaar.
Generally, his private driver picked me up with a large black car. At arrival, I was showered with the most improbable gifts. At a time, I got, and I speak about a time more than a half-century ago, a toy, a car that I could control with radio waves. In the beginning, I could not drive the car in a proper way and he crashed several times to the skirting board of the wall. On the parquet floor, he could race fast. When he came at the Persian carpet, which lay in the middle of the living room, he made a jump and drove a little bit slower. Unfortunately, the batteries rapidly went empty. In those days, there were no rechargeable batteries.
‘You do not have to play such a long time with the car,’ my godmother told me.
In all those years, I have met my godfather only a couple of times. The last time was just before he died. He was waiting for me behind the balustrade of the landing upstairs.
‘Hello, Cappy, nice to meet you.’
I showed signs to go upstairs to greet my uncle. However, my aunt told me that it was better not to do that. He was very sick and preferred to stay alone.
While we had dinner, my aunt told me suddenly: ‘he was only wearing his shirt and jacket. He was not wearing a pant. You could not see that from downstairs in the hall. It is not possible, because he is completely leak.’
The food tasted not any more. Being disgusted I asked what she meant.
‘Everything is running out,’ she said she and laughed scornfully.

Many years later, I have heard that when my uncle was still young he wanted to become a writer or journalist. However, the family did not agree and he had to start a career in the company. By his superior intelligence, also emotional, he could expand the empire.
He was never at home. I asked my aunt if it was not a problem.
‘No,’ she answered resolutely. ‘This was our appointment before we married. We are only married for the good sake. He needed a woman, which he could show. Moreover, she had to speak foreign languages fluently. I was the one!’
She looked proud around in the large living room of the small castle.
‘Have a look. See what I have. A castle, a beautiful park with a tennis court and a splendid car with a driver. What can you wish more in life?’

2
‘Where he is most of the time?’
‘Generally he stays in Thailand and behaves himself like an animal,’ she said laughing. ‘And I, I visit the queen often to have a drink. Frequently also for a diner.’
‘The queen? Does she really exist? I thought that a queen only exists in fairy tales.
‘Yes,’ she nodded contented. ‘To the queen. Actually, you can come with me this evening to the queen. Moreover, you have to come with me! Someone is coming who wants to meet you. It is a long time ago that he has met you!’
‘Who is he,’ I asked and felt myself very stunning. I still assumed that I was living in a fairy tale.
‘You will see, but we do not stay for dinner. Perhaps next time.’
I jumped nearly to the ceiling and in the evening we drove, when it was already dark, with the black car to the palace of the queen in The Hague. I made my entry in a large chamber where all princesses sat, chatting, at a large table under immense chandeliers. I was welcomed warmly. They were glad that they saw me for the first time. They had already heard a lot about me.
‘Look! Shake hands with that old lord,’ said the oldest princess.
The lord frowned his eyebrows and looked slightly timid to me.
I enjoyed that I could show my special way of dancing. I shook hands with the queen who came in the chamber for a short time and directly excused herself, because she had it rather busy with some business affaires. ‘Next time we see each other longer. I have already heard a lot about you, Cappy.’
After a while my aunt said: ‘we have to go home. Shake hands with everybody and the old lord as first.’
‘Have a look. He is disconcerted,’ the oldest princess said.
‘Disconcerted,’ I asked spontaneously.
‘No, I mean tired,’ she improved herself and looked, frowning her brows, to her sisters.
I looked in his dark eyes and asked: ‘tired?’
‘Yes, tired,’ he said with a hesitating and trembling voice.
On the way back home I asked my aunt on which school the oldest princess was.
‘School is not very important. You must acquire of course some skills. Moreover, the university of live is much more important. Anyway, she shall reach her target. Do not forget that she is the eldest of the children and daughter of the queen,’ she said laughing. ‘Knowledge of facts is not that important. Certainly for the princes no problem. She can always ask for advice. She is in the right position to manage that.’

3
When I came back home I told delighted my family about my visit to the queen.
‘You are crazy,’ called everyone. ‘You are not normal. You have a very strange character.’
The next morning I awoke in a nice made up bed. The blankets and sheets were put under the mattress and I lay on my back. It surprised me completely. If I wanted to sleep on my back, I became sick. I always pulled away the sheets from under the mattress and turned my body in a fetus position.
When I came downstairs in the morning for breakfast, my brother asked: ‘you still believe that you have visited the queen?’
‘No, a queen only exists in fairy tales.’

Another time, when I was in the castle from my godfather, my aunt had a surprise for me.
‘This evening we go to the astronomical observatory. We go when it is dark outside,’ my aunt said.
I jumped a hole in the air.
‘When it is dark outside?’
‘Yes, in dark you can see the stars. Moreover, at that time we are alone in the building. The director promised me to show everything. He shall be our guide.’
The driver brought us with the car. The director was waiting for us in the hall and started immediately a conversation with my aunt. They had seen each other a long time ago.
I took the opportunity to explore the large building. On a balustrade, I saw a door with the words:
Access prohibited. Observatory.
I thought: that does not apply to me. I have been invited. I climbed on the balustrade, opened the door and came in a giant dome-shaped hall with an enormous plateau, on which you could look trough the stargazer. I went upstairs on the spiral staircase, looked trough the stargazer, but saw nothing. Left of me was a kind of scale partitioning with a handle. I started to twist the handle and saw many things that I did not recognize. I twisted the handle further. Surprised I saw large balloons in the sky. I became very fascinated. In the balloons, I saw the reverberation of everyone who lived on earth.
Downstairs under the plateau I heard a raging voice: ‘what are you doing?’
The director ran upstairs to the plateau. I became frightened in behalf of his clamour and reversed rapidly the handle to the beginning. I did not want that he should see what I had discovered.

4.
‘What did you see,’ he screamed furiously.
I paralysed of fear and did not dare to lie.
‘I saw many balloons of glass. You look constantly to people! You can see what they are doing!’
He dragged me out of the chair and looked trough the stargazer.
‘You fool. You saw the dust on the lens. If you had wanted to see something, you had to twist the handle. Never do this again! Never open a door with a prohibited access board.’
‘I came for the stargazer. I had been invited.’
‘You are a naughty boy!’
He dragged me downstairs to my aunt. She looked very angry.
‘You did something what was forbidden! Go to stay in the corner and do not look around. I have to talk with the director about this.’
Despite they whispered, I could nevertheless understand each word.
‘It is better, this to prevent annoying things, you cannot be precise enough, to give him something when you are at home again. Imaging that he has seen we manipulate people. I do not want to think about that!’
My aunt nodded affirmative.
‘This kind of things you can never do again,’ she said, while we drove back home.
‘But I thought it was allowed to open that door! You told me to have a look through the star-gazer!’
‘No, there was a sign with prohibited access.’
‘But I assumed it was not for me!’
‘No. You are naughty and soon I shall give you something.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You will see!’
I did not understand her and was to young to ask her for an explanation.

Forty years later, I met someone who became one of my consultants in business. This adviser told me that he was the assistant of my godfather a long time ago.
He told that my uncle had been rather unhappy. He drowned his sorrows in alcohol. By means of this slow and sneaky assassin, he died too young. Frequently he was drinking a complete night. In the morning, they had to carry him to his office. Straight through the shop, whereas the first customers came already within. In the meantime, he picked music records from the shelfs.
‘‘For my lady,’ he said in a jolly manner. ‘She likes music.’

5
My godmother liked music indeed very much. After his dead, she bought nearly every day music records in the warehouse. Especially when I stayed in her house for holidays, this desire came float above. Cupboards full with records. She liked to listen to music when she was cooking.
‘I still get discount,’ she called from the kitchen. Beautiful music, hè, Cappy!’
‘Yes, I said. I heard only classic music. Actually, in that time there was only classic music. The Bolero of Ravel was the first music of which I get in exaltation. The Beatles not yet existed.
My godmother moved some years after the dead of my uncle to Switzerland. I did not see her during a couple of years. Until she came with her fourth man, a Swiss banker from Zürich, to introduce him to my parents.
‘I devour husbands,’ she said and started to laugh loud.
Especially for this occasion, the whole family had been invited. After a while, my father climbed on a chair to give one of his exaggerated speeches. My godmother started to make an incredible scene. Exhorted by her Swiss husband.
‘Do not behave you in this way, do not be so official, it does not fit you, say it to him, explain his situation, tell him who he is in reality’ my aunt said with a sharp voice to my father and nodded with her head in my direction. My father’s lips became thinly and sharply and he nodded violently ‘no’ against my aunt. I heard say him in his mind: never and never.
‘Tell him,’ my aunt shouted angry.
Nothing was told, nothing said. My father took all the secrets into his sepulchre.
Until the moment, a half century later, that I discovered the truth when I was in Thailand.

In 1975, Ingrid, my wife and I moved, from Amsterdam to the municipality
Opsterland in Friesland, the north of The Netherlands.
On a Sunday morning the local police came. They handed over the will of my godmother. Approximately ten pages and the last page was hand written. A note of my aunt in which was written that her butler was the only heir. My father told me a week later that because of the fact that my aunt had lived in Switzerland the Swiss law applied. A handwritten note was sufficient. My father asked advice to a lawyer. The lawyer did start a civil procedure. Our claim was not granted. My father phoned me to come to his house, in order to sign some documents in which I should abandon my interests. Afterwards, it is a very strange pace of matter. In behalf of the pronouncement of a judge. At that time, I had totally no knowledge of this type of procedures. Now, fourty years later, I feel myself very uncomfortable. I have signed some official documents, in which I abandoned my interests. I really wonder which interests I have abandoned.

6.
Just as I left the office of my father, my brother skidded like a hare along me. He closed the heavy velours curtains behind himself and closed the sliding-doors. Astonished I went back on my steps and hold my ear in the slit of the curtains.
‘Take care that he does not come behind truth. He shall kill you,’ my father said.
‘In matter of fact that is my decision. I ensure you that it will not happen the first five years. Afterwards it has become prescriptive.’
‘I hope for you!’
On that moment, my stepmother entered the hall and asked with a sharp voice: ‘what are you doing?
‘I wonder if I need some more information.’
‘Ah, you!’
Furious she pulled open the curtains, slid the doors from each other and called:
‘He has heard everything.’
‘Ah, nevertheless he forgets. Brother, some coffee?’
‘Yes I shall make coffee for you,’ repeated my stepmother with a secret smile on her face.
That night I slept very deeply. The next morning I could remind the events of the previous day only vague. I spoke about it with Ingrid, my wife, but I assumed that I was looking for nails on low tide.

Next Chapter of Sonstral (translation not finished, coming soon)
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