Malee accompanied John and his friends along for breakfast and then to the nearby beach to play with. It had been some time since she was with someone that she needed to be guarded, so it was fun for her. They had several snacks from roadside stalls and had a swim with the other children they met at the beach. It wasn’t like the private villa with George and Georgia but Malee found the familiar beach, filled with tourists, more enjoyable. There were no lotions or massages, but by the time they changed back to the city for lunch, she was as happy as she ever been.
Lunch was at the fast-food restaurant near the beach and the money that John had passed to her was more than the amount of food she could take. Apparently, John had never had the issue with survival as she had for her entire life till she arrived at the house by mistake. But it was all in the past and she was with friends, her fellow servants and had passed every test that George and Georgia had assigned to her.
“So Malee, when are you going back to school?” asked John.
“No. I left school 2 years back, I don’t think I can catch up with the studies.” replied Malee while dipping the fries into the sauce. She was a dutiful student, even if she never had time to study like the rest of her classmates, but after 2 years, she doubted she could remember whatever she had memorized under the moonlight when her father had fallen asleep.
“Really? Didn’t George say anything?” asked John after taking another large bite out of the burger.
“No.” replied Malee. She wondered what would George had to say to her about her education. Perhaps she would ask George during the drawing class with the professor that week. The important thing was that she was with children around her age at the restaurant after playing at the beach as she used to. A carefree life. No princesses in the high heels need apply. Malee wondered how would Georgia react if she was with them, squeezing with the other boys along the restaurant by the beach, still wet from swimming in the open ocean the entire morning.
After a hearty lunch, Malee sat under a shade of an enormous tree by the park and watched John played soccer with his friends till the evening. Then it was time to head back to the house for dinner with the rest of the servants. John and Malee said bye to the rest of the friends and boarded the bus to the bus-stop near the house and walked the rest of the way. The roads were cleared of the buses along the road to the house for it was a private residential area, a very privilege area at that. Malee wondered how she pushed her cart to that place since there wasn’t the place that would buy her fried potatoes.
They went past the gate and the guards, who were smoking on their off-day, and headed their way to the servants’ house. As expected, the servants were playing cards or smoking by the corridor. They strictly prohibited smoking was strictly in the main house, especially near the twins, so they weren’t able to smoke freely as on such rare days as that day. A few waves from the elders on the 2 children returning and Malee and John headed into the house to rest and shower before the dinner.
By the time Malee had come down to the kitchen, they had started the preparation for the dinner with meat and vegetables left over from the party. The dinner was better than the usual, with arrays of dishes normally reserved for the family. Since they were not back for dinner and the meat might go bad, they gave permission to clean the leftovers from the freezer and then to replenish them subsequently. John was livelier than usual with his stories of the day and the amount of goals he scored. Malee didn’t remember him scoring that much goal when she was watching, but nodded just the same.
“Can you come to see me after the you have done with washing the dishes?” asked Mary to Malee as they were clearing the plates from the table. Malee nodded and wondered what was it that Mary had wanted to talk to her. Perhaps it was about George. She quickly cleaned the plates by the counter and went up to Mary’s room, taking 2 steps at a time on the stairs.