With that done and dusted, Mary took the plastic bag full of cash aside and offered to refill the biscuits, to which the young master declined. He would have tuition class soon and need to prepare for it. He still had yet to take a shower after coming home from school. Mary turned to Malee as she stood up.
“I would prepare the bath for the young master. Can you take the duster over there and do the cleaning on the table tops? Once I am back, we will polish them with the wet towels.” said Mary before she left into another room. Malee nodded and walked over to the corner where there was a duster standing inside a bin. She picked it up and worked her way slowly but carefully around the room, making sure she had left no blink spots undusted. George watched as she walked around the room dusting and then went into the room which Mary had went in earlier, leaving Malee along in the room.
It wasn’t long before Malee completed and finding that George had already disappeared along with Mary; she sat down on the chair, not knowing what to do next. She stood up again and walked towards the center of the room with the duster in one hand, carefully noting the room’s interior. It was not a too large of a room but there were several tall bookcases with books written in Thai, English and other languages she had never seen before on the shelves, neatly arranged. Aside from those bookshelves, there were several display glass stands with pictures of George receiving awards from several other people. Malee noticed there were a few of them wearing military or police uniforms standing with George and an unknown man.
In boredom, Malee picked one book from the lower shelf and tried to read it. She could understand the words, but not the meaning overall. She flipped a few pages before she put it back on the shelf. Unknown to her, George had came out from the room to finish up the cup of tea that he had left on the table and saw Malee reading one of his books. He looked for a while before smiling and then went back into the room silently. Malee went back to the chair she was sitting and waited for Mary to come out with the towels. It was a while before Mary returned to the room with several towels and gave some of them to Malee.
She instructed Malee to follow her with dry clothes till Malee was sure of which are the places to clean. So both of them cleaned the place with Mary wiping the tops with the wet towel and Malee following her with the dry towel. When completed, Mary told Malee that they would return to the servant house till evening when the young master would have his class. So both of them left the room and slowly walked back to the servant house across the garden. On the way they met with Michael carrying a bag full of dirt and was told they were spreading fertilizers across the newly made a garden at the far corner. Malee asked Mary if she could accompany Michael to the new garden which Mary approved but reminded her to come back to take another shower before the going back to the young master’s room at 5. She noted Malee had no watch so Michael volunteered to remind Malee before due time. Mary left the two children walking towards the far corner of the garden and made her way towards the servant house.
“Here, let me carry one bag.,” asked Malee. She felt uncomfortable with walking alongside Michael, who was struggling with the weight of the fertilizers he was carrying with both hands.
“It’s ok. If my father sees it, he will scold me for not able to carry them.,” replied Michael with his voice strained from the load. He didn’t mind sharing the load with Malee, but also mindful of the fact that his father would see him as weak. He bore with the weight till they reached the location of the new garden.
“So, how was tea with George? He asked you to call him as George right?,” asked Michael, trying to change the subject and also his mind away from the aching arms.