“Oh, she is new here. Understudy to Mary.” replied George while shifting his body to introduce Malee to the girl.
“Malee, this is Georgia. My sister. She is coming back here during school holidays.”
Malee bowed.
“She stinks the same. Both of you need a good shower.” remarked Georgia and pinching her nose at the same time in disgust. She then turned around and went into the house, leaving three of them behind.
“She is doing it all over again.” sighed Michael in despair. George sympathised. He felt the weight of his sister’s thumb crushing him. He turned to Malee.
“Go take a shower and rest. I will explain Mary and tell her to leave you alone for the day.” said George, and he too went into the house.
Malee looked at Michael, and Michael looked at her. Then they both went opposite ways without saying a word to one another. One towards the garden and the other to the direction across the garden, towards the servants’ house. Malee didn’t know whether she was tired or said, but she was definitely confused by the events that took place that morning. But as George had ordered, she had better take a shower and rest. She had a long shower, reflection on the events and her father once again and she felt the tears swelling from within her as she remembered her father’s blood-soaked body on the floor. She collapsed on the floor and started crying till Mary came in to the room, wrap her in bath robe and carried her into the room.
“I am so sorry about your father, Malee. George told me to come back as soon as I can.” said Mary.
Malee nodded and slowly went into sleep under the warmth of the blanket and Mary’s hands consoling her. She woke up about the noon and dressed herself. Her eyes were red and puffed, but she felt lighter. She went to the main house to help with the lunch preparation to occupy her mind away from the events that morning. She went down the stairs to the first floor but found it empty of any souls. Knowing they would work hard at the kitchen by the main house preparing for lunch, she hurried and made her way towards the back of the main house.
Mary tried to say something when she saw Malee entered the room but she had her hands full with the vegetable soup in front of her. Malee sat down besides one lady and started preparing the vegetables, stripping the root from them. She could guess she was root them for frying them, which was one of George’s favorite dishes. The rest of the servants looked surprised upon seeing Malee coming in late, but didn’t say a thing. Once the vegetables were done, Mary signalled her to come closer and gave her a basket of potatoes and asked her to make her fried potato dish.
Malee spent the next few minutes hecticly peeling off the skins from potatoes, washing them, dicing them and then frying them as she used to. Once all done, they paced the dishes one by one on the silver trolley and pushed into the dining room. It surprised Malee to see the newly redecorated dining room. It was polished vigorously so she could see her reflection on the large mahogany table and had several pots of fresh flowers in the middle. And there was her drawing, framed and hanged in the centre. Malee stared at the drawing till she realised George had come into the room along with the rest of the family members, and then she backed off to the wall to join Mary. She looked at Mary, as if to ask what they would say about the painting, but Mary placed her index finger on her lips.
It surprised George, not at seeing the drawing, but seeing Malee with the rest of the servants. But it wasn’t the time to talk to her, so he calmly went to the chair and sat down, facing his sister. She had changed to a more homely dress without makeups, but Malee thought she was still exquisite, like a princess. Unlike the usual mean between George and his step-mother , it was very noisy. George’s father and his sister seemed to be more lively than them. They talked non-stop about the trips and the issues while they were still eating in contrast to the absolute silence of George and the mistress.