:53:02
...the maid who, I wouId Iearn Iater,
actuaIIy ran the househoId...
:53:06
...and haIfway up the stairs
sat a IittIe boy of five...
:53:09
...Iooking at his "´new"´ brother.
:53:14
When we got home,
my maid, SeIena, was there...
:53:16
...and she said to me,
"´Can´t we change it?"´
:53:18
He was fiIthy, you know, and smeIt...
:53:21
...of sick and everything.
:53:24
Anyhow, we gave him a bath.
:53:28
My grubby clothes,
after three days of travel, were torn off me.
:53:31
Burned, l learnt later.
:53:33
l was scrubbed from head to toe...
:53:35
...and then dressed in English clothes.
:53:39
Then the famiIy got together
for a chicken dinner.
:53:43
That I remember.
That´s a Ianguage I couId understand.
:53:48
And I started to feeI more at ease.
:53:52
l learned English...
:53:54
...by being sent to a German man,
rather old...
:53:58
...who lived a few houses down
the same street.
:54:02
Maybe I thought he was a Nazi...
:54:04
...but I was terrified of him.
:54:08
In fact, I was so terrified that I Iearned...
:54:11
...EngIish so quick
so I wouIdn´t have to see him again.
:54:15
Then six weeks Iater...
:54:17
...I wrote to my parents in EngIish:
:54:19
"´I no Ionger speak German."´
:54:22
I never have,
and I´ve never been abIe to re-Iearn it.
:54:27
He was very, very good.
:54:29
He liked the sweet things
and John liked the savory, but...
:54:33
...they got on very well together.
:54:36
But I noticed, weII, we knew every night...
:54:38
...when it was dark,
he´d come down the stairs...
:54:41
...and he´d see that the door was Iocked.
That was one thing I remember.
:54:52
My mother was in London,
so for me the separation...
:54:56
...was not as traumatic
because l was going to something.