Mendelevski's Box

by Roger Swindells

  ‘I’m sorry, I need to spend the evening with Grietje, I was out all yesterday until very late and I haven’t seen her today as she has been working.’

  ‘Oh, I understand,’ she said but she sounded upset.

  ‘I haven’t got any money for coffee anyway.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I would have paid, I think we are all going to be short of money for a week. They are withdrawing all the old notes on Wednesday so I don’t know how Jos is going to pay us, we don’t want old notes which are no good on Thursday. He might struggle to explain all his money to the bank, it’s part of identifying black market profits or something.’

  ‘Jos, black market, surely not.’ He laughed.

  ‘I don’t really understand, it’s a bit like the new coins. They are supposed to be limiting everyone to ten guilders in the new money, a five guilder note and two two and a half guilder coins to tide them over for the first week, but it won’t go far and how do you pay for cheap things, how do you get change, will the German zinc coins still be used? I don’t really understand it at all. They cancelled all the hundred guilder notes two months ago, but that didn’t affect me of course.’

  ‘Everyone? I haven’t been paid at all yet, how will I get the ten guilders?’

  ‘I don’t see how you can, you have to show your ration distribution card at the bank when you get the new ten guilders and you don’t have one as you were in hiding and in the camp when the new ones came out last year, so you don’t exist officially. I don’t know how I’ll get my new money yet either and it’s getting very close.’

  ‘What if you have more than ten guilders to exchange?’

  ‘That’s something else I don’t have to worry about, especially if Jos doesn’t pay me more than ten guilders this week. I think if you have more than ten guilders they will want you to open a bank account, where your funds are going to be immediately frozen until they are satisfied it’s not black money. It won’t affect people like us but it’s going to be difficult for a week at least. They say people are spending all their money now on just about anything to get rid of it before Wednesday.’

  ‘Shame we haven’t got any to spend, we could go out tonight and live it up.’

  ‘Grietje will be pleased if you stay in with her, she’s attracted to you, you do know that, don’t you?’

  ‘What! Don’t be silly, she’s twenty years older than me.’

  ‘Twelve, she told me, she’s only thirty-three.’

  ‘I thought she was just being kind to me as she knew me when I was young and she worked for my father. She seems guilty about something, possibly because of the way we were treated by the Nazis and wants to look after me, or so I thought. I should feel guilty if anything, I don’t think we paid her at all well.’

  ‘Well, just be aware that’s all, she’s a widow and vulnerable, make sure she doesn’t jump on you,’ she giggled. ‘After all underneath that hair and stubble you’re a handsome man.’

  They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and entertaining Irene. Just before six there was a knock on the door. It opened and Grietje walked into the room. Irene ran to her.

  ‘Simon! What are you doing here?’ She looked surprised and a little angry. ‘Don’t you see enough of Maaike at work, you shouldn’t be bothering her today.’

  Maaike stood up and hopped on the spot ignoring her crutches. ‘It’s alright, he just came down for a chat. He’s lonely, poor boy,’ she joked.

  ‘I’ll look after him tonight, I’m cooking, and I’ve got a chicken. See you tomorrow, Maaike. Can I pay you then? Otherwise you’ll have to wait a week. Come on you two.’

  ‘Yes, goodbye Maaike.’ He gave her a big smile which, to his delight, she returned. He left, together with Irene, feeling like a small boy again.

  Grietje cooked a wonderful meal of roast chicken and potatoes. It was quite late by the time they had eaten so she put Irene to bed while he washed the plates. Afterwards they sat and listened to the radio and talked.

  He was still a bit unnerved by Maaike’s revelation and he realised that allowing her robe to come open in front of him might not, after all, have been accidental.

  She tried to explain to him about the withdrawal of the old guilder notes. She had slightly more than the permitted ten guilders as she had been paid again by one of her employers, anxious to get rid of his old notes no doubt, so she had spent money that night on the chicken, was going to pay Maaike tomorrow and hoped to spend the rest before the deadline.

  ‘I don’t have any black money but I don’t want to have any more than ten when I go to the bank, I don’t want all the hassle and I don’t really want to open an account but I can’t afford not to use it. It all seems crazy to me but the Finance Minister, Lieftinck, I think his name is, has come up with the idea. It’s to catch all the black money and to sort out how much is in circulation. Apparently we have just been printing too much money under the Germans.’

  He still wasn’t sure he understood it correctly that everyone in the country had to manage on ten guilders for a week and make a declaration where their money came from, or that she and Maaike understood it either, but as he had no money it didn’t affect him apart from his wages from Jos.

  ‘I’ve arranged for someone to come round tomorrow morning to look at the box beds and see if he can build you a proper single bed. He’s the husband of a friend but he won’t want old money either, so he probably won’t do it until next week when I can pay him in the new notes. The mattress will be a problem, we’ll have to look around for a clean second-hand one nearby, we’d never get it back here if we went to Waterlooplein for it.’

  He told her in more detail about his visit to his father’s workshop. She seemed interested in where all his tools, stock and other things had gone.

  ‘There was so much stuff, I was helping him fill big old tea crates with it.’

  He nodded, remembering the crates arriving at Dijkstraat. ‘I’m fairly sure he sold it all while we were at Dijkstraat, while people could still deal with Jews. I remember he took a few things with him when we went into hiding. I recall him trying to work on watches in the dark but I suppose the Germans or the police got them when we were arrested. He certainly took nothing other than clothes when they put us on the train.’

  She changed the subject, not wanting to discuss his father and tired of hearing of his day with Bart. ‘How are you getting on at work?’

  ‘I’ve only actually done one shift. Jos seems to like me but his wife doesn’t, although I’m told by Maaike that she doesn’t really like anybody.’

  ‘And how are you getting on with Maaike?’ It appeared to him to be a very pointed question.

  ‘Very well I think, she’s nice and she’s good at her job so she’s teaching me well.’

  ‘She’s sweet on you, I know that, I can tell.’

  He saw a chance to finish both rumours. ‘There’s no point in anybody being ‘sweet’ on me, I’ve got no money, no prospects and no confidence or self-esteem, I wouldn’t be any good for any woman.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say that Simon, you are honest, upright, young and you will get back on your feet soon I’m sure, someone will snap you up. Well, I’m so tired, it’s been a long day, I’m off to bed, goodnight.’ She leaned over and kissed his cheek and went through to her bedroom.

  He toyed with the idea of going down to see Maaike. He was going to suggest a walk the following morning but he realised she would have Irene in her care again. The evening was out as well as they were both at work so, still tired from the previous night’s drinking session with Bart, he too went to his room.

  Wednesday 26th September 1945

  He’d slept much better as the husband of Grietje’s friend’s had been round, looked at the box bed and taken off the end board of the lower one and removed the top as an interim measure. It meant he could at least stretch out, although his feet hung over the end and the mattress finished at the middle of his calf.

  He still woke early, early enough to actually
see Aart van Beek as he passed carrying his chamber pot. He said good morning, Aart grunted. He was at the bar early to help with the delivery. Jos had said the previous evening that nine would be fine, but it was only eight thirty as he banged on the door of the Café van Loon.

  Jos appeared wearing his cellar apron but otherwise immaculately dressed in what were obviously his best suit trousers and a white shirt and dark blue tie. He’d combed his hair and even trimmed his beard. The suit jacket was hanging on a peg nearby.

  ‘Morning Jos, very smart for taking a delivery, aren’t you?’

  ‘Cheeky young sod, I’ve got to go to the bank today with her upstairs and our distribution cards to get our twenty new guilders and to pay in last night’s takings. I’m also taking my account books for the bar, so they can see I run a legitimate business and that my account isn’t full of black market money. It’s bloody ridiculous, we might not be back by eleven so I’ll lose money not being open. You haven’t got any old notes, have you? I’ll pay them in for you if you do so you don’t lose the money.’

  ‘I haven’t got any notes, in fact I haven’t got any money at all. I was hoping you would pay me today but with only ten guilders I don’t see how you can.’

  ‘See me tonight,’ he winked, ‘I’ll see you alright then. There are ways and means you know. Those clever buggers in government think they’ve got it all tied up but they don’t know how a Jordaan lad works.’

  The brewery wagon pulled by two large horses arrived, as Jos had guessed, at nine exactly. He held the horses while Jos and the dray driver dropped barrels of beer down onto a thick padded cushion before rolling them down through the trapdoor into the cellar. Crates of beer were slid down the slope but the crates of empties were much harder work so he went down to help Jos get them up to street level so the drayman could load them. Jos signed a receipt, took his copy and the horse and dray moved off towards Bloemgracht. The whole thing took only about twenty minutes and he wondered for a moment why Jos had asked him to be there.

  ‘There, that wasn’t too painful was it? He’s a good one, that driver, but a couple of them are lazy and don’t do any more to help than they have to. You’ll need to make sure they don’t deliver one case short, thieving devils. You’ll soon get the hang of it, you’ll be doing it on your own in no time. You can bugger off now until four.’

  I don’t know about that, he thought, but he was grateful to be finished so early. He’d left before breakfast so he headed back home. He knew that Grietje would be at work by the time he got back and after he’d eaten he was going to see Maaike.

  She was sitting on the outside step as he arrived, watching as Irene played in the street with two other small children from across the road.

  ‘You were quick, I heard you go out but didn’t expect you back yet.’

  ‘It was all very easy really, Jos was waiting, he has to go to the bank and he and the drayman soon did the job. I think he expects me to supervise it soon, no doubt he’ll want to stay in bed sleeping it off on Wednesdays.’

  ‘I’ll have to go and change my money today too somehow, I’ve got it down to just ten guilders and a few zinc coins, about fifteen cents which don’t matter. Grietje is finishing early so she should be here by two to take Irene back. I’ll go to the bank on Haarlemmerdijk and then straight to work. Trouble is if she pays me it will be in old money and then I’ll have more than ten guilders. I don’t know what to do.’

  ‘I expect it’s a problem lots of ordinary people will have today but don’t worry, Jos will sort it out I’m sure, knowing him he’ll have a way around it. Can I come with you? We could do that canal walk you mentioned and still be at the bar by four.’

  She smiled. ‘That would be very nice. If you watch Irene I’ll make coffee, I think I have just enough for two cups.’

  ‘I’ll have to go upstairs, I haven’t eaten yet.’

  ‘Let me get you something to eat, bread and jam or cheese, OK? I have eggs if you want.’

  ‘No, really, just coffee and bread will be fine, I don’t want to bother you.’

  Secretly he was delighted to be spending this unexpected time with her. Last night at the bar had been very busy, everyone was trying to get rid of all their folding money before it became worthless and what better way than to exchange it for drink? They had had little time to talk and she had wanted to take the quickest way home as she was tired.

  Grietje arrived just after two and, as expected, paid Maaike in old notes. She had already been to the bank for her new ten guilders, which she showed to Maaike.

  ‘The banks are busy, Maaike.’

  ‘Simon and I are going now that you are home, we thought we’d try Haarlemmerdijk and then go on to work.’

  Grietje frowned. ‘You’re going to the bank too, Simon?’

  ‘Just to keep Maaike company and I have to be at work at four anyway.’

  ‘Don’t you need to eat?’

  ‘Jos often gives us a mid-evening snack, so I’m alright thank you.’

  ‘I’ll see you later then, depending on what time you get back.’ She sounded disappointed but took Irene by the hand and disappeared up the stairs.

  They were nearing the end of Lijnbaansgracht, the pavement was very narrow and he had to walk behind her as she swung between her crutches, her single foot appearing to hardly touch the ground.

  ‘We need to cut across here. This will take us to the bridge over Brouwersgracht so we can get to Haarlemmerdijk.’

  They turned into Palmgracht; the canal, long since filled in, left a wide road and pavements so he was able to walk alongside her.

  She suddenly stopped and turned to him. ‘You’re not embarrassed or ashamed to be seen with me, are you?’

  ‘Whatever do you mean?’

  ‘Being seen out with a one-legged girl, people do stare you know.’

  ‘They shouldn’t, but let them, I don’t care, I like being in your company. You’re very pretty, why should I be ashamed? You’re the one who should be embarrassed being out with a scruffy chap like me.’

  She smiled weakly and moved on.

  Suddenly it was his turn to stop. ‘Maaike! Stop!’

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘That smell, what is it?’

  ‘What smell? I can’t smell anything.’

  ‘But you must be able to, it’s quite strong.’

  She breathed in deeply. ‘Oh, that smell. It’s the gin distillery, they make jenever just down there somewhere.’ She indicated a side street across the road. ‘Why, what’s wrong?’

  ‘It’s here, it’s here somewhere that I was hiding with my family, I just know it, that smell, it all comes back to me. I’ll never forget that smell. Come on, we must look down there.’

  ‘But the bank, I have to get my new money?’

  ‘Change it tomorrow, lots of people won’t cash their old notes in today. You won’t need money before then, you won’t need to spend anything tonight and Jos will probably sort it out for you. Come on, please, we must look, it’s here somewhere, I just know it.’

  ‘I’m coming, I’m coming as fast as I can.’

  ‘Where does that road go to?’

  ‘Out onto the Brouwersgracht and Lijnbaansgracht corner I think, I don’t really know all the little streets around here.’

  He almost ran into the side street she had indicated. The sign told him it was Driehoekstraat. ‘Come on Maaike, I’m sure we’re close.’

  She was still crossing the wide Palmgracht. ‘Wait for me, Simon, please.’

  He ran ahead, past a bar on the corner, looking from side to side as he went. The jenever distillery premises were on the left and also straight ahead where the street forked. He vainly looked at the houses on his right, hoping to see the doors he remembered or on the left the view he had glimpsed of the house opposite when he had sneaked a look out of the window.

  She finally caught up with him.

  ‘I can’t see it, I can’t see the green doors, I was so sure this was the place.
’

  ‘Perhaps they’ve been painted.’

  ‘No, no, it doesn’t look like anything has been painted here for years and anyway the view’s wrong as well, the street is too wide.’

  ‘Well keep going, a bit further and maybe you’ll see it.’

  ‘But it splits in two, look.’

  ‘Check both ways then, I’ll stay here at the junction, I need a rest.’ She sat on a window ledge of the distillery office, which looked closed.

  It was only mid afternoon but all was quiet at street level. The doors of what he guessed were distillery storerooms or garages were shut. Perhaps they aren’t delivering today because of the money thing, he thought. The distillation process was obviously continuing, he could hear someone moving about inside and a tell-tale aroma was coming from the building.

  He hurried down the right-hand fork to Brouwersgracht and then along the left-hand fork to Lijnbaansgracht before returning to her.

  His face told her everything. ‘Nothing, in fact not many houses, a few sets of doors but most of them under warehouses, nothing that matches what I remember.’

  ‘Never mind, it must be around here somewhere but there are so many identical little streets in the Jordaan, it might even have been on the other side of Brouwersgracht somewhere. Come on, let’s go.’

  ‘Just one more place, Maaike, please.’ He almost begged her. ‘I think we are so close. What was that little alley we passed back there?’

  They retraced their steps a few yards to the corner of Kromme Palmstraat.

  ‘I’ll just check down here, please be patient with me.’

  ‘You go ahead, it looks very uneven. I’ll wait here.’

  He hurried down the alley. Halfway down there was a dogleg to the left, he turned the corner and suddenly there it was. Two large green doors and next to them a single small door leading to the rooms above. He looked up, seeing three grimy windows at both the first and second floor levels, all hung with dirty lace curtains and a smaller window up in the gable. Opposite, a mere five or six metres away, were a number of typical Jordaan houses.