by Pea Jung
Don’t do it, my conscience warns me. But I feel myself being pulled more and more into temptation.
“Why me?”
“Because you are a beginner and you aroused my interest. Also, my last cleaning lady bored me,” he informs me matter-of-factly. From his tone, I realize that he believes he has me hooked.
All of a sudden he says curtly: “give your mobile number to Mrs. Preu, read through the contract and sleep on it! I’ll call you tomorrow.” Then he hangs up before I can say anything else.
Mrs. Preu smiles at me askance as I give her the phone back. “Do you have any questions?”
“Explain everything!”
She shows no emotion over my giving in, but just leads me into the kitchen. “Once you have changed in the bathroom, then you should come into the kitchen at exactly 7 pm and wait for him. He is always very punctual, therefore you should never be late. If you cancel an appointment, for whatever reason, this can lead to the immediate stoppage of your entire month’s salary. Follow my client’s prompts! He will address you informally during the two hours, you are to address him formally and use Sir. When he sends you back to the bathroom, you get dressed again. Then, go into the living room and say goodbye to him. If he has any questions, answer them.”
“So many rules!” I groan. I’m feeling ever more uncomfortable. But I didn’t say yes, not yet.
“He will not touch you, but he shall decide how close he gets to you when he’s watching you. He has a cane with which he can touch you if he needs to. But don’t worry, he is not going to beat you,” explains the advocate soberly.
“If he needs to?” I feel sick. However, a strange excitement has snuck into my abdomen.
“The contract is only for a month, after that it will be renegotiated and re-signed.”
“Ah, that’s good.”
“Most don’t make it past the first month, not because they don’t want to, but because my client hasn’t extended. He seems to get bored quickly.” The lawyer cannot suppress a grin.
“I can well imagine. I’d find it boring too if I had to watch someone cleaning for two hours twice a week.”
Mrs. Preu laughs briefly and stops again almost immediately. “Of course, the contract includes a confidentiality clause. If you should happen to become aware of the identity of my client and should disclose or otherwise talk about work, my colleagues and I will make your life hell. You can bet your life on it.” Mrs. Preu smiles as if she wants to show me her teeth.
“What should I say, when my friends ask me? Assuming I sign at all.” I’m trying to make my voice sound easy, but it is terribly tense.
“You have a cleaning job with an older gentleman who can no longer cope on his own. The name Alfons Mader is on the doorbell, it’s an alias you should use.”
“Is he an older gentleman?”
Mrs. Preu shrugs her shoulders. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about him, otherwise my colleagues will make my life a living hell.” she smiles.
Again I nod, rather reluctantly this time. “Okay, I’m going then.”
Mrs. Preu hands me a large envelope. “Everything is in here. The contract contains no new information. I’ve told you everything. Still, read it, and if you don’t understand something, call me!”
Something else occurs to me. “He said I should give you my mobile number. He wanted to call me tomorrow.”
“Really?” Mrs. Preu raises her eyebrows, surprised.
“That’s what he said.”
“I can’t remember him ever wanting to have the number of a client.” She pulls out her smartphone, I dictate my number to her and she rapidly types in the digits.
Chapter 3
Later, while working, I get into conversation with Jörg.
“Tell me, Jörg, would you mind if I took on another job?”
“You want a raise?” he asks jokingly and I punch him amicably in the side.
“I got an offer I’m thinking about.” As I say it, it is clear to me that I am seriously considering it.
“You’re not planning to leave me?” all joking disappears from Jörg’s face as he says this.
“Of course not!”
He exhales audibly. “Thank God! I thought you wanted to leave me.”
“Jörg, it’s just two evenings a week. I thought, Tuesday and Thursday. I usually have the early shift then anyway.”
Jörg nods, holding a beer glass under the tap. “You know that you don’t have to ask me if you want to accept a job like that.”
I go over to him and plant a kiss on his cheek. I’m very aware that I am a little out on a limb here, but we are good friends, by now at least. “I know I don’t have to ask you. However, I wouldn’t want to… stray without your consent.” with that I coax out a smile.
“Here, take Herbert his beer!”
He presses the beer glass into my hand and I go over to Herbert, who, as always in the early afternoon, has already had more to drink than is good for him.
“Do I get a little kiss, darling?” he asks and I look for Jörg nervously, but he has already disappeared into the kitchen.
There is only the new guest, the Cabinet, as I have taken to calling him in secret, sitting at his usual place. But he is ignoring us.
“Herbert, here’s your beer. Enjoy!” I’m trying to make my voice sound friendly.
“I’d enjoy something else even more you know honey.” He grins at me cheekily so that I can see his bad teeth.
I’m trying to serve him his beer from the greatest possible distance. But he actually has the audacity to pinch me on the buttock.
“Get your hand off! Immediately!” I call out loudly, hoping that Jörg can hear me in the kitchen.
“You heard what the Lady said!” Our new regular is standing next to me so suddenly, I jump.
But it’s not just me who’s shocked. Herbert also seems to have some respect for the big man and crestfallen explains immediately: “I was just kidding.”
The Cabinet turns to me. “You should talk to your boss, see that this guy finally gets banned!”
I nod, and as I pass the giant, I breathe: “thank you! I’ll get you a drink on the house for this.”
While I quickly go behind the counter, I see the Cabinet whisper something in Herbert’s ear. Unfortunately, I can not understand what he’s saying, but Herbert’s jaw drops. The Cabinet returns to his table, where I can see him just as well as I can see Herbert, and I ask him loudly: “What can I get you?”
“A cup of coffee would be nice.”
I make two cups of coffee with the machine. There isn’t much going on at the moment so I decide to sit down with our new customer. When I go over to the table with two cups, he looks at me with surprise. But because he smiles a little, I sit at his table and ask: “You don’t mind do you?”
“Of course not,” he replies, but he doesn’t sound entirely honest.
“I understand. I can drink my coffee behind the counter.” I try not to sound like I’m feeling disappointed.
“Stay! I didn’t mean it like that,” he mutters and I smile at him until he too allows himself a smile.
I can feel Herbert’s eyes on my back. It must really bug him to see me sitting here at a table with the Cabinet because I have never sat down with him. Jörg has a couple of times, but only when Herbert has not had too much alcohol.
Jörg stretches his head out of the kitchen and when he sees me sitting with the Closet, asks: “Josi? Everything all right?”
“All good!” I reply.
When I turn back to the Cabinet again, he’s looking at me with a wrinkled brow. “You’re not going to tell him, are you?”
I know what he means immediately. “No, Herbert is a regular customer. If he couldn’t come here anymore his wo
rld would fall apart. We’re almost a second home for him.”
“That’s why he can’t behave here as if he were at home.”
I nod. “All right, but I’d still prefer the incident remain among us. I can handle Herbert.”
“You act as if it were the most normal thing in the world,” the Cabinet objects.
“If you knew all the things I have experienced here! I think for some people bartender ranks shortly after the poor chambermaid when it comes to erotic fantasies.”
The Cabinet laughs. “You may be right.”
“Which brings me to my question: what drove you to start coming to our premises every day?”
He responds seriously: “I work in the area and I’m on call, so to speak.”
“Aha, what do you do, if I may ask?” I enquire.
“Top secret,” he growls but weakens the statement with a smile.
“May I at least know your name then? Behind your back, I always call you…”
“… the Cabinet. I noticed that already.” He laughs.
“What?” I breathe horrified. But because his whole body is shaking with laughter now, I join in.
“My name is Hendrik, but you can call me Henry.”
“You look like the ex-husband of this American actress, from…” How embarrassing that I can’t remember the name! While he looks at me surprised, I sputter on: “You know, the brunette who speaks such good german, because she grew up in Nuremberg.”
“You mean Sandra Bullock?”
“Yes!”
“Believe me. If Sandra Bullock was my wife and I was called Jesse James, then Sandra would certainly not now be my ex.”
Because I’m still pretty overwhelmed and confused due to the contract and Herbert’s insolence, I just keep talking. “You really look like Jesse James. You probably have a few tattoos as well.”
He hesitates briefly, then he pulls up his sleeve a little. At this exact moment, his phone rings.
He stands up and leaves the premises immediately. The Cabinet is often on the phone, usually, someone calls him. I take the empty coffee cups back to the counter.
Through the window, I can see him pacing up and down in front of the building. When our eyes meet, he turns away. From the way he runs his hand across his forehead, it seems to be a very serious conversation. I watch him further as I rinse the glasses. All of a sudden he looks at me again, as if he might be talking about me. It gives me a bad feeling, but I shake off the thought.
Herbert grumbles quietly to himself: “have you noticed yet? He always disappears shortly after you leave. Does he want something from you?”
When he sees my astonished look, he adds offended: “why else is he threatening to break my nose if I don’t leave you alone?”
I don’t listen to Herbert because he has a thriving fantasy when he is drunk. Once, he said he got the Order of Merit because he campaigned against the decline of pubs over 20 years ago.
The first lunch guests come in and I’m much too busy to continue to worry. At some point, I hear the phone ring and Jörg speak for a while with whoever is on the phone. He doesn’t say much but listens intently.
When the midday bustle is over, Jörg takes me to one side: “Tell me, did Herbert really grab your ass?”
“Did you hear that from the Closet?” it bursts out of me, and I look over to Henry. But he is sitting, as always, quietly in his place and looking at his cell phone.
“No, I got a call. It was a man and he asserted that I’m not looking out for you well enough because I allowed this, and I quote, this ‘old sack’ to lech over you.”
I’m speechless: “But you’re sure it wasn’t Henry on the phone, right?”
“Henry?”
“The Closet,” I remark and indicate with my chin in his direction.
“No, absolutely not,” retorts Jörg and asks: “So, did Herbert touch you or not?”
“Yes, he did.”
Jörg is about to freak out and only keeps his voice in check with great difficulty. “And why in the world do I have to find that out from an anonymous caller who insults me and threatens that he will finish me if something happens to you here?” Jörg gasps for air.
Now, I am just as upset as he is. “I’m sorry, Jörg!” I sigh. “Henry helped me and Herbert apologized, more or less. For me, the issue is closed.”
Jörg turns away and goes back to the kitchen angry. I know that he will not be angry with me for long because he can never be angry with anyone for long. Nevertheless, I decide to keep a close eye on Henry in the future. How can this anonymous caller have found out what happened if not from him?
In the evening, Henry pays just as I’m getting ready to leave myself. He leaves the restaurant, without looking around, and drives away in his car, an old Transporter. Before I make my way home, I say goodbye by Jörg, who only responds with a hum.
Chapter 4
I take the whole evening to look over the contract the lawyer gave me. It’s a multiple-page document in the usual legalese.
Ultimately, Mrs. Preu wasn’t lying when she said she had told me all the details. I noticed that I have to leave the clothes in the bathroom after use and must not take them with me. I can only look at him when he tells me to do so, and he will always hide his face under a mask when he enters the apartment. This is also the reason why I absolutely cannot be in the hallway when he arrives. The 450 euro will be transferred to me every month, the tip is a matter for negotiation and will be paid in cash directly after work is completed.
I put the contract on the kitchen table. It can only tell me so much! In the end, he’s only playing with me and I’m only doing it all for the 450 euro, although that is still well paid for four hours pseudo cleaning. Do I have anything to lose? It’s only a month, then I can stop again. I could stop at any time and then just waive payment for the month.
Late in the evening, I go to bed and try to suppress any thoughts about the job.
The next day, a Thursday, begins with the morning shift. When my phone rings behind the counter, I throw a quick look at the display. The caller has blocked his number. I refuse to interrupt my work for people who call incognito. The phone rings insistently, but I ignore it. The breakfast guests are hungry and waiting to be served. Besides, Jörg doesn’t like it, when staff take private calls during work. He is no longer angry with me, yet I wouldn’t risk it.
A short time later Henry appears. He takes a brief look at me, puts his coat on the back of his chair and once again goes out to make a call. A few minutes later, he sits down at his place and orders a cup of coffee.
In the early afternoon, I leave the restaurant and immediately my phone rings again. Again, the number is blocked. But this time I answer: “Josefine Wagner.”
“I told you, I was going to call you. Answer your damn phone when I call!” grumbles a now well-known voice.
“Hi, I’m glad to hear from you,” I answer overly friendly because I don’t like his tone.
He breathes deeply. “Didn’t you have just five minutes to talk to me?”
“I’m sure you don’t want me talking on the telephone while I clean, do you?” I coo.
He responds immediately to that: “So you have chosen?”
“I didn’t say that.” I want to let him suffer, but he doesn’t go for it.
“I will not beg you. You chose a long time ago. Admit it!”
“What do you mean?” His arrogant tone is challenging me.
“Because you can hardly wait to start working for me,” he says quietly, but he sounds absolutely certain.
“You are very sure of yourself, you know that?”
“I can afford to be. Now give me your answer, otherwise, I’m hanging up and you will never hear anything from me again.”
When I hesitate t
oo long, I hear him say: “well, then, goodb…”
“Stop! Wait!”
His lewd “Yes?” makes me regret my supplicating tone already.
“I’ve decided I’ll give it a try. But if it’s not for me, I’ll quit, immediately.”
Even though I can’t hear any sound, I have the feeling that he is grinning. “Tonight 18.45 in the apartment. Be on time!”
“But…”
He has already hung up.
Of course, today is the beginning of the month. How silly of me!
When I arrive home, Mrs. Preu is already standing outside my door. “Ms. Wagner, I’m here to pick up the contract and to scan your thumbprint.” Unsolicited, she follows me into my apartment.
I sign the contract without a word and put my thumb on a kind of portable scanner.
“Would you please enter your account information here?” She points to the appropriate place in the contract.
“Yes, of course,” I whisper sheepishly.
She smiles as she leaves. “I wish you much fun. We’ll meet again in one month at the latest.”
I close the door behind her and take a look at the clock. Just enough time to take a shower and then I have to go.
“Shit!” I say out loud. What did I just get myself into?
Chapter 5
A little later I excitedly lay my thumb on the control panel at the front door over and over again. My nervousness does not ease as the door does not open. But I won’t give up. It is already five to seven, by the time I finally get a green light. Frantically, I take my coat off at the door and enter the bathroom.
A fine neat pile of clothing lies on the chair, a costume, well, at best a costume that would comfortably fit under the motto “sexy cleaning lady”. The dress is very short! The pink fabric is covered in patches of black applique. Each hem is embellished with white ruffles. I can’t find a bra, so I just leave mine on. The neckline of the dress is indeed quite deep. The white ruffled panties are pretty modest in comparison.
I slip into the thigh high stockings. The high-heeled black patent leather shoes fit like a glove. I had not expected such an outfit! Although, in hindsight, it occurs to me that Mrs. Preu’s demeanor slipped a little at the word uniform. I try not to think about the fact that I’m not even allowed to keep my own underwear on.