Jacob looked round for an ash-tray. As he could not find one, he dropped his ash on the floor, not bothering about the freshly scrubbed floorboards. Mother noticed and went to fetch a saucer from the corner of the loft. She was a very house-proud woman.
This made Kees think of their parlour, which was sure to be almost completely under water now. He thought about the new carpet with the floral pattern, the polished chairs, upholstered in plush; the sideboard with the glasses and their best china, the clock on the mantleshelf in its glass case, the mahogany book case with their prayer books and the large picture atlas, and the chandelier with its five long arms. He also remembered the two oil paintings on the walls. Mother had always kept the parlour so spick and span. You weren’t allowed to touch the curtains or to put your feet on the rungs of the chairs. Whenever Bob started scratching himself, he was chased out at once.
Jacob was now careful to use the saucer for his ash. ‘We shall have to go up higher still,’ he said. Mr. Wielemaker nodded silently. Kees could see that his father was very unhappy. No doubt he was thinking about his animals, his land and all the other things that were so dear to him.
Kees was glad that there was something for him to do again. The table had to be extended and the bedclothes sorted out and put on it. If the water did come into the loft, they would have to sit on the table. But other things had to be brought to safety as well. Mr. Wielemaker and Jacob lifted a chest of drawers, which had been standing against a wall. They set up a couple of boxes and spread a blanket over them and then they placed the chest of drawers right on top. The paraffin stove, the provisions, clothes, the cooker, in short, all the most essential things, were then stacked up, out of harm’s way, on the chest.
The kettle began to sing and Trui asked Mrs. Wielemaker whether she would like some coffee.
‘Yes, please,’ she said.
Kees was given a cup, as well, and then sent back to bed to catch up on lost sleep. ‘At least, you’ll be dry in your room,’ Father told him.
So, Kees crept under the blankets, for the third time in one night. He fell fast asleep, the moment his head hit the pillow.
CHAPTER FIVE — A desolate Sunday
When Kees woke it still seemed rather dark outside. The daylight was coming in through the window, but in rather an odd way. Kees realized that the lower half of the window had been boarded up while he had been asleep. He began to jump out, but merely managed to stub his toes hard against a couple of chairs that had been pushed against his bed. Then he saw the full horror of it all. His room was some two feet under water. It took him a moment to grasp it.
The mat which was usually in the middle of the room had been put over the foot of the bed. Probably only just in time, Kees thought.
Sjaantje’s bed was empty. He could hear her voice through the door. He saw sheets of water being flung against the window above the board. The storm still raged as violently as during the night.
It was Sunday, the 1st of February, 1953.
Kees crawled to the foot of the bed, stood up and peered over the board. He caught his breath.
All he could see was a mass of water around the house, and wave after wave crashing against its sides.
The farmhouse was like an island in a sea, a grey, seething, raging ocean which stretched as far as the eye could see—left, right and straight ahead.
In the distance, the roof of another farmhouse just stuck out above the water, and near by the top of a barn.
That must be Sanders’s farm, poor Sanders who’d come to see them only last night.
Now both their farms were under water. On the left was the village. All the houses were flooded right up to the top floor. Some of the smaller ones were submerged as far as their roofs. Only the spire of the church stood out against the grey skies as if nothing had happened.
Over there, he could see that the Spui Dike was completely under water, though the houses built on it still stood. But nowhere could Kees see a single living being. The whole countryside seemed completely deserted. Had everybody fled?
Kees decided that that wasn’t likely, because the other farmers would refuse to leave their farmsteads as his father had done.
Suddenly he wished that he had gone away with Arie and Houwelink.
Then he made out a black object in the water, a long distance away, near the village. He strained his eyes to see it more clearly.
It turned out to be a rowing boat. Rowing boats on their farm, and now on Farmer van Heek’s field! It was all like a nightmare!
Look, it was coming this way. There were two men in it. One of them was rowing and the other was doing something or other with a long stick. They must be near the narrow road to Zeedorp, which the hay-carts took in summer.
For a moment, Kees forgot all about the horror of the situation. He looked excitedly at all these quite extraordinary sights. But the wind blew through the cracks round the window and the swell suddenly robbed him of his view. Then he noticed how very cold it was. He decided to get dressed quickly.
Two minutes later he was cautiously wading through the water towards the door, his socks in his hand. It was a terrible business. When he had got the door open—and that wasn’t so easy—he saw a very strange picture. All he could do was gape.
A platform had been erected along two sides of the wall. Boxes had been stacked up and Trui’s chest of drawers was rendering excellent service, too. Crowded together, five people were sitting on this platform. Mother was cutting bread, Father was looking gloomy and smoking a pipe. Trui was still knitting socks for Arie, and Jacob was reading an old newspaper. Sjaantje was looking at a picture book.
‘Morning, Kees,’ Jacob said. ‘Did you sleep well?’
Kees climbed up the box which served as ‘staircase’ and sat down next to Jacob. His mother gave him a towel to dry his legs and feet. Then he put on his socks.
‘After you went to bed, we decided to put the platform against the wall, so that we could lean back. In any case, it’s more stable that way than in the middle of the room,’ Jacob said.
‘Is the water still rising?’ Sjaantje asked, looking up from her book. Kees could see by her eyes that she was frightened.
‘Just go on reading, my child,’ Mother said as she passed Kees some cheese sandwiches. ‘Just go on reading. All we can do is wait and see what happens.’
While Kees munched his breakfast, he looked round the room. How the world had changed in a few hours! Only yesterday they had all been sitting together in the big kitchen. You could go out, in your stockinged feet if you felt like it. And now they were sitting upstairs like children playing some game, just as he himself had done yesterday with Jaap, Geurt and Sjaantje. But this wasn’t a game; it was in dead earnest. How was it all going to end?...Then he heard Bob whining behind him. ‘I am so terribly bored,’ Bob’s imploring eyes seemed to say. ‘Here I have to stand in one spot all the time, when I’m dying to be running about. And all I have to look at is that dozing cat.’
When Kees patted him he only whined twice as loudly. It sounded as if he were begging to be let down from the box on which Jacob had put him, so that he could jump on his young master. Kees decided that he would have to do something about it. It was all very well for Miesje, who wanted nothing better than to be left to sleep in peace, or for Witje who was used to being chained up. But it wouldn’t do for Bob.
Kees realized that Bob could not very well join them on the main platform. He was far too playful, and would upset all the cups and plates up there, and, in any case, all the food would prove too much of a temptation for him.
Suddenly Kees had an idea. ‘Father, there are a few more fruit boxes there. Can I make a special platform for Bob and me?’
Father did not object and Jacob helped Kees build a small platform about four feet away from the others.
‘Be careful and don’t splash,’ Mother said. Trui watched them, smiling.
At last, the two of them, Kees and Bob, were sitting in splendour on their own little throne. They had made r
oom for Witje and Miesje as well and, before long, Sjaantje joined them there.
‘Well, we’ve segregated all the little animals,’ Jacob said. He was still joking and trying to keep the others’ spirits up.
‘Look, Father,’ Kees said, ‘if I want to come over to you I can take this box and use it as a bridge.’
Mr. Wielemaker grinned at his son, but only for the briefest moment. He couldn’t help thinking about the great misfortune that had befallen them.
The doors to the two attic rooms were wide open and they could all look out of the window in the children’s room. Of course, they couldn’t see very much because the lower half of the window had been boarded up. Still, they were so high up, that they could see out of the top of the window. All that greeted their eyes was a huge expanse of water and an occasional tree top.
Bob was very happy to be back with Kees. He licked his face and put his paw on his shoulder. Miesje was still asleep. Witje the goat stared straight ahead of her, as if she were listening intently to the drone of the wind and the water lapping against the house.
‘Shall we finish the crossword puzzle now?’ Jacob asked.
‘All right,’ Kees agreed. ‘But you’ll have to come and sit over here next to me.’
Jacob took a small leap and landed next to Kees. Bob playfully snapped at his ankle. Jacob pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his trouser pocket and then a pencil.
‘I thought I’d take the puzzle up with me. After all, we hadn’t finished solving it.’
‘Fancy your remembering to do that,’ Trui teased.
‘Why not?’ Jacob said. ‘I remembered a lot of things—my tobacco and cigarette papers, Mr. Wielemaker’s pipe tobacco, the peppermints which were behind the looking glass, and even your wool under the wireless.’
‘Oh, good,’ Trui said. ‘I’ve almost come to the end of this ball. Where did you put it?’
‘Behind all that stuff there,’ Jacob said. ‘It’s a good thing that I thought of everything, isn’t it? Well, come along now, Kees, I want another word for house—eight letters.’
Suddenly they heard a strange noise that was quite unlike the sound of the storm. Mr. Wielemaker gingerly moved across the fragile platform to get a better view through the window. There it was again!
‘Bless me, if it isn’t a cow,’ Jacob said. ‘Quite close to us, too.’
He took off his socks, rolled up his trouser legs and stepped into the water. Mr. Wielemaker followed behind. Cautiously they waded towards the window. A few yards away, they saw a strange object in the waves, black with white spots. Yes, it was a cow, with only its head above the water. Her big eyes looked agonized and her front legs were wildly beating the water. Summoning up all her strength, she made desperate efforts to keep her nostrils above the surface. But time and again, the merciless waves dashed over her. Then, quite suddenly, she disappeared.
Breathless, the three of them looked out. Had she gone under for good? No, there she was, coming up again. She let out a panic-stricken bellow. It was ghastly. Jacob banged his fist on the window-sill. ‘If only I could help the poor creature,’ he cried out. Mr. Wielemaker had his hands stuck deep in his trouser pockets. He could not bear to watch the spectacle without being able to do anything about it. Kees was shivering from the cold and the strain.
Now the cow had disappeared from sight. She had been sucked out in the direction of the barn. They could hear her desperate groans once more. After that, all they heard was the storm. In silence the three returned to their places.
‘It was a cow,’ Mr. Wielemaker said, in answer to his wife’s unspoken question. Suddenly, Kees thought of their own cows, and he felt terribly miserable. They had spent the whole night on the Blue Dike. How high was the Blue Dike, he wondered.
He could feel his heart hammering against his chest. The Blue Dike wasn’t so very high, it was only a summer dike. Kees did a rapid calculation. The water came to just below his window. Was the Blue Dike that high?
‘I wonder what is happening to our own animals?’ Mrs. Wielemaker asked just then, looking at her husband. Kees waited for the answer with bated breath.
His father swallowed hard. Then he said, ‘They’ll be on the dike with their feet in the water. That is, if the storm hasn’t blown them off, or if the dike hasn’t given way.’
After that, there was complete silence in the loft. Everyone was busy with his own thoughts. Kees thought of the animals as they used to stand in their warm shed. When you went in, you saw the two Jerseys first, then the Friesian, the two white ones and then the rest.
The horses had been kept in the stables next door. There was the chestnut, and Kees’s and Sjaantje’s favourites, the grey and the black. Now they were all out in the open and in this terrible weather, too!
Suddenly Sjaantje burst into tears. ‘What’s the matter, my child?’ Mother asked. Sjaantje did not reply. But Mother knew she was thinking of the horses and the cows. And of the pigs, too, though Sjaantje wasn’t as fond of them as of the other animals.
Jacob tried to distract them and took out his crossword puzzle again. ‘I want another word for “fall”. Five letters; begins with a “c”.’
Kees tried to concentrate on the puzzle. They had solved over half the clues already. Every time they found the answer to one, Jacob licked the tip of his pencil and filled in the letters. Jacob wrote in big, fat letters. He certainly hadn’t been top of the class in handwriting!
Another word for ‘fall’. Five letters beginning with a ‘c’. Something distracted Kees’s attention and he glanced over at the leg of the table. Everything they needed for the household was on that table: food, cups, plates, knives, forks and spoons. There was a coffee-pot and a Primus stove. The table was full of all sorts of things.
Suddenly Kees looked up in alarm. He wanted to draw his father’s attention to something but stopped himself. He had to make quite sure first.
He looked at the leg of the table once more. Was he imagining things or did he really see what he thought he saw? He was certain that a short time ago the water had been a hand’s breadth below a scratch on the leg of the table. And now he couldn’t see the scratch at all. Kees couldn’t believe his own eyes. If it was true and the water was still rising, where would they be able to escape to? They couldn’t go any higher unless they climbed on the roof. The very thought gave him the shivers. He felt like screaming out right there and then.
But just as he felt his tears welling up, he pulled himself together and bit his lower lip. He mustn’t allow himself to become frightened. Nobody must notice how he really felt.
He stared at the leg of the table again. There was a black spot half an inch or so above the water level. He decided to watch it carefully. If that disappeared, too, well, then...
‘Crash,’ Jacob called out. ‘That’s what it is. Crash. An aeroplane doesn’t fall, it crashes.’
He licked his pencil again and wrote down the word in those big, round, fat letters of his.
‘Yes, “crash” is right,’ Kees said absent-mindedly.
‘You look as if you’re dreaming,’ Jacob said. ‘Now, come along, help me: I need a volcanic mountain, four letters.’
‘Could that be Etna?’ Trui suggested, looking up from her knitting.
‘Yes, Etna fits,’ Jacob filled in the letters. Kees forced himself not to watch the leg of the table. He looked at the puzzle instead, and put his arms round Jacob’s shoulders. Trui asked whether she should brew up another pot of coffee. Mother thought that would be a good idea. Kees felt miserable, and Father stared vacantly into space.
After about ten minutes, Kees looked at the table again. The water had just come up to the black spot.
For a moment, Kees just stared. The water looked so friendly, merely reflecting the light. Yet, it was creeping up relentlessly all the time, stealing up higher and higher.
Outside, the water was like a fierce lion, but in here you wouldn’t notice anything unless you watched very carefully. Like a serpent, it w
ould slowly corner you, until you couldn’t get away anywhere.
‘Father!’ In spite of all his efforts to control himself, Kees’s words sounded a little like a scream of terror. Mr. Wielemaker looked at his son and saw that he had turned white as a sheet.
‘What is it, Kees?’ he asked with concern.
‘Father, the water is still rising.’
Mr. Wielemaker took a deep breath. Suddenly, he looked quite calm as if all his worries had disappeared. Then he said, ‘You’re quite right. The water is still rising. I think I know the reason why. Some more dikes must have been breached, and more and more water is streaming into the polder from the sea.’
‘We shan’t be able to stay here much longer,’ Jacob said. ‘To be quite on the safe side, we ought to raise the platform as high as we possibly can.’
Mr. Wielemaker agreed. ‘We had better do it straight away.’
They had to use up almost all the boxes they had. After half an hour’s work, everything was ready. They were now all crammed together, sitting forward right under the roof with their shoulders hunched up. Now there was no room for Bob and Miesje to be kept apart from the rest of them. Witje did not like the new arrangement and they had quite a lot of trouble getting her up.
To look out of the window at all, they now had to step down.
‘Perhaps we should have gone off in the rowing boat after all,’ Mrs. Wielemaker said. ‘I hate to think what things will be like tonight.’
‘Shall I light the stove again?’ Trui asked. ‘The storm sounds so much louder up here than it did down below.’
‘Yes, you’d better,’ Mrs. Wielemaker said. ‘It is cold up here.’ She picked up her shawl and wrapped it round her shoulders.
‘I don’t like it here,’ Sjaantje said. ‘It’s so high up. And the storm sounds even worse.’
CHAPTER SIX — Huddled in the loft
Suddenly they heard a drone in the sky.
‘It’s an aeroplane!’ Kees shouted excitedly. And it really was.
The Tide in the Attic Page 4