Disclaimer: "The Sound of Music" belongs to Rodgers and Hammerstein
Liesl and Louisa: Of Tutors and Toads
"Children," Captain von Trapp announced, sternly surveying his lined-up children. "This is your new governess, Fraulein Hedwig."
Twelve-year-old Liesl eyed Fraulein Hedwig with disdain. The woman was short and squat, with severe features and round eyeglasses. She nodded enthusiastically at the Captain's every instruction, even practicing each child's separate whistle call with him.
"I'm leaving for Vienna this afternoon," the Captain informed Fraulein Hedwig. "I have important business to attend to. You are in charge, Fraulein. Do not disappoint me."
"No, sir," Fraulein Hedwig agreed while nodding.
Out of the corner of her eye, Liesl caught her nine-year-old sister Louisa roll her eyes.
Once the Captain left, Fraulein Hedwig marched the children back up to their classroom. For three days, nothing eventful happened. Fraulein Hedwig woke them up early every morning, made them wash and checked their hands and faces for missed spots of dirt, fed them plain a breakfast, and sat with them during their lessons to make sure they didn't slack off.
Then, on the fourth day, it happened.
Liesl had finished braiding her hair and was fastening the clasp on her mother's locket when she felt someone breathe on her ear. She let out a shriek and jumped around, coming face-to-face with Fraulein Hedwig's eyeglasses.
"What have you got there?" Hedwig asked.
"My mother's necklace," Liesl responded calmly. She tried to walk away, but Fraulein Hedwig grabbed her arm, pinning her in place.
"Little girls have no need of such expensive things," Fraulein Hedwig said sharply. "You might lose it."
"I wouldn't!"
"But you would. You'd lose it, and your poor father would be terribly angry."
Liesl bristled. "He doesn't even know I have the locket!"
Her eyes widened as she came to the realization of what she had admitted. Her governess smiled like a barracuda.
"And I suppose you'd like to keep it that way? It would be a shame if he were to find out," Fraulein Hedwig threatened, her fingers digging into Liesl's arm. "Give me the locket, and I'll make sure he never knows."
What ensued was the most vicious stare down Liesl had ever been in. And she had once stared he had once been in a stare-down with her father, which had only been interrupted by the the arrival of Frau Schmidt. Finally, with shaking hands she unclasped the locket from her neck and handed it over to Fraulein Hedwig. The older woman examined Camile's locket with sharp eyes.
"What is this made of? Sterling silver?" Fraulein Hedwig asked. "Such a material would fetch a fine price."
"I wouldn't know, Fraulein," Liesl ground out through gritted teeth.
"That miserable, wicked old bat!" Louisa fumed.
Liesl hushed her sister, casting a nervous glance towards the closed bedroom door. Their lessons for the day had concluded, and after lunch Liesl had taken aside Louisa to explain what had transpired that morning. "What else was I to do? Father doesn't even know I have that locket. If he were to find out . . ."
"Then we'll steal it back!" Louisa interrupted.
"She'll just realize it's gone and take it away again." Liesl frowned. "We need to steal it back - but we also need to get her out of the house."
"Ooh," started Louisa, "On her day off, when she's gone -"
"- That's too late. Her next day off isn't for another six days, remember?" Liesl sighed. "She'll have already sold Mother's locket by then. No, we need to get her out of the house permanently."
The two girls stewed in silence, which was shortly broken by Louisa.
"Remember when we were walking with . . . well, with Mother that one day, and we found those frogs along the lake?" She explained. "And that was before the tadpoles had hatched! Think of how many frogs we could catch if we went today. . ."
"I think I know what you're getting at!" Lisel cried.
"I'll excuse us to go on a walk along the lake -" said Louisa.
"- We'll use one of the pails from that old well," Liesl added.
"I can pick the lock on Fraulein Hedwig's bedroom door!"
"And once we're in, we'll - wait, you know how to pick a lock?" Liesl looked with mild concern to her sister.
"Please, I live with two brother who like to hide my stockings and steal my hairbrush," Louisa explained with a roll of her eyes. "You were saying?"
"Yes," continued Liesl. "Once we've broken into her room, I'll get my locket whilst you dump the toads into her bed. And when she finds them -"
"- She'll be halfway to Switzerland before she even realizes the locket is gone," Louisa concluded with a mischievous smile.
Sure enough, right after dinner when the two girls had settled down to brush and braid each other's hair, they heard an eardrum-piercing, glass-shattering shriek that Liesl was sure could be heard all the way to Britain. The the two sisters shared a knowing smile, grabbed hands and raced out to the second-floor landing. Their other siblings leaned over the banister to watch in confusions as Fraulein Hedwig, carpet bag in hand and glasses askew, marched out in a red-faced huff.
"Your father will hear about this!" Their former governess screamed her last words as she slammed the front door shut.
"Well," Liesl said to her sister as Louisa fastened the locket back around her neck. "I suppose we'll be needing a new governess."