Assigning which room are for whom had been easy for Georg. He never had a say in them and the children were cooperative enough to choose which rooms they want to sleep in.
There are only four rooms in the house. Liesl, Louisa, and Brigitta took the room on the farthest right, where the first rays of the sun shines and the nearby forest is located. The boys took the one in the farthest left, where the green, fog-enshrouded mountains can be seen. The youngest two took the one besides their sisters, and Georg the one in the middle of them and the boys. Both rooms had their windows facing the farm. It would also be easy for Georg in case Marta and Gretl needed something, with just their room right next to his.
The next morning, Georg and his oldest two set off to town, leaving the other five at home to be on their best behavior.
Friedrich had found a job at a nearby woodwork shop, and Liesl met a woman in need of a babysitter where she will be starting to work for tomorrow. As for Georg, he brought some seeds for the farm and some additional stuff Brigitta told him to buy.
Along the way to meet with his children back at the center of the town plaza, he saw a newspaper stand and bought a newspaper. Paper bag on the left hand and reading the newspaper on the right hand, he was not paying attention to where he was walking until he bumped onto someone.
The bag on his hand almost fell but immediately caught it. He looked behind him to apologize to the person he bumped into but he froze.
She looks...unfriendly.
Well, she looks pretty, but her unfriendliness was the first thing he noticed about her. He looked at her closely, and was immediately transfixed at her short strawberry blond hair surrounding her oval shaped face, her ocean blue eyes, and her crimson red lips. Without realizing it, he gazed down at her body. She was wearing some type of an office outfit - a red sheath dress and a black blazer. Her waist was also beautifully cinched, showing her hourglass body. She also looks tall, her head ending just below his eyebrows. Looking down at her feet, she was not wearing heels but was wearing black flats instead.
He raised both of his eyebrows. She is shockingly and wonderfully tall.
But she still does look mean. She may be pretty, but she had this scowl on her face. Oh what could the reason be?
She titled her head at him, "Are you going to continue to stare at me or are you going to apologize?"
He suddenly broke out of his reverie. He did not mean to look at her like that but oh, she is pretty...mean.
He cleared his throat, trying to compose himself. "I'm sorry Ma'am. You look like you're not from here."
Her lips gave a silent "oh" and she raised an eyebrow, "You look like you're not from here."
He chuckled, "How would you know that?"
"I would obviously know that. I live here after all."
He realized he just made fun of a local. Nice one, Georg. What a way to make new friends.
"I apolo—" She suddenly turned around and walked away.
"Please stop wasting my time," she said, not even bothering to look back at Georg. He watched her saunter to an expensive car, an old man waiting for her on the door. His eyes remained on her as she entered the car with the old man's help.
She was rude, yes, but that does not stop Georg to wonder. Does she really live in here? It was a small town, and she looks like she came from a big city, obviously from the way she dress and the way she behaves. It is a possibility. She looks rich. But what could she be possibly doing in a small town like this?
Georg heard a deep chuckle behind him. He turned around and it was the newspaper vendor, laughing directly at him.
"So," the vendor said while counting the money he got for the day, "how did you do that?"
Georg scrunched his forehead. "Do what?"
The vendor laughed louder, "That. Nobody has talked to the Madame like that."
The Madame?
"Oh, I'm sorry. We are new to town."
"Ah, that explains it. With whom?"
"My family." Georg walked closer to the stand, giving way to the people walking by the sidewalk.
"You must not be from here." The vendor shook his index finger at Georg. "You got some kind of an accent going on there."
Georg nodded, "We are from Europe."
The vendor gave him a suspicious glare, "You are not one of them, are you?"
Georg quickly and nervously shook his head. "Oh, no, no!" It did not stop the vendor from glaring at him so he explained himself. "In fact, we're only here because we want to escape from them."
"Really?" the vendor asked. Georg sensed on his tone that he is slowly believing so he continued.
"Yes. Hitler had started taking over our country. As much as I wanted to fight to get him out of there, I had no choice but to leave for the safety of my family. Fortunately, we live nearby a train station, so escape had been easy for us. Well, for the first few days."
The vendor gave Georg a chair and he sat down, intent to hearing more of Georg's story.
By the time Georg's story had ended, Friedrich and Liesl saw him and went to him.
Georg stood up and introduced his children.
"That is amazing," the vendor said.
"What is?"
"They speak English good!"
"Oh, I see," Georg chuckled, "Their mother was an Englishwoman after all."
"Well then. I shouldn't be bothering you anymore."
Georg nodded and he was just about to walk away when he stopped. He turned back around to the vendor and asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."
The vendor smiled and pulled up a hand for Georg to shake, "The name's Max."
Georg smiled back and shook his hand, "Georg."
As the trio walked away, Max called at him, "Say hello to the wife for me!"
It was awkward for the three, knowing that the wife has been gone a long time ago, but Georg only nodded and thought it as a discussion for another time.