At the end of a long day, Maria paced silently in her bedroom, taking in all the lovely details: the tall ceilings, the architectural design, the elegant furniture, and her scrumptious bedding! She could not believe how her life had changed! What a contrast from her life at the Abbey only hours ago!
Apart from being thoroughly exhausted from her orientation to the grounds, the children in their uniforms, the Captain, everyone's whistle calls, frogs in her pocket, and an official launch into the family (quite literally at the dinner table thanks to that blasted pine cone!), she felt her first day had been rather agreeable. Much better than she had anticipated earlier that morning! At least the Captain had not sent her back to where she came from, although she suspected he may have considered it a few times throughout the day. Indeed, still being here at the end of the day was a win in Maria's eyes. She could not quite figure out why, but for some nagging reason she felt she had an important job to play in the children's lives this summer.
As she changed into her nightgown, she shivered a bit in embarrassment when she recalled the moment at dinner when she leapt off her chair with a "yelp", quickly realizing she had been pranked yet again! Once she had regained her composure, she noted eight pairs of eyes staring at her, or in the case of the Captain, right through her. Maria felt that he had an uncanny ability to read minds and she wondered if he could tell precisely what she was thinking at that moment. She hoped not! Maria wondered if it was something he had honed during his time in the Navy, working with younger officers and having to get to the bottom of so many things?
The look the Captain shot her at that particular moment held equal parts annoyance and, dare she say, curiosity? From the moment she had first laid eyes on the Captain that afternoon, she understood the man to be an enigma: stern one moment, the next full of sarcasm...mocking and provoking, almost as if he was intentionally trying to 'push her buttons'. She found him to be somewhat disagreeable at times, but in other moments, the softer looks he regarded her with were so difficult to decode. He certainly was a mystery.
A breeze was whipping up outdoors, sending Maria's bedroom curtains into a dance at the windows. A storm was surely to arrive this evening, finally breaking the late spring humidity that had settled over Salzburg. It had been such a long winter...it was glorious to be a part of the warmer weather and to behold the many beautiful colours that God painted in the late Spring countryside!
Maria walked over to the window and tamed the curtains slightly, running her hands down them while gazing out over the shadows of the lawn, illuminated only by the amber lights from the villa windows and the odd coach lamp that dotted the grounds. From what she could tell, the grounds at the villa were so beautiful, green, and fragrant! Further exploration over the coming days was definitely in order! As she peered into the darkness, Maria scratched her chin and then ran one of her hands through her hair, wondering where Liesl, the eldest, went off to after dinner? Surely that delivery boy must have had something to do with her disappearance? However, the Captain didn't seem to notice, and for a man who she had already pegged as noticing everything and everyone, she shrugged off the nagging suspicion that the telegram boy was somehow responsible.
Changing her focus to look at her own reflection in the bedroom window, Maria was reminded of the contrasts between life at the Abbey and what she already knew of the Von Trapp Villa. The Villa was so beautiful and so spacious, the children so full of energy! The grounds were green and glorious, and with an unfettered view of the Untersberg, Maria's confidence in her new role began to grow. Her mountain had always been a source of strength and inspiration, and every day from this point on she would see it towering over the lake and reminding her of her roots. She could not wait to share it with the children over the coming weeks! Reflecting on her many months in the Abbey, she recalled how her days were so regimented, and there were so many rules! No singing, no humming, no mountains, everything on a schedule! Granted, the Captain had his own set of rules and schedules; what Navy man wouldn't? However, some of them were so ridiculous! Thankfully, he would be gone for a few days, and she could get better oriented and then decide which of his rules were worth keeping.
Maria had not seen the children again until dinner. They had all but disappeared from the time that Frau Schmidt had bundled them off for their walk – Father's orders - until they met around the dining room table. The poor dears, when did they ever get to just be children? She found out more about how they spent their days during an "orientation" meeting she had with the Captain before dinner. Sitting across from him, the Captain pushed a hefty pile of papers towards her across his large mahogany desk. The pages, anchored down with a paperweight, were dog-eared and tea stained, some pages marked with the tell-tale rings from a glass of red wine. Maria chuckled to herself: "There are likely some tear drops on those pages!". With eleven governesses to this point, no wonder the pages were worn and well-used! This stack of papers contained a précis of everything Maria would need to know about being the Von Trapp's 12th governess: how the children were to spend their days, which subjects they should be studying, approved recreational activities, etc.. The paperweight was fascinating: heavy lead crystal with an etching Maria had recognized from her school days, the Maria Theresia Cross. No doubt, one of the Captain's many accolades from his time in the Navy. Clearing through the fog of her hazy memories, Maria recalled the days when her father would tease her when she dressed up for church, calling her "Empress Maria", and he would bow to her with a flourish as they made their way out the front door and towards the village!
Postulant Maria decided that the real Empress Maria's paperweight was far more interesting than all the rules that were contained on those pages! Even a simple bosun whistle had its own rules! "Fraulein," the Captain had said almost exasperated: "you can't wear the whistle or use it without chain or cord". Continuing his lecture, he took the whistle from her hands, re-attached the cord she had removed earlier, and demonstrated: "…see, you have to hold it in your right hand between the index finger and your thumb. The buoy lies in the hollow of the right hand, the keel braced against the fleshy pad of the thumb with the hole of the buoy looking upwards". Maria grimaced at the whistle and looked up at the Captain's steely blue eyes: it was like sitting through a sermon in Latin! "Keel?" - "Buoy?" - "What?!" She recalled feeling completely flustered by all this terminology coupled with having the Captain looking so seriously at her. He must have sensed her confusion, for at that moment he paused, cocked his head to the side, and looked at her quite intently. In his deep baritone he concluded: "there are levels of call proficiency in the Navy, no one knows everything the first day, Fraulein! You have to start somewhere!"[1] He gave her a smug, half smile and another helping of that 'look' where his blue eyes seemed to be staring straight into her soul.
With a little bit of discipline, the Captain had convinced Maria that she would be a "natural" with her whistle. However, she was certain that there would be absolutely no whistle calls under her watch. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she remembered the captain's audacity: in one moment, he was preaching the virtues, pomp and circumstance of a bosun whistle. The Captain was infuriatingly quick to use a whistle call on anyone and everyone in his household, but the man was entirely offended when it was suggested to him that he should have his own signal. He was certainly the Captain of his domain and those who chose to upset that world would do so at their peril.
Shaking her head back to the present, she turned away from the window towards the side table in the corner of her room. Sliding open the drawer, she pulled out the whistle that the Captain had handed her earlier that day. Recalling the sensation of his fingertips as they brushed against hers, she rolled it over in her hand a few times and then buffed off some of the tarnish with the sleeve of her night gown. Regardless of how silly it all was, it was a beautiful silver whistle; she could make out the words "ACME, 1880 - Made in England" which were engraved on the side. Turning it this way and that, she studied the simple instrument, trying to recall which part was the buoy and which part the keel. "A veritable heirloom, I'm sure" she said as she sighed out loud. Turning it over in her hand, she re-wrapped the long cord along the..."keel, yes, you've got it Maria!". Smiling to herself, she promptly returned it to the drawer alongside her hairbrush and rosary.
Sliding the drawer shut with her hip, Maria's thoughts returned once again to her first dinner with the Von Trapps. She realized that her attempts to start dinner-time conversation only seemed to raise the ire of the Captain. She recalled stubbornly resisting the unrelenting glare that the Captain cast in her direction. It was obvious that the children were to be seen and not heard at dinner time and the Captain did not tolerate chit-chat around the table, particularly from the new governess. She continued to ignore the Captain, chatting in her usual friendly and lively fashion about the welcome gift the children had left in her pocket, eventually rendering most all of them to tears! This outcome, of course, had not been part of her plan, but it had been entirely effective and quite simple. It was nice to know that the children all had big hearts and guilty consciences. She knew that with a little bit of work, they would get along famously.
Seeing their alarmed faces around the table, for the first time that day, Maria felt that she finally had the upper hand. The children now seemed to have a better sense of what to expect from her. The Captain, however, appeared to be amazed and astonished with everything and everything that came out of her mouth! Once again, as Maria looked up from the wide eyes of the children, she found the Captain studying her intently. Once he knew he had been caught, he shook his head and quickly changed his expression of wonder? to one of annoyance. The blue depths of his eyes made Maria shiver even now as she strove to decode that look and understand the many interactions at the dinner table. However, an opportunity for further study would have to wait considering the Captain would be leaving for Vienna in the morning.
Maria recalled that all the children seemed lovely, but wondered if they were acting out deliberately with their pranks hoping to seek their father's attention even if it made him angry. Can you imagine? Twelve Governesses? The Von Trapps went through governesses the way growing children go through socks! When she had so boldly suggested to the Captain that they thank the Lord for their meal, every child followed his lead without hesitation. He was certainly the Captain of his Ship and it was obvious how much the children loved him and yearned for his attention. This thought made her heart tighten for the children; they had already lost their mother at such a young age, could it be that their father was distant towards them, too?
How could a man who was a national hero be so blind to the needs of his own children? Whistles were useful for calling orders across the trenches during military operations or perhaps to run agility with a Border Collie, but with children? It seemed the only way the Captain knew how to reach his children was at the level of a Sea Captain, through military precision and order. If this was the case, Maria felt very sad for both him and the children. It was as if he wanted so desperately to reach out to them but didn't know the way.
All of the children had seemed despondent to know that the Captain would be leaving for Vienna in the morning, particularly Gretl, the smallest child. This melancholy was quite the contrast from her antics most of the day; she seemed to possess an air of confidence and defiance when it came to matters she and her father disagreed on. She had a way about her that cried out "just watch me, Father!'
Marta, who would be turning 7 in the next few days, was undoubtedly the shy girl of the family, but she had some resourcefulness when necessary, given that she was the one who quizzed the Captain on why she and her siblings could not see the Baroness. Maria wistfully thought of little Marta and how the Captain would not be here on her birthday, yet Marta did not seem the least bit surprised or saddened by this. Could it be? The Von Trapp children did not celebrate birthdays? Maria grimaced in slight disgust, and she focused her eyes away from her silhouette in the window and back out towards the darkness of the lake.
There was obviously much to learn about this complex family: what was their mother like? Which child shared which parent's personalities? Who was this Baroness and was she as complex a person as Maria imagined her to be? What was it about the Captain and his piercing blue eyes that left her feeling so unsettled? Maria sighed as she realized she was definitely not going to figure it out on her first day.
Sitting carefully on the edge of her chair by the window, Maria relished the cool breeze that was whispering across the lake and through her open window. The coolness brought back a memory of the afternoon when the hairs on her neck and arms stood at attention with the somewhat foreign sensation of a great, slimy frog in her pocket. Scratching her chin, Maria tried to use what little she had learned about the children that day to determine which of them was likely responsible.
Brigitta struck her as an interesting case and her late arrival drew some suspicion. When she first met the children, it was Brigitta who arrived with her nose buried in a book. Could she have been the one who brought the 'gift'? Brigitta had certainly given Maria the once over, commenting on how ugly her dress was. Perhaps she was looking for a pocket to target? Maria shook her head slightly with a smile and decided she would need to learn more about the children before she could finally get to the bottom of the frog trick, and the pinecone trick for that matter!
Marta and Gretl seemed to be the easiest to bring to Maria's side, yet, she felt she would need to go on the offence with Liesl who was at 'that age'. Maria remembered what it was like to be 16, so confident and independent one minute, and then desperate for a mother's love the next. Liesl must have had to grow up so quickly with the passing of her mother at the age of….Maria did some mental math… 12 or 13?
The Reverend Mother had mentioned the passing of the Captain's poor wife; if only she had been able to learn more about her before coming to the Villa. What a terrible age to lose a mother! Maria lost her parents when she was Marta's age, which of course was horrible, but to lose your mother while on the cusp of adulthood, learning to be a woman. A time for self-discovery – only to have it snatched away from you, leaving you feeling responsible for 6 younger siblings. She was certainly a mature girl and highly intelligent. Taking a different relationship approach with Liesl had been one of Maria's best decisions that day and she hoped it would pay off in the long run.
Maria's mind was swimming in details as she replayed the events of the day. The other children…she was still trying to work them out. Louisa was obviously trouble; however, Maria liked that quality in her as it reminded her of herself at that age. The boys were boys, that much Maria could discern. Maria had always found boys to be a challenge, everyone from her younger playmates in the mountains, to some of the teenage boys she met while at Teacher's College, she had trouble understanding them and their motives. Certainly, the sisters in the Abbey were much more predictable!
Friederich was at that age when he was ready to sprout and could give the Captain a run for his money height-wise, and oh, the other boy… his name was… oh my…."it's gone", she sighed with a shrug. The youngest boy did have such a dear face and the makings of a beautiful smile. She noted he shared that with his father. While the Captain did not smile in her presence, well, not a true smile, she could perceive he could wield a smile that would melt the heart of even the toughest of sisters, even the formidable Sister Berthe. At the dinner table she had caught the Captain regarding her quite closely and the emotion in his stare was hard to decipher. Once he had realized she spotted him, he quickly straightened and gave her a half-smile worthy of the Cheshire cat...Maria's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs as she realised "the devil knew about the pinecone and did not do anything about it!".
Maria looked towards the heavens and quickly crossed herself knowing she had no right to classify her employer among the ranks of Satan, himself. At least not yet! No, Maria was certain that the man had a heart of gold, it was just bottled up with grief or tenacious willpower, which one she had not quite figured out yet. Maria knew at that moment it was her mission to bridge the gulf that existed between the Captain and his children, helping them to become a family again.
[1] uploads/9/8/1/8/9818667/boatswains_