They had almost done the round and Anton realized the place was a huge facility that could house up to 700 hundred kids although at this time there were about 450 as Dylan mentioned: about 200 boys and almost 250 girls from as young as three years old and as old as sixteen. Anton’s work would require him to clean all clothes and beddings of all these kids after the maids had collected them from each dorm; soon as they would get cleaned and placed in bins Anton would then return them to the proper places, situated at the sleeping quarters of the savages and of the teaching and administrative personnel. From there the four maids were responsible to allot them appropriately.
Dylan gave all the instructions he could remember up front confirming that everything else would be learned day after day in practice. With these final words they both went down to the main floor and separated at the front desk, Dylan to his room in the basement and Anton who stood in front of Sister Gladys’ desk.
It was still a beautiful sunny day outside the cold mausoleum as Anton observed the sun rays entering from the top of the door skylight flooding the hallway with optimism and benevolence. Sister Gladys finished the entry she was writing on a thick like a Journal book and upon closing it she said to Anton.
“Mr. Kelly, please inform young Mr. Jonas of what your responsibilities are in this school. The director would like to hire the best person to replace you when you retire and between now and that time we’d like you to train the new man as best as you can on everything and anything pertaining to your job here. Mr. Jonas could be your replacement when you retire”
The old man firstly looked at Anton then at the nun. He scratched his head.
“Yes Sister Gladys, we’ll do the best we can.”
“You have about an hour, before the first recess…the rest can be done slowly day after day, provided the director hires this young man” then turning to Anton she added, “come and see me when done, father Nicolas will talk to you again.”
Anton nodded his agreement and Sister Gladys left him to Dylan Kelly, the old man who eyed him for a few seconds before he said, “let us go around the place so you can see what we deal with and I’ll fill you in with what I do here and I’ll answer your questions, shall we?”
The barren field is flooded by the fire, seedlings burn like scanty hairs, earth’s chapped lips remain silent, only the trees in the distance are trembling a few green notes.
ΑΓΟΝΗ ΓΗ
Άγονη γη
ηλιοκαμμένη
σπόροι, σαν αραιά μαλλιά, ξεραίνονται
καθώς της γης
τα σκασμένα χείλη
παραμένουν σιωπηλά
μόνο τα λίγα δέντρα στο βάθος
ψάλλουν μερικούς πράσινους στίχους
Μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη//Translated by Manolis Aligizakis
Manolis Aligizakis 