The Domestication of a Parisian Bourgeois

by Monica Graz

Part 3

 

CHAPTER 6

"In about half an hour the caterers will be here, so hurry up girl and finish mopping the entrance floor. You don't want them to see you down on your hands and knees, do you, Maria?"

I looked up form my kneeling position to Madame Violetta. She was very elegantly dressed again, using another dress from my wife's large collection. I have to admit that this woman had a flair for elegant clothes. She was coming from a poor background yet she knew how to be a lady.

I managed to answer in a polite manner, "Yes Madame, I'll be finishing here in a couple of minutes and then I have to go to the kitchen and start sorting out the cutlery for tonight's dinner. How many guests do you expect Madame?"

I said that and all of a sudden a feeling of panic went through me, like I have been electrocuted. Who is coming tonight, how many people are invited to 'my own house'? Am I a complete fool? What I am doing here down on my hands and knees taking orders form my ex domestic, dressed as a poor servant myself. Should I act now and stop this masquerade before is too late?

Violetta's antennas picked immediately my uneasiness because she acted instantly.

"Maria, stop this instant what you are doing and come to the living room I want to make clear to you a few more conditions concerning our mutual agreement and arrangement."

She turned and left walking very elegantly in her high heels. I finished mopping the last corner and managed to stand up with some difficulty. I now started realizing how painful it can be to try and work down on your hands and knees. I had a quick look at the hallway mirror, fixed my little cap and straightened my apron and walked fast towards the living room.

She was sitting in one of the sofas and as I came in she motioned me to go and sit down at the sofa opposite her. In her usual manner she went straight to the point.

"You shouldn't normally be seated, in particular in this room, but I feel I should tell you a few more things about our mutual arrangement, which so far works to my full satisfaction."

I was quite conscious how I was seated, at the edge of the sofa, keeping my legs together and my hands neatly on top of my white apron. I was already feeling that it was somehow not correct to sit in the living room opposite my new employer. It is amazing what a servant's uniform can do to you. But on the other hand I was eager to hear what Madame Violetta had to say.

She continued in her very assured manner, "As you have noticed Maria lots of things happened in only a few hours, your transformation is amazing, you look so much like a proper housemaid now. And of course nothing could have happened without your full cooperation. Do you agree so far?"

I answered in a quiet but definitely affirmative way, "Yes Madame, I agree so far and I do not regret my decision to swap positions with you Madame!" I said it spontaneously and that pleased her because she continued more enthusiastically now,

"I am very glad you still feel so positive, but I can tell you that gradually this is going to be more and more realistic and I hope you will be able to cope with it. You are here to stay as Maria the maid for at least a year, and you are going to feel more and more pressured in your new station in life. Nobody ever said that being a domestic servant is going to be easy so I truly urge you to maintain the same positive attitude towards your new found role in life even when you will be feeling tired and worn out and humiliated and defeated, because I am afraid you will get those feelings and quite soon, in particular when you start appearing in public as a domestic. Do you understand that?"

Another question for me and another instant answer, "Yes Madame I understand fully that in the future I am going to have strong feelings about my new lowly position in life, but I truly hope that the novelty of it, plus my naturally submissive nature will allow me to face it as bravely as I can manage. You know Madame by now that I like being 'une personne soumise'

There it is, I said it finally! I accepted in front of Madame Violetta that I am a submissive, I never said that to anyone so openly, even to my own wife, though I suspect that she knew it for quite some time. Of course Violetta's phrase hadn't gone unnoticed to me before 'being the maid for at least a year'. Did she have in mind, a longer period possibly? Here it goes again my conspiracy theory.

She must have read my thoughts in her usual super perceptive manner because she continued vigorously, "Well, Maria, I want to be completely frank with you at this point, I wouldn't be able to initiate any of the things that happened to you today if I didn't have those long talks with your ex wife. She said to me that you were always a bit effeminate, you always liked housework and you always made a point of wearing an apron when working at home. In fact I know where you keep your collection of feminine clothes, mostly aprons I must say!"

She stopped and looked at me sharply, as I became increasingly red and looked at her in disbelief. Now all the pieces of the puzzle appeared to be in the correct position. Violetta had prepared quite methodically for today's transformation and in some sort of agreement with my wife. God this was beyond belief!

She understood again my uncertainty and confusion because she continued in a haste, "Yes Maria, I accept that I manipulated things towards the direction I wanted them to go, but I repeat again, nothing could have happened without your full participation and collaboration. And Angelita confirmed that to me, she said you were like putty in her hands, and by the way I gather you had quite a time with her."

I blushed all over again and said in a meek voice, smiling at the same time "Yes Madame, I enjoyed Angelita's company in bed and I appreciated all her efforts to transform me to a convincing 'femme de menage'. I briefly stopped playing nervously with the edge of my apron but I continued before Violetta had the chance to resume her speech.

"But may I ask you Madame what exactly my wife said to you? I never realized that she knew that much about me, I thought I kept some of my secrets well hidden."

She looked at me a bit annoyed now, "I don't intend to open that discussion with you now Maria, I said what I had to say. Probably some other time I'll be more obliging to you." She stopped and looked at her beautiful wristwatch, another piece from my wife's collection.

"It's getting late girl, the caterers will be here shortly, so before they ring the bell let me tell you a few things about my guests tonight. Four people are coming, two gentlemen and two ladies. They belong to the 'milieu artistique' of Paris, they know nothing of Violetta the cleaning lady, they know me as Violetta an eccentric and rich lady of mixed parentage, Portuguese father, French mother who shares her time between her Parisian mansion and her family house in Lisbon. They are invited to my Parisian mansion tonight and you are Maria 'ma soubrette Portuguaise', my Portuguese maid. They are very open minded, some gay some lesbian, I leave it to you to decide who is what. You don't have to say much, in fact I'll be addressing you only in Portuguese, so you don't have to worry about being read or ridiculed."

A huge feeling of relief overtook me and I instantly became calmer. I managed to say to my new Mistress in a voice full of gratitude, "Oh thank you Madame for telling me that, I already feel much calmer now and…"

She didn't let me finish, but in her usual manner, she simply said to me, "All right girl, here are you final instructions, you receive the food from the caterers then you set the table for six, it's you former house anyway so you know exactly where everything is. Then you go and change to your black and white uniform and two inch black shoes. I expect you to be ready to receive our guests by 8.00 o'clock sharp. Off you go now."

She dismissed me abruptly as usually but as I was rushing to the kitchen she added something more.

"Don't forget your job at Orly tomorrow, I'll give you more instructions about that after the guests depart later tonight, then tomorrow evening we will sign together some papers. I took the initiative and asked Maitre Gareau to prepare a general 'Pare of Attorney' and some other paperwork so we can make more official your new status and my introduction to 'la grande vie bourgeoise'. But more about it tomorrow girl!"

She did throw her bomb at the end! She had already contacted Maitre Gareau, our family lawyer? And how she managed to do that without asking me? I suspected again my wife's finger there, she must have given her all the necessary information and contacts to deal with all that paper work which always was a great nuisance for me anyway. My wife was handling all those matters usually.

As I was entering the kitchen the doorbell rang. I took a deep breath and rushed to the door. The caterers must have arrived. As I was opening the door I remembered to use my heavily accented broken French, I was just the Portuguese maid after all!

 

CHAPTER 7

The first guests arrived a bit after eight. I rushed to the door to let them in, two very chic and elegant ladies came in and with a brief 'bonsoir' handed me their coats and bags. Mme Violetta rushed behind me to welcome them with a kiss on each cheek, the French way. I could smell her Chanel no5 very strongly.

"Bonsoir Monique, bonsoir Annette, ca va bien?" she said in a very friendly manner,

leading them towards the living room, 'la grande salle' as my ex wife was calling it, a very elegantly furnished room with a taste indicating 'old money' without any touch of the 'nouveau riche' vulgarity.

I was following behind as instructed, ready to take an order for drinks.

The ladies were looking around admiringly, "Wow, what a house 'chere Violetta', Monique said, with true admiration in her voice, "You have some very nice pieces here, real 'objects d'art'.

"And look at those paintings in the wall" added Annette. She stopped and looked at a small gouache painting above a 19^th century dresser, "Wow, this is a Picasso, come and look at this Monique, a true Picasso of the early period!"

Mme Violetta, gave me a questioning look, as if asking me, 'is this really a Picasso?'

I nodded silently as she approached them with a big smile, "Yes, it is a small Picasso, my father bought in Lisbon before the war, nothing big though, there are quite a few of those small Picassos in private collections, you know what a workaholic Picasso was, I bet he did that in an hour."

She is good I thought to myself, she is very quick and adapts wonderfully in any situation.

"Would you like something to drink ladies", Mme Violetta asked them as they sat down.

They both asked for a glass of white wine and Mme turned to me and said in a slow voice, as I was an imbecile, "Two glasses of white wine for the ladies Maria and bring also some of the little hors d'oeuvre you prepared before."

I curtsied as elegantly as possible, but with a certain hesitancy saying "Oui Madame, tout de suite Madame."

As I was heading for the kitchen I heard her saying to her guests, 'Yes, she is new here, yes she needs quite a bit of training, yes she is Portuguese and her French is elementary.'

Whithin the next half hour three more people have arrived, a middle aged couple Mr et Mme Bubois, as they announced themselves, a very pompous and arrogant bourgeois couple, and a gentleman in his early forties, Mr Alphonse Patou who obviously was flirting with Mme Violetta.

I served them all drinks and as they were chatting happily in the living room I organized the last details of the meal. It was quite tricky, because I had to keep everything warm and inviting looking, thank God I knew that kitchen so well.

By the time they sat down to eat it was past nine thirty.

I was indeed very busy and fully alert during dinner, but I have to admit that Mme Violetta helped me a lot, guiding me continuously and very expertly.

'You can clear the table now Maria, you can bring the main dish now, please fill the wine glasses, Mr. Dubois needs some bread please, etc, etc

I was very relieved when they all went back to the living room and Madame asked me to prepare coffee for everybody.

As I was getting ready to start the dishes, I heard a little bell ringing, I hastily dried my hands in a tea towel, removed my working apron, and rushed to the living room where I found them all sitting comfortably.

"Ah, Maria, there you are," said Madame in a patronizing manner, and continued, "I know your French is not good, but Mlle Monique wants to know if you have any friends or relatives in your village back in Portugal in need of coming to work as maids in Paris. Mlle Monique runs a small agency of domestic help and she often thinks that the best way to find new people is through domestics who already work here. Do you understand what I just said to you girl?"

I felt all the eyes on me! Mme Violetta did it again. She put me on the spot in front of all those people. I had to say something and I had to sound foreign and a bit stupid.

"Oui Madame, je comprends" I said in my softest and stupidest voice, "I can check with my relatives Madame, I have two cousins a bit younger than me who probably would be interested, I have to write a letter to them Madame."

I said all that with a heavy accent using one or two Portuguese words, which Madame translated to the others.

Mlle Monique turned to me and said also in a slow voice, influenced by Violetta, "That would be good Maria, but please do it as quickly as possible, I have a few excellent clients requiring domestic help the earliest possible and the market in Paris at the moment is not good.'

At this remark, the arrogant bourgeois lady, Mme Dubois turned to Mlle Monique and said, "It is true my dear, good help in so hard to find those days, and you can't get anymore a nice provincial French girl, you have to use those uneducated foreigners who are not always trustworthy, the other day…"

At this point Mme Violetta turned to me and said, "Thank you Maria, that will be all."

"Merci Madame", I said curtseying as Mme Dubois continued her accusations against foreign domestics workers. I could feel more and more what it meant to be in the other side of the fence.

 

CHAPTER 8

By the time the guests had left and I tidied up the kitchen it was well past midnight and I was dead tired. It certainly had been a long and exhausting day for me and as I was putting the last glasses away Madame entered the kitchen holding a small envelop.

"You did very well tonight Maria, though the guests said that you are a bit crude and rough, I explained to them that you are new in Paris and you are very eager to learn and become a well trained domestic."

I blushed as I answered with a polite 'Thank you Madame'

"Now then", she continued more firmly now, "Tomorrow is your Orly day and you have to get up very early. You take the night bus at the corner of our street, it passes exactly at 4.30am, for the Gare de Lyon, where you get off. There you will be picked by the cleaning van that goes to Orly. Ginette will look for you. The cleaning van has a sign at both sides, 'N & M Badoit – Cleaning Services'."

She stopped momentarily and handed me the envelope she had been holding, "There is an Orly Pass Card in your new name which is Maria Olivares Delantal. The photo is missing, but as soon as you arrive at the airport Ginette will take you to one of those automatic machines and then she will take the Pass with the photo to the Airport Maintenance Office (AMO) for proper stamping and registration."

She stopped because she saw me looking concerned and worried again. How on earth she was able to provide for me an Airport Pass to a name not legally existing? Of course she understood my worries because she said immediately, "Maria Olivares Delantal exists officially and has a file with the French police as a legal immigrant. For reasons that don't concern you at this moment she left France for Portugal, 'through the back door' as we say in the immigrant argo, meaning that she left the country without a Passport control through borders, so I have her passport and you simply take her place. I will shortly organize for a Passport for you as soon as I have appropriate photos."

That terrified me even more because I managed to say in a very worried tone of voice, "But Madame I might end up in prison for forgery of important legal documents, plus I will be constantly vulnerable in case I am stopped by the police for the regular inspections in the Metro or the train or in other public spaces, you know how paranoid the French authorities are with illegal immigrants, in particular after the collapse of the French Algeria. I think…."

She stopped me again with her hand and said in a very strict manner now, "Now listen to me girl, you must realize that you are entering the world of cleaners and maids and lowly domestics that usually are exposed to Police controls and harassment, but this is exactly what I have been trying to tell you all along, you have to feel to your skin what it means to be a lowly laborer, a domestic, a cleaner, you have to feel to your skin what is means to be afraid that the police might catch you and find something wrong with your papers, you must feel the fear of it, otherwise, you simply act as an impostor and actor. Do you understand Maid Maria?"

She emphasized the last phrase so strongly that I had to back off, she had such a strong character this woman I certainly was not a match for her. I managed to say again rather meekly, "Yes Madame, I understand what you say, but please Madame could you promise me that you will be behind me and protect me if something goes wrong? After all you are my primary employer."

That last phrase I said spontaneously and instantly I was worried I was asking too much, but surprisingly enough Violetta said to me in a rather sweet tone now, "But of course Maria, I strongly believe that any correct employer should stand firmly behind their staff, domestic or other and try to provide security and protection."

Again she managed to convince me and pacify me.

Soon after that she said good night and departed for her luxurious bedroom as I was taking up the steps to my small and cold new room. I was going to spend my first night as a maid in my new uncomfortable room. And I realized of course that I barely had the chance for a proper sleep. Four hours was the most I could hope for.

Soon I was tucked in my small cot, wearing a cheap cotton nightie of Violetta, keeping my bra and breast forms on to get used to them, as instructed accordingly of course. I had a physical tiredness I completely forgot about, practically all my body muscles were aching. I fell asleep very shortly, among mixed and confusing images and thoughts of what happened to me during the past fourteen hours.

 

CHAPTER 9

I got off the bus at ten to five in front of Gare de Lyon main entrance. I was very conscious of my appearance and how I was moving, but nobody else seemed to pay any attention to me. I was one of the many men and women, mostly menial and domestic laborers, going to work so early in the morning. Dressed in one of ex Violetta's, former cheap dresses, a coat, flat shoes and a head scarf, tied firmly under my chin 'the Portuguese way', as I was taught by Angelita, I was standing hesitantly on the pavement, looking for the cleaning van. It was a miserable damp day and I was getting a bit worried. The cold was quite penetrating at five in the morning.

All of a sudden I heard a fast beep and a little van stopped in front of me, a side sliding door was opened and a female voice from inside said quickly, "Bonjour, vous devez etre Maria, le remplacement de Violetta?"

I answered immediately with a " Yes, I am Maria, Violetta's replacement", feeling quite relieved that they turned up and the next moment I was sitting, quite squeezed, among five women plus the driver. A mixture of soap, cheap perfume and garlic made my nostrils quiver in a searching way, new unfamiliar odors for my bourgeois sense of smell.

The woman next to me said in a rather husky but pleasant voice, the voice of a smoker, "I am Ginette, Violetta talk to me about you, I am going to be your 'guardian angel' for today, we are going to work together, this is the Airport policy anyway, the cleaners work in pairs. You shouldn't worry, for as long as you follow my instructions and keep your voice low you will be fine."

I managed to answer back in a equally quiet and husky voice, "Thank you Ginette, I'll try to be as correct as possible, I am aware that hundreds of passengers' eyes will be looking at us, something that makes me quite nervous."

She said in a more animated tone, "Let me tell you a secret girl, I do this job in the airport for several years. After sometime you realize that nobody really looks at you, nobody except for your supervisor probably. The passengers are looking through you, you don't exist for them, you are part of the furniture of the departing lounge! Cleaners are invisible, so you shouldn't worry about that. By the way do you have your Airport Pass Card?"

"Yes Ginette, I have it in my bag, Madame Violetta, gave it to me last night."

She smiled mischievously, "I see Violetta trained you well, you are already thinking of her as your bourgeois employer, she must be thrilled." She stopped to blow her nose, something that slightly annoyed me and continued, "By the way, you mustn't forget that your are a Portuguese woman recently arrived and your French is elementary, so if the supervisor appears to check on us let me do the talking. If he asks you directly simply say, 'Oui Patron'. He likes to think of himself as the big boss.

After that we stayed silent until we arrived at the airport. We went through a back gate and after walking in some basement corridors we arrived at a room with lots of lockers and toilet facilities. There was an inscription at the door, 'personnel domestique feminin'.

Ginette took me to a locker, produced a key and told me, 'This is the old Violetta's locker, now yours for as long as you work at the airport, here keep the key and don't forget the number, 168, I am going to change now and you do the same, white sabots, very comfortable thank God, blue overall dress, checked matching apron and head scarf, then we go for you photo."

It took me only a few minutes to change, I removed my dress keeping my slip on. Then I put the overall dress on which buttoned in front and that smelled slightly of Violetta's body odor, which this time was a bit exciting for me. I tied the apron with a bow as symmetrical as possible, I was learning my lesson now and I looked at Ginette at the other end of the room to see how she was going to wear the head scarf. It was a head triangle of the same checked material as the apron and the dress' collar. I adjusted it to my head, I locked my locker and put the key to my apron's pocket. I was ready for work. I couldn't fail to notice as I looked at myself in the only mirror inside the room and I thought that both the dress and apron had seen better days, they weren't dirty, but I could see permanent discoloration marks of chlorine. This was really the uniform of a true working cleaner.

Ginette motioned me to follow her. We walked fast to a corner of the corridor where an automatic photo machine was standing, she pushed me inside fed the machine with coins and soon I was holding my first photos as a female domestic worker. I looked at this rather severely looking person with the dark curly hair and the head scarf and I felt a strong trapping feeling, I was slowly but surely dragged to my new persona and now I was about to get my first identification papers.

Which in fact happened within minutes. Ginette grabbed the photos and the card Violetta had given me, left me standing there and within five minutes she was back with the card inside a plastic folder properly authorized and stamped, which she pinned on the top of my dress. I looked at it. It was my new airport pass in the name of Maria Olivares Delantal. It was valid for a year. I had my first official accreditation as a Portuguese cleaning woman!

It was past six o'clock by the time we emerged with Ginette to the main Departure Hall with our cleaning equipment. I had to go in front with a huge mop doing the sweeping and the emptying of garbage bins. Behind me Ginette with a bucket on wheels and another mop was washing the floor.

The Hall was already quite full, lots of flights were going to depart within the next two hours so we had to work around the standing and sitting passengers and their luggage. That was quite tricky because I had to zigzag around them saying very often in my softest possible voice, 'Pardon Monsieur, pardon Madame, attention Mademoiselle'.

Ginette was right, they never looked at us, they simply moved slightly and continued their talking or reading or whatever else they were doing, I felt invisible and that made me feel more relaxed and less worried. But I never stopped being conscious of how I was dressed or what I was doing. The idea that I was acting as a female cleaner in the biggest Parisian airport gave me strong 'stomach butterflies' of pure excitement and a continuing feeling of disbelief that this really was happening to me. This woman with the faded blue dress and apron, mopping floors and emptying garbage bins was it actually me? Endless times in the past I had used this airport for traveling all over the world and now I was here as a mere cleaner!

The voice of Ginette brought me back to reality, "Attention Maria, le Patron arrives, "

I looked around me and I saw a big burly man approaching fast, "Bonjour Ginette", he said looking at me at the same time.

"Where is Violetta today? And who is this new face?"

"She is Violetta's replacement Patron", Ginette answered back and continued in a voice that she obviously tried to make it sound pleasant, "Violetta is not coming back for some time, she has other commitments at the moment, but Maria here is going to replace her. She is fresh form Portugal and her French is rudimental, but I am next to her explaining everything, she is a good girl and she will learn fast Patron."

"So Violetta is going up in the world isn't she?" he said in a rather accusing tone of voice, "I guess cleaning at the airport is beneath her isn't it?" He looked at Ginette expecting an answer,

"It is true Patron, she found a better paid job and naturally she took up the offer, but I am certain Maria here will be an excellent replacement."

"I certainly hope so Ginette, sometimes those peasant Portuguese women are a bit thick in the head." he said and he started departing, but suddenly he turned towards me and said, "I'll keep an eye on you girl, I hope you adapt fast and next week I'll assign you to toilet cleaning with another cleaner, everybody has to go through that phase as well, do you understand me girl?"

I was blushing all over as I answered back quickly with an "Oui Patron", as Ginette instructed me, curtseying slightly at the same time.

He left rather pleased with himself as Ginette was telling me off, "You didn't have to curtsey to that brute Maria, you are not in the house facing your Mistress, but on the other hand that pleased him, he felt that you respect him and he liked that.

"But Ginette, he wants me to clean the toilets next week, I don't know how I can cope with that, it is a very disgusting job."

"Well girl, this is part on being a domestic cleaner, you do as you are told, and believe me you get used to it after sometime. After all those years, life taught me that everything is relative in this world."

By the time that our shift was over at twelve noon I was dead tired since I was on my feet, standing, walking and working, for over six hours with only a fifteen minutes break for a watery tasteless coffee.

We changed back to our street clothes and Ginette instructed me to take back my uniform to wash and iron it. Cleaners had to look after their working clothes in those days.

We had lunch at the airport canteen, at least that was one of the benefits of the job, lunch was included in our contract.

By two thirty in the afternoon I was in front of my house, or rather Madame Violetta's house where I was working as a maid now, I shouldn't forget that. I took from my bag the back door key that I now possess and I entered the kitchen, wondering what was in store for me next.

 

CHAPTER 10

Nobody was at home, but I found a note on the kitchen table that I read immediately,

'Maria, I'll be back after five o'clock, go to your room, change to your blue working uniform and try to fix it, it needs a good cleaning. You will find some changes there, I am sure you will like it. Then unpack the clothes from the two suitcases you will find there, and put them in your new cupboard and drawers, those are my old clothes, I know they fit you, and they belong to you now. You will also find some shoes from your ex wife's collection, since my shoe size is smaller. Then you can have a rest and I want you down in your black and white uniform after five o'clock waiting for me.

It was signed, 'Mme Violetta'.

I rushed upstairs very intrigued and curious. As usual, Madame Violetta was full of surprises. The room definitely looked changed, workers have been in and of course they left the usual mess, but I had now hot water, the first thing I checked, I had a new plastic cupboard for hanging clothes and an antique looking piece of furniture with four drawers. Finally the room had been freshly painted. Workers must have been busy from very early in the morning to manage to finish so quickly. That woman never ceased to amaze me.

I changed quickly to my blue working dress and apron and started cleaning the room. I did that with lots of gusto, it was my room now and I wanted it nice and comfortable.

Then I unpacked and arranged all my new clothes, that they were Violetta's hand me downs, except for the array of my new uniforms of course. Everything was there for the working girl, from sensible underwear to cheap skirts and dresses and tops and scarves and a few bags. As I was finishing unpacking I found another plastic bag left in a corner. Inside it, I found my collection of aprons, the one I was keeping in the house in the back of my cupboard downstairs in my old bedroom, together with a small note from Violetta again, 'Those are the only items from your old collection of clothes that you are allowed to keep, all the rest of your former clothes and personal belongings I removed from the house, so you will not be tempted. I believe nothing has been left behind to remind you of your former self. Of course everything is kept safely in a warehouse somewhere in town so don't get panicked girl, Mme Violetta'.

But I was panicking again! She was such a devious lady my Madame, everything was so methodically done, within twenty four hours I practically ceased to exist as my former self in all aspects. I had to think again.

I had another hour before her arrival, so I lay down in bed trying to form a strategy. But what strategy? Everything that happened so far was accepted by me without the slightest protest, so what strategy? Deep inside I liked what was happening to me, or to put it differently, I didn't oppose it, knowing that any other alternative at this moment of my life would have been very gloomy and nerve breaking for me. So be it, I thought once more!

I was in the kitchen, dressed as instructed, black and white uniform, lacy cap and my two inch shoes when the door bell rang. I rushed to open the front door knowing that in should be Madame.

I opened the door eagerly, ready to curtsey, and there was Angelita standing in front of me with a big, smiling broadly.

"What happened, where is Violetta?" I managed to say looking at her and not inviting her in.

"Don't you say hello to your old friend Maria? You do look very proper in that uniform, a proper maid for a proper bourgeois lady. And by the way, you should have learned by now to call her Madame Violetta in front of others, she is not your equal anymore, she is your 'patronne now', remember girl? She stopped and looked at me with a false accusing look, then spoke again, aren't you going to invite me in girl?"

"Of course Angelita, come in, I am just stunned, I wasn't expecting you."

"Well girl, you must have understood by now that Madame Violetta is a very unpredictable lady and full of surprises, but I'll explain to you all in a minute and after you offer me a cup of coffee."

We went to the kitchen, I thought that would have been appropriate with a person of Angelita's status, she wasn't a bourgeois lady, she was a concierge, she belonged with me in the back of the house.

I made coffee for both of us and we sat at the kitchen table to talk, we did some small talk first, she asked me about my work at the airport and if I liked Ginette, she made a comment about my hair that looked quite appropriate for a Portuguese maid and finally opened her bag and retrieved a dossier with some papers. Then she became serious.

"Madame Violetta, gave me this dossier with papers for you to sign. She is with Maitre Gareau at the moment waiting for me to go back to his office within an hour. She thought that you wouldn't like to appear in front of Maitre Gareau dressed like that and since you have no other clothes anymore she decided to tell him that you are in bed with the flu and also stressed because of your wife's departure. Mr Gareau agreed to help, but you will have to call him and tell him over the telephone that you agree with what is written in those papers and you signed everything on your own free will. He has known you for many years and he would understand any impostor. He even said to Violetta that he was going to ask you some personal questions that nobody else would be able to answer, in order to be absolutely certain that he is talking to you."

She stopped to look at me and I grabbed the chance to say something, "Just slow down a bit Angelita, you go too fast here, you are telling me that Maitre Gareau will accept the validity of my signature, after he speaks to me in person?".

She was a bit confused, after all she wasn't an educated woman and not as clever as Violetta, "I think so Maria, don't ask me very much, I just repeat what Violetta instructed me to say to you".

I sympathized with her, she wasn't the right person to do that, but in the other hand she was the only one that knew me in my present condition and obviously a person that Violetta could trust completely. I said to her, "Let me have a look at those papers please".

She handed me several documents saying at the same time, "Madame said to me that everything written in these documents is based on what you agreed to yesterday with her and she wouldn't do anything to cheat you, so you don't have to study them carefully now, she will be back later with a copy for you fully endorsed, which you can study at your own free time." She stopped and looked at me seemingly pleased. She was proud that she was able to be so articulate.

I looked at her with concern, then at the documents, one was a 'Formal Notary Authorization' or FNA document, very essential under French Law. It was four thickly written pages, I went quickly through them, basically Violetta had full authority to run everything belonging to me on her own free will without any other consultation. The document covered all my assets, 'immobilier and mobilier' as the French called them. I carefully read that the duration was for a year, unless the signing parties were going to renew it no more than a month and no less than fifteen days before it's expiration date. I found that reasonable enough.

The next document was a 'declaration de proprietaire' a declaration of mine that I was letting her to reside in my house exercising full ownership rights. That was a tricky paper but again the duration was for a year. Basically what I understood in this document was that she had the right to use this house without the obligation of paying rent to me, yet again I wasn't 100% certain.

Finally there was a document I found quite bizarre. Under this document, I was giving Madame Violetta the full right 'to put me in a working mode' in other words I was declaring in this document that I had the intention to work for 'at least a year' and I was allowing her to decide what kind of work would be suitable for me, taking into consideration that for many years I was outside the working world and I sort of lost my capability of acting as a useful and professional person.

I looked again at this document and I thought that probably Maitre Gareau would oppose it, because I was basically appointing Madame Violetta as my Guardian, though I was not a minor. I felt a bit indecisive about that, on the other hand Maitre Gareau might think that this would give me a good push to go out to the professional world again, not knowing of course that I was already belonging to the immigrant domestic force of this country.

On impulse I stood up and headed for the telephone at the hallway saying to Angelita at the same time, "I am calling Maitre Gareau now Angelita, I'll be back with you in a few minutes," making it clear that I didn't want her to follow me.

I was soon talking to Maitre Gareau, using again my cultural and very Parisian bourgeois voice, "Bonsoir Maitre Gareau, I am sure you are wondering why I decided to ……"

I talked to him for about fifteen minutes. He did ask me some personal questions and he did ask me how I feel after my recent separation with my wife. I explained to him that at this difficult period of my life, and Madame Violetta Perreira dos Santos is the best that could have happened to me. She is completely trustworthy and she has my full confidence. I might go abroad for a long period of time, but I might also stay behind and in that case I would like a push to try and become a useful citizen again and Miss Santos would have been an excellent person to give me ideas and initiatives. Finally I was completely prepared to sign the documents in my hands.

He was quite convinced at the end and he wished me well, mentioning that we were going to review the situation in a year unless something extraordinary happened in between.

I went back to the kitchen, signed the papers with a back thought that I must have missed plenty of 'fine print' in them, but I couldn't back off now, too late for that. I gave them back to Angelita. She stood up immediately understanding that somehow I had sealed my fate now because she said to me, "You are one of us now girl. Welcome to the world of maids, cleaners and domestics."

She started to go, but remembered something as she was opening the front door, "And Maria, please try to remember when you talk to people, to use your vulgar and less articulate accented voice. You are good at that. I could hear you talking to the lawyer using this upper class voice and accent, that definitely has to go, you are one of us now. I'll talk to your Mistress, maybe I'll see you soon in my little apartment, you can do some housework for me and then we can have some more fun together."

She winked at me and disappeared closing quietly the door behind her..

 

To be continued

  

  

  

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