Ball of Suet: Selected Short Stories by Maupassant

Chapter 27 Family (3)
"Why? Why tell the ministry? You don't need to tell them about this kind of thing. It's normal to forget about such a big thing. Listen to me, ignore your boss, just let him go."

"Okay, let's do it like this." Galawang clapped his hands happily and said, "If he knew that I didn't go to work, he would be furious. After I went, he would announce loudly in front of everyone, 'My mother is gone', Then he just kept his mouth shut."

Galawang rubbed his hands excitedly, imagining the embarrassment of the section chief after being teased.At this time, the maid was sleeping next to the old lady's body upstairs.

Suddenly, Mrs. Galawang frowned again, as if there was something bothering her, and she hesitated to speak.Finally, she asked, "Is the clock that the girl in your mother's room used to play ball yours? Your mother said she would give it to you, right?"

He thought for a while and said: "Yes, yes, my mother said it when she first came to our house. She said: 'You take good care of me, and I will pass the clock to you in the future.'"

Mrs. Galawang's brows relaxed, and the worry on her face disappeared. She said: "Since your mother said, we should remove it before your sister comes, otherwise, she will definitely stop us when she comes." of."

"Do you really want to do this?" Galawang hesitated.

Mrs. Galawang was a little angry, and she said: "Of course, we moved here, and it is ours. By the way, we also moved here with the marble-topped cabinet in her room. I remember she said that she would Give it to me."

"Really? My dear, you can't talk nonsense about this!" Galawang said.

As soon as he finished speaking, his wife said angrily: "You are like a dog, you can't get rid of the problem of eating shit. Since she has promised to give it to me, it is ours. If your sister doesn't want to, just come to me , I’m not afraid of her! Are you willing to move things, or let our children starve to death? Well, let’s stop talking, let’s move things now.”

Galawang didn't dare to say anything more, so he got out of bed and prepared to put on his trousers.His wife stopped him and said, "You don't need to wear it, this is fine." They went upstairs quietly and opened the door of the old lady's room.I saw the old lady lying straight on the bed.Rosalie, who was watching her vigil next to her, had fallen asleep. She was snoring continuously with her mouth open. She was lying on the armchair with her legs stretched out, her hands crossed on her skirt, her body motionless, her head was already leaned to one side.The four burning candles beside the plate seemed to be the only ones keeping the old lady's wake.

Galawang quickly picked up the clock, which was as eerie as any other artefact of the Empire era.There is a gilded bronze statue of a maiden on the clock.The girl wears flowers of various colors and poses to catch a ball, which is the pendulum.

"Okay, give me the clock, and you go and move the marble top on the cabinet." Karawang said.

Galawang didn't dare not listen, so he moved quickly, and after a lot of effort, he carried the marble surface on his shoulders.At this point, he was out of breath.

Then, the couple moved their things and went outside.After going out, Galawang bent over and went downstairs cautiously.Mrs. Galawang held the clock in one hand and the candlestick in the other to illuminate their way, and walked backwards downstairs.

After they moved the things back to the room, Mrs. Galawang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "We have already moved the most difficult thing down, let's move the rest over here too."

The closet was full of the old lady's clothes, and they had to find a place to put them.

Mrs. Galawang thought for a while and came up with a good solution. She said: "There is a box made of fir in the hall, worth at most forty sous. It's just right to put your mother's clothes in it."

Soon, Galawang brought the box, and they moved all the things in the cabinet into the box.The old lady's old clothes, sleeves, shirts, hats and other things were all moved into the box.The couple put them neatly in a wooden box, so that their younger sister, Mrs. Bro, who came to Kalawang for the funeral the next day, would not see the flaws.

After tidying up the old lady's clothes, the two first moved down the drawer and then the cabinet.After the things were moved, the couple didn't know where to put them, so they decided to move to their bedroom after a long consideration.So the five-drawer chest was placed between the two windows, opposite their bed.

After setting it up, Mrs. Galawang immediately put her clothes in.The couple placed the clock on the fireplace in the dining room.In the end, they looked at the effect after placing it, and they all found it very satisfactory. "It's a natural arrangement," said Mrs. Galawang. "Yes, this is very good!" Galawang nodded in agreement.In this way, the two went to bed with peace of mind, and soon after the candle was blown out, both of them fell asleep.

The next day, it was already very bright, and Galawang opened his eyes.His mind was a little clouded at first, and it took him a few minutes to recall everything that happened at home last night.Suddenly, he felt that something had punched him in the chest, and he jumped out of bed, feeling so uncomfortable that he wanted to cry.He immediately ran upstairs to his mother's room.In the room, Rosalie still maintained the posture of last night, and did not wake up until dawn.He woke Rosalie and told her to go to work, and he pulled out the nearly spent candle, put it in front of his mother, and looked carefully at her face.He is an ordinary person. Facing his dead mother, he has a religious and philosophical mundane view in his mind. This seemingly profound thought bothers him.

At this time, his wife called him from downstairs, and he hurried down.His wife gave him a list of things to do in the morning.When he saw the list, it was densely packed, and he couldn't help but feel nervous. He saw that it read:

1. Register with the district government;

2. Invite a doctor to come to the home for an autopsy;

3. Find someone to customize the coffin;

4. Contact the church;

5. Contact the funeral home;
6. Print the obituary letter;

7. Send a telegram to inform my sister and other family members.

There are still a lot of things to do below, and Gala Wang didn't have time to read them all, so he quickly put on his hat and went out to do errands.

The news of the old lady's death spread quickly, and nearby residents came to express their condolences.

When the wife of the barber downstairs heard about this, she knit socks and whispered, "Oh! Now there is one less cheapskate who is rare in the world. I really hate her, but everyone is dead, so I should go Check it out."

The barber who was shaving the customer muttered while soaping the customer's chin: "You said, this woman is really strange. When she was alive, you entangled with her endlessly. When she died, you It's not peaceful."

After hearing what his wife said, she was not angry and said: "When I found out about this in the morning, I was worried all the time, and felt that I had to go and see it. I'm afraid that if I don't go, I won't be able to see it for the rest of my life. I'll go and take a closer look." Take a look, remember her appearance, and I will feel at ease."

Holding the razor, her husband shrugged his shoulders puzzledly, and said to the man who shaved his face, "Excuse me, sir, what are these damned women thinking in their heads? If it were me, I wouldn't be in the mood to see a dead man." .”

The husband's accusation did not make the barber's wife angry, she just said: "I can't help it, I am just like that!" After speaking, she threw down the socks she was knitting and ran upstairs to Mrs. Kalawang's house. up.

Before the barber's wife arrived, two of the neighbor's wives had already arrived.After Mrs. Galawang told them about the incident, she led the three wives gently into the mourning hall.One by one, they sprinkled some salt water on the quilt, knelt down, and while drawing a cross with their hands, they recited prayers. In the end, they all stared at the old lady's body with their mouths open for a long time.Mrs. Galawang covered her face with her handkerchief, and seemed to be weeping very sadly.

When she turned around to go out, she saw her daughter and son standing at the door in shirts, looking at her curiously.She didn't care about pretending to be sad, she stretched out her hand, rushed over, and said angrily: "You little troublemakers, get out of here!"

Ten minutes later, another batch of condolence female neighbors came.Mrs. Galawang swayed boxwood branches on the old lady with them, prayed and cried, in accordance with the way of filial piety.At this time, she found that the two children were still standing at the door and looked at her. She was very angry, so she walked over quickly and slapped each of them severely.However, when she found the two children standing behind her for the third time, she didn't bother to care about them.Whenever someone came to mourn, the two children followed their mother, knelt in a corner with her, and then began to cry.They imitated every movement and expression of their mother very much alike.

When it was almost noon, almost no one came to mourn.After a while, no one came at all.There was the old lady's body upstairs, and there was no one around.Mrs. Galawang had already run back to her room in order to prepare for the funeral.

In the room where the body was placed, the windows were open, letting in the heat from the outside.Four candles were lit near the old lady's coffin, flickering.Her body lay flat there, her hands outstretched, on top of the quilt.A few flies were turning around on the corpse's hands, looking for something.How did these hateful creatures know that their lives were also on the verge of death.

At this time, the two children had already gone to the street to have fun.After a while, a group of children surrounded them.There were a few clever little girls among them, and they soon knew that something was going on in their family. "Has your grandma passed away?" These little girls kept asking them with an adult air. "Yeah, she died last night," began Mary Louise in a loud voice.In it, she also talks about the boxwood branches, the candles, and the faces of dead bodies.The children around are very curious and want to go there to have a look.

In this way, five little girls and two little boys, under the command of Mary Louise, boldly walked towards that room.They are like an organized tour group.In order to avoid being discovered, the organizers asked everyone to take off their shoes.When they were ready, one by one, they climbed the stairs cautiously, sneaking like little mice.

They came to the room quietly.Mary Louise led everyone to kneel on the ground, while making the sign of the cross in front of her chest, while speaking plausibly.Then they got up again and sprinkled some holy water on the bed.These mourning rituals were learned from her mother.The children's curiosity is not limited to this, they also want to see the faces and hands of the dead.One by one, they squeezed back and forth in front of the old lady's bed with excitement and fear.Mary Louise stood aside and began to pretend to cry.She hid her face with a handkerchief and sobbed.However, when she thought that there were other visitors waiting downstairs, she couldn't wait to see off the first batch of visitors and prepare for the second batch.She was busy bouncing around, showing no signs of sadness at all.The second batch of visitors was sent off, and the new batch continued to be greeted.Batch after batch, visitors in twos and threes came one after another.This kind of curiosity spread quickly through the children who had visited, and other children around heard the news and came here, even the little beggars in the street who didn't cover their clothes came to join in the fun.Every time she receives visitors, Mary Louise will re-enact those rituals, almost exactly the same as her mother's movements.

This group of children played for a long time, and most of them have dispersed.The hard-working organizer was also tired.There was no one around the old lady again.

She lay on the bed, motionless.The candles in the room were still flickering, and the shadows around were dangling.Her old, yellow face, covered with wrinkles, loomed in the alternation of candlelight and shadows.

(End of this chapter)