Mr.Krieger knew right what he wanted, Clara liked those kinds of decisive customers.
"I will have Bacon, Eggs, Toast, and coffee. And when things quiet down in here, Mrs. Lutz, I wonder if I might have a moment of your time, as well. I have a business proposition for you to consider, if you are willing to contemplate a second route of employment after your shifts here."
Now the man's order was quite normal enough but the business proposition? For one thing this diner was not even her business to begin with, she was only minding it until Emeline gets back. Hopefully soon too.
"Very well, sir. I will take advantage of any small opening that appears. And you?" she turned to look at the boy. He was a handsome young fellow.
"But first, Mr. Matthews will surely want to add to our order?" Krieger expected the boy to order also.
Ray felt in his pocket at the couple of coppers there.
"A piece of bread and butter please, Ma'am. And a glass of water," the young man was polite.
Clara blinked, that was it? Her little brother would starve on that.
"Very well. But I tell you what, I will just tack that on to Mr. Krieger's main order, no extra charge. What is one more slice of bread," she decided on the spur of the moment.
"If nothing further, I will go get started on this then and bring out your coffee."
What is Good, and what is Legal, are not always the same.
Eric smiled and nodded at Mrs. Lutz for her suggestion of just tacking the boy's food onto his own order.
Once she'd departed to put the order in and get the coffee, he returned his attention to the young Mr. Matthews.
"Now," he said, "due to recent conflicts a few years back, of which I was a minor participant, it is not permitted for employees to work without being paid."
He reached up to touch his chin, "So we'll need to paper-over our arrangement, as it sits outside the strict bounds of law right now."
He shifted his hand and held two fingers up in the air.
"We have two options. Either you can be formally adopted as my ward- strictly for legal purposes, of course... in which case I'd be responsible for your housing and feeding and medical care, but you would not be paid in the traditional sense.
Or...
I could pay you a daily wage for services rendered. Which will make our arrangement seem like just an ordinary job under the law."
He shrugged, as though he didn't care which way the boy decided to take things.
"Your choice."
"Now," he said, "due to recent conflicts a few years back, of which I was a minor participant, it is not permitted for employees to work without being paid." He reached up to touch his chin, "So we'll need to paper-over our arrangement, as it sits outside the strict bounds of law right now."
All Raymond got from that really was that it sounded like he was going to get paid. So far the work had been easy compared to what he'd done at Mr Jolly's and the Telegraph Office, he wondered if the pay would be consequently worse.
"We have two options. Either you can be formally adopted as my ward- strictly for legal purposes, of course... in which case I'd be responsible for your housing and feeding and medical care, but you would not be paid in the traditional sense, or I could pay you a daily wage for services rendered. Which will make our arrangement seem like just an ordinary job under the law."
Ray stared at Krieger in that stolid, blank way he had, while his brain sought to fathom this unexpected and slightly surreal choice. Much later, he tried to rationalise the decision he made, but could not. It was a whim, nothing more nothing less.
"Your choice."
"That's easy, Mister Krieger, I'd like you to adopt me, please." he said, studying the man's face wondering vaguely what his reaction would be, and whether he would even be able to read the odd looking man's reaction. He also wondered if he would have to change his name. He rolled Raymond Krieger around his tongue. It sounded oddly bland.
Maybe he was just mad now, insane. But all this seemed so ordinary, sitting in the diner, waiting for his snooty cousin (who probably didn't even realise she was his cousin) to hurry up with their order. He had made the most momentous decision of his life while idly fiddling with his cutlery. How odd.
He looked at the knife, and daydreamed about the weapons again.
@[Cuban Writer]
OOC: If you two are waiting on me to post as Clara, I thought I'd give you a bit more time to chat. She afterall is cooking their breakfast and that is not like modern fast food places.
Just let me know when you're ready to bring the food in.
What is Good, and what is Legal, are not always the same.
A slight smile touched Eric's lips, and he nodded.
"I'm trained as a barrister," he said, "so I know how to make the arrangements. Some time next week, I expect we'll need to stand before a judge and make attestations.
Then the process will be complete."
He tilted his head slightly in thought. There was part of the process which should probably be addressed.
"They will ask you what you'd like to be called. That is entirely up to you. There may be benefits to sharing my surname in the years to come. But this is a small town. Everyone will know who you are, and what your situation is. So I don't expect any real challenges, no matter what you decide."
With that said, he looked up to evaluate the restaurant. The crowd seemed to be thinning out, gradually.
Good.
Soon he'd be able to close out his business here, and leave with a full belly. So far, everything was going according to plan.
@[Wayfarer]
"They will ask you what you'd like to be called. That is entirely up to you. There may be benefits to sharing my surname in the years to come. But this is a small town. Everyone will know who you are, and what your situation is. So I don't expect any real challenges, no matter what you decide."
Raymond felt, sitting there in a humdrum diner, waiting for his meagre order, that he was standing on the edge of an enormous precipice: and that if he had faith, he could let himself fall and that, in falling, he would be saved. But he must give himself fully and unequivocally.
"Well, Sir. My actual first name is Johannes. I would like to be called Johannes Krieger."
Well, that was simple enough.
He wouldn't even keep the Raymond... let alone the Matthews.
His transformation from caterpillar to butterfly... or moth... would not perhaps be quite as complete and comprehensive as that of his Sister, Jane Clegg, but it would be a form of rebirth. Raymond Matthews was dead, long live Johannes Krieger!
He called over to Clara.
"Oh, Mrs Lutz? May I please add a slice of pie to my order?" he asked, respectfully but firmly.
"That's all right, isn't it, Sir?" he asked Eric, turning back to him. "I think I'll need to be strong in your service, and man cannot live by bread alone."
@[Cuban Writer] Wayfarer
When Clara returned to their table with the coffee, the boy then asked for a slice of pie to be added to his order. Clara smiled and nodded.
"Of course, I have some fresh warm apple pie in back. One slice coming up."
She had a few other customers to deal with too, taking their payments, cleaning up their tables once they left, but in between she managed Mr. Krieger's order too. Eventually she came out with a tray then set down two plates of hot food for the pair.
"There you are. I hope you enjoy," she smiled, she was getting so much better at smiling for customers. Well, at least the ones she liked. There were some who were truly pains in the.............. anyhow.
She had not forgotten the man wanted to talk to her about something, "Oh and I do have some free time now. Did you still wish to discuss something with me, sir?"
What is Good, and what is Legal, are not always the same.
It had not taken the boy long to remind Eric of his sister.
He wondered what manner of mutual experience had inspired them to so readily cast off old identities for new? Likely, their lives had not exactly been festivals of delight. And yet, so many people stubbornly clung to unhappy lives, never mind unhappy identities. Perhaps there was some nature in their blood that made them changeable with the times and circumstances they encountered. That man Darwin, who rode a dog across the ocean to discover natural selection, would be well pleased.
It seemed the boy immediately cottoned-on to the benefits of being Eric's son, too. If Eric was in charge of his upkeep, then bread and water could be right out in exchange for finer fare.
Clara returned with food and company, and Eric gestured to an available seat, "Please, won't you join us? I could not sit and eat and have this chat, knowing you were wearing your feet out. It would be ungentlemanly."
He began to apportion some of his bacon for the boy, placing it on his plate. "As you say. Stay strong."
Then he looked to Clara, "I am in the process of adopting young Johannes, here, on account of recent misfortunes. He will be helping me around my shop most days, but I feel he will need a strong education in the off-hours. He is well-schooled in arithmetic and letters, but not in the finer things that add color and depth to life. Classic literature. Philosophy. History."
Eric took a bite of his eggs and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before washing it down with some coffee.
"You have been brought to my attention as a masterful tutor, with extensive experience. The perfect candidate to enrich Johannes' mind. If you are available for such work, I'd know your wage. I have need of someone with your talents."
Clara returned with food and company, and Eric gestured to an available seat, "Please, won't you join us? I could not sit and eat and have this chat, knowing you were wearing your feet out. It would be ungentlemanly."
He began to apportion some of his bacon for the boy, placing it on his plate. "As you say. Stay strong."
"Thank you, Sir." said Johannes. He was Johannes now, in his mind. Raymond was drifting away. Who had he been?
Then he looked to Clara, "I am in the process of adopting young Johannes, here, on account of recent misfortunes. He will be helping me around my shop most days, but I feel he will need a strong education in the off-hours. He is well-schooled in arithmetic and letters, but not in the finer things that add color and depth to life. Classic literature. Philosophy. History."
That was true, Johannes considered, but it was unclear why Mr Krieger was telling his cousin's somewhat aloof wife.
"You have been brought to my attention as a masterful tutor, with extensive experience. The perfect candidate to enrich Johannes' mind. If you are available for such work, I'd know your wage. I have need of someone with your talents."
Someone, in the past, had once told Raymond of Indian warriors who had to undergo terrible tortures with a look of stoic unconcern upon their faces and still silence n their throats, as their rite of passage into manhood. He tried to emulate them now, feigning deafness almost as he carried on eating, pretending not to be horrified and alarmed at the way this conversation was drifting. He was asking CLARA LUTZ to be his Teacher?!!!
Oh God.
His passive face chewed the bacon and bread betraying nothing of the turmoil within. This was a game he would play with Mr Krieger... forever? Or just a long, long time? Time alone would tell.
@[Cuban Writer] Wayfarer
She thanked him then for his invitation to sit down while they talked. Intrigued, Clara was an attentive listener but she not help but be a bit confused by the time he paused in his spiel.
Classic literature? That could mean a lot of things for a lot of folk. Philosophy? Good lord, she had no experience with that. And history. Now that at least she had a fighting chance. She had read as many history books as she could get her hands on but that if added up would hardly make a single library shelf.
"You have been brought to my attention as a masterful tutor, with extensive experience. The perfect candidate to enrich Johannes' mind. If you are available for such work, I'd know your wage. I have need of someone with your talents."
Clara took a deep breath as she took stock of her reply. Not like she ...or rather they (Jacob and her) couldn't use the extra money. Soon enough there would three in the family.
"I see..well thank you for the kind words about my so called skills. But I have tutored two very young children and that was starting them to read and write the alphabet. And basic adding and subtracting. Then too, I do often help my younger brother, Wyatt, with his schoolwork. But Wyatt is a sixth grader. I myself dropped out of school when I was in eighth grade and realized I knew more than my teacher," she explained.
"I have always been a voracious reader, sadly I have only been able to get my hands on so many books. How I wish Kalispell had a decent public library," she sighed ruefully.
"But classical literature? What would that entail exactly? And as for philosophy I have yet to break open a page of any such book on the subject. I have heard of Greek and Roman philosophers by name. Or St. Augustine as a Christian example. But knowledgeable about them. I have to be honest and say - no."
"Now history I have read more on. Mostly history of our country to be sure but I love any sort of world histories on the rare occasion I can get my hands on such a volume."
"Tell me, sir, why can young Johannes here not just crack open such books and read them himself? How would I be earning your money?"
