“All right. That’s good,” June said, as though checking off an item on a list. “Now then, about the work. Do you have any questions about cleaning this house?”
“I have cleaned many houses.”
“And may I ask where you have cleaned houses? Not just here in the United States?”
“No, not just here. I emigrated four years ago. I worked in West Germany as a maid before.”
“But you are not…German?”
“No. Polish.” The lie had grown much easier to say since Eva had arrived in Los Angeles, where no one bothered to try placing her strange accent. “When the war ended, I was living in West Germany, though. Near Munich.”
“How was it that you were near Munich when the war ended?”
“The Reich brought in forced labor from all the countries theyoccupied.” That line had never been a lie and had always been easy to say.
“Oh. Yes, I see,” June said. “And you could not…you could not return home to Poland after the war?”
Again the practiced answer fell from her lips. Also not a lie. “There was no home to return to. No one to return to.”
“Ah. I’m so sorry. That is very sad.”
“Yes.”
“And how do you know English so well?”
“At the DP camps we were expected to find work. I was able to get a job as a maid with an American woman who had married a German man. She offered to teach me English.”
“Well. That was very nice of her.”
An image of Louise Geller flitted across Eva’s mind. A happy one. But a tortured one replaced it almost instantly and Eva reflexively shook her head to dispel it.
“That wasn’t nice of her?” June asked.
“No. It was. She was…very kind to me.”
A lull fell over the conversation, as though neither one of them knew what to say next.
“Would you like me to get started?” Eva finally asked.
“Yes. I suppose so. Thank you for doing this. Melanie rather insisted.”
“I am happy to help.”
“It’s just until my back is better.”
Again, silence stole across the living room. Eva supposed June Blankenship had never had a maid in her house before and didn’t know what to do with one. She glanced at the staircase that led to the upper story and Elwood Blankenship’s bedroom.
“Is there something for your brother-in-law that I can do right now?”
June looked to the staircase, too. “He’s resting now. He had a rough night, I’m afraid.”
Eva contemplated this answer for a moment and June’s silence. “Would you like me to begin here? In the living room, then?”
“Oh. Yes. Yes, that would be good. The dusters and vacuum and such are in the hall closet.”
Eva rose from the chair. June made no move to get up off the couch and Eva realized she would likely have to clean up this room with June sitting there watching her. She retrieved the feather duster and Electrolux from the closet and returned to the room. There was no sense in vacuuming until the floor was cleared.
“The record albums?” Eva asked. “Would you like me to put them away?”
