Can't and Won't: Stories Read Online Free PDF Page B

Flanders, has never visited the park. He would like to spend several hours there. Can you make sandwiches of cold meat for him to take with him? It is his last Sunday here.
    For once, she does not protest.
    When setting the dining table, Adela puts each thing down with a bang.
    I say to Luisa: Please, I would like Adela to polish the candlesticks. We are going to have them on the table at night.
    I ring the bell at the dining table, and a loud crash follows instantly in the kitchen.
    I have told them: There should not be these kitchen noises during our cocktail and dinner hour. But they are hitting each other again and yelling.
    If we ask for something during a meal, Adela comes out of the kitchen and says: There isn’t any.
    It is all so very nerve-racking. I often feel worn out after just one attempt to speak to her.
    Luisa, I say, I want to make sure we understand each other. You cannot play the radio in the kitchen during our dinnertime. There is also a lot of shouting in the kitchen. We are asking for some peace in the house.
    We do not believe they are sincerely trying to please us.
    Adela sometimes takes the bell off the dining table and does not put it back on. Then I cannot ring for her during the meal but have to call loudly from the dining room to the kitchen, or go without what I need, or get the bell myself so that I can ring it. My question is: Does she leave the bell off the table on purpose?
    I instruct them ahead of time: For the party we will need tomato juice, orange juice, and Coca-Cola.
    I tell her: Adela, you will be the one in charge of answering the door and taking the coats. You will show the ladies where the toilet is, if they ask you.
    I ask Luisa: Do you know how to prepare empanadas in the Bolivian style?
    We would like them both to wear uniforms all the time.
    I say to Adela: Please, I would like you to pass among the guests frequently with plates of hors d’oeuvres that have been recently prepared.
    When the plates no longer look attractive, please take them back out to the kitchen and prepare fresh ones.
    I say to her: Please, Adela, I would like there always to be clean glasses on the table, and also ice and soda.
    I have told her: Always leave a towel on the rack above the bidet.
    I say to her: Are there enough vases? Can you show them to me? I would like to buy some flowers.
    Here are more of the details of the silent warfare: I see that Adela has left a long string lying on the floor next to the bed. She has gone away with the wastebasket. I don’t know if she is testing me. Does she think I am too meek or ignorant to require her to pick it up? But she has a cold, and she isn’t very bright, and if she really did not notice the string, I don’t want to make too much of it. I finally decide to pick up the string myself.
    We suffer from their rude and ruthless vengeance.
    A button was missing from my husband’s shirt collar. I took the shirt to Adela. She shook her finger and said no. She said that la Señora Brodie always took everything to the dressmaker to be mended.
    Even a button? I asked. Were there no buttons in the house?
    She said there were no buttons in the house.
    I told Luisa they could go out on Sundays, even before breakfast. She yelled at me that they did not want to go out, and asked me, Where would they go?
    I said that they were welcome to go out, but that if they did not go out, we would expect them to serve us something, even if it was something simple. She said she would, in the morning, but not in the afternoon. She said that her two older daughters always came to see her on Sundays.
    I spent the morning writing Luisa a long letter, but I decided not to give it to her.
    In the letter I told her: I have employed many maids in my life.
    I told her that I believe I am a considerate, generous, and fair employer.
    I told her that when she accepts the realities of the situation, I’m sure everything will go well.
    If only they would make a real change in their attitude,