Ezau was a pleasant little boy, playing sweetly in his bed for hours on end, or sitting on the nursery floor, playing happily with a rag doll or some toy bricks. Elza had a real soft spot for him, and always made a point of busying herself with the little, forgotten Ezau whenever she was visiting.
On 21 October the population of Suriname experienced a heavy earthquake. The citizens of Paramaribo heard around five in the morning a loud underground rumbling that was followed by a number of violent shocks, lasting about five minutes in total. Elza and Rutger were lying in bed and were both woken by the rumbling. But before they could say a word about the rumble and what it might be, the whole house began to shudder and sway. Elza stammered, “It’s an earthquake.”
Rutger took one leap out of bed, dragged Elza over the edge of the bed and threw himself on the floor, pulling Elza with him. A second later they both lay under the heavy mahogany four-poster. “Oh Rutger, what on earth is happening?”
Teeth chattering, she was holding onto him tightly. “Why must we stay under the bed?”
“This is the safest place to be,” answered Rutger. Then Maisa was at the top of the stairs, shouting, “Oh my God, Misi Elza, what is going on?”28
Elza called, “Here Maisa, under the bed.”
And then Maisa bent down and Rutger pulled her under the bed with them. The three of them lay there while the house shuddered and creaked and now and then even swung to and fro. Doors and windows banged open and closed, and outside in the well and the rainwater butt the water splashed around. They heard the slaves shouting and screaming. Maisa had only moaned and whined, eyes tightly closed, expecting at any moment to have the house coming down on her head.
When, after about ten minutes, everything seemed to be over and the last rumbling receded into in the distance, the three went cautiously downstairs. There they found the other slaves in a state of panic. Amimba was weeping loudly and crying that she wanted to go to her mother. Maisa had to give her a thorough shaking to calm her down. Alex was talking nineteen to the dozen in his agitation. He knew all about it, it was an earthquake, he could explain exactly how it had come about. But Maisa said sharply that he could shut up or people would come to believe that the whole earthquake was of his making.
In the meantime it was light and the streets had filled with people. Everyone wanted to recount his or her experiences, his or her fears. Many were convinced that the world was ending and the slaves knew for certain that their ancestors’ spirits had finally risen to seek revenge and to have justice done at last. Just wait: the whites would pay at long last for all the atrocities they had wreaked on the negroes.
For days and indeed weeks on end there was no other topic of conversation, especially since further heavy shocks were felt in the night of 25 October.
There were fortunately no personal accidents or injuries. The only exception was a Mister Daniel Forques, a civil servant, who had sprung out of a first-floor window in panic and had landed on his head. He lost consciousness for several hours, and when he eventually came round he was convinced that he was in heaven, but found that heaven looked amazingly like his own house.
The incident that attracted most attention, however, was the fact that His Excellency the Governor and Mrs Crommelin had fled barefoot and in their night-attire out of the palace and onto the street. Governor Crommelin had not the slightest problem admitting that this was indeed the case. He and his wife had been terrified. When they had felt the tremors, had heard cracking sounds and had seen a huge crack open in the wall, they could not get their old, fat bodies fast enough down the stairs and out of the building, so certain they were that the whole palace was on the point of coming down about their ears. For the first few days nothing could persuade them to return to the palace, and slaves had to fetch their clothes and other necessities while they themselves stayed two doors further along in Mr Jean Nepveu’s large mansion.
The governor was so thankful that he and all Surinamers had survived, that 29 October was declared a day of general thanksgiving and prayer.
ELZA
There suddenly came a big surprise in the first week of December. One afternoon, Papa, Aunt Rachel and Sarith stood at the door. They got the warmest of welcomes from Elza, who, in her new role of hostess, urged Maisa to prepare food and drink for everyone. How was everybody, how were things on the plantation, how was Ashana? Papa and Aunt Rachel smiled. Everything was fine. How were things with Elza and with Rutger? The family had arrived a few hours earlier and, having freshened up and rested in the Saramaccastraat, had come straight to Elza. Would they not stay here with her, Elza had asked. No, Papa and Aunt Rachel were lodging as always with Esther and Jacob; they had their own room there. But if Sarith wished to stay … Elza was overjoyed: of course Sarith must stay here. They could send Sarith’s luggage on later. But everyone would stay until Rutger had arrived. He had a business meeting and would be home in about an hour. Rutger, too, was surprised to see his in-laws. And of course Sarith must stay here. It would be so pleasant for Elza when he was away during the day.