The Cost of Sugar(60)

A really huge dinner was given in the palace. Hundreds of guests sat at festively adorned tables, with the Jewish guests separated as always due to their kosher dishes. People lower down the social ladder had also been invited, such as the skippers of merchant vessels and other residents. For them tables had been laid out in a shed that was fifty metres long, built specially for the occasion. There was a superfluity of food and drink, exquisitely served, and that day the feast was rounded off with a marvellous firework display.

The next day was the day of the grand ball. It was preceded by a reception especially for the ladies, which was held in the house of Governor Nepveu in the Gravenstraat. After this, all the ladies, dressed in their finery, went to the governor’s palace to join their husbands for the ball. It happened that at that moment the warship ‘Castor’ lay in the harbour, and the captain, Hoogwerf, who was naturally among the guests, as were his officers, could not believe his eyes when he saw all this splendour. The seamen had never expected to see such a display in the West Indies, and could only conclude that the people in Suriname were very well off indeed.

Sarith managed to avoid meeting Rutger and Elza. The first day, this was easy, since the Jews were sitting upstairs. The next day it was rather more difficult.

At Mrs Nepveu’s she indeed saw Elza in the distance and she also saw a circle of ladies around her, but she ensured that she didn’t come near her. In the palace, however, during a break in the dancing, Julius came to Rutger and Elza with extended hands. He was so pleased to see them. How were they getting on? He turned, and asked in surprise, “Where has Sarith got to? We were together when we came towards you. Oh well, she’ll have been held up somewhere and will be along in a minute.” Julius recounted in detail how sweet Sarith was. He patted Rutger on the shoulder and said that he and Rutger would often be seeing each other, since the two ladies were not only sisters but also inseparable friends. They must travel to Klein Paradijs as soon as possible and be their guests for a week or two.

Rutger smiled and said that was fine, but in the meantime he and Elza would like to invite Julius and Sarith to a feast in their new house in the Gravenstraat to mark Rutger’s appointment as administrator. The feast would be in ten days’ time. They would still be in town then? Sarith had absolutely no intention of going to a feast at Rutger and Elza’s. The whole family was invited, as were many other friends, but Sarith decided not to tell Julius that she wasn’t going, because he would then want to know why.

In the afternoon of the twentieth of March, the day before the feast, Sarith suddenly had an oh so unbearable headache. Oh what a headache she had; she could hardly open her eyes. She had to lie in a darkened room and Mini-mini had to lay wet compresses on her forehead. A concerned Julius sat by her bed. Did she want the surgeon to come? But no, Sarith didn’t want that. She just wanted rest on her own. Of course she couldn’t attend the feast: she was far too ill for that. When Julius asked if had better remain with her, she answered that it would be better if he went. In any case, she could not talk and didn’t want any noise, either. Staying alone with Mini-mini was best. Julius therefore excused his wife and told the host and hostess that poor Sarith had such a terrible headache. In bed that evening, Elza said to Rutger, “Have you noticed how Sarith is avoiding us?”

“Oh, don’t let it worry you. She’ll come round,” said Rutger.

Elza thought that as far as she was concerned Sarith need never come round. Even so, when she thought of Sarith, she felt a twinge of sorrow, of nostalgia. Every time she realized that she had lost her playmate, the bosom friend of her childhood years, she felt sorry for a relationship that could have been so wonderful but was now ruined beyond repair.





MINI-MINI


In the late afternoon of the ninth of March, the day of the major ball in the governor’s palace, Mini-mini sat in the doorway of her room in the grounds of the house in the Saramaccastraat. She was tired. She had had to run around for a whole two hours helping her misi to get dressed, or kneeling to adjust something at the front or at the back. Then the hair-do, first like this, then like that, finishing up as a decorative bouffant couture with something like a jib of precious stones at the top. Finally she had to bend to give the silver buckles on the slippers an extra polish.

This was not good when you were five months pregnant.

Now she sat to wait for Hendrik. He was late. When he finally appeared, the eight o’clock gun had fired. He said that he had gone to take a look in the Gravenstraat. In the Oranjestraat, across from Jean Nepveu’s house, a crowd of people had gathered, mostly free coloureds and slaves. Everyone wanted to see the sparkling display of all those ladies in their elaborate clothes and all their trimmings of precious stones, gold and silver. Now, that had been a sight! How rich those whites were! Hendrik added bitterly that all that wealth was gained at the cost of the slaves’ sweat and toil. Naturally Hendrik spent the night with Mini-mini.