It was situated in the moorland in an upmarket suburb in Bucharest. Her employers were formerly from Great Britain. Uncle Stanhope McCreedy was Scottish and had met his Romanian wife at the University of Cambridge. Uncle Stanhope was part of the royalty and was a pioneering archaeologist – hence his relocation from his native country to Romania. His wife was the daughter of a wealthy Romanian businessman. She went by the maiden name of Andreea Cretu. They had two sons, the elder one went by the name of Stefan and the younger one by the name of Cristian. One could say that the boys were Anglo-Romanian because of the cross-pollination of Scottish and East European genetic make-up. All family members at Apostol Hall were tri-lingual, as they spoke excellent English, Romanian and French. The boys went to the best upmarket private school in Bucharest and additional academics were gleaned from a retired couple, both of whom were university graduates, essentially a former lecturer and his wife, a retired governess. Their approach to education was one of no-nonsense and non-negotiable with the result that Stefan had passed his final grades with flying colours and was studying medicine at the local university while Cristian was the brightest scholar in the class in his final grade.
Stefan was twenty-one and showed a concealed interest in Elena while Cristian was more occupied in his studies and, at eighteen, was possibly not showing any boy-girl interest at the moment. Only time will tell for him!
“Come hither, Elena” called out Aunt Anastasia. “Please help me with the breakfast!”
“Oh yes” replied Elena as she scrambled across the shiny wooden floor of the long passage and into the kitchen and stood facing her supervisor.
The standard times for weekday breakfast at Apostol Hall were from six o’clock to seven o’ clock in the morning. The times were amended over week-ends, in that, breakfast was served from eight o’clock to nine ‘o clock.
Aunt Anastasia was the Chief Cook and the Staff Supervisor. She supervised a younger trainee cook who went by the name Anna. Elena reported to the Chief Cook in terms of her employment contract and the taking of strict instructions from her supervisor. Out of necessity young Elena was the all-round house-maid whose duties entailed and encompassed all the menial and insipid tasks and errands, such as sweeping and mopping, dusting furniture and making up beds. The job was certainly not passionate and invigorating but an exacting challenge for Elena. (Nb: Should Elena fall sick and during emergency situations help would be forthcoming from trainee Anna at the behest and instruction of Aunt Anastasia). Apostol Hall was a massive double-storey building and Elena, as slim and petite as she was, overcame the fear that gripped her as she thought aloud…I will take the job in my stride and win for Father Ion and young Franco. I will take my share last! Following her eighteenth birthday, it was only the second week at her new and first job, and most importantly, the money was needed in order to manage and run their modest home.
As part of her employment contract Elena was provided with free boarding and lodging, meals, uniforms and a wage equivalent of seven lei a week. However, through the wealthy background and kind generosity of Stanhope McCreedy, an additional three lei was awarded as an incentive which was considerably higher than the average wages paid in Romania at the time. Incidentally, one leu equated to one – hundred bani in the local currency and about five and a half lei exchanged hands for one British Pound.
Elena’s work schedule and hours were from Monday to Friday, commencing at six ‘o clock in the morning and her duties ended at five-o’clock in the afternoon. As a concession she was allowed to go off at three o’ clock in the afternoon on Fridays. Elena, whilst still a novice, would be looking forward to the week-end off in order to recoup her physical energy as the first couple of weeks had drained her and she needed some leisure time for herself.
Elena gathered her thoughts and contemplated that she will be thrifty and save the three lei bonus payment and when the savings managed to reach a specific accumulation of funds, she would purchase a shop, maybe two shops,the first one being a simplistic Romanian food shop. Yes! And the second shop would be the all-important passionate shop...she set her dreams on a vision that she would like to own an exclusive ladies clothing, hat and shoe shop in the main street of Cluj-Napoca...she would make this dream come true!
Casting her dream-thoughts aside, she eagerly awaited her first-off additional dutiesto be handed down from Cook Anastasia.
“Elena my dear, clean and chop four onions, some shallot and mushrooms for the morning breakfast. The onions are in the vegetable rack, and the others you may pick from the small garden that is visible from the kitchen window, and two more things…make sure the kettle is full and the gas stove is red hot for the coffee!”
Cook finally said with a slight grin, “Oh yes, kindly ask Gardener Vasile permission to enter the small-holding! You will certainly need his help for now!”
“Yes, Mam!” replied Elena and briskly walked down the passage and stepped out of the house. As she walked about twenty metres she passed the servant’s quarters and a cute shed adjacent to the small holding.
As Elena curiously looked at the brightly coloured flowers of carnations and roses with wide-opened eyes, she heard a husky voice from behind, “Young Mam, can I help you?”
Startled, she turned around and saw an old man peering at her from the side window of the shed, and nervously asked, “Would you be Gardener Vasile?”
The old man, puffing a pipe replied with a graceful smile, “At your service Mam, that’s me!”
He slowly stepped out accompanied by a dog which looked at least a dozen years old. Following that, all three entered the small holding. It would appear that Gardener Vasile was the sole custodian of the area in question. For a moment Elena could see nothing else besides the luxuriant flowers, some in full bloom others about to blossom with tiny green buds showing their heads intermittently.
She hesitantly looked at Gardener Vasile and queried, “Where is the vegetable section?”
He slowly turned around, taking about ten steps forward and turned right, pointing to lush foliage that looked in abundance of everything.
The two walking slowly followed by his faithful dog, Elena found plenty of items where she felt there was virtually no need to visit the local market or the green grocer. To her surprise she saw aubergines, butternut, spinach, celery, tomatoes and a host of other vegetables, thanks to the wily and capable hands of Gardener Vasile. He made all this possible. The order from the kitchen was carefully and painstaking picked by Gardener Vasile and put into a transit basket about the appropriate size for Elena to carry. He was a perfectionist at his job. He insisted that he would carry the basket to the doorstep of Apostol Hall and, to Elena’s total surprise, as they trudged back to the mansion, Gardener Vasile stopped along the way and plucked a lovely pink rose.
Bowing down at the young lady, he gracefully placed the flower into the soft palms of Elena. “This is for you as you are new at Apostol Hall…you are as pretty as the rose!”
Handing Elena the basket with the order of onions, shallot and mushroom, he bowed and departed to his shed.
“I thank you very much,” replied Elena. She entered the passageway and with a small smile walked twinkle-toed towards the kitchen and placed the order on the table.
“Hurry with the vegetables, my dear” was the voice of the Cook. “Anna and I will sort out the eggs for the omelette and make the coffee.”
Whilst the preparation for the breakfast was ongoing, Stefan shoved his head through the serving hatch and kindly requested, “Aunt Anastasia, I would love to have some pork sausages, if you don’t mind!”
The reply from the Cook came fast, “Sure, sure!”
And with a nod Stefan spotted Elena, and with raised eyebrows and a naughty smile said, “Good Morning and Welcome to Apostol Hall!”
“Elena, blushed and returned a shy smile!”
He had