The Atom Station

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“Shall I take in this soup?” I asked.

“Yes, in the name of Jesus,” said the dull-eared housekeeper, one of the greatest female sinners of our time; she had a glossy picture of the Savior hanging up over the steel sink. The younger daughter of the house, a six-year-old tot named Thorgunn, but called Didi, never left her side, stared at her with the fear of God in her eyes (and sometimes with clasped hands), ate with her out in the kitchen, and slept with her at night; and from time to time the child would look censoriously, almost accusingly, at me, the new maid.

I summoned up some courage and went into the dining-room with the soup tureen. The family was not yet at table. The elder daughter, just newly confirmed, came in looking as fresh-coloured as cream except for her dark-painted lips and nails, adjusting with supple fingers her thick, blonde, cork-screw curls. I said Good evening, but she only looked at me distantly, sat down at the table, and went on scanning a fashion magazine.

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