{"id":26192,"date":"2016-12-22T16:06:55","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T15:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/?page_id=26192"},"modified":"2017-08-03T14:43:13","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T13:43:13","slug":"sample-translation-stern","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/foreignrights\/authors\/thomas-heerma-van-voss\/thomas-heerma-voss-stern\/sample-translation-stern\/","title":{"rendered":"Sample translation – Stern<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Heerma van Voss –\u00a0Stern<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Shall we start?\u2019<\/p>\n

Hugo Stern has been holding the ball for at least a minute now. He looks round, at Bram, at the children in the bowling lanes next to him, at the blonde woman at the counter. Then, without another word, he throws. Little calms him the way this movement does. Especially at the precise instant his hand releases the ball, Stern feels invincible. For a moment everything is in balance, ordered, exactly the way it should be.<\/p>\n

Bang. Three pins topple.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dad…\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Just a minute.\u2019 Rubbing his hands together, Stern steps up to the rack and takes a new ball. He throws it as hard as he can. Again that impalpable control, but this time not followed by a clap of release.<\/p>\n

The ball ends up in the gutter.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dad…\u2019<\/p>\n

Stern feels a hand on his back. Behind him is Bram, shoulders drooped, face weary. Stern bends down a little to be level with him. \u2018What\u2019s up?\u2019<\/p>\n

As he asks the question, he looks straight into Bram\u2019s dark brown eyes, which he vainly hopes look like his.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t want to.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Bowl. Shall we go?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Huh? But we\u2019ve only just arrived. You haven\u2019t even thrown yet.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I know, but I don\u2019t want to. Not today.\u2019<\/p>\n

The balls Stern just threw are rolling back, ready for the next player.<\/p>\n

\u2018What do you mean, not today? Are you feeling unwell again?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018No, I\u2019d tell you if I was. I just don\u2019t feel like it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018But we come to The Pin nearly every week. It\u2019s our tradition.\u2019 Stern tries hard to sound understanding, but he hears offence in his voice, indignation perhaps.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dad, please. I just don\u2019t want to anymore.\u2019<\/p>\n

There have been enough signs over the past month, Stern realises. Once Bram didn\u2019t want to come bowling because he had to study for his final exams, another time because he wasn\u2019t feeling well. Stern had gone on his own. But when he returned two hours later, he\u2019d found Bram at his computer, chatting on Facebook or playing a game. There had been no sign of nausea or exam nerves. \u2018Everything okay here?\u2019 Stern asked, to which Bram answered, \u2018mwah\u2019 or \u2018not bad\u2019.<\/p>\n

He looks at the two balls beside him. It\u2019s as if they\u2019re begging to be used. Stern can\u2019t resist, picks up the first one and hurls it with all his strength.<\/p>\n

Bang, six pins down.<\/p>\n

Bram sits down on the bench beside the lane. He takes out his iPhone. Since he bought it last summer, Bram and his mobile have been inseparable. He\u2019s forever taking out the compact black gadget and quickly typing all kinds of messages. Sometimes Stern gets the impression his son communicates more with his smart phone than with his mouth.<\/p>\n

Other fathers would intervene at this point. They\u2019d say, \u2018Put that phone away, we\u2019re out together.\u2019 Not Stern, though. Several months before when the school director asked him to go and see him, he stayed calm, and he won\u2019t be thrown now. Merel has been calling him \u2018preoccupied\u2019 lately or, when she\u2019s having a bad day, \u2018not involved\u2019. \u2018What do you mean, not involved?\u2019 he asked her the other day. \u2018What makes you think that? I always take part in everything, I\u2019m always here for you.\u2019 She\u2019d been silent for a long time before eventually saying, \u2018Well, you\u2019re not involved in the right way.\u2019<\/p>\n

Stern looks at the shiny wooden lane, flexes his fingers to pick up a new ball. But then he forces himself to sit down next to Bram.<\/p>\n

The blue-red bowling shoes they were given when they entered are taken off in silence.<\/p>\n

Shoes in hand, they walk towards the exit. Monotonous 1980s disco music plays in the background, interrupted every once in a while by the comforting sounds of rolling balls or falling pins.<\/p>\n

At the counter they have to wait for the assistant. She\u2019s behind the bar serving glasses of lemonade and dishes of sausages to a group of children. Stern watches contentedly. Then he notices Bram softly squeezing his fingers, searchingly, like a baby touching a grown-up\u2019s hand for the first time. \u2018Dad, I need to tell you something.\u2019 He whispers the words. \u2018I\u2019ve got a girlfriend, kind of. I\u2019m going to see her later on.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kind of. They imply a lot, those words, although Stern doesn\u2019t know what exactly. Who knows, their relationship could be about sex, or it could be purely platonic. For a moment he thinks, maybe the girl finds Bram unattractive, doesn\u2019t like his looks.<\/p>\n

\u2018Can I help you?\u2019 says the assistant, looking at Stern. Not seductively, girls her age stopped doing that years ago, but in a friendly manner, the way you treat regular customers.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re already done for tonight, Claire,\u2019 he says. \u2018We\u2019ll be back next week.\u2019<\/p>\n

She takes the bowling shoes and disinfects them with a spray, although they\u2019ve hardly been used. Next she puts Stern\u2019s leather shoes on the counter, beside Bram\u2019s shabby sneakers.<\/p>\n

They take the lift to the ground floor.<\/p>\n

\u2018What\u2019s her name?\u2019 Stern asks halfway.<\/p>\n

The disco music fading away, they can only hear a distant base.<\/p>\n

\u2018Shayla.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Shay-la?\u2019 Stern repeats. \u2018Funny name.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Funny?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Unusual, at any rate.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018She\u2019s white, if that\u2019s what you mean.\u2019<\/p>\n

The lift doors open, it\u2019s dark outside. Ten minutes, they haven\u2019t been any longer. Stern tries to read Bram\u2019s face, but it is inscrutable. Stern asks no more questions.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s horrified by fathers waiting in the playground of The Rainbow talking about their \u2018daddy day\u2019, as if one day can compensate for the rest of the week, as if being a father is a profession, practised at set times. Show a bit of interest, tell a joke, prepare a sandwich and whoopee, job\u2019s done. Stern knows better than that. He\u2019s always been there for his son, but if Bram doesn\u2019t feel like talking, that\u2019s fine too. After all, he\u2019s not much of a talker. Besides, it\u2019s the quiet ones who have it in them to surprise everyone, with a novel, a film, a scientific discovery, whatever. Bram might be a successful psychiatrist someday, or judge. Or what about a career as a mathematician? Until then, Stern will keep his distance. No teen likes pushy parents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There was a photograph of the director and his two teenage sons in the office. The three of them sitting on a beach in bright sunshine, arms enthusiastically around each other\u2019s shoulders. No matter how often Stern entered that room, he could never bring himself to look at it for more than a few seconds, or he\u2019d be overcome by extreme nausea, something between jealousy and disgust.<\/p>\n

The last time he was there was seven months ago. The director had been waiting for him in the corridor at the end of a comfortable Thursday \u2013 the children were listening, working hard \u2013 and the director said, \u2018May I have a moment, Hugo?\u2019 At once, Stern started worrying. The director was the kind who believes that having power is reason enough for using it. Hired less than three years before, he had already made more changes than all his predecessors put together. The well-functioning gymnasium had been revamped, the school library relocated without reason and several young student teachers hired, while valued part-timers had been callously fired.<\/p>\n

\u2018So,\u2019 the director said, once in his office. \u2018How are things? Everything going smoothly in class?\u2019<\/p>\n

Stern nodded, but didn\u2019t answer. He looked tensely at the young, jolly face opposite him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hugo, let\u2019s be honest. This\u2019ll be the kind of conversation we don\u2019t like having here. But as director, I have certain responsibilities. So please take a seat.\u2019<\/p>\n

Stern sat down. On the desk in front of him he saw a pile of unopened mail \u2013 more cards and envelopes than he himself had had in months.<\/p>\n

\u2018Look, as a school we need to make certain choices. We must do what seems best in the long term. After all, The Rainbow is just like a company.\u2019 What followed was a detailed account. The director kept saying \u2018we\u2019 when he clearly meant \u2018I\u2019, but apart from that, Stern missed nearly everything else. He heard two words only, early retirement. Stern had only the vaguest idea about the term\u2019s implications but he did know it was important.<\/p>\n

He thought of his class, class two, of all class twos he\u2019d taught in the past. There had been several dozen of them, every time a new set of seven- and eight-year olds. He had prepared them all for class three, got them ready for the future. But he had never envisaged a future that included early retirement. This kind of future had never been part of his preparations; it had never occurred to him.<\/p>\n

\u2018I understand that this must come as a shock,\u2019 the director said. \u2018Let it sink in. But you\u2019re easily the \u2013 how shall we put this \u2013 the most experienced teacher on our staff. The only old-school one, actually. You don\u2019t really fit in anymore. You must have noticed this yourself. The idea is to cut back slowly. By the end of May, a new teacher will take over. And rest assured, you\u2019ll keep your pay.\u2019<\/p>\n

The director smiled \u2013 again that exasperatingly smug grin as if life were one big party, a joke Stern never managed to grasp. \u2018We need to think of the future, of course,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Stern pushed back his chair a little. Was he expected to say something now? Launch a counter-attack? He didn\u2019t even know what to attack. It seemed wiser to take some distance, try to make sense of the situation before reacting. He left the office with his back to the family photograph. But he changed his mind at the door. \u2018What about the sports days?\u2019 he asked. \u2018Can I continue organising those?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll sort that out internally, don\u2019t worry.\u2019 A glance at his MacBook, and the director got out of his chair, too. \u2018This has come as a bit of a surprise to you, hasn\u2019t it? I understand. This sort of thing is always unexpected. But sometimes change is best for both parties, Hugo. You know that, don\u2019t you? The Rainbow needs to keep evolving.\u2019<\/p>\n

But why, Stern wanted to ask, why, of all people, let me<\/em> go? And more importantly, where to? Where the hell to?<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t say that. He kept a grip, as he had always done at school. It was only several days later, when the memory of the conversation had faded into the background, that he had the courage to tell anyone. He called a former neighbour, now a successful lawyer, whose firm sent the Sterns a Christmas card every year. Stern always threw it out unread, but he did remember the name.<\/p>\n

\u2018They can\u2019t do this to me,\u2019 he said over the phone. \u2018I have a permanent contract, they can\u2019t just fire me, can they?\u2019<\/p>\n

The lawyer, who clearly couldn\u2019t remember Stern, promised to look into it. Four long weeks passed before he finally rang back. \u2018Your legal position is good,\u2019 the lawyer said, \u2018but you need to make a choice. Part on good terms now, or teach for another two years knowing they want to get rid of you. Whatever I do for you, it\u2019ll be an unworkable situation. They don\u2019t want you anymore, Hugo. It happens quite often nowadays, companies wanting to rejuvenate drastically. But the offer they\u2019ve made you is very attractive financially, so I would accept it. And not think about it too much until the time comes.\u2019<\/p>\n

Which is what he did. It took a great deal of effort, but he managed to do it. Apart from Bram and Merel, he told no one about his early retirement. He didn\u2019t know whether his colleagues were aware of the situation \u2013 they never talked about it. And although he kept hearing the soft echo of the term early retirement every time he entered his classroom, he breathed not a word about his impending departure to his pupils either. The last few months shouldn\u2019t be dominated by endings, this class needed to be just as carefree as the previous ones.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, at the end of his class, he gathered his pupils. They sat around him in a circle. \u2018I need to tell you something. Something bad, but you ought to know. The Rainbow and I will be parting ways shortly.\u2019 He took a deep breath. \u2018It seems I am no longer needed.\u2019<\/p>\n

The children looked at him in confusion, unable to grasp what he meant but realising it was serious. In order to reassure them, Stern handed out hand-filled bags of sweets. The children took them gratefully. As soon as they saw the sweets, they seemed to forget Stern\u2019s farewell. Strangely enough, seeing so much joy, Stern felt better too.<\/p>\n

Then the school bell rang and the children trooped out. From the window he saw them being picked up by their parents, exaggeratedly happy fathers and mothers embracing their darlings and smoothly swinging them up on to the backs of their bicycles. Stern suppressed the urge to call after his pupils, some last lesson for life, a catchphrase they would always remember.<\/p>\n

When they had left, he tidied his classroom. He wiped the tables with a cloth, threw a few trampled sweets into the bin, straightened the chairs and finally put his teaching materials in four supermarket bags. Everything he saw, he took: pens, pencils, rubbers, rulers, notebooks, a calculator, a pencil case. And the files he had kept since his first day at work, of course.<\/p>\n

Stern was busy for nearly an hour and a half. He kept going until nothing left in his classroom would remind them of him. He erased his tracks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The window is closed, the lights are on. Inside, Merel sits at the table with a print-out of her new novel in front of her. Stern watches her from the Heinzestraat pavement. Large bright blue eyes, no make-up or lipstick. He has a vivid memory of seeing her face for the first time, twenty-nine years before at a wine tasting where they drank themselves silly. He\u2018d felt instantly drawn to her. The way she looked, her sense of humour, her wit, he liked everything about her. Three weeks later he knew I want to share the rest of my life with this woman, have a family with her<\/em>. Less than a year later, she was pregnant.<\/p>\n

He walks towards her down the narrow corridor. He wants to give her a kiss or ask how her work is going, a reflex that\u2019s part of family life. However, as soon as he enters the room, his eyes are drawn to a paper on the table, a green and red leaflet with the price list of a pizza place. Bram<\/em> it says, handwritten at the top. Stern can\u2019t keep his eyes off it. Like when he sees a stain on the clean table top, an irregularity he needs to correct. But this he can\u2019t just wipe off. This stain has been put there deliberately.<\/p>\n

\u2018What\u2019s that leaflet with Bram\u2019s name on it doing here?\u2019 Before Merel can answer him, he continues, \u2018Did you write this? I tidied the kitchen yesterday, but I didn\u2019t see it then. I\u2019ve never even heard of this pizza place.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re going there tomorrow.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018What? We? But… we usually go to other restaurants. I have a whole list of places we haven\u2019t been to yet.\u2019 Stern swallows. First the bowling, now this. It\u2019s almost as if Bram and Merel have planned it this way \u2013 now that Stern is no longer allowed to teach, they\u2019re testing him. He looks at the four bags he brought from school this afternoon, in the corner of the room. For a minute he considers telling Merel about his last day at work, about the pupils who have to manage without him from now on, or the bowling just now. But he can\u2019t think of anything suitable to say.<\/p>\n

\u2018You knew, right?\u2019 Merel doesn\u2019t try to hide her impatience. She never used to talk to him like this. And they used to have much more to say to each other, especially in bed at night, when they\u2019d tell each other all about their day at work. Nowadays, she spends half of her time at her flat in Castricum. And one morning nearly three years ago, she moved to the guest room on the second floor. Just like that. She never explained why and he never dared to ask.<\/p>\n

\u2018Did you hear me? Bram has been wanting to go to this pizzeria for weeks. You haven\u2019t forgotten already, have you?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Of course not, of course not,\u2019 Stern says quickly. He needs to remain calm. If his family wants to go to this pizza place, he\u2019ll join them, no problem. \u2018Besides, Bram has a girlfriend. He told me of his own accord. Shirley, Shayla, something like that.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I know. Sit down, sweetheart. Have something to eat, relax. I\u2019m working on my last chapter now, but shall we go for a coffee tomorrow morning, in between jobs?\u2019 She stops after the last phrase. She seems to realise how painful her proposal really is. In between jobs. She can only squeeze her husband in between jobs, as a break during work. Like needing to walk a dog once in a while.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s okay. I\u2019ll manage. Anyway, I\u2019ve an appointment with Dr. Janovitz in the morning. I\u2019m going upstairs now, if you don\u2019t mind.\u2019<\/p>\n

All is quiet for a moment. Stern wants to tell her not to worry, that he\u2019s someone who can keep calm, particularly when things are difficult. But instead he picks up the four supermarket bags and walks out of the room.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

His bookcase hasn\u2019t changed in years. A few old photo albums, various text books, a row of novels whose contents he has long forgotten. Stern puts them all in a cardboard removal box, which he slides under his bed. With a cloth he cleans the shelves of the bookcase.<\/p>\n

Then he takes a look at the four bags he hauled away with him. He takes out only the files. There are twenty-one in total, one for each school year. Big, dark files he updated at home, but once finished, ended up in his classroom. There, they stood in an orderly row behind his desk. If he ran out of things to say to his pupils, which was rare, he\u2019d take one out and turn the pages until he had something to say again.<\/p>\n

He put them in chronological order. He can\u2019t help but feel proud now that he\u2019s handling them one by one. All those notes, all that information about the hundreds of children he made worldly-wise.<\/p>\n

The previous school year a woman colleague had turned up unannounced in his classroom. \u2018Files?\u2019 she\u2019d asked straight out. \u2018Who keeps files nowadays? I keep all my information on a USB stick. Files are from another era. Ha ha.\u2019 Stern listened politely, he even smiled after a while. But from then on he avoided that colleague, never talked to her again.<\/p>\n

Standing in front of his bookcase, he\u2019s thinking of her for the first time in ages. If she were here, she\u2019d be bound to realise how wrong she\u2019d been. Twenty-one big, identical files, all of them together outside school for the first time, and they still haven\u2019t lost their effectiveness. Their progression, weaknesses, difficulties \u2013 Stern can find all his pupils\u2019 important information. 3 April 1994. Johan needs to really start working on his long division. If he doesn\u2019t, I foresee problems for the future.<\/em> And: 29 January 2005. Barbara is developing very well. She makes a good impression particularly with dictations.<\/em> There are several pages full of such notes for every child, each accompanied by practical data such as passport photographs and addresses \u2013 Stern had to be able to make everyone out at a glance. No matter how many years he had been teaching, he could never lose track. If he<\/em> didn\u2019t do his work precisely, he couldn\u2019t expect his pupils to do so either.<\/p>\n

Twice he checks whether his files are in the right order. Then he takes one out and begins leafing through it enthusiastically.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Translated by Susan Ridder<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Heerma van Voss –\u00a0Stern     1.   \u2018Shall we start?\u2019 Hugo Stern has been holding the ball for at least a minute now. He looks round, at Bram, at the children in the bowling lanes next to him, at the blonde woman at the counter. Then, without another word, he throws. Little calms…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1135,"featured_media":0,"parent":26185,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-26192","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26192\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignrights.debezigebij.nl\/wpg-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}