Addicted To Greed (3 page)
Authors: Catherine Putsche
“This is just divine, I can’t
believe it. How could I possibly
exceed all that money?”
“The money is there for you to learn how to manage it, I trust
you will. All this will be a new experience for you, one in which
in time you will learn to appreciate. You’re dear mother spoke
of this opportunity for you on many occasions and it gives me
great pleasure to honour your mother’s wishes.”
“I wish my m
other was her now. I miss her so much.”
“We both do dear; however we cannot be ruled by grief.”
With this Felicity gave the
Madame’s hand a small squeeze to
show her appreciation. She hoped one day that the Madame
would confide in her about her mother and her sudden death.
When her mother died seven months ago, Felicity was
inconsolable. Her mother was all she had in this world, with no
other known family members; she was sent to stay with the
Madame in whom she had only met on a number of occasions
throughout her childhood.
Her father was absent during all her childhood, her mother
wouldn’t give away his identity at no cost; the more she nagged
at her mother the more her mother would remain tight lipped.
Felicity recalled having a relatively happy childhood living in a
spacious Parisian apartment with a splendid view over Notre
Dame. She would often pretend that she was Esmeralda, the
young gypsy woman who had magical powers who helped the
hunchback of Notre Dame and in return saved her from burning
in hell by the evil men of Frollo’s guard. She longed to have
lived in those times as she adored living in Paris with the Eiffel
Tower and its heroic pieces of iron architecture. She would
spend hours with her mother walking the streets, visiting the old
palaces and museums her favorite been the Mussee du Louvre
with a huge art gallery housed in an old Parisian palace. The
gallery had a famous collection of the Mona Lisa and Venus De
Milo that she would spend hours admiring. She remembered
dreaming of travelling to all the cities in Europe, her favorite
city was Germany as she admired the architecture through
various books. The Charlotte Burg Palace was her most
treasured as she would become mesmerised by the seventeen
and eighteen century buildings.
Her mother had a keen interest in architecture and had volumes
of books on the subject. She cherished her mother’s tastes, as
she could lose herself in the books for days on end. Another one
of her dreams was to become a famous lady architect as she new
women’s architecture was often over looked, however all her
hopes and dreams all vanished when her mother died suddenly
all those months ago. She was unable to envisage a future
without her through the deep grief she felt.
Now
seven months after her mother’s death, she realised her life
must go on without her and the only thing that bothered her the
most is that she had no one to share it with, except the Madame.
Although the Madame had taken her in to her lavish home,
showered her with all a girl could ever dream of at the age of
fifteen, clothes, books, money, and a private education with the
opportunity of expanding her languages, and the possibility of
travelling to other countries to finish her education. There was
still no evidence of the love and the strong bond and closeness
that she shared with her mother. She felt she had been
abandoned to some degree and craved some affection that her
mother had so often bestowed on her.
In the seven months she had lived with the Madame she never
once witnesses the old lady show the least bit of affection
towards her. She could feel the Madame’s stiffness whenever
she tried to hold her hand. She wondered if the old lady was
made of stone. It was also the same with the other ladies that
permanently resided at the Madame’s elaborate villa. Whenever
she tried to make conversation with any of them, they would
deliberately ignore her and pretend they couldn’t hear her voice.
She was desperate to form a friendship with just one of them as
there was only a few years difference between their ages. She
didn’t know why she wasn’t liked as she tried her best to be
polite, courteous and charming. The only person that would
engage in conversation with her was the hired help, the grossly
overweight Bessie and it was only often about her dietary
requirements, in which she hadn’t any, but she was relieved to
hear the familiar voice of someone.
She considered Monsieur Bernard to be the opposite as he would
always talk to her but only about what he was trying to teach
her. She considered him to be dull and boring.
On the way home from her luxurious shopping spree in the
Madame’s chauffeured driven limousine, overwhelmed with her
new items of clothing and sports equipment she wondered how
on earth would she be able to take it all with her.
“Oh Felicity, when will you learn to stop asking tedi
ous
questions of this nature. I’ve arranged with Monsieur Fredrik,
my chauffeur to take care of all this on your behalf. You don’t
need to be bothering yourself with such tasks. Focus on the
presentation of yourself more dear, trust me it will benefit you
more in the long run!”
Felicity
felt immediate relief knowing she wouldn’t have to lug
all this clothing and equipment on board a plane. However she
could sense the Madame’s temper returning as she began
tapping her delicate fingers on the door handle of the limousine.
She had so many questions about her new school but she didn’t
dare to push the old ladies temper any further and decided to
stay quiet.
“With regards to the flight, you’ll
be flying by private jet. One
of dearest friends has offered to escort you to the SIRVA as he
also has a daughter there of the same age, who he will be
visiting at the same time.”
Felicity nodded in acknowledgement. She made her way to her
extravagant bedroom chambers dismissed by Madame
Clemenceau.
“Remember your studies resume at 4
´O clock prompt, there will
be no excuse for lateness. This gives you just enough time to
start packing. Monsieur Bernard shall be there at your
disposable.”
Felicity immediately began to pack, she couldn’t wait to go,
it
was all she could think about, adhering to the strictest regime the
Madame had put in place, she knew she would do her up most to
satisfy it knowing in less than twenty four hours she would be
out of there in another country with girls her own age,
embarking on a new adventure and a new chapter of her life.
♣
As the plane landed Felicity became mesmerised with vast
amounts of white covered mountains, it was like someone had
sprinkled icing sugar over them, so perfect and picturesque, she
couldn’t believe their beauty. She could just make out the tiny
silhouettes of skiers all gathering into a line awaiting the cable
cars to go even higher, her heart jumped in excitement, how she
longed to ski.
She felt in debited to the Madame; although she considered her
to be an ice queen with frozen emotions she couldn’t help but
admire all the Madame was doing for her with her generosity
and abundance of wealth. She decided that she would embrace
the Madame’s fortune and use it to her advantage. Why not? It
wasn’t like there was anyone in her life that would disapprove.
As far as she was aware the Madame informed her on many
occasions that this is what her mother wanted for her and she
wasn’t going to let her mother down. Sometimes she would
sense the presence of her mother watching over her, stroking her
hair when she was unable to sleep. She hoped one day that she
would posses her mother’s beauty, intelligence and grace.
Although she possessed some of her mother’s good genes,
naturally wavy blonde hair, great big oval blue eyes, high
cheekbones with her asymmetrical perfect face and plumped full
lips she didn’t have a clue as to why she didn’t have her
mother’s tall slender figure. She was short, curvy and had a
heavy set of breasts, often trying to conceal them under layers of
clothes. She wondered if this part of her body had been her
father’s genes. Or was it because she still was only sixteen and
there was still time for her to grow, she hoped the latter as she
was rather embarrassed of her body image. She hoped the girls
at SIRVA MontFleur wouldn’t tease her about this.
As the car drove into the SIRVA butterflies began to form in the
pit of her stomach. The first thing she noticed was the old
architecture of the building; it was beautiful, there were multiple
gargoyles on the roof of the building with rainwater flowing
through their open mouths. Although some people found these
creatures to be grotesque she thought the opposite. As the car
came to a halt, Monsieur Fredrik opened the door to escort the
Madame’s friend who she only knew by the name of Monsieur
Jefferson.
you’ll join my daughter and me for dinner tomorrow evening.”
“Thank you Monsieur. I’d be delighted to join you both.”
“I’ll
have the governess inform you of the time. Now if you’ll
excuse me I must go and find my daughter before she goes off
skiing for the day.”
with some of her luggage.
“Please sit here Madame Felicity while I go and fetch your
remaining luggage. I’ve been informed you must wait here for
the schools governess to come and welcome you.”
Inhaling in the fresh scent of lemon scented wood polish she did
as she was instructed while looking around at her new
surroundings. The place was enormous, there was several stair
cases leading off to different levels, potted plants, fresh flowers,
and grossly oversized paintings hung from the walls. Persian
rugs were placed over the highly polished mahogany wood
flooring resembling the Madame’s. She could hear footsteps
approaching but couldn’t make out where they were coming
from above, below or even down the long narrow corridor. She
tried to squint her eyes towards what looked like the end of the
corridor as she could just make out a small figure of a person
walking towards her direction. As soon as the figure became
closer she realised it was a thin tall lady dressed in black.
Was
this the Governess?
She automatically changed her posture,
sitting up straight.
“
Welcome to The SIRVA Mont-Fleur. You must be Madame
Felicity Jameson. May I take this opportunity to welcome you
to your new school? You can address me as Governess Hillier.”
Formally shaking the ladies hand Felicity remained quiet while
the governess gave her a guided tour of the school. The
governess introduced her to a number of girls in different classes
and her new teachers all of which completely went over her
head. She noticed that all the girls were wearing the same tartan
long dresses, with white blouses Their polished black laced up
flat shoes that were rounded at the front and looked like they had
been polished up to the max, she wondered if the girls could see
their reflection in them? Another strange resemblance the girls
shared was that all the girls’ hair seemed have braids tied tightly
to their heads. Felicity thought it was impossible to tell any of
them apart, they all looked like twins; the only thing
differentiating them was their hair colour.
She also noticed that the teachers were no different as they were
all female wearing the same uniform as governess Hillier. All
she wanted to do was to be shown to her quarters and relax; it
had been a long boring flight with little or no conversation with
the Madams chauffeur.
“Here at
SIRVA we pride ourselves with our very own hand
made uniform. As you can see the girls here all wear the same,
the only time this changes is when our weather changes and the
girls are given ample time and material to design a more suitable
one!”
Felicity couldn’t even find the words to
reply to this revelation
as she was in shock.
The girls designed their own uniforms?
Was this for real?
She couldn’t help but express her
bewilderment.
“As we have
several hours before lunch you’ll be expected to
change and join us in the kitchen quarters to help prepare lunch.
I’ll have our house keeper escort you to your chambers so you
can freshen up and change. There are two uniforms provided for
you in your quarters, however from here on you will be expected
to hand and machine sow the rest as you will need a further
seven. Do you understand Madame Jameson?”
Hillier.”
“Very well then go back to the reception hall and wait for the
housekeeper. Meet us in the kitchen chambers when you’re
ready. I suspect you shall not need more than half an hour!”
Felicity wondered why the governess was addressing her by her
surname. And why did she have to help prepare lunch? Wasn’t
the whole idea of private school to be waited upon? She felt
betrayed from the Madame as she hadn’t expected this.
After two very intensive years at the SIRVA, Felicity graduated
in the original finishing program that had been running since
1954. She went to develop her efficiency and proficiency in all
aspects of Hostessing, cooking and home management along
with a greater knowledge of the manners of both western and
non-western cultures. She also became competent in both
English and French.
Felicity was sad to leave as she had made a number of strong
friendships with several girls her own age, they all promised to
stay in touch while exchanging their contact details. Felicity
had become a lady in the two years, shredding her puppy fat to
become tall and lean, exceptionally beautiful, and full of charm
and grace.
Upon her return to the
Madame’s she became the envy of all the
women who she came into contact with. Her time at the SIRVA
had groomed her into the perfect lady much to Madame’s
pleasure and delight.