The milkman [1]
Peter Bichsel [2]
Translated by xia23
The milkman wrote on a slip of paper: “Sorry, today there is no more butter.” Mrs. Blum read the slip, added all things up, shook her head and counted again, then she wrote: “Two liters, 100 grams of butter, yesterday you did not have any butter and you charged me anyway.”
Another day the milkman wrote: “Sorry.”
The milkman comes mornings at 4 o’clock, Mrs. Blum does not know him, people should know him, she often thinks that people should get up at 4 once in order to make the acquaintance of him.
Mrs. Blum fears that the milkman could be mad at her, the milkman could think bad of her, her jar is battered.
The milkman knows the battered jar, which is Mrs. Blum’s. She takes mostly 2 liters and 100 grams of butter. The milkman knows Mrs. Blum. If people ask him about her, he would say: “Mrs. Blum takes 2 liters and 100 grams. She has a battered jar and has legible handwriting.” The milkman does not worry, Mrs. Blum does not make debts. And it happens -- it can happen yes -- that 10 Rappen (Swiss cent) short there, then he writes on the slip: “10 Rappen short.” Another day he has the 10 Rappen without any fuss and “Sorry” is on the slip. ”Don’t mention it” or “No problem”, the milkman thinks, if he were to write it on the slip then there would be another correspondence. He does not write that.
The milkman is not interested in which floor Mrs. Blum lives, the jar stays there on the stair. If the jar is not there, he does not give a thought. One Blum played a game once in the first soccer team. The milkman knows him and he has protruding ears. Perhaps Mrs. Blum has protruding ears.
The milkman has had appetizing clean hands, rosy, pudgy and washed out. If Mrs. Blum sees the slip she thinks of that. Hopefully he had found the 10 Rappen. Mrs. Blum would not like that the milkman thinks bad of her, also she would not like that he and her neighbors get into a conversation. But no one knows that milkman, in our quarters, not one. He comes to us every morning at 4 o’clock. The milkman is one of those who do their duty. He brings milk every morning at 4, does his duty, daily, Sundays and workdays. Probably the milkmen are not well paid and probably there is short of money when the account is settled. The Milkmen are not blamed for that milk is more expensive.
And actually Mrs. Blum would like to get to know the milkman.
The milkman knows Mrs. Blum, she takes 2 liters and 100 gram and has a battered jar.
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[0]. Der Milchmann. Peter Bichsel, p. 27. Der Weg zum Lesen. 3rd Ed. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth，Philadelphia....Tokyo, 1985.
[1]. Peter Bichsel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Bichsel
