Five Brothers and a War

Marie Makes Clothes

It took quite a bit of effort to turn the wheel with one hand and steer the project with the other. So much effort in fact that her mouth was always slightly open when working with it. Kees imagined that would enable her to pump more oxygen into her lungs thereby preventing her from getting out of breath. One day she had a bright idea—a very bright idea. She bought an entire bolt of plaid patterned cotton material, something akin to what the Scottish people use for making kilts. It was so strong it would not wear out for decades of use during the summer holidays. The idea was to make shirts for all of her boys. Two shirts each, to be exact. She bought just one big pattern and started with the biggest ones. Once having cut two shirts, it was put aside and that big pattern was used for the next size. That was accomplished by cutting a few centimeters all around. That took care of another two shirts. She followed that system until the original pattern had lost ten centimeters from the pattern’s perimeter, ending up with ten shirts in five different sizes. She must have had a strong determination, powered by her desire to see her five sons all dressed alike.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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