Five Brothers and a War

Experiments with Lighting

Being as close to the sea as they were, winds were very common, and the concept could have worked well. The idea was that as people retired to bed each evening, they would disconnect the wire from the light to allow the light to turn off. Certainly the first evening was wonderful, with everyone basking in the automatic glow of the headlight. However, the trouble, which turned out to be fatal to the concept, came to the fore when the doorbell rang—just about 25 minutes after everyone had gone to bed. Some of the van Pelts were awakened by a loud banging on the front door—of course, the electric bell did not work, like everything else needing electricity. Leen went down to see who was causing the disturbance. It was an extremely irate neighbor, Mr. Noder, who told Leen in no uncertain terms “to take that klote ding off the roof, because it drove him nuts. The phrase “ klote ding ” is as vulgar as words come. In Dutch, it is hard to imagine a term of frustration and disgust that is any stronger. Apparently, as the chimney was attached to the wall separating the van Pelt house from the next one in the row, the whirling wheel had been a tad loud, vibrating through the ceiling that went right past his bedroom. So, to keep the war limited to the Germans, they were forced to abandon this project as well. But to avoid darkness, the bicycle with the back wheel on the stand was brought back to the living room. Some light, with varying brightness levels, was better than no light at all.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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