Five Brothers and a War

School—Bertus

Studying wasn’t one of Bert’s favorite pastimes and he instead spent a lot of time with a new friend who was in his Populier HBS class by the name of Mary Drachten. For a variety of reasons, Mary would have a lasting effect on his life. For one thing, Mary came from a totally different upbringing which was fully opposite of the strict Calvinistic underpinnings of the van Pelt household. For another thing, she was a girl. To combine those two things, she was a free-spirited girl. The differences between the two families was dramatic as well because of the distinctions between the two mothers. Mary’s mother was a stylishly-dressed, young and attractive unmarried woman who was living with a professional engineer. By contrast, the not-so stylishly dressed Marie was somewhat older when she gave birth to Leen and she was 42 when Bertus was born. That meant that Mary’s mother was half Marie’s age when Marie gave birth the final time. In the middle of the war, Mary’s mother was only in her mid thirties while Marie was in her late-fifties. The contrast could not have been more stark. Another difference was the size of Mary’s family. She only had one brother, who was two years older. Bertus and Mary would meet at the end of the school day and walk arm-in-arm back to her house, which was right on the way to the Margrietstraat anyway. They could spend some time together before Bertus had to walk the rest of the way home to be in time for dinner. Often, he did not make it home in time as he had to choose between his family and Mary. Mary seemed to win on a frequent basis. Bertus instantaneously found Mary’s place to be a haven and an escape from the strict environment he lived in. Bertus found that her house had a wonderful atmosphere, especially with Mary playing the guitar and her mother humming or singing along. There was no praying when some sandwiches were consumed. They would do homework first and then played many games of Chinese Majong. From time to time Mary would join Bertus in going to church—which was undoubtedly a way of being allowed to continue the relationship by getting at least tacit approval from Leendert and Marie.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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