JOHANNA SAFRAN: “Take it, Peter.”

The boy looked at his sister’s trophy in the dimmed light.

PETER SAFRAN: (disappointed) “Only two? “Is that all you earned?”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “I am sorry, brother. He does not even know that I kept that money.”

KATHERINA SAFRAN: “We asked you so many times to leave him. He almost does not pay you, why do you insist to stay his servant?”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: (mumbled, embarrassed) “Sister, he does not have anyone else. If only you knew him! He is a valuable man!”

PETER SAFRAN: “But he does not give you money for your honest work!”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “It is not a very good time for him now”.

PETER SAFRAN: “Oh, and it is the best time for us!”

Johanna looked at their second brother, a groggy seven-years-old Thaddäus, who lying under the pile of blankets, was slowly dying of tuberculosis. The girl snuffled loudly.

PETER SAFRAN: “Sorry, I did not mean to be so… rude.”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: (crying, she tried to joke) “We are not in a manor, after all.”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: (crying, she tried to joke) “We are not in a manor, after all.”

KATHARINA SAFRAN: (sobbing slightly) “If only mum heard that. She would have beat you both. Our home is a fairy-tale palace as long as we all love each other.”

ADAM SAFRAN: “Johanna… ask the master for the money. Maybe he forgot!”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “Oh, Adam. Come here, darling.”

She reached her hands to her little brother, placed him on her laps and started to stroke his bright hair.

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “I am worried that he would be angry when I remind him to pay me. I would not want to lose his friendship in a world.”

PETER SAFRAN: “You cannot eat friendship… But neither my working with the lumberjack.”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “He was a bad man, who did not want to pay you from the beginning. You couldn’t help it and you worked really hard and scrupulously.”

PETER SAFRAN: “I am worried about Thad. Nothing helps him.”

Having released Adam, she crawled to his older brother and put her skinny hand on his forehead.

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “Not much can treat such a nasty disease. He is so cold…”

KATHARINA SAFRAN: “We were thinking about…mmm…”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “Yes? Speak, darling.”

KATHARINA SAFRAN: “But not be mad, we really thought it through…”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: (impatient) “Just say it already!”

KATHARINA SAFRAN: (a little scared) “Maybe me and Adam should go to the docks or at the church… You know, to beg for alms.”

PETER SAFRAN: “We know what you think about it, Johanna, it is shameful even for us, but…”

JOHANNA SAFRAN: “Alright” (pause) “Alright. It looks like we have no other choice.”