A Master Builder Page #7

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- Yes, I do.

Because you knew her

so well at one time...

when she was a child.

I believe you told me.

So...

So...

is your wife just incapable

of liking me at all?

I'm sorry. I...

I mean...

In these last few years...

Aline has become very reclusive...

ill at ease around people.

Yes.

If only you could

get to know her a little.

She's actually...

a kind, good, wonderful person.

If she's so kind...

why did she talk that way

about obligation?

Obligation?

Yes.

She said she would

go buy me some things out of obligation.

Christ, I hate that word.

It's so revolting, so ugly.

"Obligation"?

I mean, if she really is

so kind as you say she is...

why would she use a word like that?

But what sort of words

do you think that she should have used?

Well, she might have said that she wanted

to go buy me some things...

because she liked me very much

and she wanted to do it.

That's what she could have said.

Something warm, from her heart.

That's what you hoped

that Aline would say?

Are you the one

who's done all these drawings?

No!

They were done by...

a young man whom I have here

assisting me.

- Someone you've trained?

- Yes.

An advanced practitioner?

Do you think you can

tell that from looking at those drawings?

No.

I just meant that if he studied with you,

he must be very advanced.

Believe me...

there are a lot of people around here

who have studied with me...

and they haven't become

very advanced at all.

Why do you take on all these students?

I don't understand.

- Well...

- I think it's absurd.

You shouldn't teach students

the things that you know.

You're the only one

who should be allowed to build.

You should get

all the jobs yourself.

- Hilde!

- What?

Hilde, that is outrageous!

Wait. Is that the new house?

What? Over by the stone quarry? Yes!

It's so big!

Yes!

So... does that one

have children's rooms also?

Yes.

Children's rooms, but no children.

Yes.

Well, then wasn't I possibly

just a little bit right?

What do you mean?

I mean that you really are

just a little bit crazy.

Was that what you meant

when you said that?

Yes.

I was thinking of all these

empty children's rooms.

Well, Hilde...

you see, Aline and I did have children.

Um, two little boys. Twins.

This was quite some time ago.

And they're both...

Well, we only had them...

for a little bit less than three weeks.

And then they died.

Hilde.

It's so good for me that you came to me.

It's such a wonderful feeling

to have someone to talk with.

You mean you can't talk with her?

Well, not in the way I want to talk...

and need to talk.

I mean, we simply can't talk about this.

Or about most things, really.

Was that what you meant yesterday

when you said that you needed me?

Was that the only thing, or...

See...

over there, on the high ground...

where you can see the new house...

well, that was where Aline and I had lived

when we were first married.

Because at that time,

there was an old house there...

that had belonged to her mother and...

That house had been given to us...

along with this whole,

enormous garden around it.

Did that house also have a tower?

No.

Nothing like that.

On the contrary, from the outside...

that house was actually...

just a huge, dark, depressing, ugly box.

But inside, though, it was actually

very comfortable and cozy and...

and... that was where we lived...

when the two little boys were born.

When they first came into the world...

they were so healthy and strong.

They were growing every day.

You could actually see it.

Yes, they grow so fast

in the first few days.

And the sight of Aline,

lying in bed with the two little babies...

that was the most beautiful sight

you could ever see in your life.

But then one night, we had a fire.

A fire?

What happened?

Well, that was a terrible night.

Alarms. Chaos.

Everybody scrambling and pushing...

outside at night in the freezing cold.

Aline and the boys

carried out in their beds.

Well, Aline...

went into a state of sheer terror...

and as a result she developed a fever.

And that, in turn, affected her milk.

And she insisted that she had

to nurse the little babies herself...

no matter how ill she was.

She said that was her obligation.

So both of the little boys got sick...

and they both died.

They couldn't survive drinking the milk?

No, that's right.

That must have been so hard for you...

so painful.

Yes.

It was 10 times worse for Aline.

I mean, can you believe this...

that things like that

are allowed to happen in the world?

From the day I lost my boys,

I hated building churches.

And now I don't build

anything like that anymore.

Only homes, where people can live.

Homes for people.

Homes with high towers

and spires though.

Yes. I must admit

I do prefer them that way.

Anyway...

See, that fire lifted me up

to a great height...

as a master builder...

because, see, I parceled out almost

that whole piece of land...

into lots for houses...

and of course I was the one

who was able to build the houses.

And after that,

everything started going in my direction.

You must be a very happy man,

the way it's all gone for you.

Now you're saying that too,

like everybody else.

Well, you must be.

I think that you must be...

if only you could manage

to stop thinking all the time...

about those two little children...

- Well, Hilde...

- I mean, do they still...

stand in the way

of everything all the time...

after all these years?

But don't you see that in order

to get that opportunity...

to build homes for other people...

I had to give up forever

any hope at all...

of having a home myself?

I mean, a home with a mother

and a father and children.

You mean, because...

That was the price I had to pay...

for all this wonderful good fortune

that people love to talk about.

And yet...

you're building a home...

with rooms for children.

Hilde.

Have you ever noticed...

that sometimes the thing

which is impossible...

can somehow still tempt you...

can somehow still cry out to you?

So you know about that too, do you?

Yes, Hilde, I do.

Well, it sounds like there might be...

some weird, half-human

mountain creature...

just running around somewhere inside you.

Yes, maybe.

But you see, there's always

a balancing that has to occur.

In other words, everything I've done,

everything I've achieved...

it all has to be balanced out.

Has to be paid for.

Even after the down payment...

a price must still be paid.

And the currency...

in which the payment is demanded

isn't money.

It's human happiness.

And my good fortune, it can't be paid for

just with my happiness alone.

No, it also has to be paid for

with the happiness of other people.

You see, every day...

I have to get up...

and I have to watch

the price being paid for my benefit...

all day long.

Obviously you're talking about your wife.

Yes.

But you have to understand this, Hilde.

Aline...

Aline also had a great talent.

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