bigbutadorable(.)bl0gsp0t(.)c0m

It was a long time ago.

Benjamin was overwhelmed by the first gigantic mansion he had ever seen. Something that should only exist in a picture book. It had a beautiful garden, fences, trees, birds, and a woman with a stern face, but wearing a pretty dress, who greeted him at the front door.

"This place is different from where you came from. From now on, everything you want to do or say needs permission."

The man - the one who brought him there - patted Benjamin on the shoulder, signaling if he understood everything. Benjamin nodded his head, much, much more scared than when he first met the man.

The man smiled, pleased with the boy's answer, but the woman just waved her hand.

"Then I'll go, my husband."

At the same time the woman turned, Benjamin was dragged off somewhere without even having the time to react. From the outside, the mansion looked like a cartoon palace, but the interior was so magnificent that it left Benjamin in awe. Large chandeliers, antique furniture and ornaments... all scattered everywhere. Benjamin had seen a similar place in his hometown, but it was too inferior to compare to this. Everything in this mansion was gleaming and...shiny. Porcelain, plates with beautiful paintings, snow globes, sculptures, statues.

Benjamin walked and walked and walked, feeling like he was completely caught up in a glowing landscape. But then, at some point, he couldn't see the shiny furniture anymore, and he was thrown into a horribly spacious room.

"Please let me out, can you hear me, is anyone there?"

Benjamin panicked and knocked on the big heavy door, but there was no answer. There was only his voice, loud and echoing.

Benjamin turned around and crouched down to catch his breath. He was sobbing. But as he rubbed his teary eyes, the landscape of his new room began to captivate him. It was a thousand times bigger than the house he used to live in!

There was a big bed, big enough for all his siblings to gather and sleep together. And as he got up and walked closer, Benjamin discovered that the sheets were also incredibly soft. This was the moment when Benjamin finally understood for the first time that there were such fine fabrics in the world - a miracle in every sense of the word! The windows were very large and the curtains seemed to be over ten feet long. Little Benjamin stretched out his hands to measure the length, but he couldn't even touch the windowsill.

High ceilings, hanging curtains, chandeliers... Benjamin did not realize how much time had passed as he kept looking at them.

Benjamin looked a little to the right and there he found a door completely different from the one at the entrance. Curious, he turned the knob and pushed it open. A luxurious "bathroom" appeared! The floor was polished stone with colorful patterns. It was so clean that he could even sleep there at night. It looked white as snow, and the toilet and sink were made entirely of gold. But what impressed him most about the whole room was the incredible bathtub: a pear-shaped tub, big enough for him to lie down in. It had legs that looked like cat feet and beautiful ornaments.

In his old house, Benjamin's family had to take turns bathing in their small, old, patched wooden tub. It started with his father, who came home from a long shift in the fields, and ended with Benjamin, the youngest. But by the time it was his turn, the water had turned disgustingly murky.

He remembered how the yellowish water was filled with floating hair, curly pubic hair, and dead skin cells. Benjamin didn't like it one bit, but what could he do? He was young and couldn't fight his father or the other people in the household.

Then a thought occurred to Benjamin. There was no way he was alone in this big place. Maybe there are other children like me, he thought, but time passed and no one came. Benjamin became more and more anxious, so he got into the tub and squatted down.

He didn't know where he was; his parents said they had found him a new job somewhere. He panicked at the idea of leaving home so suddenly, but since he had never left his small town in his life, Benjamin thought he would just go to the next town and come back for the winter. Something that would be a one-time thing...

For the first time in his life, his mother dressed Benjamin in clean, new clothes. His crisp white shirt was buttoned, and he also wore leather shoes that only covered his instep, not his boots.

Not only that, but his parents also prepared plenty of meat and bread for him to eat, something he would never see on the table, causing his siblings to look at him with envy.

But now Benjamin suddenly regretted having all this fancy food and clothes. He wanted to go home, to his old room, to have clothes that weren't brand new. He missed the familiar, noisy house. Benjamin was so nervous that he ended up dozing off in the bathtub.

A few moments later, a hand shook him awake. It was the middle-aged man who had brought Benjamin here. His hand led the boy back to his room, where the woman he had seen earlier was also waiting.

She was sitting at the table. She stared at Benjamin with eyes even colder than before, causing the timid boy to lower his head. The man sits across from the woman, and only later does Benjamin notice the delicious smelling food.

Benjamin looked over nervously to see if he could eat, and the woman nodded with a frown. It was not a nice face she made, but Benjamin was very hungry. Then, as was his habit, the boy popped the whole bread into his small mouth.

The boy looked up, still mouth full, only to find the woman staring at him in disbelief.

"You are so uncultured for someone from such a humble background."

Benjamin was suddenly embarrassed. At home, no one ever commented on the way he ate. He had many brothers and sisters, so there was always noise, foul language, and bad language. Everyone had to eat very fast to get their full ration. And once they took their share of bread, they would either swallow it right away or take it with them to hide it somewhere else in their room. If not, they would just watch and stay hungry all night. Of course, that wasn't supposed to happen here, but Benjamin, feeling an instinctive sense of crisis, just swallowed it all like a duck.

The woman still looked displeased, but said nothing about it.

"Let the master teach you proper manners."

She stood up first and gave the floor to the man she also called "Master". The man was polite when it came to talking and looked incredibly handsome when he moved. Someone with an air of authority. When Benjamin, who was still eating, looked at him curiously, the Master just sighed and sat down across from him and said, "Listen to me," with a completely different attitude than when he was with his wife. 

"You are a guest."

"I'm...not here to work?"

"No."

"But... my parents..."

"What do you do? What did you do on the farm?"

All Benjamin knew how to do was feed the livestock, like chickens and horses, and clean the stables from morning till night. He planted things like potatoes and carrots since he was very young, and also harvested them all in a small basket.

Hearing all this, the master immediately shook his head.

"Well, it won't be like that anymore. First of all, you will have to learn simple studies and basic etiquette."

"I'm going to study?"

"Yes. You have been sold to this house, and if you want to stay, you will have to follow the rules."

Benjamin cocked his head to the side at the word "sold". The Master spoke of him as if he were an animal. It was not a word he would use to speak with a human being, but there was nothing Benjamin could do to protest.

"You have to be a nice, good boy, okay?"

The Master looked at young Benjamin as if to tell him that he could not rebel against him.

At the time, Benjamin thought that since he had already been thrown into this strange place, so be it. He nodded his head innocently. It was scary, but for the first time in his life he could stay in a nice place and eat to his fill.

Young Benjamin didn't want to be thrown out.






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