Part 144, Chapter 2599
Chapter Two Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Nine
27th December 1976
Wunsdorf-Zossen
The house which had four generations of the Schultz family living in it was exactly like Henriette had imagined. Big, ramshackle, and apparently parts of it had been built on at separate times as the family had grown over the decades. Aside from the vegetable garden in back, the front and back yard were overgrown.
The last few hours had not been fun.
The real trouble had started innocently enough. Apparently, on the stroke of midnight New Year’s there were going a new set of laws in place that would not just cover Germany, but several other European nations as well that were signatories of the same set of treaties. There were dozens of changes that were going to be made, but the most significant was that travel across Europe from Poland to Portugal without passport checks would be possible. The thing was that for reasons that Henriette didn’t understand, the United Kingdom was not a signatory to the treaty in question. There seemed to be an assumption that she knew the reason for that, which she did not. The truth was that Henriette didn’t know as much about British politics as she might have liked. The current Prime Minister being William Whitelaw being openly despised by his Canadian counterpart, Pierre Trudeau, was about the extent of it.
That had resulted in more questions. Like why Henriette didn’t pay much attention to politics for example. And the answers led to more questions. Ones that she was certainly not about to answer, not to anyone’s satisfaction anyway. It was obvious that Helga and her daughters were perfectly happy to gang up on her. Then Helga dropped the comment about how the last time one of her boys had brought home an American girl to visit, she had already been pregnant, and they had been stuck with her. That had finally caused things to boil over, Henriette had directly told Helga in order for that to be the case a few things would have needed to have happened, which had clearly not. Besides that, there was not a chance in Hell that she was about to allow that to happen again.
As soon as she said that last part, Henriette knew she had made a mistake. Again? Exactly what did she mean by again? Yes, she had a daughter from a prior relationship. That was all she was about to say. Not to them anyway. And if what Katherine had told her was true then they had absolutely no room to judge her. She had told them as much as Sabastian and his parents had looked at her with shock. She had put up with that sort of judgmental nonsense and hypocrisy from the likes of Margot Blackwood for the last few years and was not about to put up with it from anyone else. Eventually, she either had to either leave to cool off, or else she was going to thump Helga or Ava with it being a tossup over which of them was being more insufferable.
Stomping out of the house, Henriette stared at the trees and the open field beyond. There was a fence line at the far end of the field and a large sign with Betreten Verboten! in red letters written on it.
“When it gets particularly cold in the winter, frost heaves can set off the landmines on the other side of the wire” Henriette heard a voice that sounded like if it had been gargling gravel say. What on Earth was on the other side of that fence that resulted in there being landmines?
Looking over Henriette saw Jost Schultz looking at her while smoking a cigar. Not seeing him or smelling the smoke was yet another mistake today. “Katherine warned me about them” She said, it being obvious who the them was in this case. “And she said that you were the worst of all.”
To her amazement, Jost started laughing.
“Kat never did have any forgiveness in her” Jost said, “Not in the last forty years that I’ve known her at any rate.”
“You’ve known her for that long?”
“Someone had to watch her brother’s back” Jost replied, “I did that all the way from Spain to Korea through Russia, and then I kept an eye on Manny for him in Argentina for all the good that did.”
“That doesn’t explain why Katherine said that about you” Henriette said.
“During the Soviet War, some of us messed about by talking the Photographer attached to our unit into going out with Kat” Jost said, “Regardless of them being married for the last thirty years, she isn’t exactly thrilled that I messed with her personal life.”
“Marie Alexandra is a dear friend” Henriette said, “And I would not want my brother’s friends playing that sort of game.”
“You have a brother?” Jost asked.
“No” Henriette replied, “But still…”
Jost just snorted and went back to puffing on his cigar. They stood there for a long moment in awkward silence. Katherine had told not to take sides in any the family conflicts she saw because all of them would take offense, but that felt like it was more or less impossible.
“Ma doesn’t dislike you” Jost said finally breaking the silence. “She just doesn’t like the idea of history repeating itself. Tilo and Nancy announced that they were getting married over supper and that she was already pregnant with Bas. To say that didn’t go over well is an understatement.”
“So that’s it” Henriette replied.
Jost shrugged. “There is also the specter of how Ava and Hanna got married too young under less-than-ideal circumstances” He said, “That didn’t happen with Inga because she happens to prefer women.”
“Wasn’t Inga a Nun?” Henriette asked.
“Yes” Jost replied, “And she probably would have stayed in the convent, but that sort of thing went out of fashion a few years ago. Not that I blame her, working with at-risk youths in Berlin is closer to what she wanted to be doing all along anyway.”
“I didn’t know” Henriette said.
“The fact that you got up in Ma’s face proves that you have a bit of steel in your spine” Jost said, “If you and Bas work out, she’ll probably warm to you.”
“We’ll see” Henriette replied, “And what is over there, beyond the fence?”
“Much of the Second Field Army and the offices of the High Command mostly” Jost said, matter of fact.
That had not been what Henriette had been prepared to hear.
27th December 1976
Wunsdorf-Zossen
The house which had four generations of the Schultz family living in it was exactly like Henriette had imagined. Big, ramshackle, and apparently parts of it had been built on at separate times as the family had grown over the decades. Aside from the vegetable garden in back, the front and back yard were overgrown.
The last few hours had not been fun.
The real trouble had started innocently enough. Apparently, on the stroke of midnight New Year’s there were going a new set of laws in place that would not just cover Germany, but several other European nations as well that were signatories of the same set of treaties. There were dozens of changes that were going to be made, but the most significant was that travel across Europe from Poland to Portugal without passport checks would be possible. The thing was that for reasons that Henriette didn’t understand, the United Kingdom was not a signatory to the treaty in question. There seemed to be an assumption that she knew the reason for that, which she did not. The truth was that Henriette didn’t know as much about British politics as she might have liked. The current Prime Minister being William Whitelaw being openly despised by his Canadian counterpart, Pierre Trudeau, was about the extent of it.
That had resulted in more questions. Like why Henriette didn’t pay much attention to politics for example. And the answers led to more questions. Ones that she was certainly not about to answer, not to anyone’s satisfaction anyway. It was obvious that Helga and her daughters were perfectly happy to gang up on her. Then Helga dropped the comment about how the last time one of her boys had brought home an American girl to visit, she had already been pregnant, and they had been stuck with her. That had finally caused things to boil over, Henriette had directly told Helga in order for that to be the case a few things would have needed to have happened, which had clearly not. Besides that, there was not a chance in Hell that she was about to allow that to happen again.
As soon as she said that last part, Henriette knew she had made a mistake. Again? Exactly what did she mean by again? Yes, she had a daughter from a prior relationship. That was all she was about to say. Not to them anyway. And if what Katherine had told her was true then they had absolutely no room to judge her. She had told them as much as Sabastian and his parents had looked at her with shock. She had put up with that sort of judgmental nonsense and hypocrisy from the likes of Margot Blackwood for the last few years and was not about to put up with it from anyone else. Eventually, she either had to either leave to cool off, or else she was going to thump Helga or Ava with it being a tossup over which of them was being more insufferable.
Stomping out of the house, Henriette stared at the trees and the open field beyond. There was a fence line at the far end of the field and a large sign with Betreten Verboten! in red letters written on it.
“When it gets particularly cold in the winter, frost heaves can set off the landmines on the other side of the wire” Henriette heard a voice that sounded like if it had been gargling gravel say. What on Earth was on the other side of that fence that resulted in there being landmines?
Looking over Henriette saw Jost Schultz looking at her while smoking a cigar. Not seeing him or smelling the smoke was yet another mistake today. “Katherine warned me about them” She said, it being obvious who the them was in this case. “And she said that you were the worst of all.”
To her amazement, Jost started laughing.
“Kat never did have any forgiveness in her” Jost said, “Not in the last forty years that I’ve known her at any rate.”
“You’ve known her for that long?”
“Someone had to watch her brother’s back” Jost replied, “I did that all the way from Spain to Korea through Russia, and then I kept an eye on Manny for him in Argentina for all the good that did.”
“That doesn’t explain why Katherine said that about you” Henriette said.
“During the Soviet War, some of us messed about by talking the Photographer attached to our unit into going out with Kat” Jost said, “Regardless of them being married for the last thirty years, she isn’t exactly thrilled that I messed with her personal life.”
“Marie Alexandra is a dear friend” Henriette said, “And I would not want my brother’s friends playing that sort of game.”
“You have a brother?” Jost asked.
“No” Henriette replied, “But still…”
Jost just snorted and went back to puffing on his cigar. They stood there for a long moment in awkward silence. Katherine had told not to take sides in any the family conflicts she saw because all of them would take offense, but that felt like it was more or less impossible.
“Ma doesn’t dislike you” Jost said finally breaking the silence. “She just doesn’t like the idea of history repeating itself. Tilo and Nancy announced that they were getting married over supper and that she was already pregnant with Bas. To say that didn’t go over well is an understatement.”
“So that’s it” Henriette replied.
Jost shrugged. “There is also the specter of how Ava and Hanna got married too young under less-than-ideal circumstances” He said, “That didn’t happen with Inga because she happens to prefer women.”
“Wasn’t Inga a Nun?” Henriette asked.
“Yes” Jost replied, “And she probably would have stayed in the convent, but that sort of thing went out of fashion a few years ago. Not that I blame her, working with at-risk youths in Berlin is closer to what she wanted to be doing all along anyway.”
“I didn’t know” Henriette said.
“The fact that you got up in Ma’s face proves that you have a bit of steel in your spine” Jost said, “If you and Bas work out, she’ll probably warm to you.”
“We’ll see” Henriette replied, “And what is over there, beyond the fence?”
“Much of the Second Field Army and the offices of the High Command mostly” Jost said, matter of fact.
That had not been what Henriette had been prepared to hear.
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