Part 130, Chapter 2208
Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eight
8th April 1973
Tempelhof, Berlin
For Kat, the breakfast meetings with the women she had close relationships with over the last few decades were something that she did to try to maintain a connection with the reality on the ground. Increasingly, she felt that she was isolated behind layers of security and her own reputation had driven many people away for long time before that. Having Gerta and Helene present at the same time was a rare treat these days, even if they seemed to be spending a lot of time grousing about what their adult children were up to. Kat’s nephew and god daughter were who they were mostly talking about in a manner that was deeply ironic considering their own personal histories. There was still an annual ride through the streets of Berlin every autumn by the German Cavalry along with representatives from various other countries entirely because of Gerta’s inability to get herself together a couple decades earlier. With Manny and Suse, they would do things at their own pace or else they wouldn’t do things at all, parental approval be damned.
The other thing this morning was that Nancy seemed troubled after she had spoken with her son earlier this week. It seemed that her youngest daughter was totally miserable with her present lot, but Gretchen wasn’t the sort who would complain. Only endure. Kat had said that it reminded her of someone who she had known a few decades earlier. Nancy had asked about whom she was talking? There was also, Nancy’s oldest daughter having grown into a selfish, ruthless little bitch who was almost impossible to control. Kat refrained from telling her that Anna was truly Tilo’s daughter and that like him, it wouldn’t be until life knocked her down a time or two that she would start to come around. For Tilo that had come in the form of the Marine Infantry and a walking tour of Vietnam, China, the Russian Far East, and finally Korea that had lasted several years. Kat had no idea what the equivalent for a young woman might look like.
Later, when Kat was talking with Doug, he found it all amusing. Nancy and Tilo’s careers kept them incredibly busy which was why they had many of the problems they presently had. Children who felt that the adults in their life ignored them tended to act out. Sometimes a firm hand was needed. Unfortunately for Nancy, it seemed that the wrong daughter had landed in the Prussian Institute. At least, that was Kat’s opinion.
Mitte, Berlin
Of all the times for things to go sideways. Sigi had been trying to get her mother’s affairs straightened out and that had taken months. The house on Potsdam had already been deemed an uninhabitable ruin, it had needed to be torn down before the land could be sold. Then just as Sigi had thought that she had gotten things under control several things happened that had upended everything. After how difficult it had been getting her mother to go along with the necessary course of action, Astrid von Grimmelshausen died as the result of multiple organ failure. Jay Parker hated to even think it, but it would have been better for everyone if that had happened last July before he and Sigi had come from Spain.
There had been a blizzard of paperwork with a lot of red tape to cut through to transfer the estate to Sigi. There had come the moment when the executors of her grandfather’s estate were finally deservedly sacked, but Sigi had not been able to enjoy it because she had gotten sick. At first, they had thought that the constant stress of the situation over several months had worn her down and made her vulnerable to a viral infection. Then it had turned out not to be a case of the flu and that changed everything when Sigi had found out that she was pregnant.
For Sigi, this had resulted in a phone call to her nephew to keep the weight of the military and academia off her back. Parker had a hard time reckoning with just who Freddy was even though he had met him several times by now. What that resulted in was an awkward conversation in car from the airport about why they were having a courthouse wedding where the paperwork had to be expedited and Parker had found it difficult to explain just who Sigi’s family was. Mostly because it sounded totally insane.
Kristina, Sigi’s niece had helped somewhat because as a Doctor she was used to having difficult conversations with people. Of course, Kiki telling Parker a few minutes later that compared to telling someone that they were forced to amputate or that it was inoperable, saying that a young couple was having to get married because contraception had failed was nothing. It was then that Parker realized that Kiki was and wasn’t joking when she said that. In the end, Parker’s father seemed more bothered by the fact that golf wasn’t really a thing in Germany beyond some exclusive clubs and hadn’t made the connection with the name Hohenzollern and the Kaiser. His mother clearly had several questions but was waiting until they could talk at leisure without the walls having so many ears. That and to make sure that his father wasn’t allowed anywhere near someone who he could try to give a sales pitch to, she understood that Sigi’s family took a very dim view on anything that might be fraud these days.
8th April 1973
Tempelhof, Berlin
For Kat, the breakfast meetings with the women she had close relationships with over the last few decades were something that she did to try to maintain a connection with the reality on the ground. Increasingly, she felt that she was isolated behind layers of security and her own reputation had driven many people away for long time before that. Having Gerta and Helene present at the same time was a rare treat these days, even if they seemed to be spending a lot of time grousing about what their adult children were up to. Kat’s nephew and god daughter were who they were mostly talking about in a manner that was deeply ironic considering their own personal histories. There was still an annual ride through the streets of Berlin every autumn by the German Cavalry along with representatives from various other countries entirely because of Gerta’s inability to get herself together a couple decades earlier. With Manny and Suse, they would do things at their own pace or else they wouldn’t do things at all, parental approval be damned.
The other thing this morning was that Nancy seemed troubled after she had spoken with her son earlier this week. It seemed that her youngest daughter was totally miserable with her present lot, but Gretchen wasn’t the sort who would complain. Only endure. Kat had said that it reminded her of someone who she had known a few decades earlier. Nancy had asked about whom she was talking? There was also, Nancy’s oldest daughter having grown into a selfish, ruthless little bitch who was almost impossible to control. Kat refrained from telling her that Anna was truly Tilo’s daughter and that like him, it wouldn’t be until life knocked her down a time or two that she would start to come around. For Tilo that had come in the form of the Marine Infantry and a walking tour of Vietnam, China, the Russian Far East, and finally Korea that had lasted several years. Kat had no idea what the equivalent for a young woman might look like.
Later, when Kat was talking with Doug, he found it all amusing. Nancy and Tilo’s careers kept them incredibly busy which was why they had many of the problems they presently had. Children who felt that the adults in their life ignored them tended to act out. Sometimes a firm hand was needed. Unfortunately for Nancy, it seemed that the wrong daughter had landed in the Prussian Institute. At least, that was Kat’s opinion.
Mitte, Berlin
Of all the times for things to go sideways. Sigi had been trying to get her mother’s affairs straightened out and that had taken months. The house on Potsdam had already been deemed an uninhabitable ruin, it had needed to be torn down before the land could be sold. Then just as Sigi had thought that she had gotten things under control several things happened that had upended everything. After how difficult it had been getting her mother to go along with the necessary course of action, Astrid von Grimmelshausen died as the result of multiple organ failure. Jay Parker hated to even think it, but it would have been better for everyone if that had happened last July before he and Sigi had come from Spain.
There had been a blizzard of paperwork with a lot of red tape to cut through to transfer the estate to Sigi. There had come the moment when the executors of her grandfather’s estate were finally deservedly sacked, but Sigi had not been able to enjoy it because she had gotten sick. At first, they had thought that the constant stress of the situation over several months had worn her down and made her vulnerable to a viral infection. Then it had turned out not to be a case of the flu and that changed everything when Sigi had found out that she was pregnant.
For Sigi, this had resulted in a phone call to her nephew to keep the weight of the military and academia off her back. Parker had a hard time reckoning with just who Freddy was even though he had met him several times by now. What that resulted in was an awkward conversation in car from the airport about why they were having a courthouse wedding where the paperwork had to be expedited and Parker had found it difficult to explain just who Sigi’s family was. Mostly because it sounded totally insane.
Kristina, Sigi’s niece had helped somewhat because as a Doctor she was used to having difficult conversations with people. Of course, Kiki telling Parker a few minutes later that compared to telling someone that they were forced to amputate or that it was inoperable, saying that a young couple was having to get married because contraception had failed was nothing. It was then that Parker realized that Kiki was and wasn’t joking when she said that. In the end, Parker’s father seemed more bothered by the fact that golf wasn’t really a thing in Germany beyond some exclusive clubs and hadn’t made the connection with the name Hohenzollern and the Kaiser. His mother clearly had several questions but was waiting until they could talk at leisure without the walls having so many ears. That and to make sure that his father wasn’t allowed anywhere near someone who he could try to give a sales pitch to, she understood that Sigi’s family took a very dim view on anything that might be fraud these days.
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