Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety-Four
7th May 1967
Potsdam
The recent elections in Russia had placed the Monarchist/Nationalist block firmly in control of the Duma. While that was good news for Czar Georgy, it wasn’t for nearly everyone else from the Black Sea to the Baltic who nervously watched a resurgent Russia. Recent events in Greece and the Balkans were examples of Russia flexing its muscle as an emerging power. Louis found himself reminding everyone that they needed to play the extremely old game of keeping the Russians on side while trying to contain that vast country to its own borders. Closer to home, Louis found that after months cooped up in the penthouse apartment, a change of scenery had been desperately needed. Assessing the Summer Residence ahead of the busy season that was planned had been welcomed as soon as the idea had been suggested.
From the window of his Potsdam office Louis was watching Nella and Nan run around the gardens chased after by Weisse, a puppy that was all oversized ears, paws and silky fur that was completely at odds him being mostly Whippet. The pup’s name was actually Berliner Weisse, a direct reference to his sire Rauchbier and the theme which all of his brothers and sisters reflected as well. In Weisse’s particular case, he had been the runt of the litter that had been named after various types of beer, he had been named after a kind of small beer as a result. Between that and his irregularly patterned black and white coat, he had been deemed unsuitable for the ambition of Kennel Master of Hohenzollern Castle for developing the Swabian Windhund. However, he was perfect for being the companion of two seven-year-old girls who were euphoric at the prospect of having a dog of their own.
“It was wonderful that you were able to arrange for them to get their birthday gift early” Charlotte said as she joined Louis at the window. The harsh truth was that no paper records existed of Nan’s actual birthday and her “Aunt” Gudrun hadn’t cared enough to remember, so they had celebrated it on the same date as Nella’s, the 2nd of June. That seemed to have stuck.
“Nan seems genuinely happy” Louis replied, “She isn’t running away and hiding as much as she used to.”
“She shouldn’t feel that she needs to hide at all” Charlotte said.
“That is only going to change when Nan discovers that fighting is preferable” Louis replied.
“What a terrible thing to say.”
“It was how it worked out for all the girls in this family” Louis said, “Even the last one who really hid herself away like Nan.”
“Which one is that?” Charlotte asked, unaware that had been the case.
“Kristina” Louis said, “The difference is that she locked her bedroom door for days at a time once she discovered that she could do that.”
Charlotte looked out at the girls playing in the gardens. “When I hear about Kristina’s childhood, I can only think about how lonely she must have been” She said.
“Kira not understanding her didn’t help matters” Louis said, “She expected her to be a social butterfly when she was given opportunities. The problem is that Kristina just doesn’t work that way and she found the situations her mother thrust her into exhausting. The twins were worse in a way, Marie Cecilie and Victoria preferred each other’s company as children, often forming a united front against everyone else, including their mother.”
“Victoria” Charlotte said, “I cannot believe the gall of Albrecht of Bavaria, asking if she would be willing to marry his son. As if you could make that choice. That’s like something from a century ago. He doesn’t know about her, how she is, does he?”
“If he did, it might just make him more enthusiastic about the whole idea” Louis said, “It would be a sham marriage in more ways than one. To keep up appearances for both families, would be how he would put it. Fortunately, this is not a century ago, so I can tell Albrecht that it’s not up to me and to talk to Victoria himself. I’m sure that will be a fun conversation if it ever happens.”
Charlotte was a bit surprised by that.
Mitte, Berlin
Sitting in her bedroom, Zella contemplated the phone call with Aurora. She had suggested to Zella that perhaps it was time that she moved out of her parent’s house. She was done with University and was successful in her own right. Why was she living under her parent’s roof and following their rules? Rather than complaining about it to Aurora, who didn’t want to hear it, she ought to do something. The trouble was that despite the frequent disagreements that Zella with her mother, it was clear that they didn’t want her to leave. It was easy for Aurora to say that; she had been living and working in Hamburg planning advertising campaigns for Krupp Steel which meant that Zella hardly got to see her anymore. It would be nice to go back to when Zella had lived with Kiki and Aurora in the University Dormitory, life was a lot easier and Zella had been happy back then.
For lack of anything better to do, Zella started opening the mail that had been delivered to her over the previous week. There were a number of letters from people she knew congratulating her for her coverage of the Bratwurst War on April Fool’s Day the month before and suggesting several ideas of what she might do next year. Then buried under the pile of letters, was a large, flat package. Opening it she saw that it was a vinyl LP with a garish album cover that was a bit unsettling to look at, the title was Moondogs, Spiraling. Enclosed was a note; EMI is trying to bury this, give it a listen and see if you can do something about that -John. It seemed that John was at war with the record company again, hardly a surprise really.
