Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Thirty-Four
22nd May 1955
Berlin
When Kat arrived back in the palace it was for the usual Sunday meeting with the Empress as the Mistress of the Keys. That had gone smoothly enough, mostly they had ended up talking about the summer meeting of the Order of Louise next month. Tomorrow, she looked forward to conducting an inspection of the Enlisted Barracks of the First Foot Guard in Potsdam. When the cat’s away, the mice will play. That was as true as it had ever been. Kat had already heard from Schafer who said that the XO had at least kept the bottles and cans from spilling out into the street. Kat suspected that he was exaggerating a bit. Apparently, they were working frantically on cleaning it out before she saw the mess. Once the First Foot had made it back from Jerusalem, they had thrown quite a party and then had procrastinated on the cleanup. That was something that would be a problem that Kat would worry about tomorrow. Today, she had something much more fun to consider. Opening the door to Kiki’s room, Kat saw that the Princess laying in her bed sleeping in an old sports jersey that she had stolen from her brother Freddy and now used as a nightgown.
“Time to wake up” Kat said as she sat down on the bed, “Though you were never asleep in the first place.”
Kiki opened her eyes, which were bloodshot and swollen. She had clearly been crying again and that was the reason that Kira had asked Kat to talk to her. Kira had said that since they had gotten back from the Near East Kiki had been difficult, mostly due to her age. Kat suspected that it was a little more involved than that. Most people would have looked at Kiki’s seemingly luxurious life and concluded that she was being unreasonable. One of Kira’s concern was that such a misinterpretation might happen even as she struggled to understand her daughter. Kat had however recognized what was truly going on, as unlikely as it seemed Kiki had realized that she was in a nice little box as defined by other people’s expectations. She would never be happy so long as she was required to conform to that.
“Go away” Kiki muttered before rolling onto her side facing away from Kat.
“No” Kat replied.
At this point everyone else who had been sent to talk to Kiki had simply given up. As absurd as it sounded, no one in the palace had been interested in fighting with a teenaged girl so long as she was quiet in how she went about being miserable. There had been a few quibbles about how if Kiki was going to be a brooding presence that might affect public appearances, precisely the wrong tact to have. When Kat had suggested that perhaps it would be a good idea if Kiki was no longer considered a public figure for the foreseeable future it had caused a bit of an uproar. Unless Kiki was given space to figure out what she wanted for herself then she would find other, less quiet ways to act out. Why was it that it never seemed to occur to anyone that not everyone wanted to be in the limelight?
“Just leave me alone” Kiki said.
“I remember few times where I had someone refusing to leave me alone” Kat said, “This is how I pass on that favor.”
Kiki rolled back over and faced Kat, “You think bothering me is doing me a favor?” She asked.
“Yes” Kat replied, “I just don’t want you to get to the point where I was before someone stepped in.”
“How bad could you possibly have been?” Kiki asked.
“Suicidal, depressed and dealing with effects of traumatic stress” Kat said matter of fact, “No one is immune to that sort of thing.”
The look on Kiki’s face suggested that wasn’t the answer she was expecting.
“I got your mother to agree that some changes are necessary” Kat said.
“What?” Kiki asked, “Make me attend fewer garden parties where the insufferable talk endlessly about the inconsequential?”
“I don’t disagree with you there” Kat said, “However, I have a bit more in mind.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“By giving you a bit of what you think you want” Kat replied, “I also had a few Press passes revoked, the more obnoxious ones who you’ve been complaining about.”
Kiki seemed pleasantly surprised by that. “Exactly what do you mean by what I think I want?” She asked.
“You’re thirteen, which is a bit young for an after-school job” Kat said, “However, having you volunteer at the University Clinic seems like a good fit.”
The University of Berlin’s Clinic was one of the largest hospital systems in the city. They were always looking for warm bodies to perform tasks that were both menial and boring. Kiki would learn how the medical system really worked first hand, probably in the mailroom stuffing envelopes and hopefully doing what she was told.
“Thank you” Kiki exclaimed, and she hugged Kat.
“Don’t thank me yet” Kat said sternly, “No one is going to give you a pass because of who your parents are. Hard work and diligence are what will be expected and that is exactly what you will give.”
Kiki didn’t seem too put off by that. As much as she was annoyed by her oldest brother, in that moment she revealed that she was more like Friedrich than she imagined.