Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Forty-Three
1st September 1957
Berlin
For Kat, life had fallen into an easy rhythm and she had suddenly discovered that she had far more time to pursue her own projects. She had also been observing Kiki for the last few weeks wondering if should say anything. It was clear to her that Ben was smitten with Kiki, but Kiki had been pursuing her studies with single minded determination and seemed to have no idea of that. The closer that Kiki came to the end of the term, the more it became clear to everyone but Kiki that she had simply taken on too much this time and had set herself up for what was now most likely to end in failure in December. The Headmistress of Kiki’s gymnasia had told Kat as much a few days earlier after Louis had told the Headmistress that Kat was acting as his proxy when it came to matters like Kiki’s education. Unless there was a miracle, Kiki would not be able to meet the criteria required to sit the exams to complete her secondary education. Kat had been speaking with Louis, Douglas and Doctor Berg about what they were going to do when Kiki figured out that her plans would face a setback of at least six months. The hope was that Kiki would take it as a lesson, regroup and keep working until she was truly ready.
Today, Kat found herself in the office of the Mayor of Berlin, a place that had the same feeling as getting sent to the Headmaster’s office when she had been in school. There were few people that she wanted to meet with less than Herbert Frahm, the Mayor himself. The stated reason was that he wanted to discuss with her the plans she had for Alexanderplatz. The truth was that Frahm wanted to be seen meeting with her for political reasons.
It was all the result of the Press playing up the informal title that they had given her as Gräfin Katherine of Berlin, the Tigress of Pankow complete with the banner that hung from the ceiling in the Luftwaffe Exhibition in the Military Museum used frequently. Kat couldn’t help but notice over the years that the red cat had turned orange and now had black stripes. It somehow signified the roll she played in the city though Kat found it increasingly hard to see how.
Kat had told Helene and Doug about how absurd she found the whole thing and they had different reactions. Doug had said that she ought to consider it a compliment and go about her life as she normally would. Helene had said that she thought that there was more at play, her perspective that was people were looking for something and they found it in her. Some of the more recent immigrants from the Far East had even gone so far as to suggest that Kat was somehow an avatar of the city itself, that her life closely mirrored that of the city of her birth for the last three and half decades. Helene had laughed when Kat had first told her about that. “It does explain the traffic snarls early in the morning” is what Helene had said. Kat’s reaction had been to follow Doug’s advice to a degree, told them thank you and then calmly but firmly told them to stay away from her and her family.
“As you can see from the blueprints” Kat said, “The idea is for a series of buildings with open floorplans on the bottom floors.”
“And what is the business model for this?” Frahm asked.
“It varies” Kat replied, “The individual stalls are to be rented out on a seasonal, weekly or daily basis, the other parts of the building are to provide the needed infrastructure for the renters. The close proximity to the river and rail network is a plus as well.”
“An old-fashioned farmer’s market” Frahm said, “Except with refrigeration and out of the elements.”
“There is a bit more to it than that” Kat replied, “I have been in contact with several craftsmen in various trades who would enjoy having the space to work and sell their wares as well.”
“What does that look like in practical terms?”
“Imagine if you have a restaurant and need fifty kilos of potatoes every day” Kat said, “You also need the bins to hold them fabricated as well. To name one example.”
“Interesting” Frahm replied, “But considering the overhead of such a project, I don’t know how much of a profit you would make.”
“Profits would be nice but not necessarily the goal, this is going to be a cooperative effort run by a nonprofit corporation” Kat replied. She saw Frahm’s eyes narrow when he heard that. There were rumors about the size and source of Kat’s fortune. Considering that the truth seemed implausible, few of them came close to scratching the surface. Kat setting up a nonprofit, presumably for tax reasons was entirely in keeping with that. The truth was that she wanted to create something new and unique. It would also serve the purpose of helping out independent craftsmen, small farmers and business. Groups that Kat felt needed support anyway.
“It all sounds a bit utopian” Frahm said.
“Perhaps” Kat replied, “But everyone involved is a realist, so it’s expected to work.”
“If it will then how come no one has ever tried anything quite like this before?” Frahm asked.
Kat just smiled at that, the Mayor wasn’t looking far enough back. Things like this had been done for centuries, just not quite like this.
