Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Forty-One
24th August 1959
Münstertal, Baden
The buildings of Abbey had built over centuries, that meant that there were a lot of surfaces that needed cleaning and upkeep. While the most modern methods of cleaning them were not available, the Sisters of Saint Joseph were more than happy to do the labor needed. Or if as Rea thought, they had more than enough penitents on hand to do the work if they came right out and said it. Unfortunately, that included Vicky and Rea. The Sisters didn’t care about the minor details, like them not even being Catholic. Rea was nominally Lutheran but only to the extent that she didn’t really believe in anything at all. Vicky had dabbled in a number of religions including their mother’s Russian Orthodox beliefs, Buddhism, even going so far as looking into Occultism. If Vicky didn't have Rea as a reality check, she would be particularly vulnerable to the things that the Sisters were telling them. Especially if it got her out of doing the especially backbreaking work that they had been doing over the last few days since Ria had gotten them in trouble again.
“I told you that calling Poppa was a mistake” Vicky said to Rea as they were on their hands and knees scrubbing the stone floor of kitchens. As soon as they were done here, there was a large number of dishes that needed cleaning. “We would not have been sent here without his say so.”
Now she said that, when they were planning the phone call, Vicky had lots of suggestions of how to get into the office of the Abbess. Then she had played lookout while Rea had made the call. One thing that had not been a part of their plans however had been that their father had called back and told the Abbess that Rea had made the call. That was after he had hung up on Rea after telling her that she needed to be more like Kiki.
“Who were we supposed to call then?” Rea asked, “It’s not fair that Kiki got to sit on a beach while we get to be unpaid labor.”
“Fair?” Vicky asked, “Poppa said that Kiki has been working hard for the last two years, what have we done?”
That wasn’t something that Rea wanted to think about. Kiki had worked hard to join the Medical Service and get into University early. For the twins, the only time they had really put in any kind of work, it had been to further a prank or some other mischief. The two of them had been told by the Headmistress at the end of the last term that unless they started to apply themselves it was doubtful that they would even be accepted into University. Then she had told them that there were several vocational programs that might be better suited for their temperament if they weren’t prepared to do that. It had gotten them scolded by their father, something that they were unaccustomed to. Rea had thought the matter had blown over when the term ended, but clearly it hadn’t.
It galled Rea how easily they had been duped into coming willingly to this place. They had been told that they were going to the Black Forest in Baden, Rea had assumed that meant the resort towns with the spas that they had heard so much about. It had turned out that they had not been given complete information. The first clue should have been when they hadn’t seen their luggage being unloaded from the train. Later Rea had a great deal of time to think about it and she had concluded that it had never been on the train in the first place. Once here, they had ended up wearing the clothes they were given within a day. After a few days of being given the silent treatment, they had been told by the Abbess that the sin of pride was what she considered it her duty to save them from. However long it took. What followed was them working from well before sun up until late in the night when they fell asleep their bodies aching too much to move every single day except Sundays.
Vicky turned away from Rea, she was angry and didn’t want to talk. For years they had been a great team, Rea providing the ideas and Vicky coming up with ways to make them reality. It had always been that way with Rea leading since she was the older of the two by about fifteen minutes. Since they had figured out too late the nature of their holiday, Vicky had blamed her. Only seeing the photographs in the gossip magazine of Kiki having a great time in France had caused her to come around briefly. Then they were in trouble again. There was nothing left to take away from them, so their workload had increased. Rea was left wondering how that was even possible.
“I’m sorry” Rea said, “This wasn’t what…”
Vicky turned and gave her a withering look. “You’re never sorry” She snapped, “Every time you get us in hot water you expect me to back your next play. I’m through with your games.”
With that Vicky went back to scrubbing the floor.
“Vicky, I…” Rea started to say only to have one of the Sisters enter and give her a dirty look.
“No talking” The Sister said curtly, “Now, back to work.”
“Yes, ma’am” Rea said as she put the brush into the bucket of soapy water that they were using to clean the floor, only to spill it.
As she felt the water soaking through her dress around her knees Rea just felt like crying. This was the worst holiday imaginable.