Chapter Two Thousand Six Hundred Sixteen
20th April 1977
Tempelhof, Berlin
Tatiana looked around the courtyard garden of apartment building that her Great Aunt had lived in for the last several years. It had been the intention from the start that the tenets of this building would be elderly and that was reflected in every aspect of the place. It allowed them to maintain a level of independence while still receiving as much assistance as they needed. That That included sitting in the small common garden on a sunny spring afternoon. Aunt Marcella had insisted that they bring lunch downstairs because it was too nice a day to spend indoors. Tatiana couldn’t help but notice the looks of approval that she received from the other residents as they walked past. Getting grandchildren, or in Tatiana’s case a grandniece, to visit of their own accord was apparently difficult.
“I saw your mother in the paper” Aunt Marcella said, “She was at the royal wedding in Bucharest.”
“I know” Tatiana replied, not wanting to talk about her mother.
“The bride and groom were a handsome couple” Marcella said, “I think that Louis Junior really favors his father, so he will probably need to keep a close eye on his hairline.”
Tatiana personally found all the male members of the German Royal family to be all cut from the same cloth; tall, lanky, and somewhat awkward in appearance and manner. Still, there were laudable aspects. Louis Ferdinand Senior had retired and had become a patron of the arts. He had also spent a great deal of time involved in the establishment of Médecins Sans Frontières.
“Speaking of hair, have you thought about growing yours back out?” Marcella asked, “Before you had cut it so short you really were quite lovely, this on the other hand makes you look severe.”
It was an old conversation that Tatiana wasn’t interesting in having again. It was a practical consideration, caring for long hair while traveling was difficult. Aunt Marcella was clearly of a different opinion, she saw it as one more thing that Tatiana had done to spite her mother. Considering all the other things that she had done over the last few years for exactly that reason it wasn’t hard to see why. So many of those things seemed rather stupid in retrospect and that was an annoyance. While Tatiana knew she wasn’t stupid, the evidence to the contrary that was piling up was sort of hard to ignore.
“I find it easier to take care of” Tatiana replied, “Especially if I am somewhere where I cannot wash for a few days.”
Marcella smiled at that.
“Your brother told me about the job offer you received” Marcella said, “Working for the Foreign Service will make it so that you will get paid for your adventures.”
“I guess” Tatiana said. Aunt Marcella had no way of knowing about the conversation that she’d had with Asia a few months earlier. That her use to the BND was at an end now that the American FBI was on to her. Despite the protestations of the U.S. Government about the Rule of Law, terrible things happened to the BND’s people if they were caught. The job offer from the AA was a consolation prize, for taking minor risks that involved spending a summer working as a waitress in Boston and the Speaker of the House of Representatives inability to keep his hands to himself. It was hard not to feel as if someone was playing an elaborate prank on her.
Montreal, Canada
There were times when Henriette was confounded by the wild contradictions that Marie represented. This was one of those times. On one hand she was incredibly shy around people, on the other, when Marie felt compelled to say something it was as if it was something that she had been thinking about for months. It was always a surprise when that happened.
The Montreal Ladies Athletic Club had been enjoying a renaissance with the Olympic Games last summer and how the Club had been discovered by University students over the last couple years. The days when Henriette and Marie were the youngest ones present, if they didn’t have the place all to themselves were long gone. With the increased membership, Ms. Strike the Club’s founder and owner, was using this as an opportunity to refurbish the existing facilities and expand into additional space in an adjoining building. Strangely, she had asked for Marie and Henriette’s input towards her plans, and most surprising of all Marie had a number of ideas.
Sure, there was the traditional gymnasium facility and swimming pool, but there were other, more modern machines, yes, machines, and exercise routines that had grown in popularity in recent years. Now that the Club was attracting younger members there were those with small children, Henriette for example. What could be done to accommodate them?
That last part was something that Henriette would never have thought to ask, or probably had the courage to do either. It was the next turn that the conversation took that really surprised Henriette as Marie and Ms. Strike talked about cultural differences between Canada and Germany. Some of the things that Marie didn’t have a problem with, and apparently had regularly done, would have left Henriette completely mortified. Then came the understanding that the reverse was certainly true as well. She had seen Marie’s reaction towards tiger’s tail ice cream, but that didn’t really seem like a fair comparison.