Chapter One Thousand Forty-One
8th January 1954
Berlin
This week Mistress Maeda was returning to Japan and Zella was understandably upset. Natsumi Maeda had been teaching how to really fight and not by half measures either. The week before, Gräfin Katherine and Mistress Maeda had gone head to head in order to display what was possible if the girls applied themselves and it was unlike anything that any of them had ever seen in their lives. Zella had seen such displays before, but it had been with men who tried to overpower each other. With the Gräfin and Mistress Maeda it had been about skill and form. Them trying to go punch or kick the other but done with a dancer’s grace. Then Mistress Maeda had announced that it was an honor to have taught such a wonderful group of students and that she was leaving. The result was that Zella had been sulking on the couch all evening.
Nothing that Kiki had said had cheered her up, not even poking fun at the news reports. Kiki would have thought that for Zella the news about color television being approved for use in broadcasts would have sparked dozens of sarcastic comments about TV stations broadcasting signals that no one could pick up because no color televisions were currently being sold in the German Market. Instead, Zella just sulked. Aurora fell asleep partway through the news report and she had made Kiki and Zella promise that they would wake her when the variety show came on. The news concluded with the weather report, snow in the forecast over the weekend.
“Snow will be fun” Kiki said, “Right Zella.”
“Whatever” Zella said, “I will probably spend all day Sunday watching Poppa work on his motorcycle, then get tormented by my mother about what I will be doing all week over dinner. A whole lot to look forward to.”
“Every silver lining comes with a black cloud?” Kiki asked, and Zella went back to sulking.
The news ended, and the variety show finally came on. Kiki nudged Aurora awake. The first act was a stand-up comedian who wasn’t as good as he thought he was.
“If I wanted to hear this I could have just stayed home and listened to my father’s jokes” Aurora said.
Zella and Kiki found that amusing. Their fathers were incredibly prominent, but the sorts of awkward jokes that they would tell their children were universally awful. The stand-up act ended, and the next act came on.
“Our next act is a young man from Memphis, Tennessee” The Host said, “Who I understand is quite the crooner, please welcome Elvis Presley.”
The studio applauded politely.
Kiki saw a man wearing a black suit walk out onto the stage. He was young, late teens or early twenties with slicked back hair and what Zella’s father described as a “fuck you” attitude.
“Thank you” Elvis replied in English, coming off as arrogant as his attitude suggested. He had no idea that the show wasn’t going out live, the subtitles gave that away.
“So, what do you have for us tonight?” The Host asked.
“This number has had a bit of time getting on the radio back home” Elvis said, “The lady who asked me to be here tonight said that you would let the audience be the judge of that.”
“We are all familiar with Lady Lagertha von Wolvogle” The Host said.
“That’s funny” Elvis said, “She told me her name was Gerta.”
“I overheard Gerta talking about him with Helene a couple months ago” Zella said, “She said that he had a needlessly high opinion of himself, but he supposedly is a good singer.”
“Well then” The Host said, “Let’s introduce your band.”
With that the banter continued as the guitarist, bass player and drummer were introduced. Then the host announced that it was time for the song. It was certainly different from anything else that she had heard before, Kiki had to give it that much. A choppy guitar lick that sounded like a steam train chugging down the tracks and the drummer doing an approximation of the rhythm of the rails. Then the first verse…
“The man lay down on a barroom floor,
having drunk so much he could drink no more.
So he fell asleep with a troubled brain,
to dream that he rode on a Hell-bound train.”
Kiki noticed that after each verse the tempo of the song increased a bit. It would make it impossible to dance to, but it was effective in telling the story.
“The engine with blood was red and damp,
And brilliantly lit with a brimstone lamp;
While the imp for fuel were shoveling bones,
The furnace rang with a thousand groans.
The Devil himself was the Engineer
The boiler was filled with lager beer,
The passenger made up a motley crew-
Church member, atheist, Gentile and Jew.
Rich men in broadcloth and beggars in rags,
Handsome young ladies and withered old hags.
Yellow and red men, brown, black and white,
All chained together what a terrible sight.”
Kiki noticed that the song was gathering in intensity as the band got deeper into it and the verses described the train hurtling towards its fiery destination. The passengers begging the Devil to stop the train.
“Why my faithful friends you’ve done my work,
The Devil could never a payday shirk.
Why you’ve bullied the weak and robbed the poor,
And a starving brother you’ve turned from the door.
You’ve laid up gold where the canker rusts,
And given free vent to your fleshy lusts.”
Kiki was rather surprised by this song, it didn’t seem like the sort of thing that an American might write.
“Justice you’ve scorned and corruption you’ve sown,
While you’ve trampled the laws of nature down.
You’ve drunken and rioted, murdered and lied,
And mocked at God in your Hell-bound pride.
You’ve paid your full fair, so I’ll carry you through,
For it’s only right you get your just due.”
With that the song concluded with the Devil promising the passengers an eternity of torment and the man waking up from his nightmare. The audience applauded, like Kiki, Zella and Aurora they were wondering exactly what they had just seen. The three of them argued about if the song was good or not for the rest of the evening.