Part 92, Chapter 1440
Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Forty
3rd April 1961
In transit, Rural Brandenburg
Sometimes the best thing that you have to say about a month is that it had come to an end. March had been arguably to worst month that Kiki could ever recall. Driving back to Berlin after spending the morning in Kiel on a rainy afternoon, was actually something of a relief. The windshield wipers moving at a different rhythm than the music playing on the radio. Kiki was looking forward to the summertime when she could drive with the top down, though at the moment that seemed both incredibly far away and frighteningly close. Especially after what she had been doing in Kiel, trying to facilitate the purchase of the SMS Preussen on behalf of the War Museum. The reason why the Navy was reluctant to part company with the remaining Battleships was because the USS Montana and the Iowa Class Battleships were still out there and that had come up frequently in the fruitless discussions. Something about how the Preussen Class were the only ships in the world that had a “zone of immunity” against the 16-inch/50 guns that the United States Navy used. Kiki had forgotten to ask what exactly that meant. And exactly how many centimeters were in an inch?
Between giving the Museum tours, her father and stepmother, running errands for the General. as well as the full implications of what she had volunteered for sinking in she had hardly had a chance to think beyond the next five minutes. It all had to do with the paperwork that had resulted when at the suggestion of General von Lettow-Vorbeck she had accepted the offer to go into Search and Rescue Training. Kiki had inadvertently volunteered to join the Airborne in the process, something that she had not known at the time. It was off to Laupheim Airfield in Württemberg in July to learn far more than she had imagined that she would be. Everything had to be in order before she left, and three months had come to seem like very little time atop everything else.
Then Franz von Bayern decided to pay her a visit.
Kiki had met the Crown Prince of Bavaria a few times during the Berlin social season over the prior winter. He had been shy, and Kiki had tried to draw him into conversation a couple times. It had turned out that she had made a bigger impression on Franz then she had intended when he had proposed marriage out of the blue because she had been nice to him. It was an offer that she had declined as gently as she could. Later, however she had listened to his reasoning and it did make a certain kind of sense, just not for her.
Zella and Aurora seemed to think that what had happened next was the most hilarious thing that they had ever heard. Charlotte had visited Kiki in her room in the Museum Staff housing so make sure that she was alright, as if she might have gotten hurt somehow. Then there was Doctor Berg’s take on the whole thing which catapulted the entire thing into the realm of the completely absurd. While Berg had said that Kiki had handled the situation well. Berg had also said that it wasn’t a bad deal for Kiki in that she would get all the benefits of being married with considerably fewer of the drawbacks. If she had been born decades earlier that probably would have been the best deal she could possibly have hoped for. Berg said that she was just playing Devil’s Advocate, but Kiki could see that Berg had meant every word of what she said.
Dublin, Ireland
At Jack’s Law firm they were used to many of the strange things that came from having him working there. Having an angry Kat von Mischner come through the door was not for the faint of heart but it was one of those things. Jack had to remind her that even if she was an important Client, the Secretaries were not there for her to verbally abuse.
“Tell me that this is a joke?” Kat said after giving Jack a chance to review the papers that she had been served with just hours before.
“It is no joke and I would be remiss if I told you that this will not be expensive no matter how it turns out” Jack said, “Mrs. Beck is probably hoping that you will settle to make this go away.”
“And every right-wing newspaper in Germany would pounce on that as an admission of guilt on my part” Kat replied, “In this matter as well as anything else they can they can cook up.”
“I see” Jack said, “Exactly how do you want this to be handled?”
“Her son was a monster who saw nothing wrong in hurting a child to send a message to that child’s father” Kat said, “I want her to have to answer for why she thinks stating that fact is slandering his memory.”
This was the continuing hangover from the publication of Kat’s biography. Merten Beck’s mother had brought a lawsuit against Kat because while her son’s name had never appeared in the text it wouldn’t be difficult to figure it out.
“That makes it easy then” Jack said, “The truth is clearly on your side.”
“But what are we going to do when her lawyers demand financial information?” Kat asked. Clearly, she had been thinking about this.
“That will pose a bit of a problem” Jack said, “Hardly an insurmountable one.”
“I wish I had your confidence” Kat replied.
3rd April 1961
In transit, Rural Brandenburg
Sometimes the best thing that you have to say about a month is that it had come to an end. March had been arguably to worst month that Kiki could ever recall. Driving back to Berlin after spending the morning in Kiel on a rainy afternoon, was actually something of a relief. The windshield wipers moving at a different rhythm than the music playing on the radio. Kiki was looking forward to the summertime when she could drive with the top down, though at the moment that seemed both incredibly far away and frighteningly close. Especially after what she had been doing in Kiel, trying to facilitate the purchase of the SMS Preussen on behalf of the War Museum. The reason why the Navy was reluctant to part company with the remaining Battleships was because the USS Montana and the Iowa Class Battleships were still out there and that had come up frequently in the fruitless discussions. Something about how the Preussen Class were the only ships in the world that had a “zone of immunity” against the 16-inch/50 guns that the United States Navy used. Kiki had forgotten to ask what exactly that meant. And exactly how many centimeters were in an inch?
Between giving the Museum tours, her father and stepmother, running errands for the General. as well as the full implications of what she had volunteered for sinking in she had hardly had a chance to think beyond the next five minutes. It all had to do with the paperwork that had resulted when at the suggestion of General von Lettow-Vorbeck she had accepted the offer to go into Search and Rescue Training. Kiki had inadvertently volunteered to join the Airborne in the process, something that she had not known at the time. It was off to Laupheim Airfield in Württemberg in July to learn far more than she had imagined that she would be. Everything had to be in order before she left, and three months had come to seem like very little time atop everything else.
Then Franz von Bayern decided to pay her a visit.
Kiki had met the Crown Prince of Bavaria a few times during the Berlin social season over the prior winter. He had been shy, and Kiki had tried to draw him into conversation a couple times. It had turned out that she had made a bigger impression on Franz then she had intended when he had proposed marriage out of the blue because she had been nice to him. It was an offer that she had declined as gently as she could. Later, however she had listened to his reasoning and it did make a certain kind of sense, just not for her.
Zella and Aurora seemed to think that what had happened next was the most hilarious thing that they had ever heard. Charlotte had visited Kiki in her room in the Museum Staff housing so make sure that she was alright, as if she might have gotten hurt somehow. Then there was Doctor Berg’s take on the whole thing which catapulted the entire thing into the realm of the completely absurd. While Berg had said that Kiki had handled the situation well. Berg had also said that it wasn’t a bad deal for Kiki in that she would get all the benefits of being married with considerably fewer of the drawbacks. If she had been born decades earlier that probably would have been the best deal she could possibly have hoped for. Berg said that she was just playing Devil’s Advocate, but Kiki could see that Berg had meant every word of what she said.
Dublin, Ireland
At Jack’s Law firm they were used to many of the strange things that came from having him working there. Having an angry Kat von Mischner come through the door was not for the faint of heart but it was one of those things. Jack had to remind her that even if she was an important Client, the Secretaries were not there for her to verbally abuse.
“Tell me that this is a joke?” Kat said after giving Jack a chance to review the papers that she had been served with just hours before.
“It is no joke and I would be remiss if I told you that this will not be expensive no matter how it turns out” Jack said, “Mrs. Beck is probably hoping that you will settle to make this go away.”
“And every right-wing newspaper in Germany would pounce on that as an admission of guilt on my part” Kat replied, “In this matter as well as anything else they can they can cook up.”
“I see” Jack said, “Exactly how do you want this to be handled?”
“Her son was a monster who saw nothing wrong in hurting a child to send a message to that child’s father” Kat said, “I want her to have to answer for why she thinks stating that fact is slandering his memory.”
This was the continuing hangover from the publication of Kat’s biography. Merten Beck’s mother had brought a lawsuit against Kat because while her son’s name had never appeared in the text it wouldn’t be difficult to figure it out.
“That makes it easy then” Jack said, “The truth is clearly on your side.”
“But what are we going to do when her lawyers demand financial information?” Kat asked. Clearly, she had been thinking about this.
“That will pose a bit of a problem” Jack said, “Hardly an insurmountable one.”
“I wish I had your confidence” Kat replied.