Chapter One Thousand Four Hundred Eighty-Six
14th April 1962
Tempelhof, Berlin
It was spring. Whatever that even meant. Zella had a lot of time to think about things over the last few weeks. Her life and how quickly and easily it had turned out for her to mess everything up. Aurora was still dating Helmut. Zella didn’t see the appeal that he had for her, Helmut was a bit of a stiff. Then there was Kiki. She liked Ben because he was safe, but how long was Kiki going to be happy with that? Then Kiki given Zella a whispered confession before she had left about how she had slept with him. She might have asked what on Earth Kiki was thinking to have done such a thing, but recent events had revealed that Zella was no better.
Leaning against her motorcycle Zella watched the house as events unfolded. He came home, looking smug and full of himself as he always did, so full of himself that it didn’t seem to occur to him as to why she was there. According to the University he had resigned his Professorship and had taken a new teaching job in Italy. He smirked when he saw Zella standing there as he walked up to his front door. It didn’t matter what Zella’s father had done to him or would do if he didn’t leave the country. He thought he had won. It was then that he discovered that his key no longer fit the lock on the door. He pounded on the door for a minute until his wife answered. It was too far away for Zella to hear the conversation, but it was clear that he was trying to sweettalk his way out of the predicament that he had suddenly found himself in. It clearly wasn’t working this time.
Earlier that day, Zella had talked to her, accompanied by a few other girls from Zella’s class who all said more or less the same story. Her husband had played on their fears and insecurities, gave them attention of the sort they were desperate for and then he had given them the boot when he tired of them. Apparently, his thing was to sabotage whatever contraception they used so that there was a chance he could always maintain one up on them even after he was gone. For the life of her, Zella couldn’t figure out how she had fallen for that sort of bullshit. She had learned her lesson and as it turned out he was about to get taught one.
There was a thud, and Zella saw him go down with blood and bits of his teeth flying through the air. His wife had just responded to his attempt to sweettalk her by hitting him in the face with a lead mallet. That was far more than Zella had imagined might happen. Then while he was there on the ground trying to get up his wife kept hitting him, in the crotch. The thud of the mallet striking the sidewalk and him as she did her best to systematically flatten his balls filled the air, along with the strangled noises he was making.
Looking over, Zella saw that the neighbors were watching and probably one or more of them would have called the police by now. Not wanting to stick around for that part of the show, Zella kicked her motorcycle to life. The last he saw of her was the satisfied smile she had as she rode away.
As it had turned out, John Elis was right about how to handle matters like this.
Washington D.C.
It was strange, Gloria felt completely unwelcome here even though everyone around her had done their best otherwise. This vast cemetery had originally been the estate of Robert E. Lee. The Union Army had used it to bury their dead as the Lee family had watched their property was turned to that purpose. It had taken time for Jonny’s body to be repatriated and in that time, Gloria had gotten a call from his parents wanting to know if she was going to be alright. The whole thing was just obscene. Gloria had known that the two of them had been drifting apart personally and professionally for a long time. She had just felt that abruptly breaking up with him by impersonal means while he was in China would have been wrong. Jonny deserved better than that. Then she had read in the newspaper that he had died while serving as an advisor to the Chinese Army. It was a bit late to settle things between the two them after that.
Gloria watched as the Military funeral played out. Parker should be here at least, Gloria thought to herself. The two of them went way back. There were the others as well. Cooper, Valenzuela, Mullens, Kravitz or Spooner. Jonny had talked a lot about them in his occasional letters. They had been as close as family to him. The mission in China, as was the official line though Gloria knew it was really in Korea, was ongoing, so they were all thousands of miles away as this unfolded. As the bugler concluded, that was it. There was nothing more to say or do.
As Gloria started to leave, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Turning she saw that it was Mrs. Cassey. “Thank you for coming Gloria” She said.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know if it’s right for me to be here” Gloria replied.
“You did your best” Mrs. Cassey said, “I had hoped that the two of you would eventually work out, but John was never the type to settle down. If not the Army or his cars, there would have always been something else to draw him away. I don’t know if you would have lasted much longer together.”
That almost made Gloria feel better about the situation.