Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Eight
1st January 1964
Jena, Thuringia
Looking at the clock on the counter next to the sink, Kiki saw that it was nearly two o’clock in the morning and the test card was displayed on the screen of the television that she had left on. She had been watching it while waiting for midnight to roll around and had fallen asleep on the couch that divided her apartment between where she lived and where she slept. Ben had said that he would call. If he had, Kiki had slept through it. That was something that she would have to explain the next time they talked, which would be a bit embarrassing. Tomorrow… Or by now it would be later today, she would need to get a message to him. Kiki had lived up to Nadine’s demand that she not call or turn up at her house for the rest of the year in order to get her to keep quiet about the whole mess that had played out in October. 1963 might finally be over, but Kiki figured that calling Ben at home on New Year’s Day would be asking for trouble if Nadine was the one who answered. So, she would need to once again go through the cumbersome process of relaying messages through mutual friends.
As she unwrapped herself from the wool blanket, both Hera and Rauchbier who had been sleeping on her protested having to let her up. Turning off the television and closing the drapes. She saw that the New Years festivities had ended and the view out her window was of the rooftops of the sleeping town. There was a dusting of snow that would probably turn to drizzle in the morning. The ticking sound from the radiator was a reminder of how it was still mid-winter.
Kiki had been invited by Doctor Holz to a lunch that he was having with some colleagues of his as well as some other selected students. Zella was otherwise occupied in Berlin, which meant that Kiki would be there alone if she went. She would spend the whole afternoon with the others trying to draw her into the conversation in a well-meaning way, not realizing how exhausting she found it. Perhaps it would be better to just stay in and lose herself in a book instead, she thought to herself.
Leaving the comfort of her apartment, Kiki walked down the hallway to the bathroom that she shared with the other four tenants who lived on this floor. Because of the late hour, it was mercifully empty. Looking at her face in the mirror, Kiki could see how tired she looked as she brushed her teeth. She could also see the red of the blemish that was she felt rising on the side of her nose. She had left washing her face for too long and that was the result as she tried to make up for it now. In the documentary that Zella had made over the summer, that was one uncomfortable detail that had found its way into the final cut that was going to play on Public Television throughout Germany sometime in the coming weeks, that Kristina of Prussia, the Princess Royal of the German Empire, didn’t have particularly great skin. When Kiki had brought that up with Ben the last time they had talked, he had said that he thought that she looked perfect. As Kiki dried her face off, she wondered what to make of that.
Leaving the bathroom, Kiki encountered Dita, the Doctorial Student who lived down the hall from her. She was around thirty or so and her hair was a shade of red that could have only come from a bottle. Kiki had lived in close proximity to her for months and the only they seemed to share was a wall.
“About time you got done” Dita said with her voice slurred as she barged past Kiki into the bathroom. Judging by the smell, Dita had enjoyed a great deal of champagne over the course of the evening and now it was coming out. One way or the other. Kiki didn’t bother to stick around in order to find out which.
Once back in her apartment, Kiki swiftly changed into one of her Hertha jerseys and crawled into her bed, the weight of the covers comforting on a cold night. Her mind kept going back the events of the previous days.
After Christmas, Suga had asked for Kiki’s help in untangling the terms that Doctor Berg had thrown around while the ultrasound scan had been conducted. The Technician that Berg worked with had determined that Suga was at five months gestation with normal development, which meant that the due date would be around mid-April. Previously, it had been estimated to be in May. Freddy had pointed out that meant that it had been conceived while they were on there honeymoon in August. Regardless of what the Junkers thought of Suga, that normally was regarded as a good sign. Once they had gotten past that, Suga had asked Kiki what she thought. The fact that Kiki would have a niece or nephew in a few months had not even entered her thinking until then. That had been when Suga had confided in her some of the names that she had been batting around with Freddy, Louise would most certainly play a role if it was a girl, obvious. Some of Suga’s other ideas would definitely raise a few eyebrows though. Kiki told her that those sounded wonderful.
There were also the courses that Kiki had taken over the previous term and would be continuing over the next. Zella had been surprised to learn that Kiki was taking Theology and she had told her that it was for getting the Humanities prerequisite out of the way. That was a half-truth. While it did get the prerequisite out of the way, Kiki had wanted more than that out of it. When she had been a child, Kiki had gone to church with her mother as expected. It wasn’t until later that she had learned about it being Russian Orthodox. Lately though, she had started to have a bit of difficulty reconciling the simple beliefs of her childhood with the realities that she had been presented with as an adult. Her hope was that learning more about the ideology would help her with that.
Looking over, Kiki noticed that Rauchbier was looking at her over the edge of the bed. He liked to be with her but had been scared of Hera since he had been a puppy and had gotten badly scratched across the nose as the price for getting too close. At the moment Hera was off doing whatever it was she did in the night.
“You can join me” Kiki said, patting the covers beside her.
Rauchbier jumped up on the bed and affectionately licked Kiki’s chin as she scratched behind his ears. Regardless of whatever turmoil she was feeling, having a dog certainly helped.