Part 151, Chapter 2755
Chapter Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Five
29th January 1979
Mitte, Berlin
The University Clinic was not a part of the urban campus that Nan was too familiar with. Normally she spent her time in the Humanities Department where she was doing Romance Studies, something that had been incredibly useful now that she was spending a lot of time in Rome.
When Nan had been discovered as a child she had been subjected to all manner of medical tests and vaccinations, leaving her with a deep suspicion of Doctors and medicine. Her adoptive mother, Charlotte, had been after her to get a full medical checkup and the University had been perfectly happy to oblige a couple weeks earlier. So much about her was a blank slate and she had no family history to go off of. At Charlotte’s urging, the Clinic had pulled out all the stops to learn more. Now, a couple weeks later Nan had been called back in and was sitting in a Doctor’s office silently dreading what the Doctor might have to say.
It being midwinter it felt like the rooms of the hospital were either too hot or too cold and the smells… It was all very terrible. Sitting in the uncomfortable wooden chair, Nan imagined where she would prefer to be. Behind the control of an airplane, sleeping in her bed, or even listening to Nella telling Nan all about the children she had spent her day with. With aspirations of becoming a School Teacher, Nella had been working in a Kindergarten where children were expected to learn through playing. Apparently the children who Nella led in that loved her. Nan had a hard time imagining that, unfortunately she had mentioned that to Charlotte and had been reminded that part of her problem was that Nan’s childhood had been so incredibly bleak, even if she’d had no idea that things should have been any different. Just playing with other children had been totally foreign to her when she had first been with her adopted family.
“Sorry to keep you waiting Miss Pfenning, or do you prefer Annett?” The Doctor, a middle-aged man with a nervous demeanor asked in an English accent as he was entering the office, “My understanding is that you speak English. If we can have this conversation in that, it would be helpful. My German is quite terrible.”
“I suppose that would be alright” Nan replied in English. She had heard how he had had mangled her name. “And just who are you?”
“How rude of me, I am Doctor Walker and for the last several years I have been at the forefront of the exciting field of Genetics” The Doctor said, with that sounding like a well-practiced sales pitch. “An endowment by your family paid for me to bring my expertise to the Charité and your Mother asked me to take a special look at your case.”
“And?” Nan asked.
“It seems that there is an intriguing mystery surrounding you” Doctor Walker answered, “You mother told me all about it. How you spent years as the prisoner of a lunatic and was orphaned at an early age. That really sounds distressing.”
Nan really wished that Charlotte had not told a total stranger about her history however incomplete the telling had been. Doctor Walker didn’t seem like he was an idiot, and it wouldn’t be too hard to connect the dots. So far, her personal privacy had mostly been respected and few people knew that she was Child Six. The more people who knew that the more likely it becoming common knowledge became.
“If you could please tell me why you asked me to come here this morning” Nan said.
“Yes” Doctor Walker replied with a smile, “The people are very direct here in Germany, right to the point.”
As she watched, Doctor Walker pulled several folders out of his desk drawer. Opening one of them, there were graphs with numbers that meant nothing to Nan.
“As best as science can tell, this is who you are Miss Pfenning” Doctor Walker said, “From a genetic standpoint, that is.”
“I see” Nan said, not wanting to admit that she didn’t really understand.
“All the little things like your height for example, or your hair and eye color are represented in these numbers” Doctor Walker said. And Nan almost got up and walked out of the office when he said that. She had heard all about her father’s journals. His twisted ideology and his understanding of a field not unlike the one that Doctor Walker was in, just baser and cruder with massive amounts of chauvinism thrown in. One of his obsessions revolved around those he regarded as pure Germans. Nan saw the result of that every time she saw her face in a reflection.
“That is a sore subject for me” Nan snapped without elaborating.
Doctor Walker just staired at her for a long moment before opening a second and third folder.
“This was from a sample saved from your biological mother’s autopsy” Doctor Walker said, “I know that this part might be difficult for you Miss Pfenning, but it is what your mother asked me to do.”
Nan looked at the graphs, just bars of numbers. Some of it was color coded, most in black and white.
“This shows that you are directly related to her, Alina Pfenning, as her daughter” Doctor Walker said, “Hardly a surprise I suppose.”
Nan just staired at the folder. The last minutes of her mother’s life were burned forever into her memory. The idea that bits of her had been kept was appalling. Yet the confirmation of their kinship meant a lot to Nan.
“This one was a bit of a surprise though” Doctor Walker said opening another folder. “It seems that the man long assumed to be your biological father is of no relation to you.”
“What?” Nan asked.
“This man, uhm…” Doctor Walker replied looking at the sheet of paper from the folder. “This says here that it was basically impossible for Heinrich Himmler to have been your father.”
Doctor Walker pointed at something on the page.
Nan knew that her face didn’t have the pinched, constipated look that that her father… Nan figured that she wouldn’t have to think of him that way ever again, and Gudrun had always seemed to have. This explained that. While Nan still had questions, knowing that she had no actual connections to those people was a relief.
29th January 1979
Mitte, Berlin
The University Clinic was not a part of the urban campus that Nan was too familiar with. Normally she spent her time in the Humanities Department where she was doing Romance Studies, something that had been incredibly useful now that she was spending a lot of time in Rome.
When Nan had been discovered as a child she had been subjected to all manner of medical tests and vaccinations, leaving her with a deep suspicion of Doctors and medicine. Her adoptive mother, Charlotte, had been after her to get a full medical checkup and the University had been perfectly happy to oblige a couple weeks earlier. So much about her was a blank slate and she had no family history to go off of. At Charlotte’s urging, the Clinic had pulled out all the stops to learn more. Now, a couple weeks later Nan had been called back in and was sitting in a Doctor’s office silently dreading what the Doctor might have to say.
It being midwinter it felt like the rooms of the hospital were either too hot or too cold and the smells… It was all very terrible. Sitting in the uncomfortable wooden chair, Nan imagined where she would prefer to be. Behind the control of an airplane, sleeping in her bed, or even listening to Nella telling Nan all about the children she had spent her day with. With aspirations of becoming a School Teacher, Nella had been working in a Kindergarten where children were expected to learn through playing. Apparently the children who Nella led in that loved her. Nan had a hard time imagining that, unfortunately she had mentioned that to Charlotte and had been reminded that part of her problem was that Nan’s childhood had been so incredibly bleak, even if she’d had no idea that things should have been any different. Just playing with other children had been totally foreign to her when she had first been with her adopted family.
“Sorry to keep you waiting Miss Pfenning, or do you prefer Annett?” The Doctor, a middle-aged man with a nervous demeanor asked in an English accent as he was entering the office, “My understanding is that you speak English. If we can have this conversation in that, it would be helpful. My German is quite terrible.”
“I suppose that would be alright” Nan replied in English. She had heard how he had had mangled her name. “And just who are you?”
“How rude of me, I am Doctor Walker and for the last several years I have been at the forefront of the exciting field of Genetics” The Doctor said, with that sounding like a well-practiced sales pitch. “An endowment by your family paid for me to bring my expertise to the Charité and your Mother asked me to take a special look at your case.”
“And?” Nan asked.
“It seems that there is an intriguing mystery surrounding you” Doctor Walker answered, “You mother told me all about it. How you spent years as the prisoner of a lunatic and was orphaned at an early age. That really sounds distressing.”
Nan really wished that Charlotte had not told a total stranger about her history however incomplete the telling had been. Doctor Walker didn’t seem like he was an idiot, and it wouldn’t be too hard to connect the dots. So far, her personal privacy had mostly been respected and few people knew that she was Child Six. The more people who knew that the more likely it becoming common knowledge became.
“If you could please tell me why you asked me to come here this morning” Nan said.
“Yes” Doctor Walker replied with a smile, “The people are very direct here in Germany, right to the point.”
As she watched, Doctor Walker pulled several folders out of his desk drawer. Opening one of them, there were graphs with numbers that meant nothing to Nan.
“As best as science can tell, this is who you are Miss Pfenning” Doctor Walker said, “From a genetic standpoint, that is.”
“I see” Nan said, not wanting to admit that she didn’t really understand.
“All the little things like your height for example, or your hair and eye color are represented in these numbers” Doctor Walker said. And Nan almost got up and walked out of the office when he said that. She had heard all about her father’s journals. His twisted ideology and his understanding of a field not unlike the one that Doctor Walker was in, just baser and cruder with massive amounts of chauvinism thrown in. One of his obsessions revolved around those he regarded as pure Germans. Nan saw the result of that every time she saw her face in a reflection.
“That is a sore subject for me” Nan snapped without elaborating.
Doctor Walker just staired at her for a long moment before opening a second and third folder.
“This was from a sample saved from your biological mother’s autopsy” Doctor Walker said, “I know that this part might be difficult for you Miss Pfenning, but it is what your mother asked me to do.”
Nan looked at the graphs, just bars of numbers. Some of it was color coded, most in black and white.
“This shows that you are directly related to her, Alina Pfenning, as her daughter” Doctor Walker said, “Hardly a surprise I suppose.”
Nan just staired at the folder. The last minutes of her mother’s life were burned forever into her memory. The idea that bits of her had been kept was appalling. Yet the confirmation of their kinship meant a lot to Nan.
“This one was a bit of a surprise though” Doctor Walker said opening another folder. “It seems that the man long assumed to be your biological father is of no relation to you.”
“What?” Nan asked.
“This man, uhm…” Doctor Walker replied looking at the sheet of paper from the folder. “This says here that it was basically impossible for Heinrich Himmler to have been your father.”
Doctor Walker pointed at something on the page.
Nan knew that her face didn’t have the pinched, constipated look that that her father… Nan figured that she wouldn’t have to think of him that way ever again, and Gudrun had always seemed to have. This explained that. While Nan still had questions, knowing that she had no actual connections to those people was a relief.
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