Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

What a mess!
I hope the pics are useful for more than just selling papers and books!
I never notices, but this timeline has now advanced past my own date of birth--WOW!
 
I just thought, have we seen Carlos Ray Norris yet?
Without US intervention in the Second World War or in the far east, he won't have been exposed to Tang So Do so may have stuck with Judo until discovering Karate in the early 60's.
It'd be interesting if he ended up in Russia or Germany learning there instead, picking up their more practical style then using that in West Coast Martial Arts tournaments.
 
Part 110, Chapter 1799
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety-Nine



5th June 1967

Washington D.C.

“Ms. Jensen is here” The Secretary said over the intercom and James debated climbing out the window.

There were many realities of being a freshman Member of Congress was that James M. Hendrix was getting used to. One of those was that he needed to be on the phone for hours every day with either people back in Washington’s 7th Congressional District or Party donors trying to get them to part with money so that he would have the influence to even began to do what his constituents wanted. Bill Stoughton, the Speaker of the House, had told him on the day that he had been sworn in what the lot of a freshman was. Without money he couldn’t get reelected, getting sent back to D.C. by the voters was how he gained influence because that was measured by how long he could keep his ass in his Congressional seat. That would be tough enough to do even if James weren’t Black. Not that James held a comment like that against Stoughton, after all the talking around that issue that he had encountered the directness of the Boston Politician had been welcome.

It was far different from when he had first gotten into politics by getting elected Class President in the Sixth Grade. It was something that had repeated itself throughout the next several years culminating in becoming the Student Body President at James A. Garfield High School and an academic scholarship to the University of Washington. He had been first member of his family to attend and graduate College. Getting creamed in his attempt to run for a seat in the Washington State Legislature hadn’t been a part of the plan. That had put him on the map though and the Party had approached him to run for the open 7th Congressional District seat. It had felt like he had been at the top of the world in November of 1966 when he had won that election. Months later, he was still grappling with the reality that he was a small fish in a very deep pond.

Into this was the fact that not only did James represent the hometown of the Kaiser’s Lobbyist in Washington, she was Alumni of UW as well, which gave her instant access to his office. He was acutely aware that Nancy Jensen was an occupational hazard for him whenever she came around every few months. The last thing he needed was for the opposition Party to get the idea that he was kowtowing to the interests of a foreign Head of State.



Halle (Saale), Anhalt

“You’ll have an interesting scar to show off to your friends” Kiki said to the little boy who had stopped blubbering and brightened to the prospect of that as soon as she pointed it out to him.

The patient had managed to deeply gash his leg open while playing outdoors after school. For Kiki, it was a simple matter of cleaning the dirt out of it and suturing it closed. Even with a local anastatic the process wasn’t a comfortable one. The problems were that the seven-year-old had been crying, his mother was panicking and not really able to control her three other children who were finding that being in the Emergency Department was an incredible place to explore. Pointing out that this would give him an “Interesting scar” worked as well as saying the same thing to the Marines who she had treated in the field in Korea. Did the Marines have the same mentality as a seven-year-old boy? Or was it the other way around? She would need to ask Doctor Holz about that the next time she saw him.

“You are good at that” The mother said when saw how Kiki had calmed the boy down.

“It’s the same as talking to Marines in Korea under the same circumstances” Kiki said, getting puzzled look in return.

Just then there was the clatter of something metallic hitting the linoleum floor and the mother was up in an instant and was loudly scolding her other children.

“I need you to sit down and be quiet so that the Doctor can do her work!” The woman yelled at them, clearly unaware of the irony in that.

“Thank you” Kiki said as she worked on tying off the suture. She didn’t bother to correct the woman about she wasn’t a Doctor yet. People got sort of odd over the nuance between Doctor and Surgical Intern, not really understanding that it wasn’t quite the same as if she were training to be a Mechanic. They saw the white lab coat and stethoscope and assumed that the person wearing it was a Doctor regardless of age. Correcting that sort of assumption was a mistake. The fact that she was an Intern was embroidered on the same lab coat with the letters M.A. before her name seemed to go unnoticed. Of course, Kiki understood that most people couldn’t be bothered to read. With that, she cut the thread and started to bandage the leg.

“He will need to come back in two weeks to get the stitches removed” Kiki said to the mother, “I am also prescribing him a course of antibiotics because of how messy it was.” Fortunately, the boy having all of his shots was in the file. Frequently when Kiki had enquired about if a patient had been vaccinated against tetanus, she had gotten a blank look in return. Kiki spent a minute finishing filling out the required paperwork.

“Thank you, Doctor…” The woman glanced at the name embroidered on Kiki’s coat. “von Preussen? Is that for real?”

“Yes” Kiki said without elaboration as she handed the woman the forms.
 
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Yep, American Rock-N-Roll is going to be so much different ITTL.

I think that Speaker of the House "Big" Bill Stoughton is gearing up for a run to the Presidency in 1968 and is relying on Rep, Hendrix to be one of his Lieutenants in his upcoming campaign as part of an outreach to minority voters, maybe Caesar Chavez is also a Congressman,,,

While Kiki is on the bottom rung of the medical ladder at the hospital Princess Kristina is Top Drawer socially and at the next formal fundraising ball, Kiki is going to have to go to it even if it scrambles the duty roster.
If she is not at the Head Table then a lot of donors will want to make large contributions to be at the same table she is and if her escort is Ben the Ramfarher all the better.
Of course Kiki is going to be discretely asked if her Father the Kaiser will attend or at least her Brother Crown Prince Frederick and His Consort Princess Suga.
 
the next formal fundraising ball

Don't take this the wrong way... but what the hell are you talking about?
She is a medic in german hospital. Our hospitals don't need fundraising balls. At least they didn't in the OTL 60s, because they were funded by the state and were funded quite well!
 
Don't take this the wrong way... but what the hell are you talking about?
She is a medic in german hospital. Our hospitals don't need fundraising balls. At least they didn't in the OTL 60s, because they were funded by the state and were funded quite well!
Sorry my ignorant American viewpoint is showing up again, I thought that even through I knew that Germany funded its hospitals better there is always something extra that is not in the budget that is wanted.
 

ferdi254

Banned
Ejpsan fundraising balls like this are a pretty USA thing. ITTL there might be more but Germany introduced a general health care insurance late in the 19th century and all hospitals are in the end state financed.

Yes I know the matter is a bit more complicated.

Got ninjaed
 
Thank you everyone for the information, my thinking was that there is something like an increase in RTAs and there is a need for more portable X-Ray machines and the bean counters at the Health Ministry say it is going to take two to three years before they can even look at the request and by that time a new government comes in and the request goes to the bottom of the pile.
Unlike my youngest brother, I do not take pride in my ignorance and I am willing to look like a fool to the world for a little while instead of remaining a fool in private forever.
 

ferdi254

Banned
Ejpsan no offence meant and none taken. Just one of the many cultural differences that exist umtil today. In Germany you do not pay to have dinner with an acting politician, you can give personal donors but charity diners did and do hardly exist.

And yes, every working German has a more or less 100% coverage by a mandatory(!) health care paid half by himself and half by his employer. If you lose you job you still have the same coverage.
 
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Generally in Europe at least all workers and it's families have public health coverage.

In my country all workers and families had it at least from 1942 even if then was a poor country. Nowadays there is universal coverage.
 
Part 110, Chapter 1800
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred



9th June 1967

Jena

Sitting in the parlor of Kiki’s house in Jena on a Friday night had turned out not to be too exciting. Especially because Kiki was tired and didn’t want to do anything. He had said that he would be fine if they just hung around and watched television, but she said that she still had obligations to attend to. That was when Ben had made the mistake of asking where Vicky was and had been rather surprised by the answer.

“She went to Munich to help her fiancé with planning their wedding” Kiki said as she was in the process of opening a tray of letters all addressed to her that had been picked up from the Post Office, picking which ones to respond to and which to discard.

“There are several problems with that” Ben replied, “Does Anna know about this?”

“The two of them are making a weekend of it” Kiki said, the tone of her voice reflecting how absurd she thought that was. “I had hoped that Vicky had managed to put aside her conventional thinking and embraced who she really is. Now she is seriously considering marrying Franz von Bayern.”

“Not everyone has your courage, Kiki.”

“Vicky said the same thing before she left” Kiki replied.

“Speaking of marriage” Ben said, “My mother asked if we are ever going to get around to it.”

Kiki groaned when Ben said that and tore open a letter with the Martin Luther University Hospital’s logo on it, before throwing it on the discard pile. He saw that it was an invitation of some kind. He picked it up to see what it was.

“One day Nadine wants me to just go away, the next she asks you that” Kiki said, “Besides, even if both of us were not still in University and living in different cities, just the logistics of me marrying anyone would be an absolute nightmare.”

“We aren’t going to be able to put her off forever” Ben said as Kiki did nothing to hide her annoyance, before looking at the engraved invitation in his hand. “Did you read this.”

“Yes” Kiki said in an exasperated tone.

“Assistenzarzt Prinzessin Kristina von Preussen zu Hohenzollern” Ben read aloud, “We cordially invite you and a guest to our celebration of Midsummer on the Twenty-Fourth of June…”

Ben stopped when he saw that Kiki was glaring at him. “Are you through?” She asked.

“It could be fun” Ben replied, “That’s two weeks from now, so we have plenty of time.”

“I am very familiar with how events like that work” Kiki said, “The Department Heads and Senior Surgeons play court, everyone beneath them in rank has to line up and kiss their well-padded derrières. Care to guess who as an Intern would have to be first in line with their lips puckered?”

“That is being rather cynical” Ben said, “Do you socialize at all outside of work? Or better yet, have you been doing anything else besides work?”

“I do plenty of other things” Kiki said indignantly.

“Taking Rauchbier out for his morning run doesn’t count” Ben replied.

Kiki muttered something under her breath and Rauchbier’s ears perked up at the mention of his name despite seeming to have been asleep on the floor by their feet.

“You have more clout at events like this than you realize” Ben said, “It says right here where they call you by your title. Princess, as in the daughter of the Emperor who donates a considerable amount of money to the various charities that are dear to them.”

“You are welcome to go if you want then” Kiki said, as she opened another letter.



Mitte, Berlin

George’s arrival in Zurich had been an epic disaster. He had found that his accounts had been emptied and the Bank Manager had not been the least bit sympathetic to him. Minutes later he had tried to call his contact in Germany and had been given the bureaucratic run around. A day later he had arrived at the offices of his contact only to learn that the individual he was looking for had never worked there. As he walked out of the building, it occurred to him that someone had been playing him for months.

That was when he got grabbed from behind and pulled into a waiting car. The people who had grabbed him refused to talk as they then hustled him out of the car and into the back entrance of a building. A man who looked to be in his sixties closed the door and locked it once they were inside. George could hear loud music playing nearby as he looked at a large stack of beer crates that dominated one end of the room. An old table with chairs around it sat in the center of the room and the two people already seated didn’t need to be introduced, Fürstin Katherine von Mischner and Juan Pujol-Garcia. A Japanese man stood to the Fürstin’s right, there was a darkness that seemed to surround him that made the hair on the back of George’s neck stand on end. If anything happened to him in this room, no one would ever hear it.

“Better you than me pal” The man who had locked the door said, revealing that he was American. The thugs who were holding George roughly placed him in a chair. He realized that by their very presence, they were telling him something.

“You ripped me off!” George yelled at them.

“Yes” Kat replied, “And no one on Earth could say that you didn’t have it coming.”

“Wait, what?” George asked. He hadn’t been expecting a straight answer to that.

“If you had gotten arrested on that Greek island you would have paid a fine and set up shop somewhere else a few weeks later” Kat said, “That didn’t seem like justice to me, so I made other arrangements to go after the only thing that you actually care about.”

George glared at her, not liking where this was leading.

“The thing that you fear above all else Herr Bush” Kat said, “Destitution and the knowledge that the people you have ripped off are closing in. Who do you think it will be? The Greeks and Turks know about your double-dealing because I told them. The Panamanians are quite angry with you over a large portion of the Warehouse District of Panama City getting blown into orbit as well. Beyond that, the line of people looking to kill you starts on the left.”

It was about then that George realized that he was completely screwed.
 
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On one hand, I wanted to see Bush get away with it, to retire and at least be one Ami who could hold his middle finger high...

On the other, meh.

If I were Ben, I'd be sucking up to Rauchbier right now. Then again, big silly doggies are what melts me like butter.
 
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