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Gisela's Stories

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So.... A lot of stuff happened in this little thread, and I realised that - no matter how carefully I select my characters names (and in this story I really do...), I sometimes make mistakes with the spelling... So... Let me start again from the beginning of Chapter 2 and take the little party on a bit further... Every little detail will matter, I promise you!
 
Chapter 2​


Light pouring from the windows, across the quiet, summer street. Inside Kurt moved quickly from room to room, checking and correcting.

“The glasses, make sure you fill them as soon as the first guests arrive, clear?”

Adjusting the pictures framed in sliver on the Steinway. Running his fingers through his hair.

“How is the food? Don’t overheat it. Bring enough out each time, I don’t want the guests waiting”

The staff, some permanent, some hired for the night, nodded affirmations. In the kitchen the young maid dropped a tray, the tin ringing and clattering on the tiled floor. He ran to see. Be careful!

Gisela before her mirror. Combing and pinning her hair. Easing the curls behind her ears, twisting and holding. Letting go and sighing. Trying again.

“Kurt! Kurty! Come and help me! I need you up here!”

The smile reflecting into his eyes, his hands on her bare shoulders. She could smell his face next to her own. Touching.

Knotting his tie, pinning the tiny badge into the silk lapel of his dinner suit, smoothing the cream waistcoat. Leading her by the hand, a finger lightly on the tender edge of her lip. Two deep breaths echoed their steps on the polished floor, a gloved hand resting on the balustrade.

The sound of cars arriving and heels over gravel as the night gave to the warmth of yellow light and panelled walls, scented with jasmine and the sound of quiet music.

Introductions and chatter; admiring comments. What taste! The latest looks! How gorgeous! Glasses clinking, groups meeting and parting, drifting beneath the great trees by the Gera. A whispered butler’s message presaged a straightened jacket and clicking salutes.

“Sir, I am grateful that you could come, may I introduce…”

“Ah, so you must be the beautiful Gisela… I have heard so much about you. And indeed you are quite, quite delectable my dear…”

She smiled, offering her hand as he bowed, the tiniest wrinkling of her nose as the bald head descended, sensing eyes seeking out her décolletage.

“Fritz Sauckel. Delighted, my dear. And Kurt, what a splendid place! Well done, well done!”

Stepping through the parting crowd to stand between the piano and the stone bulk of the fireplace.

“And what a fine portrait! Where did you find this Kurt?”

“From Berlin Sir, a special order”

“Good, good. Very fine. Very fine indeed. Our Führer looks well. A good frame. Very fine”

A nod, and the music changed. Uniforms and suits straightened, heels clicked to attention. The words swelling in volume, the nostrils of the women, glasses in trembling hands, dilating as mouths strained wide. The candles on the mantle flaming bright, their smoke rising in still, silent columns into the humid air :

Die Fahne hoch die Reihen fest geschlossen
S. A. marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt
Kam'raden die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen
Marschier'n im Geist in unsern Reihen mit

Die Strasse frei den braunen Batallionen
Die Strasse frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann
Es schau'n auf's Hackenkreuz voll Hoffung schon Millionen
Der Tag fur Freiheit und fur Brot bricht an

Zum letzen Mal wird nun Appell geblasen
Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit
Bald flattern Hitler-fahnen Uber allen Strassen
Die Knechtschaft dauert nur mehr kurze Zeit

Die Fahne hoch die Reihen fest geschlossen
S. A. marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt
Kam'raden die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen
Marschier'n im Geist in unsern Reihen mit!

Glasses clinked. The waitresses in their tight black skirts and crisp blouses carried around trays of hors d’ouevres. The chatter filled the spacious rooms, spilling over to the garden. Laugher, becoming sometimes raucous. A few uniformed guests settling on the bench by the Gera with their cigars.

“Now now now!” The Gauleiter clapped his hands, bring a sudden silence to the main room.

“I would like to thank our hosts, my dear friend and colleague Kurt Eiswogel, Dr. Eiswogel I should say, and most particularly his beautiful, lovely wife, Gisela. Gisela, it is a delight to meet you”

Glasses were raised in a toast.

“And of course, at a house warming like this - and what a lovely house it is! - it would be appropriate to honour our hosts with a small gift...” A click of his fingers...

The double-doors opened and two uniformed officers entered carrying a small box by a handle.

“My dear Gisela - for you!”

The box was opened and suddenly the order was turned, instantaneously, to disorder by the yapping of the sweetest little puppy, bounding and darting from one person to another.

“So, Gisela my dear, what do you say? What will you call her?”

Gisela blushed deeply.

“Thank...thank you Sir. I... I don’t quite know what to say.... He’s .... well she is very dear. I think I shall call her...” her finger raised to her lips in a thoughtful pause.... “I think I shall call her Venus, she’s bringing a spark of light into our home, like the morning star. Yes, Venus! Is that a good name?”

“Darling, that is a very very good name. Well chosen! Everyone, join with me! Welcome to our new home! And welcome Venus to our little family! Herr Gauleiter, thank you so much for everything!”

“Ladies, gentlemen - let us toast! First of all “New beginnings”” With a cheer, glasses were raised.

“Now, “welcome Venus - the bringer of the new dawn - for that new dawn is surely with us!”

A chorus of “Venus”!

“And now our Third Reich, “The Führer!””

And with a resounding cheer glasses touched once again and faces reddened by perhaps too many sips of the sweet champagne smiled the one to the other.

“Now, dear Gisela, we have heard so much about your wonderful singing from Karl. Will you give us a song?

“Oh, Herr Gauleiter, you do flatter me too much tonight, but yes, I think I can do that. Karl, will you play? You know the one, yes?”

They moved to the Steinway, he settling onto the bench, she angling herself into the curve of the piano.

“I think you all know this song. It really is one of my favourites... Well, Mimi sings it better, but, well... here goes... It’s called "Zwischen Traum und Wirklichkeit"...I hope, ghmmm, I hope you like it...”
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Eulalia said:
I don't suppose he was directly involved,
but the influence of another great film-maker is obvious
in those wide, panning battle-shots on the snow -
Sergei Eisenstein!

Click to expand...
The Battle on the Ice (Russian: Ледовое побоище, Ledovoye poboish'ye; German: Schlacht auf dem Eise; Estonian: Jäälahing; Latvian: Ledus kauja), also known as the Battle of Lake Peipus (German: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee; Russian: битва на Чудском озере, bitva na Chudskom ozere), was a battle between the Republic of Novgorod and the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights (whose army consisted mostly of Estonians) on April 5, 1242, at Lake Peipus. The battle is notable for having been fought largely on the frozen lake.

The battle was a significant defeat sustained by Roman Catholic crusaders during the Northern Crusades, which were directed against pagans and Eastern Orthodox Christians rather than Muslims in the Holy Land. The crusaders' defeat in the battle marked the end of their campaigns against the Orthodox Novgorod Republic and other Russian territories for the next century.
 
So..... coming momentarily.... and this is just to break up my messed-up thread... the end of Chapter Two... I hope you like it... it is very very short, but ho hum, like these things, it didn't come with the rest of the chapter... pffff
 
Of course they did. The gentle applause sounded in the warm summer air, the sound trickling into the green of the garden and echoing back appreciation.

“Kurt… You have an angel on your hands… be careful… I…I am so sorry you cannot have children…. If you could, well…. But…. But you are….You…. Kurt, you know I…how much I value you. Look after her Kurt. And be careful. She is a sensitive, beautiful… sensitive girl… Do you understand me Kurt”?

He nodded, as his wife enjoyed the embraces of her friends, and of her husband’s friends…. Touching cheeks, full of fun… loving the moment… Here, in this lovely villa, with her lover, her … lover.
 
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