Chapter 16

Not expecting to find nourishment at home, I had a pleasant and sumptuous lunch along the way. Fresh crumbed trout baked to perfection and eaten in the shade of huge chestnut trees, a couple of glasses of tart white wine, no dessert. Gluttony wasn't on my mind.

Kamilla was right, we had to bring Karla back by concentrating on the simple things. If the weather held up, Alfred should take her on walks through the fields and forests in the mornings. Let her decide when to talk and when to remain silent. For the afternoon healing sessions, Elise could join them if necessary, I would have to provide my own entertainment.

As so often before, Alfred was ahead of me. When I turned into the narrow lane leading to our hostelry, I saw him, off in the distance, strolling with Karla and Elise. They all looked casual enough to be left well alone. Drowsy from good food and wine and depressed by what I heard, I decided I had earned an early-afternoon snooze.

"Berthold, why didn't you join us? You must have seen us when you came home. Karla is upset. She thinks you are avoiding her."

Elise has never been subtle when it was time to wake me. So I told her of my visit, what I found out about the happy family and pondered with her how we should proceed.

"You can consult with Alfred on that. He is quite pleased with his progress. And rightly so, since in this first session he gave her a complete physical. I was with them all the time. Karla is now as healthy as you and I. Your misgivings about her breasts were justified. He had her take a full bath in the no. 3 water and guided her through the cure very gently. Thank God, she did not have to suffer as much as we had. Your initial ministrations had taken care of almost everything and the pain in her breasts was not severe. If, as the protocols indicated, it was cancer, he caught it in the earliest stage with no further harm done yet.

"You know that I am against your free use of all that Heavy Matter power. But with Karla I think it is right. Of course I don't know how far Alfred tunes into her mind. His manners with her are always light and easy. The one moment he might ask her a serious question, trying to find some inroad to a problem, only to joke with her about her dialect in the next, telling her his imperative: a physician should be able to understand his patient. And she goes along, teases him when he misuses a word or mangles a phrase, laughs with him. I even heard her, albeit a little wistful, laugh about herself, and Helmut, at times. And he took her mind off her cure-induced arousal. So, yes, Alfred is doing very well indeed."

She also told me that he refers to me a lot. Whenever Karla mentions something I did with her during the first healing, he is quick to point out that it was the proper thing to do, building up her confidence, eliminating pains, worries and embarrassment on the go.

"But her religious views are a convoluted mess. Alfred is wary of going there on his own. He would rather that you discuss this with her. We are invited for supper tonight. Any serious talks we shall defer to daytime. Let Alfred be our guide."

We went down to the pub for a drink and told our host that we would eat out later on. Quite disappointed she was and mentioned that she had some prime roast beef to offer, young potatoes and fresh sauerkraut. What about it, would we change our mind?

I had to decline for us but told her to save the kraut for the next day, since it tasted much better after reheating in any case.

"Oh, we are not allowed to serve leftovers at all, even though I agree with you. The Gastronomy Board would be all over us with nasty reprimands and nastier fines. We are not even allowed to feed it to the hogs. We may eat it off premises, though. This makes us into some second-class kind of people, don't you think?"

Elise told her with a smile that she would have to adopt us into her family. "We shall then happily eat all leftovers together with you. And drink good riddance to silly Boards and their hordes of dehydrated pencil pushers."

Chuckling, the young woman turned to get us a refill.

Our supper was, at first, a rather genial affair. We avoided any topic which could be relevant to Karla's issues, had a glass of wine on the verandah, enjoying the mild evening, when she asked me how I had spent my day. Feeling that I should be on safe grounds, I gave Karla Kamilla's regards and mentioned that I found her to be a very decent person, and quite astute too. Her reaction surprised me.

"How can one set of parents have children as dissimilar as her and my father? She is everything he isn't. She always cared for me, listened with endless patience and told me all those things a girl wants to know. With my parents it was severe punishment for even the slightest infringement of their strict rules. Rules which most often made no sense at all. God this and that, here and there. They twisted Him into the most grotesque identity possible. How can anyone, as daft as they are, be arrogant enough to presume to know what God wants? Damn, they apparently made up rules even He had to stick to.

"Alfred, I know it is wrong to hate. We agreed on that. But what should I feel towards someone who twists everything out of shape, who spouts hate instead of love, endless punishment instead of encouragement or even just care?" She broke down after that last condemnation, sobbing fitfully, her despair tangible.

"Karla, I have no answer for you, I am battling my own ghouls in that respect. Berthold is the one who has thought the most about this. Perhaps he will be able to show you a way. You're healthy now. Unless you should cut a finger while peeling potatoes, you don't really need me any longer. Why don't you take your time with Berthold tomorrow? A long walk without any agenda. Talk about things as they come into your mind."