Chapter 135: All Alone in Ulm

When the four new comers to Ulm, Germany, stepped out of their hotel on the banks of the Danube River they had no idea where they were going and they had no idea what to expect. They had not had any time to study this German town before leaving home or to prepare any sort of itinerary because they knew they were not really here as proper tourists. They were here to see Carrie Pearson and her family and all else was secondary to that. They were going up to see the girl at the cancer clinic after lunch and they all knew full well that such a visit may indeed be the last time they ever saw her again if the doctors were unsuccessful in treating her condition ... a condition that was failing more rapidly with each passing day. That knowledge and the uncertainty surrounding the survival prospects of the baby she was carrying put a rather subdued mood over this little group. Also, not helping that mood in anyway was Jessie Harper’s mood now that she knew who the father of that baby was.

Jessie knew quite well that her feelings in this matter were somewhat unreasonable but that did not stop here from feeling them all the same. Knowing that Bjorn was the father of a child that she was not the mother of somehow upset her very deeply inside. Her attempts to hold those emotions in check were not very successful with poor Bjorn bearing the brunt of it. Bjorn did try to understand but it was still making him feel rather miserable himself all the same. He left that hotel a few paces behind the others and stayed that way as they wandered the fascinating little streets of down town Ulm.

Bryce and Glenda could sense the tension between Jessie and Bjorn but had no real idea on how to solve the problem. Jessie had told her mother what Bjorn had told her as soon as her mother was awake and her mother had told Bryce. Everyone was now up to speed on things but none of that was helpful in dissolving the tension. Glenda and Bryce just thought it best to keep out of it and let these two kids sort their relationship out themselves. On that basis Bjorn was left to quietly follow on behind as Jessie held her mother’s arm on one side and Bryce held the other arm on the other side. They wandered about like this for about an hour until something in a shop window caught Jessie’s eye then everything fell apart again leaving Bjorn all alone in the central business and shopping district of Ulm.

What had caught Jessie’s eye was a shop sign that simply read ... BABYKLEIDUNG (Baby Clothes). Jessie walked up to that window and stared in at all the baby clothes and all the other associated paraphernalia on display. There were little dresses, and jumpsuits, and tiny shoes, and boxes of diapers, ‘zu günstigen preisen’ (at bargain prices), and all manner of babies’ toys from plastic rattles to some very complex learning centers... ‘to stimulate your child’s brain’ in all sorts of creative ways. Jessie Harper pressed her face up hard against that window with her mother drawing up alongside to have a look as well. Bryce had a quick look then wandered along to the next shop which was selling water filters ... not very exciting but more interesting to him than baby stuff. Bjorn Erikson also did exactly the same thing with both men quietly waiting for the women folk to be ready to move on ... but that never happened.