Chapter 76

When they had withdrawn, the Pope said, "Lord, it is my understanding that you will be handling the coronation personally. Is that correct?"

"It is," the Voice replied quietly. Then He chuckled and added, "There have been rehearsals in progress Up Here for weeks." Then he outlined what was in store.

When he concluded, the Pope slowly shook his head and said, "I cannot tell You how honored I feel. Just think! I will be present when the Multitudes of the Heavenly Host sing again."

Then he paused and added, "I have received a report of something similar happening in the North of England recently, and again in Los Angeles, in the United States. Were they true?"

The Voice explained how He had allowed it at the wedding of Karla and Douglas. Since it had worked so well, he had permitted the dead GIs to sing for Ali McGrath Clifford.

Then he added, "Almost all of them will be in Prague tomorrow for the coronation. I hope you will try to make it a point to see them. Ali Clifford is ... Well, she's Ali Clifford. She is one of the loveliest women in the world, and like Karla, Mary, and Ann, is also one of Marion's daughters."

After a pause, He added, "Marion, I have news for you. And I suppose it's only appropriate that I announce it in the presence of these churchmen. First, I was watching you very closely when Cara Campbell told you that she was going to get married and hoped to have more children."

He interrupted himself to tell the churchmen who Cara Campbell was and the relationship. Then he continued, "You, Marion Whitfield, were genuinely happy for her. Although I know how much you would love to give birth yourself, like all the other women it would never occur to you to ask anything for yourself.

"However, Karla's coronation changes everything. At present, Douglas is next in line to be Duke of Northumbria. But he is now Prince Douglas of Bohemia, and the Royal Consort. Karla, your first son will be the Crown Prince. Accordingly, Marion, you are fertile again. You will present children to His Grace. You will love them and spoil them, as you will your grandchildren. What do you think about that?"

Marion dove into Donald's arms and began to bawl. Then the Voice asked again, "But what do you think?"

"What do you think I think?" she demanded. "I've never been so happy in all my life!"

"But why are you crying then?"

"Because I'm so damned happy!" Then with a lopsided grin she added, "Men! You're hopeless!"

To the Pope the Voice said, "Now do you see why celibacy of the clergy is such a good idea? You don't have to cope with this sort of nonsense. And if I can't — and I can't! — what chance do mere humans have?"

Then He chuckled — shaking the room as He did — and continued, "And I certainly hope you noticed her behavior. Did you notice? She called Me hopeless! Me!"

He paused and then added, "Another woman you must meet is the pilot version of this whole effort, Henrietta Conroy. Of course, if you call her 'Henrietta' she might kill you. As it is, she gives me every kind of heck imaginable. But I tell her that her name reminds me of a nice 19^th century librarian working at one of Andy Carnegie's libraries. Then she really blows her stack. And in spite of having seven children, the oldest of whom is 27, Hank — that's the safe name to call her, by the way — still looks nineteen ... And a beautifully nubile nineteen, if I do say so myself."

Then He said, "I must be going now, but I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet you, Karol."

There was silence in the room for a few minutes and then the Pope rose to go. He took Karla's hand in one of his and Doug's in the other, then just looked deeply into their eyes. Then he said, "Absolute monarchies have ... gone out of style, should we say? Nevertheless, I could not be more overjoyed than I am at the prospects for the people of Bohemia. In you they are getting the finest ruler imaginable. And after fifty years of sacrifice and struggle, they deserve it."

Then he paused, shook his head, and continued, "Usually, after one of these meetings, I am asked for a Papal blessing. But after what I have experienced and what we have learned, such a thing would be utterly ridiculous. Instead, Karla, may I have your blessing? Please?"

With that he dropped to his knees before her as did his fellow churchmen.

Karla was nonplused. But then she said softly, "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His light to shine upon you. May He guide you and protect you for the rest of your days, until you join Him in Heaven for all eternity. We ask this, O Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son and Our Savior, Amen."

At that instant the golden light appeared over everyone. All of the visitors except for the Pope were rendered unconscious; he just looked around displaying interest but no great surprise. Karla reached for his hands and helped the elderly man to his feet.

"Aside from everything else, you're very strong, aren't you Karla?" the Pope asked kindly. Karla just grinned and shrugged. He shook his head and continued, "That's what we were seeing this morning, isn't it? You asked God to make his light shine upon your people, and He did."

At that instant Susie materialized again in front of him and said, "I suppose you really should know the score. The Boss says that with respect to a few of these young women, He must answer their prayers in the same fashion they must breathe. Enough said?" With that she vaporized again.

"Utterly incredible," the Pope murmured. "What that means is that even though you phrase a request as a prayer, it is treated as an order. Is that correct?"

Karla started to shake her head when the Voice thundered, "Karla! You know better than that. Karol, you are precisely correct — and she knows it, too, as do Ann, Mary, Marion, and a few others."

"Never before in history..." the Pope murmured. "You are an incredible young woman." Then he added, "May I stay for a while?"

He paused for a moment and then continued, "It seems like I spend my life in very formal settings — usually much more formal than this. The problem is that I never get to know anyone. May I stay for a while?" he repeated. "My colleagues will be returning to the Cardinal's residence."

Then he shook his head and added, "The cathedral isn't the only thing that was constructed last night. It seems that the Cardinal's residence was also rebuilt. The Cardinal's bed was even replaced while he was sleeping in it." Then he grinned and said, "My friends can study the layout of his residence carefully. Clearly, whatever is there now has been approved by The Highest Authority."

As the remaining churchmen recovered and then took their leave, Connie Klaus entered the room wearing a sleeveless smock made of the roughest burlap. It was very simple in design being merely a large rectangle of material with a hole cut in the center for her head. There were no sides; it was held closed by a heavy rope tied around her waist. Knowing how badly cut her body was, Karla cringed involuntarily when she saw her. She told Karla that there were visitors waiting for her in the music room.

The Pope, Doug and the two girls joined her as Paula led the way. Karla shook her head in frustration as she realized that she had a lot of work to do merely to figure out the physical layout of the palace.

Entering the room, she found the Koenig family waiting for them. They had come in response to Ann's whispered invitation. Little Karla was so happy to see the Queen again, she was literally bouncing up and down. Sweeping the little girl up in her arms, Karla kissed her lightly and just hugged her tightly. The girl was utterly ecstatic as she just wriggled in her arms to become even more comfortable.

"Now what can I do for you?" Karla asked. "Because there's something you can certainly do for me."

"What could we possibly do for you?" Carol Koenig asked. Already the meeting was taking an unexpected turn.

"We have a couple of concert grand pianos here," Karla said. "And we have it on the Highest Possible Authority that baby Karla is a wonder playing Chopsticks. Furthermore, we also learned that you and Bill are capable of helping her out. I know that Bill's hands were mangled before she was even conceived, yet I'm sure nothing would give either Karla or her father greater pleasure than to be able to play together."

Then Karla introduced the Pope, her sisters and Paula. The family was wide-eyed with wonder at meeting the Pope himself in such a casual setting. He added his request to Karla's.

"Darling," Carol said to Bill, "I guess there's not a lot we can say, is there? It seems that our daughter must perform by the command of two of the finest people alive in the world today." With that she took the child from Karla's arms and carried her to a piano bench.

Sitting down at the piano with her daughter beside her on her right, Carol lightly ran her fingers over the keyboard. "What an incredible instrument!" she exclaimed.

To Bill she said, "Darling, never in our lives have we had the chance to use a piano nearly as good as this."

It was the top concert grand from Steinway's private collection, and was only used by the world's finest pianists. The two near-identical pianos had only been delivered the day before and had been tuned by factory technicians who normally only tuned pianos for concerts and recordings by the greatest pianists alive. Bill Koenig sat on the right edge of the bench while the others took comfortable lounge chairs. While they were waiting, Connie Klaus served refreshments.

After looking at her parents, baby Karla began to play the simplest version of Chopsticks. Then she began to add variations. As she did, her mother, using the bass keys, established a rhythm while her father began to play Chopin variations on the high keys. The overall effect was truly marvelous. Moreover, it was obvious that little Karla was in Heaven on earth, sitting between her parents on the piano bench while all three played.

When they finally finished, the little girl turned to her father and said, "Daddy, I'm so happy for you! You play so beautifully ... And it's been so long..."

Bill Koenig joyously hugged his lovely little girl, kissed her and then said, "Yes, my darling daughter, it has been a very long time. But Mommy and I will do it often if you would like to. Would you?"

The little girl was so happy, words failed her. She just kissed her father and made wonderfully happy sounds.

"We have also heard it from the Supreme Authority that you two, Bill and Carol, are the finest pianists alive in the world today," The Pope said. "You, Bill, rate as possibly the finest ever to have lived. That being the case, would you two care to play a duet for us? We understand that you used to do a couple of Liszt pieces that are incredible."

Then The Pope grinned and added, "And to show you what a fine fellow I am, I'm even willing to hold your daughter on my lap while you play." With that Karol held out his arms and the little girl ran to him. He kissed her and again almost passed out.

To little Karla he asked, "What was that? It had almost the power of Queen Karla's kisses, but there was something different. What was it?"

"Maybe it was this," the little girl said, holding up her tiny teddy bear. "God gave it to me when he kissed me earlier."

At that the Pope looked deeply into the child's eyes and almost drowned. Then he began to cry as he held her tightly and said, "'Suffer the little children... ' Karla Koenig, you are the personification of love, joy, and Divine grace. Looking into your eyes is like seeing beyond the Gates of Heaven."

To the parents he said, "You have been signally blessed by Almighty God Himself. And, Carol Koenig, we also have it on His Authority that you will carry many more. I hope you don't mind?"

"Mind?" the young woman screamed. "Mind!" At that she dropped from the piano bench to the floor and thanked God for his infinite mercy.

"That's all very well and good, and you're very welcome," the Voice said, "but I'm becoming impatient. And if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm The One who gave you the big build-up. And I'm certain you won't disappoint Me."

The two pianos were overlapped with their matched cases almost touching. It left the two pianists at their respective keyboards facing each other. After a quietly whispered exchange, Carol nodded, and Bill began. What followed was truly the finest piano music the world had ever heard. Then, after playing three more pieces, Paula Wilhelm went to Bill Koenig and whispered in his ear.

He looked startled for an instant, but then smiled his agreement. He told Carol what was about to happen and she nodded her head eagerly. Leaving her piano, she joined the Pope on the sofa. Little Karla was still wrapped in his arm and was now almost asleep.

Meanwhile, Paula had opened a cabinet revealing a very complex audio control panel. At Koenig's nod, she pressed a button and returned to her own seat. From speakers around the room came the opening bars of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto.

"This is the Boston Symphony Orchestra," Paula commented.

Basically, it was the complete concerto, missing the piano part which Bill played. Karla and the Pope just sat and listened in amazement. It was truly the finest music they had ever heard. When that ended, they just sat there. Then they all congratulated Bill on his playing. The Pope asked if he was going to enter the annual Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow.

It was a new thought to Bill, but Carol eagerly nodded her head.

Then she said, "There's something else I'm going to do, though, Queen Karla. The day after tomorrow, I'm going to enter your service. Now that Bill's health has been restored, he can take care of Karla, although she really doesn't require much care..."

"But you can't!" Karla exclaimed. "You can't possibly. Do you know what you're saying?"

"Do I know that I must accept 100 lashes with a whip?" she asked. "Of course I do," she said, answering her own question. "It is the price of admission to The Sisterhood, and so it's a price I will pay happily—"

"Paula," Karla interrupted, "ask Connie Klaus to join us at once." Then to the Pope she said, "Karol, I don't think you want to see this at all. What you would see if you stayed is what a woman's body looks like after it has absorbed 75 strokes with a whip."

"I was in Poland during the War," he replied softly. "I don't think anything I might see here could shock me. But won't it embarrass Frau Klaus? She is the Prime Minister's wife, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is," Karla agreed, "but you won't embarrass her."