Ch. 2 - pt. 2 - Gretchen & Friedrich
Julianna
Julianna rested a hand against her swollen belly as she sat down for a moment to rest in her new kitchen. She was four months pregnant and today was her thirtieth birthday. She didn’t expect Friedrich home until sometime that night - he was working late at the Institute again - but still she couldn’t help wishing he could be there. There was something vital she need to ask him - no tell him - about.
She smiled as she looked at the daisies on the table that he’d given her this morning. She’d arranged them herself in a crystal vase that had belonged to her grandmother. She knew he felt guilty that he couldn’t be there with her on her birthday. But his job was important to him, she understood that.
She smiled as she recalled this morning when she had lovingly sewn back on the button that had fallen off his jacket and handed him his freshly ironed shirt as he raced around the house frantically searching for his hat - which was of course on his head. She was amused at how flustered he got whenever someone important was coming to the Institute.
“Excuse me fraulein,” the servant girl said, interrupting her thoughts, “Will you be taking your tea in here?”
“No, no, Gertrude, in the sitting room,” she told her.
“Excuse me,” the girl said again, hesitantly, “Have you talked to him about…”
Julianna shook her head, “No, not yet”.
Settling into her favorite rose colored sofa, she glanced at her wedding photograph. Friedrich looked so striking in his uniform - even then. It was the first thing that had attracted her to him. The second of course being his startlingly pale blue eyes. He’d only gotten more handsome since the picture was taken. Of course his light brown hair was now graying at the temples, and there were lines by his eyes. But that only made her adore him more. Friedrich was the only man she had ever loved.
She thought about the child growing inside her. ‘I hope you will be a boy’ she said out loud. Although her husband said he didn’t care about that - after loosing four babies he was just grateful they had Anna. Still, she thought every man should have a son.
A son, she smiled to herself, remembering the beautiful little boy she’d met this morning; Erich; six years old, but so polite. And he spoke perfect German - surprising for a Pole. She could see his little cherub face and blond hair like her own. What would Friedrich say when she told him about her epiphany?
Oh he wouldn’t refuse her the boy - she was sure of it. She even had the details worked out. With his mother sent off to the camps and no one to take care of him - he would just be sent to a camp himself eventually. What a waste that would be. They would take the train to Munich tomorrow to visit her family. Then she would return with the boy, saying he was her nephew. She would say that her sister was ill and they were taking in the boy. Then they could raise him as their own, as a perfect German boy.
What would Friedrich think of her plan? Oh at first he might think that the pregnancy had caused her to lose her mind. But when he saw in her eyes how much she already loved the little boy - how could he say no?
Of course she could never explain to him that saving this boy was part of a deal she’d made with God.
Julianna wasn’t completely naïve about what went on in the camps. She had some idea of what was done with boys like Erich. She knew that his own mother was most certainly dead already. And she knew the instant she’d looked into the child’s eyes, what it was God wanted her to do.
She would save this boy in exchange for the life of her own son. She would not loose this one. God had promised.
Friedrich
He sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache coming on. Did his wife have any idea what she was asking of him?
"I understand that you want a son," he said, trying to be patient, "We can have our own son. Maybe this one will be a boy. Why not wait and see what happens. No need to be..."
"Crazy? Is that what you were going to say?" - he could tell she was mad.
"No, of course not," he sighed, "This is just an impulse. If you actually took the time to think it through..."
"I HAVE taken the time Friedrich," she insisted, "I have thought of nothing else all day. I am sure about this."
"Do you understand what this would mean? What the other officers would say?"
"Does it really matter what anyone else thinks?" she asked.
Friedrich stood and began pacing the room. Does it matter? He thought, of course it mattered! Why couldn't she understand that if they took in this boy - a Pole - and possibly a Jew for all he knew - that he could come under suspicion from his superiors? No one was above suspicion these days.
"I'm sorry Julie," he said, trying to be kind, "I know this is important to you, but it just can't be done."
"Maybe if you met him..." she started.
He sat down in his chair by the window and sighed. Why was she doing this to him today of all days? "Julie if you knew the kind of day I have had..."
"Then tell me!" she begged, kneeling on the floor in front of him so he had no choice but to look her in the face, "Tell me what you do each day so I can understand what is hurting you so."
"You know how it works," he said, "There are always going to be things that I won't be able to tell you."
He shook his head trying to imagine telling his wife about his day 'well honey, I shot and killed two teenage girls today, just a regular day for me' One girl - he reminded himself - I only killed one of them. But that wasn't much comfort. Something had to be done about Gustav.
"Honey, what is it?" Julianna asked concerned.
"Nothing, nothing," he said, brushing her off.
"Why do you have to shut me out?" she asked, "I can see that something is tearing you up inside, I just want to help you!"
He looked down at her and was surprised to see the tears in her big blue eyes.
"You DO help me,” he assured her, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her forehead, "You help me just by being you."
"No I don’t," she said, pushing away from him and crying harder.
"Don't you think I notice that you have changed?" she asked, "It's like you have become cold and dead inside and it scares me".
"It scares me too," he said softly.
He looked at his pregnant wife - sitting on the floor - face red from crying - tears spilling down - and he tried as hard as he could to feel something. He knew there was a time when seeing her like this would've brought him to tears himself. He knew that it should feel like a knife to the heart to know that she was this upset over him. But it didn't. He felt surprisingly fine. Tired, annoyed, angry - yes - but not much else.
Of course he knew that he should care, and that he couldn't just leave her like this without some kind of comfort. What he really longed for was to just get up, go to bed and get a good night sleep. Somehow he suspected that wouldn't go over well.
Instead he sat on the floor next to his wife and pulled her into his arms. She rested her head against his chest and cried.
"I'm sorry honey," he said, "I didn't mean to get you so upset"
He looked again at her tear stained-face - how could he ever deny her anything?
"If you really want this boy, Julianna," he said, "of course we will take him"
Julianna
She paced back and forth nervously on the train platform. Where was Gertrude? Her train left for Munich in fifteen minutes. The only way this would work is if the boy was passed off quickly during the train ride. She pulled off her new leather gloves and rubbed the fur trim against her face. They were a birthday gift from her husband. She inhaled deeply - they smelled wonderful; reminding her of Friedrich. She hadn’t needed another present; the boy was her birthday present. Where was he?
“Fraulien! I’m so sorry, we had a bit of trouble getting here,” Gertrude cried running up to her, her auburn hair spilling out of her bun, as she dragged the boy in tow.
Julianna could hardly breathe, this was not the plan; Gertrude wasn’t supposed to talk to her! She noticed the porter looking up at them.
“It’s good that you didn’t miss the train, “ she said carefully, “Now the porter is over there I’m sure he can of assistance to you”.
“Ma’am?” the woman asked, confused.
“Gertrude we can’t be seen talking,” she said quietly, “on the train. Not now”.
“Oh…alright ma’am,” Gertrude said taking the boy towards where the porter was standing. She handed him their tickets and boarded the train.
Julianna had to force herself to avert her gaze from the boy. From his wide-eyed stare as her looked up at her. It had taken everything she had not to just throw her arms around the boy and hug him.
Later, she told herself, there will be plenty of time for that later.
“Mommy?” a small voice said from beside her.
She had almost forgotten about her daughter, she shook her head and laughed, what kind of mother am I.
“Yes Anna?” she asked, lifting the her from the nanny’s arms and hoisting her onto her own hip. She was like a feather; a small wisp of a thing. Three years old with long blond hair held back in a headband.
“Mommy?” Anna said, “When am I going to meet my new brother?”
“Soon honey,” Julianna whispered, hugging her daughter tight.
“How did he get out?” Anna asked.
“Out of where?” Julianna asked, distracted for a moment as she noticed the Porter was helping the last of the passengers onto the train - they had better board now.
“Out of your belly,” Anna said, “You said he was in your belly now you said my brother is on the train. How did he get there?”
Julianna laughed, “No, no, honey, this is another brother - you will have two brothers now - one is still in my belly and the other one will be older than you. He is on the train right now.”
They followed the porter as he carried their bags onto the train and to their compartment.
After the nanny had settled Anna down for a nap, she left Julianna alone in her compartment.
She still couldn’t believe this was actually happening - and that Friedrich had actually agreed to it. It was because he loved her too much to say no, she knew, but in time he would learn to love the boy as she did.
She remembered when she was nineteen and had lost their first son. Friedrich had cried so hard then. The doctors had said that she would probably never be able to carry a child to term - that it was dangerous for her to even try. But what did doctors know?
She miscarried again the following year; and had almost hemorrhaged to death herself. That had torn Friedrich up - the thought of losing her. He seemed to stop caring about having children after that.
Could that be when he changed? Maybe the thought of loving a child and losing it had made him close off his heart? It hurt her to see how he seemed to avoid all contact with Anna. It was as though he didn’t want to risk loving her. He hadn’t even come to see her in the hospital when she was born. This miracle child - which the doctors had told her she could never have. He had been away at war. He couldn’t even tell her where he was. It had been two weeks before he came home to meet his daughter.
And this baby she was pregnant with now. Friedrich seemed to be trying his hardest not to mention it or to make any plans for the future. He was always claiming things were busy with the Institute and they would talk tomorrow. It was as if he was already resigned to losing this one too. True, she had lost the son last year, but this time things felt different. She was sure this one would be okay. And if that was the problem - that he was afraid to make any plans because he thought she would miscarry again and he would have to grieve - she wished he would just tell her that so they could talk about their fears together, the way they used to. She wasn’t angry with him for these things - just terribly sad.
She was brought back to the present by a knock at her compartment door. Thinking it was the nanny again she called “it’s open, come in!”
The door slowly pulled open and standing there was the boy - all alone - staring at her with those big blue eyes.
“She said I should come in here,” he said, shyly in German.
“Yes, yes, come in Erich, shut the door,”
Julianna hadn’t expected him so soon, and all alone. Suddenly she didn’t know what to say to the boy.
“How do you like the train ride so far?” she asked.
The boy shrugged his small shoulders.
“My name isn’t really Erich,” he said.
Her heart filled with love for him, “Yes, I know dear, but Erich sounds more German. Is it okay with you if I call you Erich?”
The boy nodded.
“Do you know why you’re here?” she asked him.
He nodded again, “You’re going to be my mama now,” he said.
Her eyes filled with tears, “Yes, if that’s okay with you. I would LOVE to be your mother.”
“Ok,” he said, simply, “will we live on the train?”
“No,” she said, “We are just taking it to Munich to see my own mother - your new grandma. And then we will take the train back here again and you can meet your new Daddy.”
“Ok Mommy,” the boy said, climbing up beside her and hugging her.
Julianna hugged him tight and cried, “Oh Erich that makes me so happy when you call me that.”
Friedrich
Friedrich walked into the empty office wondering where the hell Gustav was. He heard a whimpering sound from the storage closet, opened the door and flicked on the light switch.
He was sickened to see the man on top of some pathetic little creature he could only assume was female. Friedrich didn’t want to look at her - she was crying and bleeding from her mouth. Her head was shaved - just blonde fuzz sticking up every which way.
She was painfully thin and malnourished. This was exactly why he hated working in the camps. He was angry at Gustav for forcing him to come down here and search for him.
His first impulse was to just back out of the room and get as far away from here as possible. But she kept looking at him - pleading with him silently with those big blue eyes. The more he thought about it the angrier he was. Gustav didn’t even have the decency to stop raping the girl when he must know Friedrich was in the room.
He remembered entertaining this bastard in his own home at over the holidays. He remembered how shocked and disturbed he had been to come home and find out his wife had invited this asshole to Christmas dinner.
‘I don’t want that man in my home!’ he had yelled.
‘But you work together,’ she had said confused, “It seemed rude not to invite him for dinner.”
Oh he had been so smug, and full of false charm, goading Friedrich by shamelessly flirting with Julianna in front of him. He supposed some women must find the man attractive with his blonde crew cut, blue eyes and big smile, but Friedrich didn’t understand why everyone couldn’t see through his facade to the ruthless beast inside. It made his skin crawl to think of the man lifting Anna onto his lap during desert. And it had taken every ounce of self control he had not to deck the man when Gustav had kissed Julianna on the cheek goodbye.
Just the thought of this man touching his wife with the same hands that were now around this poor girl’s throat made him shake with rage. Friedrich was surprised to find that he was holding his pistol in his hands, his finger already on the trigger. Before he could think about what he was doing - the gun was pressed against Gustav’s head.
The sound of the shot startled him back to reality. There would definitely be hell to pay for this. He looked around at the sight of the blood spattered all around the room - and all over the girl - who was frantically trying to push away from the body. She sat up, pulling her shirt closed and looked at him - surprisingly calm, considering what just happened and said “Thank you.”
Friedrich nodded. He hadn’t done it for her, necessarily. This had been a long time coming. His mind raced to come up with a way out of this. He didn’t even want to think about what the consequences of killing someone like Gustav would be. He could already hear people in the hall asking what had happened.
Switch the guns! He thought, brilliantly. Quickly he reached over the body and took Gustav’s gun, putting it in his own holster. After removing the rest of the bullets from his own gun he placed it on the floor near the girl.
She was still staring at him - as though she recognized him.
“Is she dead?” she asked.
He glanced at the body, thinking at first he had misheard her. “Who?” he asked.
“Gretchen,” she said, as though the name should mean something to him.
“I have no idea who that is,” he said, honestly.
“Gretchen,” she repeated, “My girlfriend...remember? I know you shot her.”
He looked at the black triangle on her arm band - that was right - the lesbians.
He was slightly shocked by the drastic change in her appearance. He would never have recognized her.
“No, no” he said, not able to look her in the eye, “She’s at another camp, she’s fine.”
“I don’t believe you,” she sobbed like some kind of broken creature.
She was like a family dog, he thought - all mangy, thin and sickly - that by all rights should be taken out back and put out of its misery - but no one had yet brought themselves to do it.
He would speak to one of the guards on the way out. Have her sent to the ovens the next chance they got. No use prolonging her agony.
Gretchen
I thought about this man - the one who killed me. What hurt me the most was not that I was dead. It wasn’t even the thought that I would never see Anika again.
No, what hurt me the most was the realization that my life had meant less than nothing to this man.
To me, he was perhaps the single most important person in my short life - he was the one who ended it. But to him I meant nothing. He didn’t even remember my name. I was just one of hundreds he had killed. Not the first, not the last, certainly not the most significant. Shooting me in the back of the head had been a day’s work to him. He had not lost a moment’s sleep over it.
I know in the Afterlife we are supposed to forgive all past hurts and let go of all Earthly concerns - step into the light and all that. But that’s not how it was for me - I was fucking angry!
I stayed by Anika’s side every last painful second until she died. She couldn’t see me or hear me - believe me I tried to get through to her. She died thinking that God had abandoned her. It broke my heart that she couldn’t see the hundreds of Angels surrounding her.
They took her straight to the light - but not me. I refused to go.
Not yet, I told them.
I wanted my revenge.
So I stayed with the man; haunted him day and night; watched him with his wife and the two kids. I had already given my curse; I was just waiting for it to play out.
You will suffer, I would whisper in his ear when I was angry, there is no way out of it.
Other times I would cry and wail hysterically ‘My name is Gretchen! Why won’t you remember me!’ or else ‘Why! Why did you kill me? Why did you hate me so much?’
The man would jump up in bed, startled from a nightmare. The wife would wake and hold him in her arms, trying to get him to sleep. Seeing their tenderness was like a wound to my heart that would never heal. I began to wonder which one of us was really damned - him or I.
I stayed as close to him as a shadow and watched my curse unfold. Then one day I felt soft arms wrap around me like rays of sunlight. I turned and looked into my Anika’s eyes. She was so full of light that I thought she was an angel.
“It’s time to go,” she said gently.
“I don’t want to,” I said, but she insisted.
“It’s time.”
“To the Light?” I asked.
She shook her head sadly, “it’s too late for that.”
“Then what?” I asked.
“Back there,” she nodded towards the world I had been watching.
“To be reborn?” I asked, hopefully “With you?”
“To be reborn, yes,” she told me, “But not with me - I have my own path to follow.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“To Los Angeles, in America,” she giggled, “I’m going to be born a man, so I can love women without any fear of what people think.”
“Then I will be born in Los Angels too!” I vowed, “I will be a girl and we can be together.”
“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy this time,” she told me, sadly, “Life will be very hard for you because of the choices you made, but you will have your wish come true.”
“I’ll get to shoot this Nazi pig in the head?” I asked excitedly.
“No,” Anika laughed, “Not THAT wish! He will live to regret all the evil he has done. He will cry and sob and wish he could take it all back. He will remember you before he dies, I can promise you that.”
“Then where do I sign up,” I laughed, “I am ready to be born.”
Friedrich
He refilled his drink, hoping it would help him get through another of Goebbels rambling lectures. He had tuned the man out hours ago. Friedrich wondered why they were forced to attend these inane Christmas parties.
He looked across the room and caught sight of his wife. She smiled and waved to him. He wished that he could just walk away from this imbecile and join her. Julianna was a hundred times more intelligent and interesting than the Propaganda Minister could ever be.
Goebbels noticed him looking at Julianna, “So when is the baby due? Any day now?” he asked.
“Six weeks” Friedrich replied.
“I heard about that boy you’ve got living with you now…your nephew. How is that working out?”
“Erich, yes…my wife’s sister isn’t doing well so we are looking after the boy,” Friedrich recited the well rehearsed lie, “A good boy - no trouble at all”.
At least that much was true. The boy had been intimidated by him at first and hadn’t said a word for days. But he had opened up a lot after the first month. Julianna wanted to get him a puppy for Christmas. Friedrich had said no at first - but now he was thinking ‘what the hell, why not’ he himself had had a dog as a child.
“Your wife is looking very attractive tonight,” Goebbels was saying, staring quite obviously at her cleavage.
Friedrich had to admit that even eight months pregnant, his wife looked absolutely stunning in her sparking red evening gown. She was wearing her long golden hair down tonight and was twisting it around her fingers - a sign, he knew, that she was as bored with her conversation as he was.
Friedrich was about to just walk over to her, when Goebbels put a hand on his back guiding him away from the room towards the patio doors.
“What do you say we step out side and get some fresh air,” the little man was saying.
Friedrich knew this would only be more talk of the “final solution” and the man praising himself for personally supervising the deportation of Jews from Berlin. Friedrich had heard all of this before.
“I wanted to talk to you in person about that terrible incident,” Goebbels said, “Such a shame - what happened to Gustav.”
Oh no, I should’ve known this was coming, Friedrich thought, trying to remain calm.
“Magda’s beside herself about it of course,” Goebbels was saying.
Friedrich didn’t trust him self to speak so he simply nodded and looked away. Through the window he could see Julianna looking around the room for him. She turned away from him and walked out of sight.
“So,” Goebbels said, leaning in closer, “What I really need from you now is to hear the story in your own words…you were there right? I mean what I can’t figure out is how did that girl ever manage to get his gun away from him? I mean it just doesn’t make any sense…”
Friedrich pulled nervously at the collar of his shirt. He felt ridiculously hot considering how cold it was out tonight. Did he actually have to go over all this again?
Suddenly Goebbels’ voice was drowned out by an earth-shaking drone. Friedrich felt his heart leap - understanding what it meant, in the same instant the aircraft appeared over head. Reflexively the two of them hit the ground and covered their heads. The sound of the explosion was painfully loud.
Run - get out of here! Friedrich thought - and the next second - Julie! No!
He looked toward the building - through the doors he saw nothing but fire and heard screaming. He knew he couldn’t get in that way. He would have to go around the building to the front door and make his way down to her.
“The Soviets!” Goebbels was yelling, “The nerve of them to try something like this! Hitler must hear of this immediately!”
Friedrich had only one thought on his mind - finding his pregnant wife and getting her out of there before it was too late. He took off running through the snow, around the side of the Institute.
He pulled frantically at the handle of the front door. It was locked of course. He had to calm down and think clearly.
His keys! Where were they? He felt in his pockets and found the keys where they always were. For some reason he couldn’t seem to fit them into the lock. Perhaps they were the wrong keys? Had his jacket been switched with someone else’s?
His hands were shaking so badly that the keys fell and clattered against the ground. He took a deep breath to calm himself and then picked them up.
He located the correct key and opened the door. It was completely dark inside except for yellow emergency lights. An alarm was blaring. He hurried down the corridor towards the backstairs.
As soon as he opened the door to the stairwell, thick black smoke came pouring out, choking him. Nevertheless he tried to rush down the stairs holding the sleeve of his jacket over his mouth. About halfway down he collapsed with a hacking cough.
This would never work - he would have to try the other stairs.
Where were they? He wondered as he rushed upstairs again. He had gone two flights before he realized that he was going up too many floors. He was becoming disoriented.
How would he ever find Julianna if he didn’t even know where he was going? Julianna! He began to sob at the thought of her.
He had to get out of this stairwell. He pushed open the door to the second floor - and took grateful gulps of fresh air. He raced down the hallway to the other staircase.
He leaped down those stairs - tripping and falling twice. He made it all the way to the bottom floor only to find the door locked.
NO! He yelled, pounding on the steal.
Suddenly the door flew open, almost knocking him off his feet. And people pushed their way out - screaming and coughing - black with soot and debris. Friedrich was pushed flat against the wall by the crowd. He could see the terror on their faces, some of them bleeding. He didn’t see his wife. He pictured her - hugely pregnant trying to run and push her way out.
“Julianna!” he yelled into the crowd, but no one answered.
After the first wave of people passed, he managed to get through the doorway. The smoke was bad but at least he could still see where he was going. He rushed towards the ballroom. A lady in a red dress ran into him - but it wasn’t Julianna.
He took her by the shoulders and said “Have you seen my wife? She is in a red dress? Eight months pregnant?”
“What?” she said, “Everyone is dead. It is the end of the world,”
Friedrich saw that she was bleeding profusely from a head wound. He let her go and she stumbled by him down the hall.
He continued to make his way forward. As he entered the place where the party had been - he saw that half of the room was buried under a mound of plaster. The air was dry and clotted. He was covered in white dust. He looked around. Where could she be?
He saw a man that he worked with and helped the man up.
“Heinrich have you seen my wife?”
“Who?” the man asked, noticeably disoriented.
“My WIFE!” Friedrich insisted.
“My wife is dead,” the man said and began to cry, “The ceiling fell on her. She was standing right next to me.”
“MY wife,” Friedrich repeated “Julianna! Red dress, pregnant!”
“Oh,” Heinrich said, and Friedrich could see that the man did know something, “Julianna…she was talking to my wife. She went to find the powder room before…before”
“Thank you” Friedrich cried, hugging the man and continuing into the room, past the rubble towards the back corner where the restrooms were located.
Heinrich was yelling something to him. What was it? “Not there!” the man was yelling.
Clearly the man was still out of his mind with grief - Friedrich knew where the bathrooms were. He stepped over the body of a woman in a blue dress. And then opened the door that he knew led to the restroom.
Friedrich felt as though he had been hit over the head. He staggered back on his feet - away from the open door. He tripped over the body of the woman in the blue dress and threw up. After gagging and coughing for a minute he pushed himself to his feet and went back to the open door.
Now he understood what Heinrich had meant by ‘not there’. Beyond the doorway - where the bathroom should’ve been - was just a gaping hole to the outside. The room was not there anymore. Snow was blowing in through the missing wall.
One solitary bathroom stall stood - intact - and empty - the door missing. After a moment he felt relief flood him - as the cool, clean, outside air flooded his aching lungs.
There is no one here, Friedrich though, Heinrich was wrong, Julianna was never in here!
But no sooner had he thought this, than he saw the shoe.
One red sparkling flat-healed shoe that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt belonged to his wife. It was lying beside a pile of rubble.
Friedrich threw himself at the pile - tearing away ceiling tiles and pieces of plaster and throwing them out of the way. He knew the skin of his hands was burning from the heat as he grabbed metal pipes and faucet knobs, but the pain no longer meant anything to him.
“Julianna!” he kept screaming, as though anyone under that pile could’ve answered him.
Finally he encountered softness instead of plaster. He tried to pull the softness free from the pile. His hands came away sticky. He looked down and saw that they were covered in blood.
A body then, he thought. He had to know.
He pulled and pulled. Sobbing and screaming and choking. And at last she came free. Her blonde hair matted, wet with blood; her face unrecognizable and crushed; her red dress torn away at the bottom and across the right arm. What was left of it scorched and grayed - but still somehow sparkling. Her pregnant belly was motionless against him, where once it had been alive and kicking. Julianna. Friedrich heard a horrible, high pitched keening wail - like a tortured animal. He was shocked to realize that the sound was coming from him. He cradled his wife’s body in his arms and rocked her back and forth. He didn’t know how long he stayed like that. Two men had to pull him away from her and out of the building.
His face was wet with her blood and his own tears. He realized that for the first time in six years he felt emotion. And it was like a hand reaching into his chest and ripping out his heart. Friedrich realized, too late, that he was in fact in love with his wife.
[copyright 2009 Bridget Eden]