Only got some done...
“Früleine, could you please come forward. Thank you, now, please state your name and occupation for the record.”
“Ulla von Bernus, currently unemployed, sir.”
“Thank you. You may be seated, there is a chair by the pulpit. Now, Früleine Bernus, you are called before this magistrate to offer account of Herr Meiwes as you have gained through personal experience. Are you prepared to address the Judge Advocate?”
“I certainly am, sir.”
“Very well, please begin your statement.”
“Well then…I suppose, I should explain myself first. I have been a neighbor of the Meiwes household for twenty five years, since the family moved into the manor house in Rotenburg, in…1976 I think it was. Anyway, I was just beginning my business at that time, I was…self employed, you might say. I tell you, when I got my first look at Früleine Meiwes, I was sure there was going to be trouble. They positively reeked of Lutheran! Sorry…anyway, to my great pleasure I was grossly mistaken. The mother, though very strict with her child…and husband, was truly intriguing. I can remember the first day I showed her my…office. She was surprisingly interested in the Occult, asking me how I became interested and what my affiliation was. I told her about my job, my ‘death spell’ business. “Casting death spells with 90 per cent reliability”, my card used to read, and it was true, despite what the great court of Munich might say! Sorry…anyway, I grew very fond of Früleine Meiwes and we often had coffee on her long back porch. Herr Meiwes, or rather the father, never joined us.
“He was a sad mess, always unhealthy, smoking like a chimney. It was soon after they purchased that old house that the divorce came. We all saw it, even me, and I was just meeting them. He moved out a few months after. I don’t think Armin ever saw him again.
“The younger Meiwes, Armin, now he was a different story. He was so close to his mother, and yet she was too sheltering. She never let him go out with his friends, go to the movies, dates, hardly anywhere else besides school. He was still reading fairy tales when he was eighteen years old. He loved those stories. I know, he would often accompany his mother to my house. He was such an awkward, intelligent young man. Never raised his voice, never got into an argument. It was always ‘yes mum’, ‘no mum’ with him. But he was so curious in what I did. I even tried to teach him a few things…but they never seemed to turn out right.
“Früleine Meiwes died in…early 1999, I believe. By then Armin was in his thirties, still had not left home, just working at some small computer place in Rotenburg.
“Ulla von Bernus, currently unemployed, sir.”
“Thank you. You may be seated, there is a chair by the pulpit. Now, Früleine Bernus, you are called before this magistrate to offer account of Herr Meiwes as you have gained through personal experience. Are you prepared to address the Judge Advocate?”
“I certainly am, sir.”
“Very well, please begin your statement.”
“Well then…I suppose, I should explain myself first. I have been a neighbor of the Meiwes household for twenty five years, since the family moved into the manor house in Rotenburg, in…1976 I think it was. Anyway, I was just beginning my business at that time, I was…self employed, you might say. I tell you, when I got my first look at Früleine Meiwes, I was sure there was going to be trouble. They positively reeked of Lutheran! Sorry…anyway, to my great pleasure I was grossly mistaken. The mother, though very strict with her child…and husband, was truly intriguing. I can remember the first day I showed her my…office. She was surprisingly interested in the Occult, asking me how I became interested and what my affiliation was. I told her about my job, my ‘death spell’ business. “Casting death spells with 90 per cent reliability”, my card used to read, and it was true, despite what the great court of Munich might say! Sorry…anyway, I grew very fond of Früleine Meiwes and we often had coffee on her long back porch. Herr Meiwes, or rather the father, never joined us.
“He was a sad mess, always unhealthy, smoking like a chimney. It was soon after they purchased that old house that the divorce came. We all saw it, even me, and I was just meeting them. He moved out a few months after. I don’t think Armin ever saw him again.
“The younger Meiwes, Armin, now he was a different story. He was so close to his mother, and yet she was too sheltering. She never let him go out with his friends, go to the movies, dates, hardly anywhere else besides school. He was still reading fairy tales when he was eighteen years old. He loved those stories. I know, he would often accompany his mother to my house. He was such an awkward, intelligent young man. Never raised his voice, never got into an argument. It was always ‘yes mum’, ‘no mum’ with him. But he was so curious in what I did. I even tried to teach him a few things…but they never seemed to turn out right.
“Früleine Meiwes died in…early 1999, I believe. By then Armin was in his thirties, still had not left home, just working at some small computer place in Rotenburg.