Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Sixty-Six
24th December 1973
Plänterwald
It was complicated. That was the only way to describe the situation that Sigi found herself in. While she and Jay would have liked to have gone back to Spain or somewhere further afield, they now had André, or Andy after Jay’s father, in tow and the State had something of an interest in her staying in Germany, for now. It was just as well that Jay had landed some work for UFA, an Anglo-German production that would be a regular paycheck for the next several months.
Sigi’s son was subject to a vast amount of interest to the Medical and Scientific communities of Germany though he was only a couple months old. This was entirely because Sigi had been into Outer-Space and to the surface of the Moon. She had told the Doctors and Scientists that she would tell them if Andy developed any super-powers. She had been sarcastic when she had said that, but the experts had looked at her with looks of wide-eyed expectation. These were little boys who loved comic books decades later, seeing the possibility that their fantasies might be real. That had been when Sigi had sent them packing and had headed out to Winter Residence for the Holiday Season at her nephew’s invitation. The people who had been bothering her wouldn’t dare come anywhere near there.
All of that aside, Charlotte said that there was nothing about Andy that was out of the ordinary. Like all babies he had a profound amount of potential, but what became of that was up to Sigi and Jay, or despite them. Charlotte seemed to find that thought amusing. Judging by Nella and Nan, Charlotte’s own teenaged daughters, she was probably a good authority in that matter.
Tempelhof
Padding down the stairs on bare feet with Sprocket at her heels, Sophie made her way to the formal dining room and the kitchen beyond in what had become a Christmas tradition of sorts. Petia was holding her usual court in the kitchen. She was starting to feel her years and was having to defer more and more of the household responsibilities to Julia and Serhiy. With the rest of the house asleep, they were cheerfully playing cards and talking before they would retire for the night themselves.
Sophie’s failure to sleep tonight had nothing to do with anxiety like in years past, after so many years it was obvious that Kat wasn’t going to throw her out. Instead, it was because every part of her body ached. Asking for Kat’s help in being physically ready to ride competitively in the springtime had turned out to be a mistake. It had turned out that it was the same training if she were going to meet KSK women’s standards and because Kat was taking time out of her day to help her, it wasn’t as if Sophie could just tell her that she had changed her mind. So, Sophie went downstairs feeling like she had endured a beating with the hope that Petia might have something to help her sleep. She certainly had in the past.
When she opened the door to the Kitchen, no one seemed too surprised to see Sophie. “We could use you to set a watch Sofiya” Petia said.
“I doubt that” Sophie replied, trying to pretend that she had not done this many times before.
Darya just smirked at her.
Petia’s granddaughter’s role in the household had shifted over the years since Sophie had lived here. She had originally been a Maid as she had gone to University. Recently, Darya had completed her degree in Economics and Kat had taken her on in that capacity. The Prefect of a Major City with millions of residents needing all the assistance she could get wasn’t in the least bit surprising.
“Yet here you are” Serhiy said, the Ukrainian Cook had seldom spoke to Sophie in the past. Mostly, she had watched as he and Petia had argued over culinary choices. Most of the disagreements had been over minor matters and Sophie had heard it suggested that they mostly boiled down to the idea that he was using the kitchen which Petia considered her domain.
“Ever ask for help you regretted?” Sophie asked, trying to change the subject to something besides her presence.
That earned Sophie a round of laughter.
“Kitten regrets asking Tigress how to use her claws?” Boris asked, “What did you think would happen?”
“I asked Kat for something else” Sophie replied, pointedly ignoring that Boris had just called her a kitten. All of them had to be aware of the exercise room that Kat maintained in the basement. For the last couple weeks, she had been dragging Sophie through that torturous regime.
“It gets easier” Petia observed, “Kiki and Gia got what they needed and moved on to other things. They also spent plenty of time complaining about Katya being a slavedriver.”
“I never said that Kat was a slavedriver” Sophie said.
“You will” Petia replied as she poured hot milk into a cup that already had a mixture powdered chocolate and cinnamon in it before she handed it to Sophie. Sophie was also aware that it was spiked with some of Serhiy’s vodka. “Now drink that and back up to bed with you.”
“Why the rush?” Sophie asked.
“You have grown too big and heavy for Boris to carry upstairs to your room like in years past” Petia said, actually that solved several mysteries.
“The Tigress gets upset if we are too festive going up to the top floor” Boris said, “And after last summer’s bloodbath we don’t want any more incidents.”
Sophie had been drinking the hot chocolate and had been unable to respond. She had suspected that something had happened over the summer, but no one had said what. Petia gave Boris a stern look suggesting that he had just spoken out of turn.
“Back to bed” Petia said to Sophie, “Now.”