Missing

36. Meeting Grandma and Grandpa

On Wednesday evening, Jacob and Maddie joined them at Sonnenhang for David's farewell dinner. Then, mid-morning on Thursday, after a round of hugs and well-wishes, David drove the lorry down the lane. He paused at the side of the road after he had turned onto it, and he looked back at the estate with tears rolling down his cheeks. "So difficult."

Maria wiped his cheeks with her hands, then pulled his face toward her for a kiss. "You'll be back before long."

He nodded and tried to swallow away the lump in his throat. "This is harder than it was leaving my parents behind in Trail last year. Much harder." He engaged the gears, released the brake and the clutch, and they continued toward Unterhallau in silence.

They headed east out of town as Rachel pointed the way from the map. "It's sixteen kilometres to Schaffhausen, where we'll turn south to cross the Rhein. That's the narrow neck that leads to the huge bulge of the canton into the German side."

The winding road was solid, and there was little traffic until they reached the beginning of the build-up around the city. It took nearly an hour of manoeuvring through narrow streets, many clogged with waggons, lorries and motorcars, to make it to the bridge over the Rhein. Once they had crossed, Rachel directed him downstream to Rheinfelden and to a park overlooking the waterfalls. "We picnicked here once. God – that's so many years ago now – before automobiles." They spread a blanket and enjoyed lunch.

David examined the map. "Such a strange canton, Schaffhausen. It's in three separate pieces, all of them across on the German side of the Rhein."

"It's a convoluted story," Rachel said. "But basically, early in the fifteenth century, the Habsburg Duke aligned with the wrong side of the papal schism, and he was banned by the Emperor. Needing money, he sold Schaffhausen its independence, and a few decades later, the former Ducal lands allied with the Swiss cantons across the Rhein, and they've been Swiss ever since."

They took a stroll along the edge of the drop-off to get better views of the falls, and then they packed up and continued. After being slowed by thick traffic through Winterthur, they arrived in Zürich at three twenty. It took over an hour to make their way through the maze of traffic before they emerged on the shores of Lake Zürich.

David pointed to a small roadside park. "Let's pause here to allow me to relax a bit from the traffic and relieve other tensions. There are bushes over there we can use."

Maria squeezed his arm. "You've read my mind. I've been holding mine in. I'm sure Mama, too. The bouncing speeds the urge."

After they had relieved themselves, they stood on the shore of the lake, skipping stones across the water. "I used to do this in the mountains, challenging myself to beat my highest count and greatest distance. It's great for emptying the mind."

"Do you miss the mountains?"

"It's been nearly ten months now. Haven't had much time to think of them."

"But we were just in the Schwarzwald a few weeks ago."

"Those are rolling hills compared to the mountains I know. Vertical rock faces, towering spires, vast snowfields, long flowing glaciers; those are my mountains."

"Like we see across the lake?" Maria lifted her arm.

He nodded and pulled her into a hug. "That's starting to look a bit like them. So difficult to leave here." He shook his head. "But back to now. We should continue. How far is it from here?"

"Less than six kilometres. We're nearly there."

"We could have kept going. Why didn't you say?"

"I would have wet myself. I barely made it to the bushes."

"We could have stopped earlier."

"In the middle of Zürich's traffic?"

"True." He chuckled. "Let's climb aboard and continue."

He pointed to the right front tyre as they approached the lorry. "Good opportunity to learn how to change a wheel. I thought it felt a little odd as I wheeled in here."

"Do you know how to do it?"

"I've done many on my father's vehicles. Should be the same basic process. I saw the axle jack in the box under the seat when I retrieved the rucksack. There are also spanners, tyre irons and a patching kit in there."

Maria and Rachel watched as he demonstrated and explained each step – blocking, jacking, removing, reinstalling and lowering. "I'll repair the leak when we get to Grandpa's. That way, we'll still have two good spares for the trip to Bern."

A few minutes before six, Rachel pointed to the driveway down to a lakeside property. "This is it."

"Spectacular. So this is his sailing school here, beside us. Big! Strange what the mind does, isn't it? I had pictured it as a few boats and a small building, like our sailing club in Victoria." He stopped the lorry in the courtyard at the bottom of the slope as a woman came out of the house. Must be Rachel's mother. What an amazing resemblance. And also to Maria.

Rachel bounded out of the cab and across to her for a hug, then she stood back to watch the amazement in her eyes as she saw Maria approach. "This can't be little Maria. Oh, my God! You're so beautiful. Last I saw you, you were just beginning to blossom. What a fine-looking woman you've become." They hugged, and then she looked up. "And this must be the David about whom you wrote." She held out her arms. "A hug with you, as well."

"Michael's in the office. I rang the bell when I heard you coming down the lane. He should be over shortly."

David stared at the three women as they stood next to each other talking. Maria caught his strange expression. "You seem hypnotised, David."

"Looking at three beautiful women. So alike. Amazingly alike. I wish I had a camera to capture this."

"Tante told me to bring hers. It's in my bag." She turned at the sound of an approaching voice. "Grandpa!" She held out her arms to receive his hug.

"My, my! You've certainly sprouted." He spotted Rachel and held out an arm for her to join the hug.

"And this is David, Grandpa," Maria said a few seconds later.

After their greetings, they walked through the house to the patio, which sat beside the lake with a panorama of the Alps rising above the far shore. "What a superb setting you have here." David walked to the rail and looked out over the lake; then he turned to Rachel. "This is where you were raised?"

She nodded and pointed to a window. "I was born in that room."

Michael smiled. "I'm pleased you like it. Mary and I fell in love with it when we first saw it." He looked at Mary. "We should open some wine and let the children relax. That's a long drive. I'll go to the cellar and –"

Maria interrupted him. "We've brought some of ours from Gottenheim and some of Tante Bethia's from Erzingen."

"My sister's making wine?" Mary looked up in surprise. "I thought she was making sausages and hams."

"The wine was more a hobby and some to sell in her shop. It's better than ours. Her vineyards stand in a fine streak of soil." Maria lifted her hands to the top of her head. "There's so much to tell you. So many exciting things. My head is near bursting."