Missing

60. The Route Onward

After Bethia had signed the purchase contract, Herr Schmidt put it in his case, stood and bowed to her as he took her hand. "Again, a pleasure doing business with you, Frau Eberhardt. They've signed a contract of demand, and you've signed its acceptance. I'll complete the title search tomorrow morning. Could we meet in my office in the afternoon to do the banking and closing?" He glanced again at his notebook. "How's two o'clock?"

"Two would be fine." She rose and led him out into the hall as David and Maria watched.

"What's the piece of land?" Maria asked David after Bethia and Herr Schmidt had disappeared.

"The pastures at the bottom of the vineyard here. They have the same streak of chalky soil going through them. Tante had looked at them while we were away, and she had Herr Schmidt inquire. They run to the border and abut her other plots."

"That will make your job easier."

He smiled at her and nodded. "Much easier and safer. I feel such a weight off my mind not having to keep this from you."

"I could sense your tension with it." She spread her arms. "Hug?"

"I can't see your gown, Maria, with you all wrapped up like that." Bethia laughed as she came back into the drawing room.

"Tante, I'm flabbergasted with your generosity – your will."

"Sweetheart, who better than you and David? My sister has no need of anything. Your mother is well set and content here. After the Gottenheim property sells, she'll have independent means. I've no other nieces, no nephews, and you're my only grandniece." She looked at Maria and chuckled. "And if you weren't, you'd be my favourite, anyway. Let me see your gown."

Maria did a few slow turns and poses. "Look how effortlessly I move in this. I feel so free." She bent and twisted and spun. "You should have seen the eyes this got, Tante. Both the men and the women."

"I can see why. The men because they wanted you or wanted their wives to look like that. The women because they either disliked you for being so beautiful or because they were trying to analyse how the gown was fabricated. It takes a special woman to wear such a gown, and they would all have known that. You make an exquisite gown come alive. You seem so free, so unencumbered by all the usual layers, all the extra weight, the constraints. It looks as if there's only one layer."

"It has a thin satin lining to allow it to fall smoothly." She winked at Bethia. "But other than that, there's nothing but me underneath."

"Oh, my. But it still appears modest."

"Most of the men commented to me on her beauty and poise," David said. "Some of them more than once."

"Beauty, grace, poise. They're all very powerful. Very influential. People will pay more attention to a woman of Maria's beauty and poise. And David, your looks and commanding presence will always turn heads. But catching attention and turning heads is only the first step. You need to hold it, and you both do that well with your sharp minds, your broad awareness, your inquisitiveness and your acceptance."

Bethia picked up the camera. "You'll have to refresh my mind with this, Sweetheart. It's been a long time since Aaron showed me."

Maria pointed to the camera. "This button allows the front to be opened. Fold it down until it clicks into position." She showed her the aperture and speed settings and explained the viewfinder. "These are the settings that worked best for us indoors the last time. This key winds the film to the next exposure. Watch the arrows until a number appears, then stop. There, the 8. Now you're ready to shoot."

She took the camera from Bethia and put it on the small table David had placed about ten feet from a blank wall. Then, picking up the shutter release cable, she said, "You could keep the camera in your hands, but this way, it doesn't shake and give a blurry picture. All you need to do now is turn the camera to centre us in the viewfinder, tell us not to move, then push this plunger."

Bethia directed them through three poses to finish the roll they had started in Küsnacht. "That was the last one. Shall I get another roll?"

"No, three shots are sufficient. We'll print the best one. There are some shots of Grandma and Grandpa in here and of Jungfrau. I can't wait to show you those." Maria looked down at her gown. "We'll change first. Too many chemicals involved to do it in this."

After dinner, as they all sat in the drawing room, Maria brought in the prints she and David had made. "This one – Grandma, Mama and me side by side. Look at the resemblance. Sixty, forty and nearly nineteen and all so beautiful." She passed it around.

"Look at this spectacular view. And this one. Such a powerful feeling being up there, up among the peaks. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be up on mountaintops such as these."

Bethia studied the photos. "How do climbers find their way up there, David? It looks so complicated with all the ridges and spurs and cliffs and gullies. It must take a lot of planning."

"The initial plan is based on what we see as we approach. But the views from a distance and from below are different from those as we climb. Moving toward a summit, we lose sight of our goal. We know where it is, but it's hidden by the details in front of us – as it is in life. We see only the next short way, but around each ridge, over each knoll, what we see changes, and we must change with that. Our goal remains the same, but we see different ways to get there."

"So, you're always changing your route, then?"

"Yes, we must, Tante. We don't know the details of the route, only its general direction. The details of the way ahead are often revealed very close at hand. Sometimes, we crest a rise and gain an overview of what lies ahead, but often, our progress is based on decisions for the next few metres only."

"So it must be easy, then, to lose your way and to head off in the wrong direction."

"That's why it's important to keep a clear sense of where the goal is and to make all decisions based on finding a way toward it – always using the new view onward. The easiest way to fail is to stick to a predetermined route, ignoring the signs that point to better ways."

Bethia nodded. "A superb analogy for life. Always adapt as things change around us."

"Yes, for sure. Think about your adaptation these past weeks, Tante. Such dramatic changes, but taken a step at a time, you've reached a wonderful goal of making life better for us all."

"And you, David. The way you've adapted to the many changes. Your direction has veered sharply, but your goal remains the war effort."

He nodded and sighed. "For the greatest goals, the route forward is usually the most difficult and the least clear. It becomes increasingly tempting to take the easier path that leads down, that leads back to what is known." He ran his fingers through his hair. "It would be so easy for me to stay here."