The Way We Were

The Way We Germany

"Kinder!" Victoria opened her arms for her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

They gave her a group hug. "Grandma!"

"Kinder." Marcus Sr. smiled.

"Grandpa!" They embraced him.

"Come! Come!" Victoria waved them inside passed all the staff bringing their things in. "How Italy?"

"Granddad and Grandmom are good." Mercedes told her.

"Good." Victoria pinched her chubby cheek.

They went to a parlor and sat around. Victoria had set up a tea for them. The men drank beer while the women and children had tea.

"News?" Victoria asked.

"Well we were officially signed last week." Laura said.

"Signed?"

"When you get hired. We signed contracts."

"Oh!" Victoria nodded before piercing them with her deep set black eyes. "Safe?"

"We were very safe." Mercedes assured her. "Marcy went over everything."

Victoria beamed at her young granddaughter. "Gutes Mädchen!"

Marcy beamed back, loving that phrase.

"When will you...?" Victoria tried to think of the English word. "Record?"

"The first day of classes." Mike pouted.

"We'll never see our kids." Marcy stuck her lip out, too.

Both Marcus Sr. and Victoria blinked. They hadn't seen their children often when they were growing up. Was that why the majority of them left Germany?

"Love you, Mommy." Mickey leaned on her mother.

Marcy kissed her cheek. "Love you, too Engels Gesicht."

Mickey wondered what that meant but shrugged it off. Her mommy always called her or her siblings that and it made her feel special so who cared? "Cookie?"

Marcy reached for a thin chocolate covered wafer and gave it to her. They all watched the four year old dunk her biscuit in her tea like it was coffee before taking a bite. Marcy couldn't help smiling.

"That's my baby." Mal bragged.

Mike looked at Di in Mercedes' arms. "Grow."

W.W.W.

"Mommy, I'm bored." Mally complained.

"Why, míjo?" Marcy accepted money from a customer and waved her away.

"There's no kids!" Mally had thought the market would be fun but it wasn't. He was alone with his mom but she was busy selling goods to people.

"Why didn't you stay with Mickey, Rye and the babies?" A man came up to their large booth and Marcy smiled at him. She put her intermediate German skills to use.

Mally waited while she was speaking to the man to slip off his chair and go exploring. He ran into a chicken and snatched up some grass to try to feed it.

A little girl came running up, calling for the chicken. It ran from Mally to her, flapping its wings.

Mally was struck. She looked like any number of his family members with her blonde hair and translucent skin but her eyes were a light lavender. He'd never seen eyes like before. He spoke the only word he could say at this moment. "Watashi-no..."

The little girl peered at him, shocked by his own pale skin but dark hair and eyes. She hadn't seen too many Asians in her life. He was obviously older than her but he was super cute. "Hallo."