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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 15: Cooper 5
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Brown 286
The sound of a cuckoo woke Cooper; early daylight was coming through a thickly-curtained window, and the room was a bit chilled. He realized that there had been a brazier in his room the night before, and that by now the coals would have burned out. He thought the clock marvelous, but then realized that this was much too early in history for anyone to have a cuckoo clock. What he was hearing was from outside, a live cuckoo, a bird that was never heard in the United States other than in clocks and recordings.
He put his clothes back on, and as it was chilly he donned the oversized flannel shirt to keep his arms warm. He opened the door to his bedroom, and it was slightly warmer in the hall, where he could smell fresh bread and cooking ham. Follow your nose, he thought, but he knew where the kitchen and dining room were, so he simply headed that direction.
“Hier ist die Schlafmütze,” the host exclaimed, then “Hast Du gut geschlafen?” That sounded like a question, but this was beyond his limited linguistic legerdemain at this point, so he gave a blank look, which was apparently understood. “Mach Sitz. Essen.” This he did understand, aided by the wave of a hand at the same chair in which he had sat at dinner, and the appearance of fresh bread along with a familiar looking breakfast, ham and an omelet. There were vegetables in the omelet, but he decided not to ask what they were, as he wouldn’t know the words for mushrooms or peppers or onions.
“Danke,” he said, which they did understand. They served hot chocolate with it, which was a bit bitter but quite warming.
“So,” he said, “I don’t suppose anyone speaks English?”
Hans answered, “Very little.”
Surprised, Cooper felt his eyes raise, and said, “Very good. If your English is as good as my German, we might be able to get somewhere. Hopefully you’ll help me with my German?”
“Und du mit meinem Englisch.”
That was clear enough, and certainly fair. Cooper smiled, and Hans smiled back.
“How do you come to know English?”
“I want to join Diplomatischer Angestellter.”
That must be the diplomatic corps, ambassadors and such. The family had ties to the nobility; that might work.
He looked at Wilhelm. “You must be very proud–how do I say, very proud?”
“Sehr stolz,” Han provided.
“Sehr stolz,” Cooper repeated, looking at the father and nodding toward the son.
Wilhelm smiled. “Ja.” He paused and then said, “Essen,” and waved at the plate. Taking the hint, Cooper enjoyed his breakfast in silence as the others, apparently all awake before him, kept him company.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #501: Characters Orienting. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
