Tag Archives: the vontrapp family

Return to Austria

CHAPTER 10

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Guess who is coming to dinner?

Georg pulled up to the rear of the lodge just in time to catch Maria heading back to the house. “Maria, the pickles have been acquired, well….minus one.” Georg confessed. “Georg, if you keep eating pickles I’m going to start wondering about you!” Maria teased.  Georg delivered the key ingredient to the kitchen and quickly ran to catch up with Maria who was heading across the lawn to their house. “Maria, I need to talk with you before our guests from Germany arrive this evening.” Georg said in a serious tone. “What is it?” Maria inquired. “When I was at the store, Mac told me that one of the German guests was inquiring about me. I didn’t think anything of it as we get people asking about us all the time. Mac caught the gentleman’s name. He told me that it was Rolf Gruber.” Maria stopped dead in her tracks. “Rolf? Why would Rolf be coming to the states and why staying at our lodge?” Maria asked with a worried look on her face. “I don’t know, but he obviously wants to talk to us. His whole involvement with the National Democratic Party of Germany has me very worried.” Geog confessed. “What are we going to do Georg?” Maria asked. “I don’t know, but I do know that I will be ready for whatever happens.” Georg said reassuringly.

man and woman walking away
Courtesy of Pixaby

As they reached the house, Georg went to his study to call his son Friedrich who had moved to Dallas to start his own security company. As he dialed Friedrich’s number he thought of all of the possibilities of why Rolf would travel all of this distance. “Good morning, Sichern Services.” the receptionist answered. “Good morning, this is Georg Von Trapp, is Friedrich available?” Georg inquired. “Oh hello Captain, it’s good to hear your voice.” the receptionist replied. “I’m not a captain any longer, but thank you.” Georg replied. “Yes he is, I will transfer you to him.” she said as she transferred Georg. “Hello, Friedrich Von Trapp.” the voice on the other line answered. “Friedrich, this is dad. Your mother and I are having some rather questionable guests show up tonight and I was wondering if you have any connections in Vermont to be present during their stay.” Georg asked. “Hi dad, I’m sure that I can find someone to be there. We have a pretty good working relationship throughout the country with other security firms. May I ask why the concern over these guests?” security guard Friedrich asked rather puzzled. He had never received this kind of request from his father before. His dad helped him in the early stages of his business, his experience in the Navy, especially with standard operating procedures had helped in starting his own business. He had even named his company Sichern Services which means “secure” in German. “It’s a long story Friedrich, do you remember Rolf Gruber, Leisl’s boyfriend?” “Of course I do. He ratted on us when we were hiding at the Abbey. What a jerk.” Friedrich replied as he remembered that night long ago. “Well, he sent me a letter telling me that our home in Austria was being bequeathed to us in the previous owner’s will.” Georg explained. “Dad, that’s great! Are you and mom moving back to Austria? What a great…..” Friedrich replied until Georg cut him off. “Friedrich, I wish that it was that simple, but we also found out that Rolf is the head of that new NPD movement in Germany. There is also another twist to this, but it’s too long of a story to explain to you right now. I just need to know that you will have someone present at the lodge should things get out of hand. You see, Rolf is one of the guests tonight and the other guest is an old friend of mine Herman Richter.” Georg explained. “Wow, that is odd. I will call someone right away. What time do you want them there?” Friedrich asked. “I would like them there before check-in at 3 PM.” Georg replied. “Sure dad, I’ll make sure they are there way before 3 PM. I’ll be sure to have them meet you so that you can point them out.” Friedrich said reassuringly. “I hope it’s that easy Friedrich. I haven’t seen them for 40 years.” Georg admitted. “I’ll run a check with some friends that I still have in Austria to come up with a photo of each of them and get it sent over the wire.  Do you guys have a fax machine yet?” Friedrich asked. “Yes, your mother had one installed earlier this year. Fax over whatever photos you can find Friedrich. Thank you.” Georg said with a sigh of relief. “Sure dad, I’ve got you covered.” Friedrich said as his dad hung up and headed out of the study into his bedroom.
Georg sitting on his bed
“I need to protect Maria and my guests should anything occur at tonight’s dinner. Georg thought to himself.” He found old photos of his friend Herman in a box that he kept in his closet: pictures and things of his past life in Austria. He thought to himself, “How are Rolf and Herman connected? those two should never have even met, much less travel together.” Maria walked into the bedroom startling Georg. “I’ve been looking for you Georg. Lindsay from the front desk just got word that Rolf has another guest coming with him, a gentleman named Herman Richter. Have you heard of him?” Maria asked. “Why yes I have. It’s a long story. Have a seat, there are a few things you need to know.” Georg said as he went to close the bedroom door.

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Read Chapter 1
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Read Chapter 6
Read Chapter 7
Read Chapter 8
Read Chapter 9
Read Chapter 11

 

Return to Austria

Chapter 7

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You can’t unring a bell

“Let me know what you find out Larz,” Brigitta shouted from the top of the stairs as I headed out to the car. “You know, I will,” Larz replied as he closed the door and almost tripped over their golden retriever Max who wanted to play. “Sorry, Max, not today. I have some investigating to do.” Larz settled into his trusty Mercedes that had seen a good amount of miles. “This just doesn’t make sense. Why would the embassy and Rolf both contact us within two days of each other? Rolf had to know that Georg would find out about his involvement with the NPD.”

The traffic was heavy this morning on I-89, heading to  Burlington. The leaf peepers as we called them, were out in force, trying to experience the beautiful colors of the changing leaves in New England. I had to admit that the brush strokes that God used to paint the forests with, crimson red, golden orange, and bright yellow hues were pretty breathtaking, even if I had seen it every year for the past 40 years.
fall leaves in Vermont with car on road
I finally reached the city and headed into the parking garage to find my designated parking space. Parking garages were essential in the city during the cold Vermont winters. As I got out of the car, I noticed that my boss Bob Adler was just pulling into his parking space, a couple of spaces down from me as well. As I headed to the elevator, he called out to me, “Hey Larz, glad we arrived at the same time, I wanted to chat with you a bit about this whole property settlement with your father in laws old home in Austria. I have been thinking about this whole thing over the weekend and did a little digging. You know that Austria lost their coastline after World War 1 and the captain wasn’t needed to sail a sub with their being no need for a Navy. “I know, he has told us that he missed being on a submarine, that he had always been fascinated with them,” Larz replied. “Right, but did he ever tell you what he did after that?” Adler said with a slight grin. “No, he said that his first wife died shortly after that and that the family had to sing to help earn money after the Austrian bank went belly up with most of his deceased wife’s inheritance,” Larz responded. “Have you ever heard of Die Glocke?” Adler asked.  German bell“No I haven’t,  and my German isn’t too good. It sounds like The Clock. Am I close?” I said.  “You are close, but don’t feel bad, I didn’t know either. It’s like Glockenspiel, you know, a bell. It means The Bell.” Adler admitted. “Great, now that we have had our German lesson for the day and we are almost at our floor, what does all of this mean Bob?” I inquired. “Well, your father in law had a background in physics and was offered a chance to help a young physicist, Herman Richter develops Xerum 525, a code name for something called red mercury. Georg had no idea what it was for or why he just knew that he needed income for his family. Of course, this was before the war. Scientists are always looking to advance their fields of study. Georg agreed, and he and his fellow physicist made a good amount of progress developing the stuff. Supposedly the substance allowed for some pretty far out claims. Even though Germany which needed naval commanders told Georg that they wanted him to command a U boat, my friend within the intelligence community said that the Nazi’s probably wanted to commandeer him to work with the rest of the scientists that were coerced to work on Hitler’s secret projects.” Adler said as the elevator doors opened up. “I’ll get with you later in the day to tell you what their old home in Austria has to do with all of this,” he said as he walked down the hall to his office.

I couldn’t believe that he was just going to leave me there wondering. What the heck was Die Glocke, and what did it have to do with inheriting a house? I walked into my office just as the phone began to ring. It was Brigitta. “Hi Larz, I just got off the phone with my dad. He said that he had just been contacted by an old friend, Herman Richter. Does that name ring a bell?” she asked.  I stared at the phone speechless.

Miss something? Start at the beginning of the story.
Read Chapter 1
Read Chapter 2
Read Chapter 3
Read Chapter 4
Read Chapter 5
Read Chapter 6
Read Chapter 8