Just Follow the Mess... [Heidi]

[Otto Wolff]

Country: Berlin, Germany
Current Time: 16:30

The traffic had been horrible, something that Otto Wolff wasn't used to when he was heading home. Usually he always got off from work so late that the worst hours of busy traffic had already passed and there were scarcely any other cars on the streets of Berlin. Right now he was heading home earlier than usual and it seemed that every idiot had decided to take to the road at the same time as Otto. It certainly did not help his tired mood any, but Otto forced himself to cool down, trying to keep his mind on the fact that at least at home there would be a chance for some welcome peace and quiet.

At work he had just informed that he had some family business to take care of, but he had not really advertised the fact that he was heading home early because he had to look after a little orphan girl. Such a thing would have been quite unheard of Otto and would have just incited more questions than he cared to answer.

The young woman, Elise, who usually was around to look after Heidi and clean up the house, was now unavailable at certain times of the day due to her mother being sent into the hospital. Heidi was old enough to take care of herself for a few hours, but Otto didn't feel that it was safe to let her stay alone any longer periods than that. He wasn't so much worried that Heidi might think of something silly, she seemed like a well-behaved little girl, but he was more worried of the fact that the girl would run away. Who knew what might have happened to her if she was left all alone on the streets of Berlin? He had taken the girl under his wing and Heidi was now his responsibility, whether he wanted it or not.

Otto pulled the car over next to the curb and grabbed his leather case. He could at least get some extra work done while he was at home, so there wouldn't be such an awful backlog of work left later on. Otto was wearing the dark suit which he usually wore to work, making him look like any other civilian on the street, albeit a rather tall and imposing one. The Kriminalkommissar climbed up the stairs and searched for his keys absentmindedly, wondering what kind of food there was left in the kitchen for tonight. He opened up the door just a little bit, knowing that Luger the Doberman would be waiting for him behind the door when he came home. Otto pushed the dog away from the door, quickly stepping inside the apartment so that Luger wouldn't get any bright ideas of bolting out.

"Hallo, Luger. Kümmerten Sie sich um Heidi für mich?" Otto asked the dog and patted him on the head, the animal overjoyed as always when his master returned home. Otto removed his shoes and placed his long coat on a hanger. He turned around to scratch Luger behind his ear and only then noticed that something was slightly different about the apartment. Otto pushed Luger aside and squinted his eyes as he noticed a track of mud on the floor, the dirt in the unmistakable shape of a dog's paw. "Ah, Luger. Wo sind Sie gewesen?" Otto sighed and crouched down to rub the dirt experimentally off with his finger. It didn't come off, but stuck to his skin and Otto glanced at his fingertip which was now covered by black... something. As he was crouching down, he noticed more similar tracks on the polished wooden floor.

A horrible feeling of dread gripped Otto as his eyes spotted one black paw print after another, each one of them getting more distinct as the tracks headed from the hallway into the corridor and from there into the living room. It was as if the dog had caught some dirt in his paws, but it had happened somewhere further inside the apartment and hence the tracks were fainter in the hallway and more distinct as they headed into the living room. He also noticed that the dirt or whatever it was that was now stuck on his beautiful polished floor, had only affected one of Luger's paws instead of all four of them.

Otto straightened up and slowly followed the tracks with a stunned look on his face. He simultaneously pondered what the black substance stuck on the floor was and how Luger had become affected by it. Before joining the Geheime Staatspolizei, Otto had worked in the Kriminalpolizei for good many years and had become accustomed to finding evidence and making sense of it when he was at a crime scene. This seemed like a crime scene, one he would not have expected to come upon while arriving at his own apartment. The perpetrators of this possible crime could be narrowed down to two. Either Luger had found something to mess himself up with or this was the works of a little girl called Heidi. For some reason, Otto was inclined to believe that this was a collaboration of two guilty parties.

The Kriminalkommissar placed a hand slowly on his mouth as he witnessed his beautiful living room floor now marred with black paw prints. "Heidi! Was ist mit meinem Fußboden geschehen?" the man snapped, his voice not too loud but strong enough to make it quite clear that Otto was not a very happy man. Usually Otto had a pleasant, smooth voice, but when the Kriminalkommissar was angry, his deep voice was suddenly very strong and commanding. "Wie ist diese Verwirrung, wie geschah das? Luger, nein... Ins Badezimmer mit Ihnen!" the man said in a horrified tone as he noticed that Luger was following him. It didn't seem that any new tracks were following the dog, so whatever dirt had stuck in his paw had now already been transferred to the floor. Otto was still not going to take any chances and he grabbed the dog by his collar, pushing the animal inside the bathroom and trapping him there.


Translations:

"Hallo, Luger. Kümmerten Sie sich um Heidi für mich?
"Hello there, Luger. Did you look after Heidi for me?"

"Ah, Luger... Wo sind Sie gewesen?"
"Ah, Luger, where have you been?"

"Heidi! Was ist mit meinem Fußboden geschehen?"
"Heidi..! What has happened to my floor?"

"Wie ist diese Verwirrung, wie geschah das? Luger, nein... Ins Badezimmer mit Ihnen!"
"What is this mess, how did this happen? Luger, don't... Into the bathroom with you!"

[Heidi]

Translations:

"So, Sie sehen... uhmmm... es war ein... ehrlicher Unfall...." = Well, you see...uhmmm...it was an accident...honest....

"Ich... versuchte... es... ehrlich zu reinigen..." = I...tried to clean it up...honest....

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


She had been dreading this moment ever since Luger had escaped her.

A wet, soapy sponge in one hand - she did not remember what damage water could do to a wooden floor - and her little hands covered in bluish-gray suds, Heidi gulped as she stood up from the floor. The paw prints in her room had been cleaned off the floor...well, not really - there were some smears left, same for the part of the hallway leading from her room to the living room.... But she hadn't been able to work fast enough to get to the living room. The orphan silently thanked God that not all of Luger's paws were ink-covered; that would have been a disaster. Still, a mess had been made, and Herr Otto sounded very cross about it!

"Uhhhhhhhmmm..." began Heidi, her voice a little higher in pitch, knowing she couldn't lie to a strict man like Herr Otto. That would be wrong - well, she was, technically, lying to him now about her identity, but there was a perfectly good reason to do so. The paw prints of ink, however, weren't something to be lied about. "So, Sie sehen... uhmmm... es war ein... ehrlicher Unfall...."

Taking a deep breath, shoulders hunched and head hanging, she slowly made her way out to the soiled living room from the spot she had cleaning. Water dripped from the sponge in her hand, leaving a trail behind her that led to the blackish puddle she had been about to wipe up. She could hear Luger barking in the bathroom, whining to get out and see his master.

Hesitating for a moment, Heidi wondered if it would be a good idea to run and hide under her bed. Herr Otto, however, would probably catch her before she could do so, and be even angrier at her for not facing him. With this in mind, she stepped out into the open, shrinking down further, hands held behind her back. She looked up at Herr Otto for the briefest second, but then, her eyes fell to the floor.

"Ich... versuchte... es... ehrlich zu reinigen..." she said timidly, quietly, slowly holding up her sponge for proof. Hopefully, her attempt at fixing the problem would pacify Herr Otto, or better yet, please him. Then, he might forget all about being angry with her, and she could avoid his wrath. He hadn't hit the girl yet, but who was to say he wouldn't try and do so now?

[Otto Wolff]

A small and shy girl's voice came from the living room and soon Heidi appeared into the hallway. The black-haired girl walked slowly, drips of black, soapy water trailing after her as she carefully announced that she had been cleaning the mess up. Otto was at a loss of words for a good while as he stared at the child, his mind only now slowly beginning to understand the full extent of the mess. "Heidi!" Otto's voice was maybe just slightly more horrified than angry at the moment. "Sie lassen das Wasser überall im Fußboden fallen!"

Otto tried to quickly think of ways for minimizing the damage and he opened the door to the bathroom once again, pushing Luger further inside the room as the dog tried to make his way back into the hallway. "Sie kommen genau hier, junge Dame!" Otto commanded sharply, leaving the bathroom door open for Heidi. The Kriminalkommissar grabbed the Doberman's collar and glanced behind him to make sure that Heidi was close behind instead of making the mess only worse. Otto urged Luger to jump into the bathtub and the dog whined pitifully, his paws slipping on the smooth surface of the white bathtub. "Sitz, Luger," Otto told the dog and the animal glanced at it's master miserably, it's dark eyes pleading for mercy.

Once the dog was sitting in the bathtub, Otto turned around to regard Heidi. "Jetzt, geben Sie mir das.." Otto said as he took the dirty sponge from the child, holding it between only two of his fingers. He dropped it into a trashbin under the sink and gave the girl a bar of soap. "Was ist das irgendwie? Ist es Tinte? Wie in aller Welt bekamen Sie Tinte auf einem Hund?" the man asked in an exasperated tone, but he did not really have time to vent about the mess right now if he still wanted to save his beautiful floor.

"Zuerst waschen Sie Ihre Hände gut mit der Seife. Nachdem Sie getan werden, mit dem Sie den ganzen Hund waschen können. Sie können eine kleine Seife, aber nicht zu viel verwenden. Ich will nicht eine andere Verwirrung im Badezimmer finden, verstehen Sie mich?" Otto's voice was stern and he glared at the child from under his eyebrows to make sure that Heidi understood the seriousness of the situation and listened to him attentively.

The tall man turned around and walked to the small cabinet in the bathroom, searching for something. He pulled out a big brown towel, placed it on the toilet seat and regarded Heidi again. "Es gibt das Handtuch von Luger. Ich will einen sauberen Hund und ein ordentliches kleines Mädchen sehen, sobald ich getan werde, den Fußboden reinigend. Und Luger, setzen!" Otto commanded the dog, pointing a finger at the animal. The dog whined again, looking as sad as the canine possibly could, but still got no mercy from his master. Luger's gaze was shifted to Heidi, as if the dog was now blaming the little girl for getting him into this whole mess in the first place.

"Jetzt, wenn Sie irgendeine Hilfe brauchen, fragen. Ich werde gerade draußen... vielleicht sein ich kann noch die Fußböden sparen," Otto said with a sigh and he gave the child one more sharp look to make sure that his words were sinking in.

With that Otto returned back into the hallway, noticing that he didn't really know if he should have been angry, worried or both. Otto had left his former wife and his son Johann when the boy had been ten years old, maybe about the same age as Heidi was now. When it had come to raising up their son, Otto had been very distant, occupied only by his work. He had never had to clean up a mess made by a child or look after one all on his own, not more than an hour at most. This situation had caused Otto to find himself in quite an awkward position as he was supposed to be a father and yet he didn't really have any clue when it came to taking care of children.

Maybe he should have sent her to her room and told her there would be no food for her tonight? Would washing the dog just cause a bigger mess if the girl was given such a task? And what if he was too harsh on her, would she get too scared and just hide from him each time Otto was around? On the other hand, if he went too easy on her, she might think it was all right to do such silly things and become impossible to handle.

Otto sighed, wondering how on earth people usually coped with having small children around. "Gud förbannat, varför gjorde du måste ha ett svagt moment och få ett föräldralöst barn i ditt eget hem. Ni är vara smartare än att, Otto.. Om din golv är förstörda, så finns det ingen annan att skylla men dig själv och du vet det," Otto muttered, his frustration causing him to resort to the language he had mainly used as a child. In situations when Otto was angry or unsure of what to do, the language just seemed to come back to him without him even noticing.

He fetched a rag from the cleaning closet, walking over to the bar cabinet in the living room and searching for a suitable bottle of alcohol. He tried to choose a bottle that he figured he would not drink or offer to any guests anyway, so the loss would not be that great. As if dreading to witness the marks on his beautiful wooden floor, the Krimalkommissar turned around very slowly and set to work with a grimace.

It was a sight Otto was happy to have nobody witnessing, as the Gestapo officer in his neat suit was down on the floor on his knees, using the alcohol to gently rub off the ink from the polished floor. It was a good thing, too, that the floor was always almost religiously polished and cared for, as Otto was succesful in removing most of the stains from the floor. Small hints of the ink still remained in the spots where Heidi had tried to clean them off, but they were not really easy to notice unless you really looked for them.

His kneecaps and back aching, Otto finally straightened up and made his way back to the bathroom to see how Heidi was doing. The worst of his anger had already subsided and been replaced with exhaustion. Heidi certainly could not come up with anything much worse than this, anyway.


Translations:

"Sie lassen das Wasser überall im Fußboden fallen!"
"You are making the water drip all over the floor!"

"Sie kommen genau hier, junge Dame!"
"You come right here, young lady!"

"Jetzt, geben Sie mir das.."
"Now, give me that.."

"Was ist das irgendwie? Ist es Tinte? Wie in aller Welt bekamen Sie Tinte auf einem Hund?"
"What is this anyway? Is it ink? How on earth did you get ink on a dog?"

"Zuerst waschen Sie Ihre Hände gut mit der Seife. Nachdem Sie getan werden, mit dem Sie den ganzen Hund waschen können. Sie können eine kleine Seife, aber nicht zu viel verwenden. Ich will nicht eine andere Verwirrung im Badezimmer finden, verstehen Sie mich?"
"First you wash your hands well with soap. After you are done with that, you can wash the whole dog. You can use a little soap, but not too much. I don't want to find another mess in the bathroom, do you understand me?"

"Es gibt das Handtuch von Luger. Ich will einen sauberen Hund und ein ordentliches kleines Mädchen sehen, sobald ich getan werde, den Fußboden reinigend. Und Luger, setzen!"
"There's Luger's towel. I want to see a clean dog and a neat little girl once I'm done cleaning the floor. And Luger, sit!"

"Jetzt, wenn Sie irgendeine Hilfe brauchen, fragen. Ich werde gerade draußen... vielleicht sein ich kann noch die Fußböden sparen."
"Now, if you need any help, ask. I will be right outside... maybe I can still save the floors."

"Gud förbannat, varför gjorde du måste ha ett svagt moment och få ett föräldralöst barn i ditt eget hem. Ni är vara smartare än att, Otto.. Om din golv är förstörda, så finns det ingen annan att skylla men dig själv och du vet det."
"God damn it, why did you have to have a weak moment and bring an orphan child into your own home. You should be smarter than that, Otto.. If your floors are ruined, there's nobody else to blame but yourself and you know that."

[Heidi]

Translations:

"...Ja. Ich versuchte - " = ...Yes. I tried -

"Es tut mir leid, dass Luger - ich nicht vorhatte, du in Schwierigkeiten zu erhalten." = I'm sorry, Luger - I didn't mean to get you in trouble.

"Luger, nein! Kommen du im Kahn zurück!" = Luger, no! Get back in the tub!

"Luger, Badezeit. Jetzt." = Luger, bath time. Now.

"Du wollen die Seife? Du wollen die Seife, Luger?" = Do you want the soap? Do you want the soap, Luger?

"Gehen du bekommen es, Luger!" = Go get it, Luger!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


She tried to open her mouth to apologize, but as Herr Otto entered the bathroom and fought back Luger, all that came out was an airy, barely-audible squeak. Head hanging, Heidi shuffled across the still-clean part of the floor, not wanting to anger Herr Otto further. The stern man had gotten his point across, his order for her to come to him all that the girl needed. It seemed that, even though she had tried to be good and clean up the mess, she had just made things only worse.

Seeing Luger whine made Heidi's frown grow. His only crime was having a paw dipped in ink, and not liking it, and bolting away so Heidi couldn't paint more of his paws with it. But here he was now, the poor dog sitting in a slippery bathtub, his owner angry at him. Heidi wished Herr Otto wasn't so angry - if that had been the case, than Luger might have escaped being punished. Heidi looked up at Herr Otto, and began to say something again, but was cut off by the angry grown-up.

"Was ist das irgendwie? Ist es Tinte?" snapped Herr Otto.

"...Ja," Heidi squeaked.

"Wie in aller Welt bekamen Sie Tinte auf einem Hund?"

"...Ja. Ich versuchte - "

Heidi was not given a chance to finish, for Herr Otto immediately began barking off a series of orders. First, she was to clean up her inky, soapy fingers, and then, she was to wash Luger from head to toe - with no messes. Herr Otto then produced a large, brown towel from a small cabinet, turning afterward toward Heidi.

"Es gibt das Handtuch von Luger. Ich will einen sauberen Hund und ein ordentliches kleines Mädchen sehen, sobald ich getan werde, den Fußboden reinigend. Und Luger, setzen!"

Luger did as he was told, and the girl said quietly, "Ja, Herr Otto." She felt very small in the presence of the angry Herr Otto, and as soon as he left to clean the floors, Heidi closed the bathroom door as quickly as she could. If she accidentally did something wrong, she didn't want to make Herr Otto angrier than he already was. Besides, if Luger decided he didn't want his paws touched again, then he couldn't escape her, now could he?

Turning back around to face the dog, Heidi sighed at the look the Doberman was giving her. "Es tut mir leid, dass Luger - ich nicht vorhatte, du in Schwierigkeiten zu erhalten," the orphan said quietly, slowly walking over to the miserable looking dog. Taking a moment to see which way the knobs for hot and cold water turned, Heidi began to run the bath, but not before realizing she forgot to clean her hands. She went over to the sink, letting the tub fill -

"Luger, nein! Kommen du im Kahn zurück!" Heidi ordered, hands on her hips and with an angry look on her face. Luger, however, did no such thing; he just sat down on the floor, looking up at her. Heidi sighed irritably.

"Luger, Badezeit. Jetzt."

Still, the dog did not move. Heidi, as gently as she could, grabbed him by the collar, and attempted to pull him back over the bathtub. The dog resisted as best as he could, attempted to dig his claws into the floor, whining and pulling in the opposite direction. For several minutes, this went on, before Heidi decided to try shoving the dog into the bathtub. Once again, that didn't work.

And then, Heidi had an idea.

Walking over to the sink she grabbed the bar of soap, and clicked her tongue. Luger's ears perked up, and his eyes immediately fell upon the soap as Heidi waved it in front of his face.

"Du wollen die Seife?" asked Heidi in a cutesy tone. "Du wollen die Seife, Luger?"

The dog immediately went into a play bow, his stubby tail wagging furiously. The child gave a few mock throws to excite the animal, and then....

"Gehen du bekommen es, Luger!"

With a loud bark of joy, Luger jumped after the soap, landing in the bathwater with a loud SPLASH! Heidi threw her hands up out of reflex, but still was soaked from the waist down with water. She couldn't help but giggle as Luger furiously tried to "dig" into the warm water, the soap slipping and sliding away from him on the tub's floor.

[Otto Wolff]

A high-pitched and clear little girl's voice came from the bathroom, followed by a huge splash. Otto already had a frown on when he slowly opened the door, already dreading the scene that would unravel itself before his eyes. Heidi was dripping water, obviously due to Luger taking a huge leap into the filled bathtub. The dog was furiously pawing at the water and having a very fun game which also seemed to amuse the girl. Heidi was giggling, not really minding the fact that water had splashed all over her and also on the tiled floor.

The Kriminalkommissar's shoulders slumped and he watched the scene with increasing desperation. "Heidi! Das ist kein Weg einen Hund zu waschen, jetzt hat der Badezimmerboden Wasser überall darin!" Otto said sharply from the door, although the worst edge in his voice was already gone. Scrubbing the floors had taken a lot out of him and he could not just find it in himself to shout too badly at the girl anymore. It was, as always, apparent that if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. Grumbling something to himself, Otto removed his black suit jacket and placed it on a small coat hanger placed on the wall. Rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt, Otto glanced at the girl. "Wuschen Sie Ihre Hände noch nicht? Heidi..." Otto said, his voice so full of disappointment that it must have affected the girl somehow. Otto hoped that his disappointment would serve as a better punishment than just yelling at the child all the time.

It was just as Otto had thought earlier, it was his own fault giving such a task to the girl. Otto took off his tie and placed it in the coat hanger next to his jacket and glanced at Luger, who was now done with his hunting and looking over his shoulder at Otto. The dog seemed much happier with his bath after it had been spiced up with playing such a fun game and the dog licked drips of water from his chops. Luger had never hated water, in fact the Doberman loved swimming, it was just that he really disliked being washed. It was too bad that the animal could not understand Otto's annoyed expression. Spotting the soap through the water, Otto leaned in to fish it up, but the slippery bar eluded his fingers. Luger let out an excited snort and graciously tried to help his master in the task, the dog bringing both of it's front paws down on the bar of soap.

The force of the dog's attack sent water splashing around wildly and Otto closed his eyes for a moment just so that he would stay calm, trying to ignore the water dripping down his face and inside the collar of his shirt.

Otto had to put a lot of effort into keeping his temper in check and the man wiped the water from his face with his arm, sighing and glancing at Luger sharply. It would be very stupid of him loosing his temper because of a child and a dog, so he spent a few seconds calming down before continuing with his task. The man finally got hold of the bar of soap and set to washing Luger, the dog now folding his ears back with distaste. "Jetzt, wie war es dass Sie schafften Tinte auf der Tatze von Luger zu bekommen?" Otto asked again after he felt that the worst irritation had somewhat passed. "Langweilen sich Sie allein im Haus? Vielleicht sollte ich Sie finden etwas Produktiveres um zu tun. Ander als das bilden von Verwirrungen für mich um aufzuräumen."

Otto was trying to think of things that children of Heidi's age might find fun to do, but for the life of him he could not remember what he had done at that age himself. The only vivid things from his childhood all included his father yelling at him or hitting Otto or his sister, things which Otto did not really want to remember.

"Was taten Sie am Waisenhaus? Besuchen Sie in die Schule?" Otto asked, putting the soap away and letting the water out of the tub so that he could concentrate on rinsing the soap off the Doberman.


Translations:

"Heidi! Das ist kein Weg einen Hund zu waschen, jetzt hat der Badezimmerboden Wasser überall darin!"
"Heidi! That is no way to wash a dog, now the bathroom floor has water all over it!"

"Wuschen Sie Ihre Hände noch nicht? Heidi..."
"Didn't you wash your hands yet? Heidi..."

"Jetzt, wie war es dass Sie schafften Tinte auf der Tatze von Luger zu bekommen?"
"Now, how was it that you managed to get ink on Luger's paw?"

"Langweilen sich Sie allein im Haus? Vielleicht sollte ich Sie finden etwas Produktiveres um zu tun. Ander als das bilden von Verwirrungen für mich um aufzuräumen."
"Are you bored alone in the house? Maybe I should find you something more productive to do than making messes for me to clean up."

"Was taten Sie am Waisenhaus? Besuchen Sie in die Schule?"
"What did you do at the orphanage? Did you go to school?"

[Heidi]

Translations:

"Es tut mir leid, dass, Herr Otto." = I'm sorry, Herr Otto.

"Es war der einzige Weg, Luger in sein Bad zu bekommen... er würde für mich nicht kommen." = It was the only way to get Luger into his bath...he wouldn't come for me.

"Es gab Nonnen dort... sie unterrichteten uns viele Sachen, wie ungefähr Deutschland und einige Plätze weit weg, dass ich, und Mathematik, und das Alphabet, und alle unsere Wörter, und irgendetwas wie das vergesse." = There were nuns there...they taught us lots of things, like about Germany and some places far away that I forget, and math, and the alphabet, and all our words, and anything like that.

"...Und ich hatte eine Schleuder. Es war eine sehr gute Schleuder auch; es schützte mich vor allen Rabauken. Ich pflegte, alte Dosen damit zu schlagen, und ich konnte sie von weit weg schlagen - so, ich denke, dass es weit weg war." = ...And I had a slingshot. It was a very good slingshot, too; it protected me from all the bullies. I used to hit old tins with it, and I could hit them from far away - well, I think it was far away.

"Und ich wollte gerade den... ehrlichen Tatze-Druck von Luger. Ich versuchte, es wegzuwischen, aber er wollte mich nicht, seine Tatzen mehr berührend, und lief davon." = And I just wanted Luger's paw print...honest. I tried to wipe it off, but he didn't want me touching his paws anymore, and ran away.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


The girl's giggling ceased as Herr Otto's harsh voice cut through the air. Her head immediately turned sideways, and she blinked, feeling her face warm at the sight of the man's piercing eyes. She shied back a little, having not realized the mess she was making after convincing Luger to get into the bathtub. It was slowly getting worse as Luger continued to try and get the bar of soap from beneath the bathwater.

"Es tut mir leid, dass, Herr Otto," said the young girl quietly, her head dipping submissively once more. "Es war der einzige Weg, Luger in sein Bad zu bekommen... er würde für mich nicht kommen."

Herr Otto then remarked about how the girl had not even washed her hands. Shrinking down again, Heidi felt a small twinge of frustration; she was going to, but the dog had to get in his bath first! She hadn't been trying to make a mess in the first place; only bad children did that! And she wasn't a bad girl - she wasn't, she wasn't, she wasn't!

The girl merely stepped aside as Herr Otto began to clean Luger, pouting. She bit back her laughter as Luger splashed Herr Otto, seeing the man tense up, sensing the harsh temper within. Not wanting to be struck, or making things worse, she remained silent, only speaking up when Herr Otto asked, "Jetzt, wie war es dass Sie schafften Tinte auf der Tatze von Luger zu bekommen? Langweilen sich Sie allein im Haus? Vielleicht sollte ich Sie finden etwas Produktiveres um zu tun. Ander als das bilden von Verwirrungen für mich um aufzuräumen."

Yes, she had been bored, but not as bored as Herr Otto made it sound. The girl was quite content just staring out her room's window, humming old church hymns and various other songs as she sat on her bed. She even sometimes swung her legs back and forth, to keep a sense of rhythm. And, Herr Otto didn't know she still had her old journal, the one Doctor Strumfelder had given her when she was still with him. Heidi didn't know why she had kept it; all she knew was that, before leaving the doctor's wardrobe that last time, she didn't want to leave the little book behind.

"Was taten Sie am Waisenhaus? Besuchen Sie in die Schule?" Herr Otto asked, draining the tub as a soapy, impatient Luger stood before him. Heidi blinked, surprised, tilting her head slightly; hardly anyone had asked her about Heiliges Peter's-Hafen, the orphanage named poorly in German because its founder was not from Germany. Why would Herr Otto want to know about it? It was gone now, and the only people it had been important to were its children and nuns.

"...Ja," Heidi replied with some hesitation. "Es gab Nonnen dort... sie unterrichteten uns viele Sachen, wie ungefähr Deutschland und einige Plätze weit weg, dass ich, und Mathematik, und das Alphabet, und alle unsere Wörter, und irgendetwas wie das vergesse."

Heidi then went quiet for a moment, thinking back to her years in the orphanage.

"...Und ich hatte eine Schleuder. Es war eine sehr gute Schleuder auch; es schützte mich vor allen Rabauken. Ich pflegte, alte Dosen damit zu schlagen, und ich konnte sie von weit weg schlagen - so, ich denke, dass es weit weg war."

She then gave Herr Otto a pair of sad eyes, her frown coming back.

"Und ich wollte gerade den... ehrlichen Tatze-Druck von Luger. Ich versuchte, es wegzuwischen, aber er wollte mich nicht, seine Tatzen mehr berührend, und lief davon."

[Otto Wolff]

While Luger was being rinsed of the soap by Otto, Heidi stood meekly aside, answering the Kriminalkommissar's questions. The man glanced at the raven-haired girl every now and then, picking up the brown towel reserved for Luger to dry the dog's coat. Heidi told him that she had been taught many things while at the orphanage and Otto nodded approvingly. It was too bad that the girl could not attend school right now, Heidi was at the age where her young mind would absorb new things efficiently. He did of course realize that he could not keep the girl at his house forever and she needed a better place to stay. Right now Otto did not want to worry about it too much, he had enough on his mind already.

Otto quietly urged Luger to jump out of the bathtub. The dog was more than happy to comply and he landed on the tiled floor so fast that he almost tumbled over on the slippery surface. Before Otto could stop the animal, the dog had already gone into the process of shaking every drop of water from his coat. Otto shielded himself with his arms and let out a groan. Luger's tongue poked out happily and the dog squinted his eyes, clearly ecstatic that he had survived the horrible ordeal of being washed. "Das war auf Sie sehr nachdenklich, Luger," Otto said with a sigh, he was done being angry for today already.

"...Und ich hatte eine Schleuder. Es war eine sehr gute Schleuder auch; es schützte mich vor allen Rabauken. Ich pflegte, alte Dosen damit zu schlagen, und ich konnte sie von weit weg schlagen - so, ich denke, dass es weit weg war," Heidi said and Otto arched an eyebrow at her.

"Rabauken? Jetzt warum würde jemand ein nettes und hübsches Mädchen wie Sie, Heidi aufziehen?" Otto asked and leaned down to rub the remaining water from the dog's coat with the brown towel. "Ich wettete, ob Luger dort gewesen war, hätten die Rabauken irgendwo in der Nähe von Ihnen nicht aufgetreten, der ist nicht richtig, Luger?" the man asked the dog and the Doberman answered with a mixture of a growl and yawn.

"Und ich wollte gerade den... ehrlichen Tatze-Druck von Luger. Ich versuchte, es wegzuwischen, aber er wollte mich nicht, seine Tatzen mehr berührend, und lief davon," the girl explained and Otto regarded the child with a look that was mixture of disbelief and slight amusement.

He was about to ask what on earth Heidi would have done with Luger's paw print, but realized that children did not really need any reasons other than being curious about something. It would have been interesting to still posses that same youthful curiousness of the world around you, although maybe Otto still would not have exchanged that with all the wisdom one came to possess over age. "So, ich hoffe, dass Sie bekamen, was Sie wollten, seitdem es wirklich mit mir endete, den grössten Teil der Verwirrung aufräumend." Otto straightened up and hanged the towel up to dry while Luger was fussing around energetically.

"Waschen Sie jetzt Ihre Hände und Änderung in die trockene Kleidung, wenn Sie dazu brauchen. Dann kommen Sie zum Wohnzimmer, und bis dahin werde ich an etwas Nützlicheres für Sie gedacht haben, um zu tun. Luger, herankommen. Gehen Sie zu Ihrem Bett, Sie riechen nach dem nassen Hund," Otto motioned towards the door with his hand and the dog trotted from the bathroom with a rap of his claws.

Otto did not even bother to dry the bathroom floor or to take his jacket and tie with him, nor did he care about the water Luger had nearly drenched him with. He just headed off into the living room, wearing his black suit trousers, white shirt and pair of dark suspenders, feeling more exhausted than after a full day at work. His back was aching and he felt somewhat emotionally drained, he didn't remember when was the last time when he had actually yelled at someone. Luger curled up into his dog bed in the living room, the worn and chewed-up bed not really fitting in with the rest of the luxurious room.

Part of Otto's book collection resided on the shelves of the grand bookcase in the living room, the other part Otto had stored in his study. A few records and some of the sheet music Otto had been through lately, well actually it had been some time ago now, were neatly stacked on one of the shelves. Another shelf was reserved for photographs, most of them were memories of the Great War and there was only one family photograph featuring Otto and Zelda at their wedding.

The beautiful vintage piano took up a whole corner of the room and Otto made sure that the piano was always well taken care off. It was one of his most treasured possessions and he had gone to great lengths to get it delivered from München to Berlin safely. All the paintings on the wall featured animals or landscapes, Otto only enjoyed art that actually portrayed something he could understand, he did not care much for anything abstract. The old gramophone had been set on a small end table next to one of the walls, all of the musical items only serving to remind Otto of how little spare time he had for the things which he truly enjoyed.

The bar cabinet, coffee table, a huge brown leather sofa and the chairs that matched it finished the regal and expensive look of the living room. It was too bad that he did not have more time to indulge in the comfort of the living room, since most of Otto's time was spent in his study these days. With a sigh, the man stopped near the bookcase and eyed through the old, leather bound tomes in search of something fitting for a little girl. Many of the books had something to do with history, but Otto was not sure if Heidi would have any interest in such things. His eyes almost skipped over a familiar worn-out book, but the man glanced at the tome again and felt his heart slump down.

Gently picking up the thick red book with beautiful golden gilding on the edges of the pages and the title of the book, Otto turned it around and stared at the cover, his fingers running over the title text. It was 'Aesop's Fables', a book his son had loved when Otto had still been living with his former family in München. Otto remembered how he had heard Ilsa reading the book to their son before the boy had finally fallen asleep to her voice. The book was decorated with colourful pictures of the heroes and villains of the book, the loyal dog and the crafty fox, the wily wolf and the magnificent lion, all of them brought alive in images that little Johann had stared at for hours to an end.

He was not sure how the book had ended up here, most likely it had been just thrown in with rest of the books Otto had taken with him after the divorce. For a moment Otto was just ready to push the book back into the shelf, but he decided otherwise. This was no time to feel guilty and sorry for oneself, Heidi would certainly enjoy the book and find as much joy in it as Johann had.

Clearing his throat, Otto turned around and waited for Heidi to arrive in the living room, before presenting the old book to her. "Wenn Sie gern lesen, könnten Sie das mögen," Otto said all too quickly, he had to work very hard to keep his voice steady.


Translations:

"Das war auf Sie sehr nachdenklich, Luger."
"That was very thoughtful of you, Luger."

"Rabauken? Jetzt warum würde jemand ein nettes und hübsches Mädchen wie Sie, Heidi aufziehen?"
"Bullies? Now why would someone tease a nice and pretty girl such as you, Heidi?"

"Ich wettete, ob Luger dort gewesen war, hätten die Rabauken irgendwo in der Nähe von Ihnen nicht aufgetreten, der ist nicht richtig, Luger?"
"I bet if Luger had been there, the bullies would have not set their foot anywhere near you, isn't that right, Luger?"

"So, ich hoffe, dass Sie bekamen, was Sie wollten, seitdem es wirklich mit mir endete, den grössten Teil der Verwirrung aufräumend."
"Well, I hope you got what you wanted since it did end up with me cleaning up most of the mess."

"Waschen Sie jetzt Ihre Hände und Änderung in die trockene Kleidung, wenn Sie dazu brauchen. Dann kommen Sie zum Wohnzimmer, und bis dahin werde ich an etwas Nützlicheres für Sie gedacht haben, um zu tun. Luger, herankommen. Gehen Sie zu Ihrem Bett, Sie riechen nach dem nassen Hund."
"Now wash your hands and change into dry clothes if you need to. Then come to the living room and by then I will have thought of something more useful for you to do. Luger, come on. Go to your bed, you smell of wet dog."

"Wenn Sie gern lesen, könnten Sie das mögen."
"If you like reading, you might like this."

[Heidi]

Translations:

"Viele Kinder entschieden sich. Es gab sehr traurige Kinder, und sehr böse Kinder auch; die Nonnen pflegten, deshalb zu sagen, dass sie andere verletzen. Jeder wollte eine Mutter und Vater - ich weiß wirklich nicht, warum, weil ich nie eine Mutter oder Vater hatte, und ich fein bin." = A lot of children picked on each other. There were very sad children, and very angry children, too; the nuns used to say that's why they hurt the others. Everyone wanted a mother and father - I don't know really why, because I never had a mother or father, and I'm fine.

"Ich bin nicht ein schlechtes Mädchen - ich, bin Herr Otto gut! Ich war dabei, es zu reinigen! Ich sagte Ihnen, dass, und ich nicht lügen würde, weil nur schlechte kleine Mädchen lügen!" = I'm not a bad girl - I'm good, Herr Otto! I was going to clean it up! I told you that, and I wouldn't lie, because only bad little girls lie!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Heidi shrugged in response to Herr Otto's question about the bullies. "Viele Kinder entschieden sich. Es gab sehr traurige Kinder, und sehr böse Kinder auch; die Nonnen pflegten, deshalb zu sagen, dass sie andere verletzen. Jeder wollte eine Mutter und Vater - ich weiß wirklich nicht, warum, weil ich nie eine Mutter oder Vater hatte, und ich fein bin."

She couldn't help but smile a little at Luger's growl-yawn; it seemed he was quite a silly dog, maybe too silly for his owner at times. Herr Otto was right, Luger would have been good company at the orphanage. The dog would've probably protected the children and nuns from the Nazis, and the bullies wouldn't have picked on Heidi so much. Heidi hoped she would meet more dogs like Luger; the few she had met during her times of homelessness were mean, loud, and hungry. A lot of them had looked like Herr Otto's Doberman, but were bigger, and had thicker jaws that looked like they could gobble a little girl up in ten seconds.

As soon as Herr Otto said he hoped the girl had gotten what she wanted, the girl couldn't help but scowl indignantly. Crossing her arms angrily, she cried, "Ich bin nicht ein schlechtes Mädchen - ich, bin Herr Otto gut! Ich war dabei, es zu reinigen! Ich sagte Ihnen, dass, und ich nicht lügen würde, weil nur schlechte kleine Mädchen lügen!" Herr Otto, however, seemed too tired to acknowledge this, and instead told his charge to wash up and get some dry clothes on. Heidi's face immediately went blank - where was she to find some other clothes? What she was wearing was all she had taken from Doctor Strumfelder!

There was no point in arguing now, however. She walked over to the sink, washing her now-scummy hands, the ink and soap caked on in thin, web-like patterns. Afterward, the girl searched the bathroom for a towel, but had no such luck; she then remembered the cabinet Herr Otto had pulled Luger's towel from. It was a little too tall for her, so she stood on top of the toilet to reach it, searching it for the much-needed towel. A soft, pale green one was chosen, and Heidi went to work, drying herself off as best as she could.

Almost a half-hour later, smelling somewhat like Luger and with her clothes more damp than anything, Heidi walked out to the living room. It was a bit chilly, so she pulled her arms close to keep warm. Herr Otto had paused before a tall bookshelf, as if hesitating, looking at some book or another that had caught his attention. Slowly, he withdrew that book, and turned to Heidi, presenting it to her.

"Wenn Sie gern lesen, könnten Sie das mögen," said he. Heidi blinked curiously, her mouth forming a little "o" as she took a moment to look at the book. Its crimson cover was decorated with gold print, and it despite being worn and somewhat dusty, it had a slight shine to it. Herr Otto's face seemed to be slightly tight in its presence, and Heidi took the thing from him, leafing through the first few pages with wonder in her eyes.

"Aye...sss...sop-puh...Vuh...bills," she slowly pronounced, the title heavy and foreign on her tongue. Not even bothering to sit down, she leafed through another few pages, completely entranced by the book.

[Otto Wolff]

The girl arrived into the living room still wearing her old clothes and Otto frowned slightly. Heidi was supposed to have new clothes, he had specifically told Elise to go and buy some. He had done that just yesterday... hadn't he? Suddenly Otto was not so sure anymore and he stifled a tired sigh. What was up with all this forgetting things these days, anyway? Brenner would have said it was because Otto was growing old, to which Otto would have most likely responded with a sarcastic insult. It was certainly not his age, it was just this amount of work and lack of free time that was making his mind all muddled. He had been working so hard for years without any reprieve at all, it wasn't a wonder if all the work was finally getting to him. Just a few days off work would have surely made him feel better, but with the way things were these days, that wasn't very likely to happen.

Heidi could not walk around in the same clothes for days to an end and Otto tried to make a more effective mental note of telling Elise to go shopping for clothes. The small girl accepted the book Otto was offering her and stared at the old tome, her mouth slightly open and eyes wide with wonder. Her slow pronunciation of the letters on the cover caused Otto to smile and the man nodded. "Sie können es behalten," he told the girl.

There were too many unwelcome emotions tied to that book and for some reason Otto felt that if the girl would enjoy reading the book, it would make him feel better about the past. It was of course a ridiculous idea, but Otto didn't want the book in his shelf anymore. "Es gehörte... jemandem," Otto almost mentioned his son, but quickly decided against it. "Aber er wird alles jetzt aufgewachsen und im Buch mehr nicht interessiert."

As Otto looked at the child with her new book, he felt sorry for the little girl. He had gone and yelled at her just earlier, even when the girl had been trying to clean up the mess. It had been a silly idea of her to try and get a paw print from the dog, but children did not always think as far as to the possibilities of what might happen. She must have had hard enough time being thrown into middle of strange people and the thought made Otto frown, he could have been at least slightly friendlier towards her.

An almost outlandish idea popped up in Otto's mind as he looked at Heidi with her new book. "Ich konnte eine Geschichte für Sie lesen?" the man suggested and felt suddenly very awkward for even suggesting such a thing. Who was he trying to fool? He didn't know how to take care of children much less than read stories to them. In fact, most children were afraid of him, although he guessed that he realized that made an special effort to appear imposing to others the minute he stepped out of the door. It just seemed to come to him automatically.

So as not to change his mind, Otto gently took the book from the girl and proceeded to sit on the leather couch, making sure that he sat on the opposite side of the couch so that Heidi could stay as far away from him as she felt safe. Otto had never read a book to a child and he didn't know if he could tell a story in a way that a child would find acceptable. The thought made him nervous and he leafed through the book in an overly determined manner, as if to convince himself that if he could work as a Kriminalkommissar, he surely could overcome such an easy task as reading a story to a child. "Recht.. Hier ist es," Otto said, clearing his throat and glancing at Heidi to see if she was listening.

"Sobald ein Fuchs im Wald spazieren ging und er eine Krähe sah mit einem Stück von Käse in seinem Schnabel wegfliegen," Otto started and paused to sigh quietly. This was very unlike him and made him feel uncomfortable. If Heidi did not like hearing stories or Otto told the story in a wrong way, he would have made himself appear ridiculous for nothing. Still, he had started reading and it was too late to back out now. His eyes searched for the right line again and he continued with telling the story, no matter what the consequences. Otto's voice was low and steady, even somewhat pleasant and calming to listen to when he was not yelling angrily or giving out orders. "Der Fuchs folgte der Krähe und überkam den Vogel, der auf einem Zweig eines Baums sitzt. Der Fuchs, der an der Krähe nachgeschlagen ist, und sagte; 'Guter Tag Fräulein Crow. Sie sehen ziemlich schön heute aus.' Aber die Krähe würde nicht natürlich antworten, weil sie noch den Käse in ihrem Schnabel hatte. Der Fuchs gab nicht auf und beglückwünschte wieder den Vogel. 'Ich frage mich, ob solch ein schöner Vogel solcher als sich selbst eine Stimme hat, um diejenigen zu vergleichen, die Federn polieren. Ihr Singen muss sicher erstaunlich sein, um zu hören.' Der Krähe wurde sehr geschmeichelt und öffnete ihren Mund, um den Fuchs zu zeigen, was eine schöne Stimme sie hatte. Dabei fiel der Käse von ihrem Schnabel, und der Fuchs war schnell, um es aufzuessen. Nach der guten Mahlzeit blickte der Fuchs auf die Krähe wieder auf und sagte: 'Als Entgelt für das Essen werde ich Ihnen einen Ratschlag geben. Vertrauen Sie Schmeichlern nicht.' "

Otto glanced carefully at Heidi again to see if she had liked the story, wondering if he was far too anxious over such a small thing. He turned the book around to give it to Heidi and show her the colourful picture of the fox with his beautiful red coat and the vain black crow sitting in a tree, the bird still holding the cheese in her beak. "Also... das Buch hat mehr Geschichten viel wie das. Und viele Bilder, auch, bin ich überzeugt, dass Sie es mögen werden. Es ist jetzt Ihr Buch irgendwie."


Translations:

"Sie können es behalten."
"You can keep it."

"Es gehörte... jemandem."
"It belonged to... someone."

"Aber er wird alles jetzt aufgewachsen und im Buch mehr nicht interessiert."
"But he is all grown up now and not interested in the book anymore."

"Ich konnte eine Geschichte für Sie lesen?"
"I could read a story for you?"

"Recht.. Hier ist es."
"Right.. Here it is."

"Sobald ein Fuchs im Wald spazieren ging und er eine Krähe sah mit einem Stück von Käse in seinem Schnabel wegfliegen..."
"Once a fox was walking in the forest and he saw a crow flying away with a piece of cheese in her beak."

"Der Fuchs folgte der Krähe und überkam den Vogel.."
"The fox followed the crow and came upon the bird sitting on a branch of a tree. The fox looked up at the crow and said; 'Good day mistress Crow. You are looking quite beautiful today.' But the crow would not of course answer because she still had the cheese in her beak. The fox did not give up and again complimented the bird. 'I wonder if such a beautiful bird such as yourself has a voice to match those shining feathers. Your singing certainly must be wondrous to hear.' The crow was very flattered and opened her mouth to show the fox what a beautiful voice she had. In doing so, the cheese fell from her beak and the fox was quick to eat it up. After the good meal, the fox looked up at the crow again and said; 'In exchange for the food I will give you a piece of advice. Do not trust flatterers.' "

"Also... das Buch hat mehr Geschichten viel wie das. Und viele Bilder, auch, bin ich überzeugt, dass Sie es mögen werden. Es ist jetzt Ihr Buch irgendwie."
"Well... the book has more stories much like this. And a lot of pictures, also, I'm sure you will like it. It is now your book, anyway."

[Daniel Brennan]

Mod post

One Swallow doesn't make it Summer!

CP:
Otto Wolff: 9CP

Heidi: 7CP


~Dan