After the ambush
For sometime after the ambush in the park, we kept our outings in town strictly to the necessities of my work, which meant only two or three brief visits a week, in the morning. I went to the dojo, just before meeting my students, when few people trained. Inga was a little subdued, and seemed to need to sleep longer. It was now too cold to stay outdoors at night, at least without shelter, but we spent some time in the woods in the late afternoon, talking, writing, and loving. We could carry on cycling until the ground got frozen and the snow fell, and we had an open invitation from both Ewa and Marco to come and stay at their farms whenever we wanted. We had long talks with them, about the country, about the wolves, and about my work. More than ever I felt protective of Inga, which did not escape Ewa’s attention.
Hans’ story
We continued to write down Hans’ story, and passed on our notes to Ewa and Marco. Hans, had been, on his return from captivity in the East, we thought in late 1947, a semi recluse, a very secretive person. His wife, Marlene, Inga’s great-grand mother, was then the only contact with the rest of the family. They had left the ancestral home, east of the Oder, and bought a small property in Brandenburg, close to what was now Ewa’s farm, and much smaller. The family had little money, as they had lost their main assets in what was now Poland. Three years later, their son was born, Hans II, Inga’s grand father, who soon, after leaving school, worked on the family’s farm, and was later very successful in developing their property. He appeared to have been a keen supporter of the new Republic, after the creation of the DDR.
Henrietta
Aged twenty, after his father’s death, Hans II had married the daughter of a neighbour, Henrietta, which made Marlene very happy. Ewa and Sonja, Inga’s mother, were born in the following three years. Sonja later married Albrecht, a farmer who’d been an officer in the Volks Armee. Inga was born a little later. Sonja and Albrecht, and little Inga, lived happily until the tragic accident that killed them both. The fire had been caused by lightning, and they died the victims of a faulty fire alarm that should have woken them up. Little Inga had been staying at her aunt’s at the time. The spell on the family had been recorded by Marlene, who had kept a diary during and after the war. Then, Henrietta had somehow kept the diary together with notes she had written from conversations with Marlene. This had been saved from the ruins of Sonja’s and Albrecht’s home by Ewa.
Story of the spell
I asked Inga if her grand parents were still alive, she said they were, but since the death of her Mum, had not communicated much with the family, that is Ewa, and her, their grand daughter. I tried to convince her to go and visit them. Inga reflected, and said she wanted to talk again with her aunt first. The story of the spell intrigued me, but I could wait. The rainy season was upon us, we spent happy hours at home, working on the thesis, the archives we had collected from Marco, and making slow, endless love. Inga, half asleep, was feeding on me, but I was not aware of it until I woke up the following day, and felt the small bite. Strangely, I loved her more so, as it showed how she possessed me, totally.
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