Dealing with the war
Sitting beside a window in her Mansion in Salzburg, Austria, Maria had missed Georg, her husband, who had been forced to join Hitler's army. The family had tried to reach Switzerland by climbing the Alps on foot, but they did not make it as Maria was pregnant with Georg's baby and got tired easily. German Nazi officers had caught up with the Von Trapp's and forced Captain Georg Von Trapp to join the army as he was required to do so by the third Reich. Georg was given to option of either joining the army, or having his family killed. Even though Georg did not agree with Hitler's views, he joined the army to keep his family safe.
Five years later, as Maria was looking out her window, she spotted the flower garden that she was growing, and in it was a beautiful white flower blossoming. It was known as Edelweiss. Once she saw it, she had a flashback memory of happier times when she was still the governess to Georg's seven children. She remembered that night when she first heard him sing the song "Edelweiss" and remembered that that was when she began having feelings for him.
"Mother! Mother!" Maria's thoughts were interrupted when her four year old daughter, Emmalina, ran into the living room and tugged at her dress.
"What is it Emmalina?" Maria asked her daughter playfully.
"Gretel is crying in her room," Emmalina reported to her mother.
Maria sighed, she knew this was not easy on the eight children. Twenty- one year old Leisl and nineteen year old Freidrich were old enough now to understand what was going on. Being the two eldest children in the family, they had to put on their brave faces and try to reassure their brother and sisters that everything would be alright and that their father will return form the war eventually. Eighteen year old Louisa was old enough to handle such circumstances, but was just too emotional to deal with it. She wasn't much help because every time someone saw her cry, they knew that everything was not okay. Sixteen year old Kurt joined Leisl and Freidrich in consoling the others as he wanted to prove to everyone that he was a grown man. Fifteen year old Brigitta tried to help her younger sisters by playing with them and trying to take their mind off of their troubled questions. Twelve year old Marta was quitter than usual ever since her father had been captured. Ten year old Gretel was full of questions that no one knew how to answer without upsetting her, questions like, "Is father alright?" or, "When is he coming back here? Doesn't he miss us and doesn't he want to live in Salzburg?"
The children were always on Maria's mind. Although Leisl, Freidrich and Kurt were putting on their brave faces and acting as if nothing was wrong, she knew that there was something bothering them. As she walked through the long white hallway and up the white winding stairs to Gretel's room, she was going through ideas of how to console Gretel in her mind, when she reached the room however; she found Leisl and Gretel playing a board game. Gretel did not notice her step- mother come into the room, but Leisl did. "She's fine, I just talked to her and comforted her," Leisl mouthed out to Maria.
When Maria left the room and closed the door behind her, she ran into Brigitta and Louisa. The two were just walking around the yard outside. Frozen by the harsh January climate, they decided to go back inside and get warmed up.
"Where's Emmalina?" Louisa asked Maria, "I'm really hungry, and I'm sure that Leisl, Freidrich. Kurt, Brigitta, Marta and Gretel are also, but I'm not so sure about Emmalina, do you know where she is?"
"I think that she is downstairs in the living room. Dinner is going to be ready soon." Maria explained to Louisa. "Brigitta, can I talk to you for a minute?" Maria asked as she pulled Brigitta aside. "Leisl and Gretel are playing a board game and I think that Marta is sitting alone in her room again. Can you and Louisa try to get Marta out of her room and to join you in the board game while I prepare dinner?" Maria asked.
"Sure, it would probably help by taking everyone's mind off things at the moment," Brigitta replied
As Maria went down to prepare dinner, she saw her neighbour Eva Schmidt coming out of her villa. The minute that Maria spotted her, she sensed that something was wrong. Maria went out to ask Eva if everything was okay.
"Eva, is everything alright?" Maria asked Eva, whose eyes began welling up with tears.
"I'm afraid not love," Eva struggled her reply.
"Well, what's wrong?" Maria asked Eva worriedly.
"I'm afraid that I have heard some bad news from the war front in Berlin," Eva replied.
Knowing that Eva's husband was also in the war, Maria immediately went up to her and hugged her. "Everything will be alright Eva. You must miss your husband very much, but I just want you to know that we are always going to be right next door if you ever need us."
This baffled Eva, "What are you talking about Maria? It is not my husband, but yours that I am talking about."
Maria immediately realized her mistake. Stunned, she stood there frozen for ten minutes until she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around and standing behind her were Freidrich and Kurt.
"Are you alright Mother?" Kurt asked Maria, "What's wrong?"
"I'll tell you with everyone else inside," Maria responded gloomily as she ushered the boys inside the house.
When she got the courage to reveal this tragic news to the family, she finished cooking their dinner and called them all downstairs to the dining room. Sitting down at the head of the table and watching her eight children sit down at the same table that they had sat on just five years ago when, Maria was still a governess, brought back so many nice memories of the captain.
The family had started eating, and half way through dinner, Kurt asked Maria, "Mother, why were you outside in the cold for so long. You were just staring off into space. Are you okay? Did you hear any news about father? What happened?"
Maria though for about five minutes before answering Kurt's questions. "Well," began Maria, "I've heard some tragic news form Eva. She told me that she had heard some awful news from Berlin. I'm afraid your father didn't make it through the war. He was terribly wounded and he did not survive it." Maria finished off tearfully.
"What?" asked Brigitta.
"That can't be true," Leisl stated in denial
"When someone dies in a war, the wives don't hear it from a next door neighbour, they hear it from a messenger with a telegram," Louisa had reported, having known this from friends at school who had lost their father's from the war.
"Does that mean that we will never see father" Gretel asked Maria worriedly
"I will never meet my father?" Emmalina asked worriedly as she was born after Captain Von Trapp had been captured.
"I know that this is really hard to deal with, and I know that you don't want to believe it, but we can't change the past. We will have to keep living for the future and to create a new life for our family here in Austria without your father." Maria told her children.
Dinner continued very quietly as sniffles and tears went around the table. Everyone's head was kept down and no one really felt hungry anymore, so they all left the dinner table. No one said a word to anyone for the rest of the night. Everyone just stayed in their rooms crying over their loss.
That night, Maria lied on her bed waiting for sleep to come to her, but it never did all she thought about was her husband. He didn't want this to happen and knew that nothing in the family would ever be the same again. The house that was once filled with fun, music and laughter would now be filled with sad tears and gloominess. As Maria was trying to get to sleep, she thought that she had heard some footsteps going down the stairs and opening the door. She then decided that it was just her imagination playing tricks on her, and that all of the children were safe in their beds.
The sleep that she had been craving for finally did come to her at around 4 in the morning. She slept for a good three hours and was woken up by a scream. Scared, Maria jumped straight out of her bed and ran to the room where the scream was coming from. It was in Leisl's room and Maria found Gretel screaming, but Gretel wouldn't tell her why. She saw Gretel holding a piece of paper that looked like a letter. Maria took the letter from her young daughter's hands and finally found out why Gretel was screaming.
Dear Family,
By the time you read this letter, Louisa Brigitta and I would probably to well on our journey to find father. We don't think that he has died and went off to find out the truth. We will be walking to Berlin, on foot which may take a long time, so please do not worry about us. If father is alive, we are going to bring him back with us here to Salzburg no matter what anyone says.
Yours Truly,
Leisl Von Trapp
When Maria finished reading the letter, she was speechless. What if something happened to the girls and there was no one to help them? What if they never returned? What if they went to Berlin and found out that their father had really died? Maria took the blame on herself as she remembered that night how she heard the footsteps going down the stairs; she now knew that it was Louisa, Brigitta and Leisl.
That morning at breakfast, she was really worried about telling them that their sisters have left the house because she thought that it was too much for them to handle.
"Your sisters have gone off looking for your father. They think that he is still alive and they want to bring him back home. They have set off for Berlin on foot and even left us a letter," Maria stated as the passed the letter all around the table.
Freidrich and Kurt were a big help to Maria as they helped Marta, Gretel and Emmalina handle the news and deal with the hardships that the war has placed upon them. Maria grew very tense and worried every day waiting to hear form Leisl, Louisa or Brigitta, but hearing nothing. This happened for four months. No one really talked to anyone else in the family except at meal times.
One morning in April, Maria decided to take the children skiing on the Alps. The children were more than happy to do so and so they all agreed to go skiing and take their mind of their troubles for a while. While Maria was going up on the lifts, she saw the bear naked trees whose leaves have fluttered off. They may have looked like ordinary trees to anyone else, but to Maria, the branches of the trees looked like fingers being pointed at her and accusing her for letting her three daughters to go on such a dangerous task. Maria snapped out of her fantasy world when she heard a cry. Not a cry of sadness of pain, but a cry of hope. She saw Freidrich at the top of the slope yelling to Maria. It took Maria a while to find out what Freidrich was trying to say, but as she got closer, she understood more.
"Mother, Mother! There are three girls and a man climbing the Alps! I'm going to go and ask them if they had seen or heard anything about Leisl, Louisa, Brigitta or father." Freidrich exclaimed.
Maria was ever so anxious now to find out who the strangers were. She stood at the top of the slope with Kurt, Marta, Gretel and Emmalina, watching Freidrich running down the slope to meet the travelers. As Freidrich got close enough to recognise the weary travelers, he exclaimed to Maria, "It's them! It's them! They've retuned with father safely!"
Maria was overwhelmed with joy to see her three daughters and her husband again. Turns out that what Eva and said was just a rumour. The Von Trapp house was filled with song, laughter and merriment once again. Everyone was thrilled to bits to have the captain back, especially Emmalina who had finally met her father for the first time in her life. Georg spoiled his daughter and made sure that she was always happy. The Von Trapp family went back to living the happy life that they had lived five years ago.