A Portrait of a Prussian in Edmonton
6:30. Got up and made pancakes. That was how his day began.
When Gilbert looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, his own reflection told him with a broad grin, "Ich bin toll!" All he saw in the mirror was a pale-skinned and silver-haired young man at the age of around 25, 178cm tall, slim body but with well-defined muscles. He appreciated his own appearance very much. Despite his daily narcissism, nobody could associate such a joyful and good looking young man with inferiority complex. But that was true. When he was a small child in the Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem, Gilbert had the feeling of inferiority for being an albino. He was afraid of being made fun of by other boys, so he spent a whole year to hide himself in the basement, refusing people. When he grew older, he realised he could not keep on living like this forever. Although he would never change the colour of his purple-red eyes by wearing blue contact lenses or change the colour of his hair by dying blonde, he could change his attitude towards life. He began to admire his own body, if not be infatuated with. In his spare time, he loved shooting videos of himself, and then uploaded them on Youtube. There were generally more than 1,000 views of each of his video, but only less than 10 comments made. He loved comments so much, and replied to each of them with deliberately-hidden pride and joy.
No matter how much Gilbert was obsessed with his own reflection, he never lost track of time. Every morning after ten minutes of doing the same thing in the bathroom, he would reach the kitchen in time. The kitchen was very neat and tidy. There were recipes of desserts stick on the refrigerator, with details of the amount of each ingredient. He had scales in the kitchen, too, but he was not going to use any for making pancakes. However, maple syrup was a must, and that was perhaps one of the reasons why he moved to Canada from Germany three years ago.
"What the heck is that! A German shepherd dog was killed in action, Sheiße!" When he read a piece of news on Metrowhile drinking coffee at the table, he cursed. His language was vulgar sometimes, but his German accent made his English sound mellow and well-educated. Showing concern to his master, another German shepherd dog came to smell Gilbert's legs. This dog was called Daster, his only living company in this big house nearby the River Valley. Walking Daster along the trail of the River Valley was his favourite sport besides quading in the Rocky Mountains. Now the brown woods along the river were quiet. Perhaps the squirrels all curled into balls to hibernate under the ground, Gilbert thought. He loved observation and knew the nature well. Last weekend when he was strolling alone among the woods in Elk National Park, he would stop and listen to any possible sound from time to time. Sometimes he heard squirrels making strange noise, and sometimes he could tell it was a coyote howling in the distant mountain. Usually, people would find out a beaver dam by tracing the lake bank, but he would firstly observe the tree trunks gnawed by the beavers. These lonely woods reminded him of Schwarzwald, an ancient forest in southwest Germany, and some plants in Muttart Conservatory were exactly the same with those growing in his brother's backyard. But he did not miss his family so far, for he loved the Canadian freedom which his homeland didn't grant him.
In this country, his profession was an automatic technician, because he loved vehicles madly. He was able to set up a whole vehicle by himself, and loved to boast of the GPS in a car to his customers. However, he never used GPS when he drove, for most of the roads in Edmonton are named by numbers, and he could always tell the direction. Today was Sunday, so Gilbert had more time than usual to spend on driving. First of all, he would love to buy some automotive tools at Princess Auto in 163 street. The whole store smelled gasoline but he loved it. Then, he would buy some food at K & K Foodliners on Whyte Ave. When he passed by Barb and Ernie's Restaurant, an Bavarian-styled black and white wooden inn, he saw many people waiting in a queue outside, which brought him a smirk on the face. He drove on northwest in the city.
It was Gilbert's first time visiting the Alberta Aviation Museum. The weather broadcast said there would be the first snow of the year today, so he felt like visiting places before it became too freezing to go outside. The ticket price was equal to that in Alberta Royal Museum though there was only one level. Yet it was still worth for the money. In the large exhibition hall, there were many reproductions of airplanes, and on each side of the wall there were showcases. Gilbert walked around clockwise. He saw a dark blue Canadian pilot uniform, which resembled the uniforms of Kriegsmarine in the War. It seemed to him almost everything was related to the history of Canada, until he went to a small room, and saw on a wall a flag bearing a symbol of a black cross with four bent arms which was commonly-seen in wartime Germany. Then in a tiny corner, he was astonished to find the Führer's poster, with a line of inscription as "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!" while the first word was carelessly blocked away by a case containing war medals. The way of stocking the wartime German objects was so casual that it made everything in the room obscure, and yet, something pierced Gilbert's heart. The silver-outlined black Iron Cross against the red cloth should have been his glory, but now all had passed. He remembered the day when he was a Teutonic knight, clad in silver armours and a white cloak with a huge black cross pattern on it. The plane at the entrance of the hall shining bright red colour dazzled his eyes. It was as if yesterday that he fought as a Luftwaffe pilot in the Great War, and yet their hero, Manfred von Richthofen, was eventually killed by the brave Canadian soldiers. Their nation was built upon many fierce battles, made of fire and blood, and yet born after all. They should have stopped fighting after his little brother was born, and then he could have retired and disappeared, but wars didn't cease. It was a great punishment and shame when the Wall was built, and the East was dominated by Russia, and he was separated from his dear brother. However, he didn't hate Russia, or any Ally nation. He knew well that it was the war's fault.
When Gilbert went out of the Aviation, heavy snow began to fall from the sky. Soon the ground of Edmonton was covered in white. He began to miss his brother and their house in Berlin. Suddenly, his cellphone rang, and he found himself talking to a familiar voice.
"Ja, West. Ich werde Weihnachten nach Hause kommen."
Appendix
German Translation
Ich bin toll: I am awesome!
Sheiße: shit
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer: one people, one empire, one leader
Ja, West. Ich werde Weihnachten nach Hause kommen: Yes, West. I will be home for Christmas.
Notes
Youtube: a popular videos sharing online platform in western Canada.
A German shepherd dog was killed in action: An Edmonton five-year-old police service dog named Quanto was stabbed to death in the line of duty on October 7, 2013.
news/police-dog-killed-in-edmonton/
Metro: a free public newspaper in Edmonton.
River Valley: located at the heart of Edmonton. It's said this area has the best view of the city, and the price of the houses nearby is generally high.
Quading: a sport of riding on a four-wheel quadbike.
Rocky Mountains: people love to visit Jasper and Banff for the mountains. Three hours drive from Edmonton.
Elk National Park: located less than an hour away from Edmonton. The major residents are elks, bisons, beavers, and coyotes.
Schwarzwald: the Black Forest in Germany.
Muttart Conservatory: a botanical garden located in the North Saskatchewan river valley, across from downtown Edmonton.
wiki/Muttart_Conservatory
K & K Foodlinerson Whyte Ave: a German food supermarket. Whyte Ave is a so-called German district in Edmonton.
Barb and Ernie's Restaurant: a German restaurant since 1975.
Alberta Aviation Museum: Housed in one of the last RCAF WW2 hangers at the Edmonton City Centre Airport, the museum tells the story of Edmonton and Northern Alberta's rich aviation history. It has Canada's 3rd largest aviation collection.
alberta_aviation_museum/
Alberta Royal Museum: was named the Provincial Museum of Alberta until 24 May 2005 when Queen Elizabeth II visited, bestowing royal patronage. It has a natural history exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, an entomology exhibit, a Native Culture exhibit, as well as some smaller displays.
wiki/Royal_Alberta_Museum
Kriegsmarine: German navy in WW2.
a flag bearing a symbol of a black cross with four bent arms: swastika.
Iron Cross: a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem.
wiki/Iron_cross
Manfred von Richthofen: Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during World War I. Captain Arthur Roy Brown was officially credited by the RAF with shooting down Richthofen.
wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen
the Wall: refers to the Berlin Wall.
heavy snow began to fall from the sky: the first snow in Edmonton, 2013, was on October 28.