Here is chapter two. If you haven't figured it out already, the end of this should confirm to you who Josef's parents are. :) I own my characters not the ones from SA.

Rubbing my cheek, I was stunned as to what she had said to me. Bastard? She has never called me anything besides "Boy" and "Wretch" but "Bastard?" I couldn't understand. What did that mean? Not until Herr Klemm came back at the end of the day could I talk to him about this.

"Sir?"

"Yes Josef?"

"May I ask you something?"

"Yes sure anything." I was glad. I could always go and talk to Herr Klemm whenever I was feeling badly.

"Do you know what a bastard is?"

He looked at me with a stern yet surprised look. "Josef you have brought up a very mature subject matter here. Where did you hear that word?"

"Frau Van Wig called me that, after she caught Lisbeth kissing me in the corner of the bedroom. I told Lisbeth to not do it but she insisted. Frau Van Wig told me there was a reason why I was a bastard and that if my parents had learned some sort of lesson, she wouldn't have to be looking after me. This is the first time she ever mentioned anything about my parents to me."

"Well Josef," Herr Klemm sat down in the chair in his office, "As for what I know I do believe it is the right time for me to explain things about your parents. With you now being sixteen, I think you should be able to handle was I am throwing out to you."

"I think I am sir."

"Alright then, well here is what it is. A bastard is a term for a child whose parents were, or are not, married."

"Parents can have a child and they're not married? Frau Van Wig says all of the time that only married people can have children."

"Well that's how things are supposed to be, but that's not how everything is."

"How can parents have a child when they're not married?"

Herr Klemm took a deep breath. "My boy, it is a very complicated matter and I don't think I can discuss it all in just a few minutes."

"Sir please I want to know."

He sighed with frustration and turned back to me. My mind was craving this knowledge with a fiery burning passion. This could be my chance to learn about my parents and why nobody said anything about them to me before now. He gave another deep sigh and finally sat back down again.

"Okay. I'll try and do this as best as I can," he said, "Josef, you know how animals have mates whenever they have their young?"

"Yes sir, I know that."

"Well, we humans also can mate."

"How do we mate?"

"It's a very natural thing. The male and the female must lie together and rub themselves against each other, and since most of them are in love they kiss each other as well."

"Sounds exhausting."

"Believe me it is…oh excuse me my boy! We're moving on."

"Alright." So far it's lying, rubbing, and kissing. I couldn't wait to hear what was next.

"Well then, so when the male and female are rubbing together their crotches come together."

I was beginning to figure it out, "And ours goes in some hole on the female?"

"Yes. You know for a subject like this you catch onto things very quickly."

"I've always been able to figure out things faster than the other children."

"Anyhow, from the male comes this little tadpole-like figure and it swims inside the female's body until it finds an egg inside the female."

"There's EGGS inside girls?"

"Yes but it's not the eggs you're thinking of. These eggs are so small we cannot see them with our eyes. Well then, the tadpole figure breaks into the egg and then all of a sudden there are two cells, then four cells, eight, sixteen they keep multiplying and multiplying. Then the egg finds a place in the female to rest and then a baby begins to grow."

"My goodness! To think of a baby that small."

"That's not all. It usually takes between nine to ten months for the baby to grow inside the female."

"That's close to being a whole year!"

"Astounding isn't it? And while the baby is growing, the female's stomach gets awfully large. It makes you think there is a large ball inside of her. After it's finished growing the female has to push the baby out the same way that it came in."

I was overwhelmed by all of this information that I was beginning to feel a little dizzy.

"My boy, are you alright?" I shook my head a few times and then felt better.

"Yes, I just felt a little dizzy that's all."

"I know. This information is quite scary once you first learn it but it won't be scary when you are older and able to handle it."

"So about that word-"

"Usually a man and a woman don't go through this act until they are married. Some on the other hand, like to do things a little bit differently."

"Like my parents?"

"Yes, like your parents. Two youth young and in love."

"How old were my mother and father when I was born?"

"They were both fifteen from what I recall."

"That's a year younger than I am right now!"

"Yes, you made quite the scandal. Of course they ran away from town by then. I have something to give you Josef."

"What sir?"

He handed me a dark brown journal with leather binding.

"This belonged to your father. I don't know how many times I have read it and I still cry at the emotion he expresses in his writing, specifically when he wrote about the day you were born. He was so mature for his age, and your mother. Here. You are old enough now. You should be able to read it."

I took the journal and held it to my chest. My own father's writing. His own words. He loved me and my mother loved me too.

"Thank you sir. Thank you so very much."

"You're welcome. Just make sure Frau Van Wig doesn't see it."

"Yes sir."

I immediately opened up the first page and choked up at the handwriting on the page: this journal belongs to Melchior Gabor. I traced my hand over it and I felt an overwhelming sense of joy in my body. I was finally going to learn the truth about my life.