Certain Demolitions: Play a Fantasia
Summary: Being confined to bed doesn't happen to him very often, fortunately, because Kristoph doesn't like it at all when it does happen.
Chapter 7: Once in A Blue Moon
[Status: Canon in the context of C.D.]
Summer, 1940
Munich, Germany
The sun was sending light in under the curtains when Kristoph opened his eyes that morning and reached out to turn his alarm clock off. But it was summer, after all. The sun was up earlier every day. He rolled over and reached for his glasses on the night stand, then sat up.
Or, tried to sit up. That was when he felt the sudden, sharp pain in his knee, and realized that it had locked up overnight.
Kristoph laid back down, perturbed. At least Klavier was home from school this time. It would make the day a little easier - at the very least he would be able to avoid trying to go down the stairs to get to the kitchen.
He was trying to puzzle out what he might have done yesterday that could have caused this to happen to him, because in spite of the rain yesterday he didn't think he'd done that much walking, when he heard the sound of footsteps outside his room in the hallway. "Klavier!" He called sharply.
The door opened, and Klavier stood there, dressed in dark pants and a purple shirt embroidered around the shoulders and wrists in gold. He was holding several sheets of music paper in one arm; Kristoph purchased music paper by the case when his brother was home. "Yes?"
"Come in here. My knee is locked up again." Kristoph sounded cross, but Klavier was not concerned. Kristoph was usually cross when his knee kept him confined him to bed. Klavier set the sheets of music paper he had had with him down on the foot of the bed and then walked to the window and pulled the curtains back, letting the brilliant summer sun in. Kristoph's room was on the corner of the house, so there were three windows. He opened the curtains on all of the windows, and then picked up Kristoph's blue robe from the plush armchair near the bed and brought it back to his brother.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Klavier asked, picking the music papers up again.
"Rolls, jam if there's any left, coffee, and any of the ham left over from last night," Kristoph said. "But first, bring me the stack of letters on the left-hand side of my desk so I can start reading those while I wait."
Klavier walked closer to his brother and held out his hand. Kristoph pulled open the drawer to his nightstand, pulled out a small ring of keys, and handed them to Klavier.
Klavier didn't mind the order. If Kristoph had the letters, he wouldn't notice how long breakfast was taking. He knew which key unlocked Kristoph's office and was back a moment later with the letters. He gave them and the keys to his brother.
"I'll get breakfast," Klavier said.
"Thank you." Kristoph said matter-of-factly, opening one of the envelopes. He'd already wrapped himself in his robe, and managed to get himself upright against the headboard and get a pillow under his bad knee.
Klavier left, but left the door open when he goes. He went back to his room to drop off the music paper, and then he went downstairs by what had once been the flight of servant's stairs, since they're closer to his room than the main staircase is.
He went into the kitchen, but rather than go through the refrigerator and the cupboards, Klavier kept going, straight out the kitchen door. If he had gone out the front door, there was a chance that Kristoph would have heard him leave. He knows what Kristoph will want after breakfast, and while Kristoph is busy with the letters, Klavier also knew that this will be his perfect opportunity to plan ahead.
Klavier returned a few minutes later with a newspaper. He dropped it on the table, then got out a tray and started the coffee. Then he starts assembling breakfast for both of them.
(-)
Klavier brings the tray upstairs a few minutes later. There's enough food on it for both of them. Kristoph is still engrossed in one of the letters, though several others are unfolded and lying face down on the bed. These will be the ones that Kristoph has read and is finished with.
Kristoph looks up when Klavier appears in the doorway with the tray, and he set the letter he was reading down. Klavier put the tray down on the night stand, using the edge of it to nudge the alarm clock out of the way, and dragged the plush chair over. He had brought the newspaper with him upstairs, but it's under his arm. He sat down and tucked the paper into the chair next to him, and reached for a roll.
"Anything of interest?" Klavier asked, breaking the roll open and spreading jam on it. Then he handed the jam knife to his older brother.
"The usual, mostly. I'll need my small desk after breakfast." Kristoph said, setting the jam knife down and reached for the coffeepot under the coozy on the tray. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip of it, then reached for a plate and placed a roll and some ham on it. Then he picked the jam knife up again. "I'll spend today on the correspondence."
"I'll bring that stuff in after breakfast." Klavier told him. He swallowed the last bite of the roll into his mouth, and starting picking at the ham, tearing pieces off and popping them into his mouth.
"We do own plates and silverware, Klavier," Kristoph said pointedly. "Though I notice you only brought one set." Klavier grinned at him; he ignored it.
"I brought two coffee cups." Klavier said, pouring himself a cup and adding cream.
Kristoph rolled his eyes. "Yes, thank you for not drinking it straight out of the pot. I do appreciate your restraint."
Klavier grinned again, and turned himself so that he was sitting sideways in the chair, knees over one of the arms, holding his cup in both hands. Kristoph sighed but said nothing. After a moment, Klavier reached for another roll and started to nibble on it.
The pair finished the meal in companionable silence, the only sounds being the clink of Kristoph's silverware on his plate and the sound of coffee cups being picked up or set down.
When Kristoph was finished, he set his cup down on the tray and waited. Klavier was still finishing up his coffee and taking his time in doing so. Kristoph picked up the letter he had set down earlier and went back to reading it while he waited for Klavier to finish.
When Klavier finally added his cup to the tray and started to pick it up, Kristoph said, "Be sure and get-" He stopped mid-statement as Klavier tossed the newspaper he had smuggled upstairs earlier to him. "Thank you."
"I'll bring in your small desk in when I'm done with the dishes." Klavier promised, picking up the tray and carrying it out of the room.
(-)
When the dishes are done, Klavier went back upstairs, got the keys again and went to Kristoph's office. From a small trunk tucked out of the way in the corner of the room, he retrieved a small table with short legs that could be unfolded and be set on a bed to allow someone to have a writing surface. He brings this, along with several sheets of letter paper, envelopes, and one of the fuller fountain pens he found in the desk drawer into Kristoph's room and set everything up for Kristoph. Then Klavier went to the library.
For a change around the Gavin house, doors are open. The library door is open, and so is the door to Kristoph's room. Usually the door to Kristoph's bedroom is locked, and Kristoph is in his office with the door closed but not locked. Klavier goes back and forth between his room and the library, but depending on what he's doing, the door to either room will be closed so that he can play his guitar. The library isn't that far from Kristoph's room, so if his brother calls for him, Klavier will be able to hear it. Today he skips his music practice and composing and instead settles down to spend the day reading.
It was almost eleven o'clock when he heard Kristoph calling for him again. Klavier closed his book and went to Kristoph's room. His older brother has several letters and a sheet of paper for him. "Go post these letters and this," Kristoph held up the top sheet, "send this as a telegram. I've written the name of the person it should be addressed to."
"Alright." Klavier said, taking the documents from his brother.
"And bring up a pitcher of water before you go." Kristoph ordered.
Klavier did so, and then departed to mail the letter and send off the telegram.
(-)
By the time Klavier comes upstairs with lunch after his assigned errands are done, Kristoph is lying back on his pillow with a hand over his eyes.
"Headache?" Klavier asked as he came into the room with the lunch tray.
"Yes; but Sveltsen is a particular kind of headache all by himself." Kristoph replied. He took his hand off his eyes and put his glasses back on. "He thinks that I'm merely suggested what I think should be done, not that I'm telling him what I expect him to do."
"You could fire him." Sveltson, business manager for a large trade house that the Gavin family held stakes in in Berlin, had been a problem for Kristoph as far back as Klavier could remember.
"Don't tempt me. If I wasn't convinced that whatever replacement I would have to go dig up in Berlin would be worse, I would have gotten rid of him already." Kristoph sat up further, leaning against his pillows, as Klavier set the tray on the bed.
"How's your knee?"
"Improving, I suppose." Kristoph did not sound happy. "It still hurts to move, but I can move it a little more." He had barely been able to move it at all this morning.
"That's a good sign." Klavier replied.
"It is," Kristoph admitted grudgingly. He wouldn't be happy until he was back on his feet.
(-)
By the time dinner has rolled around, Kristoph is able to stand up and get across his room to the small table he has by the window. His limp was bad, even aided by his cane, but he is able to be up.
So when Klavier brings dinner upstairs, they're able to eat at the table instead of on the bed.
"Not feeling like an invalid is a nice change." Kristoph noted sarcastically as Klavier dragged the plush chair back over to the the table so that he had a place to sit.
Klavier didn't comment on the statement. Instead he asked, "Do you want me to bring in the radio after dinner?"
"Not tonight, but thank you," Kristoph said. Listening to a speech by the Party currently in power after the long day that today has been would drive him insane. "After dinner you can put the small desk and everything else back in my office and see if you can find Stechlin in the library."
"It's on the shelf with the other books by Fontane." Klavier told him. "I'll bring it in."
"Thank you," Kristoph replied.
(-)
The next day, Kristoph's knee is fine. It still aches, and it feels like he can't support any of his weight on it, but he can move it. He's able to rise, dress, and is downstairs minding the breakfast cooking on the stove when Klavier comes racing into the kitchen.
"Please refrain from running around the house, you're not a child." Kristoph called. He was leaning against the counter, using it to support his weight so his hands would be free. His cane hangs on the edge of the counter, within reach in case he needs it.
"I knocked on your door but you didn't answer, and the door was locked. I wasn't sure what had happened to you. You're up!" Klavier came to stop next to Kristoph. "How's your knee?"
"Fine. I'm fine. Go set the table," Kristoph ordered, to prevent any more questions. Now that he was up, he intended to act like a human being, and that starts with eating at the table.
Klavier wandered away to the other side of the kitchen and started getting out plates and silverware.
Life is going back to normal. Kristoph appreciated that.
He's glad this doesn't happen to him very often.
[A/N:] Here, have another story based on one line of dialogue in C.D. proper. Well, I guess technically the first story in this collection was based on two lines of dialogue, but you know what I mean.
I was writing this and was like, why is Klavier okay with the idea his brother is occasionally barely able to walk and even though in chapter 37 it's acknowledged that Klavier would have to be waiting on his brother when this happens? He's okay with it because he actually gets to spend a lot more time with Kristoph and the doors in between them stay open longer! is the answer I discovered when I was writing this chapter. Which I actually find to be pretty sad.
Uh...what else? Unless any readers have questions I don't think I have too much more to add. Der Stechlin is a book by Theodor Fontane, a German author, and it was serialized in the late 1800s. I wasn't sure if in German, 'Der' would have stayed there. I decided to go without it because in English we sometimes drop "The" at the beginning of book titles anyway. For example, the proper title of Lord of the Rings is The Lord of the Rings, but usually I don't see the "The" at the beginning when it's referred to.
I'm kind of glad I've got another update for Fantasia. I've wanted to post one for awhile but most what's coming up next in this set of stories is set either later in the context of C.D. or just after the end of C.D. altogether, so I can't post any of that yet. The title for this chapter comes from the saying "once in a blue moon," which is generally used to things that don't happen very often but again fits into the sun/moon theme for the Gavin brothers.
Please review!