Chapter 4: Knots of all kinds

Leaving Maria behind in the hotel room to find her some clothes was harder than the Captain had realized that it was going to be. He still wasn't sure of the time, but whatever the time of day it was it seemed the entire town was centered in the narrow hallway of this inn. There was a flutter of people converging in the hall, some with clipboards recording notes while others went room by room yelling something in gibberish to the note takers. He felt like a salmon swimming upstream trying to get out of the place.

He was so discombobulated that for a moment he thought he had heard a recognizable voice. He turned toward it only to find that it was a mirage, for all he saw was the old Gypsy woman from last night that had handed him the water. His last remaining memory from the night and he wanted to run over and strangle her, for he was certain that it was she he was the cause of his memory loss and impropriety from last night.

He was in no mood to find out what in the world had brought the entire village to the hall. He simply wanted out, needing to put some space between him and his transgressions. When he finally reached the outside door, he stepped out into the sunlight and raised his face to its warmth. In a way he was hoping that the fresh air and the sunlight could wash some of his sins away. And for a moment it did, until he realized nothing could ever wash him clean of what he had done.

Setting out on his mission to find some attire for Maria and himself to wear for the day, his conscience was still in full attack mode on his mind for having lied to Maria. He knew that he needed to tell her the truth. That she deserved to know the truth, but he simply couldn't figure out the right way to tell her. Now isn't that an awkward conversation to begin. Just where in a conversation could he fit that tidbit of information into the discussion? Maybe he could find a place over breakfast to throw it in.

"Ah Fraulein, though I have no memory of it, I am quite certain that you and I know each other in the biblical sense."

Or perhaps a better course of action could be, "Ah Fraulein after the vigorous night of copulation we shared I do believe you should eat more than dry toast to regain some of your energy."

He was fairly certain neither of those tactics was going to work. Maybe his best course of action would be to completely and utterly keep it his own secret. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her, right? If she had no memory of it, why bring it up? She could still go into the convent and further pursue her dreams. If he told her it would only ruin her. He would be doing her a favor by leaving her in the dark about it. No possible good could come from telling her, he convinced himself. It was done, it was over with. Why should he tell her?

By the time the Captain had rounded the corner of the small back alley behind the inn crossing over to the main business district of the tiny town he had convinced himself that the best course of action would be to keep the secret. And his stomach relaxed the tight knot that had unwittingly been held tight since his discovery this morning. When his conscience tapped his brain on its shoulder and whispered "what if there was a conception?" automatically the knot tightened once again. The Captain reached out for the nearest building to steady himself before losing his own stomach contents just as Maria had done earlier this morning.

When his body was done with the violence he rested his head against the mortar of the cool building. His heart banged in his chest its echo reverberating against the building deafening him. He had to tell her. He simply had to. Good lord, but how?

He would have stayed like that against the building for ages, if he hadn't heard the people in the streets. The town was coming alive after last night's festivities and he wanted to get him and Maria out of there before it was too chaotic. Quickly he gathered himself together and pushed his menacing thoughts into the back of his mind. He was on a mission now and he tried to stay focused on that. Though he could actually feel the lines creasing into his forehead from his repressed worries.

Within minutes he had discovered that it being Sunday, the town's only mercantile was closed. Looking up to the second story windows of the shop, he ascertained that the owner undoubtedly resided above his own business. Well, he hated to bother a man on his holy day, but, he was in a bind so up the back stairs he went and roused while bribing the man to open the shop for him. Needless to say the owner, though rather reluctant at first, was more than willing when the Captain brought out his bank roll.

It was easy to shop for himself. Trousers, shirt, underpants, undershirt, and socks. Manly stuff…simple. Maria on the other hand. Now that was a chore. He..a man that had had a wife for over ten years…and five daughters, actually blushed when it came to picking out her under garments. Bra…what size you ask? How would he know? Until this very moment he hadn't been aware that they even came in sizes. The shop keeper, however, was a man that knew his business. Where Galileo knew his stars this man knew breasts. After a lengthy tutorial on women's breast sizes and averages. Using assorted children's play balls as guides he and the Captain had picked out what they thought was a perfect fit for Maria's mammary glands.

If this were any other day, perhaps the discussion wouldn't have perturbed the Captain so much. However, knowing that at some point last night he had become quite intimate with those very appendages on Maria's body, the discussion left him troubled. And not the way that he felt he should have been troubled. Yes, his guilt was still there, but so was something else lingering in the back of his mind. He had felt it this morning when the realization of what had taken place in that room last night had dawned on him, but he had refused to focus on it until now. He had felt the guilt and the confusion but beneath all of that there was a lingering feeling of-he hated to think it-disappointment.

Being truthful with himself really opened his eyes to what a bastard he was. For honestly he was disappointed that he couldn't remember. He felt robbed. For hadn't he dreamed of taking the young Fraulein a thousand times in the last weeks? Hadn't he longed to touch her skin and feel her lips? And now he had and he had no memory of it. All in all he wondered if that truth is what really bothered him and not the act of what he had done to her last night. If that were true, then he should be locked behind bars with the other miscreants of the world.

He finished shopping in the store and went back out into the street, with his head held a little lower than before. He needed to fix this somehow. Here he was—a decorated naval hero—there must be something he could do to fix this. Alas the solution avoided him. There was only one other time in his life where he hadn't been able to use his position to fix the problem and that was during Agathe's illness. Just like then he was useless to solve this problem and it humbled him as it had once before.

Picking himself up for the fifth time today, the Captain hurried through the streets back to Maria. As it had been last night, the town was still filled with the gypsies and the party was apparently still going on. Though, just a hair more slightly subdued. And he wondered just what they had had to celebrate. For all of his knowledge of the people they were a rather frowned upon group. Not many towns accepted their kind into the folds and they certainly didn't care for their practices. So just what were these people celebrating?

When he got back to the inn, he found Maria still locked behind the bathroom door. She had showered and waited for his return with the clothing. However, there was a small change to the room from when he had left and his stomach had threatened to upheave itself again when his eyes had settled on the stripped bed. All of the sheets and bedding that had been on that bed when he had left were now gone. No doubt Maria had seen the evidence for herself and thrown the bedding out. Now he was scrambling to come up with a reason for having lied to her. For she had to have known now that he had indeed lied to her this morning.

Just when he was about to stammer out a pathetic excuse, Maria cracked open the bathroom door still clutching the robe to her now freshly showered body. For a moment he wondered if she had scrubbed his scent off her skin purposely. Did she remember, did she now know? He hadn't realized his own nervousness until he heard the thud of the dropped parcels that had just fallen from his hand which was now busy rifling through his own hair.

To his guilty surprise she didn't yell any accusations at him as any other woman would have. No, not his Fraulein. Instead she did what was so her, she expressed concern for his seedy self.

"Captain," she questioned with sincere blue eyes, "are you all right? You look so pale."

Getting a grip on his spinning head he managed a weak reply of, "I'm just feeling a little nauseas."

"Oh me too!" She replied emphatically, then blushed, "but you already know that. I think," she stopped herself here. Probably the heat of her own blush was getting to her and his heart beat just a little faster for her, "I think there was something in that water last night."

He couldn't help the little smile on his lips, "I think you may be right." And then a little braver than before he asked what scared the life out of him, "do you…remember anything?"

Unwittingly her eyes for a fraction of a second moved to the bare bed and his heart stopped. When she replied it began beating again, "No, nothing at all. Do you?"

"No." He could fool himself that he wasn't lying. He really didn't remember, but that's not really what she was asking him. And he was a jackass for keeping the truth from her.

Maria glanced down at the floor to the parcels lying at his feet. Glad to have the subject changed he picked up her parcel and handed it to her.

"A dirndl that you didn't sew yourself, Fraulein. I hope that it lives up to your standards."

Smiling she took the parcel of clothes from him, "I'm sure it will, thank you Captain." Rubbing the package she replied, "This will be only the second dress I've ever worn that I didn't sew myself." She flexed her head to the side, "Other than my postulant attire." Again her eyes swept over the bed with a melancholy look. "The other is the dress that I showed up on your doorstep with."

"Ah yes," he teased her, "the one the poor didn't want." Her head shot up at the recollection of his memory. Yes, Fraulein, he wanted to say. I remember that and so much more about you. "Along with this hat." He picked up her hat from the shabby little bureau, the only other piece of furniture that occupied the shabby room. He wanted to rip the offending hat in half. For wasn't it the very thing that brought them to this situation.

Reaching for her hat to save it from his strangled grasp her hands lightly graced his own. It was the slightest of touches. Innocent enough, but inside of him an ignition had been switched and his blood boiled from the heat. She must have felt it too for he saw a shudder run through her body as her hands froze next to his on the hat. Slowly he brought his gaze up to her eyes, passing her trembling lips. His brain was sending messages to his arm to move…move…move, but not away from her. No, in his mind's eye he saw what his brain wanted. Take his hand and cup her behind her ear, tilt her head to just the right angle. He could feel the tingling sensation run down his arm as he fought the sensory demands. Losing the fight his arm began to make the journey, not because of him. But because of her, for her eyes begged him to kiss her. Whether she was aware of it or not. It was there in her eyes a plea to take her, to to…a loud bang out in the hallway sent his arm back to his side and the Fraulein three steps away from him.

She ripped the hat out of his hands then grabbed her parcel of clothes. She was always stronger than him in this regard.

"We should get changed." She mumbled, turning her back to him, "We need to call the children and see if they are all right." The children, yes the children. Her safety zone. "Plus they want us out of the room. They came in while I was in the shower and stripped the bed. I think we've over stayed our welcome."

He stood for a second longer than he should have, then grabbed his own parcel of clothes. "Yes, if you don't mind changing out here, I'll just shower than we'll head on out for the car."

Assuming her old position she replied with a, "Yes Captain."

After his shower and a quick search for the nearest phone, only to find out that the storm from last night had knocked out the phone lines in the town they were in, the Captain and Maria headed out to find some place to have an afternoon meal. Although there efforts had been futile in getting in touch with the family, they did learn two very important things. One they had slept most of the day away and it was now two in the afternoon. And two, they had somehow gotten turned around during their travels yesterday and were now a hundred miles in the wrong direction of their original starting point of Salzburg. Where they were supposed to have gone west to the French coast, they had somehow managed to go south to Slovenia.

"Slovenia, Fraulein!" The Captain had screamed in her ear when the nice man running the newsstand had informed them of their whereabouts.

"I'm not sure why you are yelling at me," She returned defensively, "You're the one that accepted the ride from the Gypsies not knowing where they were going."

He paced in a circle around her, willing his hands not to strike out at her, "You're the one that was reading the maps that put us on the cow path that sucked my car into the earth! What was it you called it…that's right a short cut!"

"It is a short cut!" She returned hotly, still standing in her fixed position arms at the side only moving her head in time with his pacing and eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

"To where? Hell?"

She sucked in her breath at his blasphemy and crossed herself.

He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her by the arm tugging her down the street. They could stay all day on the street corner arguing who had done what, but that didn't get them any closer to getting the car out of the mud and on their way to the children. Finding the local garage was easy. There were two stores fronts in the entire town, the mercantile and the garage. Then there was the bar and the blacksmith. The rest was row houses and dirt.

He dubbed the garage owner Midas due to the gold tooth in the front of his mouth. Midas was a nice enough man, he had a genuine smile that was enormously more brilliant than his mind. He had greasy hands that were callused from his hard work, but still the Captain shook it vigorously for that's how Midas shook hands. Like he was dying of thirst and was pumping a dry well for water.

He showed Midas on the ragged map from yesterday about where the car had sunk into the mud. He was about to explain the route the Gypsies had taken to get them into the town so that Midas could find the car more easily, but he didn't have to. Midas already knew and apparently it was extremely funny to him. For he laughed for a good minute.

"You take this route," he pointed a black lined fingernail on the map, "Everybody know not to take that route. Sink holes."

"It was her idea. She said it was a short cut to the main highway."

"Ahhh," Midas replied while he and the Captain shared a knowing nod with each other. "She wanted to get you here quick last night before cold feet, yeah." What cold feet, the Captain wanted to ask but Midas was enjoying his little joke too much. Then he slapped the Captain on the back, "Not to worry, I'll get the car no problem."

He was still wondering about the cold feet metaphor, but his stomach prompted him to ask a more pressing question instead, "Tell me. Is there a place around here for us to grab a bite to eat? We haven't eaten all day."

Midas broke out into an even wider grin and gave the Captain a wink nudging him in the elbow, "I bet you haven't. That's a young one you got there. You need to keep your strength up." The Captains jaw immediately cocked to the side. He was beginning to not like Midas at all. And Maria…poor Maria, as naive as she was, she still understood his meaning. Her face was a crimson tide and her eyes glowing mad at the insinuation.

Midas checked his watch, "Yeah you still have time."

Maria and the Captain looked at each other than looked at Midas. "Umm time for what?" Maria was brave enough to ask.

"For the festival." Again Maria and the Captain exchanged a confused look.

"We thought that was last night." The Captain said.

"Yeah last night was the ceremonies today is the after party. It's still going on in the town square."

"You have a town square." The Captain asked incredulously.

"Well it's not so much a square. More like a grassy field behind the church. Well, today it's the church. Cause it's Sunday. Saturday it's the synagogue, Thursday nights it's the dance hall. And Monday's it's the town hall. But today, it's special it's the after party for the festival to celebrate your people."

"Our people?" Both Maria and the Captain voiced at the same time.

Midas held his hands up in self-defense, "Hey I mean that respectively. We here in Mitra we love all kinds. We do not discriminate that's why we let your people have the festival here. We love festivals!"

Taking Midas on his word that he would have the car back in town in two hours' time, Maria and the Captain made their way over to the after party. With just a few more questions rolling around in their heads.

When they got to the church/synagogue/dance hall, they didn't know how they had missed it from earlier. The chaos that had ensued the night before was now all taking place behind the building. There was a crude tent attached to the back roof of the church and underneath its cover were hundreds of well-dressed Gypsies dancing to organic drum and guitar music.

It wasn't the people that drew their attention however, but the tables full of food that went the perimeter of the tent. They looked at each other then walked quickly to the nearest table. Grabbing a plate each they both began to fill them with all the delicacies. With only the Captain looking over his shoulder to see if anyone would recognize them for the imposters that they were. But everyone was too busy dancing and drinking to notice their presence.

When their plates were full, the Captain nudged Maria over to a table that held some empty seats. Before they could get there, however, the Captain heard his name being said in the same familiar voice that he had thought he had heard earlier in the Inn this morning. Shaking it off as nothing he continued to guide Maria over to the table with the empty seats when he felt someone grab his elbow.

"Hey old man are you going to pretend you don't even know me?"

Turning towards the familiar voice the Captain almost dropped his plate of food in surprise. It was Mikesh Sebald and old navy buddy of his from years ago.

"Mikesh, my friend! It's so good to see you! How long has it been?"

Mikesh bowed to Maria then graciously took her plate of food for her to his table. "What do you mean how long has it been?" He took Maria by the elbow and guided her to a chair which he pulled out for her. "My dear," Mikesh said to Maria after pecking her on the cheek like a long lost acquaintance. "You've tied the knot on your dirndl wrong. I'm pretty sure that knot in the center doesn't hold true anymore, right Georg?" Maria's eyes shot up in confusion and surprise.

Meanwhile the Captain almost fell to the floor. In Austria the tying of the dirndl knot had a lot of meaning. To the left, it means you're available. To the right, that you're married. And in the center that you're a virgin.

"And what do you mean Georg, how long has it been. Old man is your memory so bad that you have forgotten last night. I was here, I performed your ceremony along with Gypsy priest."

"What ceremony?" The Captain shuddered to ask.

"You're wedding ceremony, you old fool."