father - home

The flight almost halfway around the world is finally over.Carrying simple luggage and stretching my stiff body, I walked out of the airport.It was still the silver BMW1958 sports car produced in 507, which was as new and radiant as when I first saw it 7 years ago.It can be seen that Joseph took good care of it. He must treat it like his horses. He took care of the horses as if they were his own children.At this moment, Joseph was standing next to the car, wearing a dark green tweed coat, brown cuffed high boots, and his bronzed skin typical of long-term outdoor work. Together, it is really a little inconsistent. This is Joseph in my memory, and it hasn't changed at all.

I rushed to Joseph, threw the luggage in my hand, and wanted to hug him, but suddenly hesitated.What should I do, still hook his neck like I did when I was a child?At that time, he was like a big tree, but now, I am half a head taller than him.

Joseph smiled at me, squinting his eyes in the sun, his crow's feet were as deep as a knife.He opened his arms, hugged me around the waist, and hugged me tightly, as if announcing a fact: no matter how old you are, you are still my child.I really rarely see my father, and in my heart, Joseph is the real father.

Joseph finally let go of me.I kissed him affectionately on the forehead.He froze for a moment, picked up my luggage and put it in the trunk. "Do you remember the way?" Joseph said, and gave me the car keys.

"I remember, but..." I hesitated.

"Go ahead, it's yours."

I sat in the cab, touched the steering wheel with both hands, and trembled with excitement for a while.This is my birthday present.No child dares to expect such a birthday gift: a BMW two-seater convertible 200 sports car with a top speed of 150 kilometers per hour, a maximum output power of 8 horsepower, a light metal V26500 engine, and a price of 507 German marks.My father gave it to me.

I started the car, and there was a thunderous roar.I listened attentively, and the voice was violent and surging, like a galloping horse, warm and pure, without any noise.I let off the brake and lightly stepped on the gas.Inertia pushed me to the back of the chair, and the strong force was like a plane taking off.I couldn't help being intoxicated, letting the wind whistle in my ears, and my heart beating wildly in my chest.

"You still like it that much?"

I nodded sideways.

"Great." Joseph murmured to himself, shaking his head. "You haven't changed at all."

"You too." I replied.

It's just a feeling that it hasn't changed, like sitting in this beautifully decorated sports car, Joseph still can't feel as comfortable as riding a horse.But in fact we have all changed a lot.I have grown taller, stronger, and must have matured.And Joseph, old, had chestnut-colored hair that had turned gray with too much white hair mixed in.There are still gods whose eyes are also completely gray, with only a glimmer of blue light against the sun.Lips are thinner and barely visible when not smiling.The original graceful curve on the lower jaw has been replaced by vertical and horizontal wrinkles.

Back then, Joseph’s father was the groom of the old Baron Meisenbach, taking care of the stables, carriages and more than 20 thoroughbred horses in the manor. Joseph and my father grew up together in the manor, like brothers.Later, Joseph's father died, and Joseph took over his father's work.Before the war broke out, the army had to requisition more than 20 adult horses in the manor.Joseph was worried, so he went with him.At that time, my father was studying in Berlin.I heard that my father was very angry when he came back. I don't know if it has something to do with it. In short, my father joined the SS later.When Joseph returned a few years later, he was wounded. A piece of shrapnel had been shot in the head, damaging the optic nerve. He lost sight in his right eye and lost all four fingers on his right hand except his thumb due to frostbite.In any case, life was saved, but the horses were not so lucky, and none of them came back.During the course of the war, there were fewer and fewer people in the manor, and finally Joseph was the only man left.Without him, I'm afraid I wouldn't be alive today.

The car is driving on the winding and circling forest mountain road, and through the gaps in the leaves, you can see a row of brick-red roofs.That's where I want to go, my home - Caesar Manor.In front of the manor is the calm and vast Lake Chiem, and behind it is the Alps covered with snow all year round.I spent my whole childhood here until I was 12 and went to boarding school.Joseph was never married, had no children of his own, and I had no other siblings. I was the only child on the estate, and I had a grandmother, Baroness Augusta von Meissenbach, who was brought up by Joseph and her grandmother. For the big ones, they treat me meticulously and love me very much.If it weren't for the war, my childhood should be very happy.

As the car approached the manor, the speed became slower and slower, and it almost stopped before the stables.

Joseph saw my thoughts and patted me on the shoulder. "I'll drive the car into the garage, you go and see him, he's waiting for you."

I nodded and asked him for the first time. "Is he all right?"

"He's in the greenhouse. The current weather is already too cold for him."