father - home

Days of heavy snow, the world is a silver.The car came from the mountain road, and the row of brick-red roofs could not be seen.Fortunately, Lake Chiem was not frozen over, and the blue lake was phosphorescent in the twilight, marking the location of the manor.

On the outside of the small stone-paved driveway, the dim light of the gas street lamp illuminates my way home.

Back then, when the manor was powered on, Grandpa insisted on keeping this row of gas street lamps for some reason.Because it is quite laborious to light these gas street lamps, unless it is a holiday or some celebration, this row of street lamps will not be lighted easily.Today, it must have been specially arranged by my mother, just to wait for me to go home.

I drove the Mercedes SUV directly to the steps of the main building gate and parked it in the driveway.

The steps were swept clean without any snow.The driveway has also been swept, although few cars come by now.

Mr. Paul Reininger, the housekeeper, and Weidecke, the valet, were already standing on the steps.

After Verma left, Mr. and Mrs. Reininger grew old very quickly.Mr. Reininger's hair, which had been mostly brown at the time of the last parting, now looked almost white in the light of the porch light.The old butler was wearing white gloves, and his body was standing upright. His eyes were a little cloudy or wet, and his frozen jaw was filled with hope and steadfastness.When speaking, puffs of white steam came out of his mouth.

"Merry Christmas, master! Welcome home!"

"Merry Christmas! Mr. Reininger." I hurried up the steps.A Christmas wreath of pine branches hung from a heavy wooden door with brass inlays.

The old butler stretched out his hand, "Master, let Widec drive the car to the garage."

After Joseph left, Wedek served as the coachman and groom of the manor.At that time, the army requisitioned all the adult horses in the manor, leaving only two ponies less than one year old and a disabled horse.

I gave Widek the car keys. "Thank you! Wedek, Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas! Master!"

Wedec took the key and was about to turn around when I stopped him. "Wadeke, are the horses all right?"

"You mean the silver sword and the red rabbit? They are very nice, very beautiful. Are you going to ride tomorrow morning? I'll prepare them for you."

"Ah! No, don't bother, I'll leave tomorrow morning." I paused, "What about the scorching sun?"

"Lieyang?" Weidec was a little confused and hesitated for a while, "Master, Lieyang passed away at the beginning of this year."

"Ah!" I didn't react for a moment, and after thinking for a while, I remembered that Lieyang died after his father suffered a stroke.

Lieyang is Chitu's father.That year, my father rode it to win the European Equestrian Championships in the obstacle course.A few years ago, he broke his leg in a game and retired from competition. He is a true emperor.Because of its lameness, it survived and was not requisitioned by the army, but on the day his father had a stroke, while Wedec was walking his horse, the scorching sun suddenly fell forward inexplicably, and he never got up again, and died soon after.

"Go, Wedec." Mr. Reininger waved his hand and told the servant to go down. "Master, Master and Madam are waiting for you."

"Ah!" I came back to my senses, followed the old butler into the hall, took off my coat, handed it to him together with the military cap, gloves, and scarf, and asked, "Is there still time?"

"Yes, the master is not too demanding on time now. Madam has already ordered that dinner will be served after you come back."

"Okay, just give me 10 minutes."

I ran up the marble curved staircase and into my bedroom.A black dress hangs on a hanger.My father hated the Nazis, hated the SS, and I kept my membership in the SS secret from him, so the first thing I did every time I came home was to change out of my black military uniform.It took me less than 5 minutes to change into the dress my mother had prepared.As I walked steadily into the restaurant, I was greeted, as usual, by my mother's courteous hugs and kisses.

"Merry Christmas, my son!"

"Merry Christmas, Mother! Merry Christmas, Father!"

The mother's voice is pure and sweet, her tone is steady, soft and consistent, and she rarely reveals her true emotions.

I kissed my father on the forehead.He didn't respond at all.The stroke left my father unable to speak, but his eyes could move.His eyes were still piercing, but he never looked at me, and even when he looked around, he never stopped on my face for a moment.Rather than seeing me, he would rather forget that there is still me as a son.

I pushed my father's wheelchair to the top of the dining table, then sat on my seat, looked around, and suddenly felt strange and strange, as if it had been a lifetime ago.

There was only three of us sitting at the long dining table.After my father had a stroke, he had to be served at meals. My mother always took care of my father, so now the three of us sat at one end of the dining table closer together.In the past, according to the rules, mother and father sat at the two ends of the dining table, and I was in the middle, with a distance of at least three meters between them, that is to say, there was a distance of six meters between father and mother.Because it is difficult to listen to the other party's voice, unless the other party is shouting loudly, so when eating, few people talk, always silent, very quiet, only the sound of the knife and fork accidentally bumping the plate.Behind us stood five or six servants and stewards who waited on us.Well now, there are fewer people in the manor, many young people have joined the army, and only Mr. Reininger and Mrs. Reininger are standing behind us.This reassures me a little.I tried many times to persuade my mother to ask Mr. and Mrs. Reininger to dine with us, but to no avail.Not only did the mother disagree, but even the Reininger couple firmly opposed it.It seems that the thinking of their older generation is difficult to change.

Concentration camps, dark, cruel, and cold.Back home, there are old gas street lamps, tall and gorgeous Christmas trees, homemade wine, bacon and cakes made by my mother.Talk about the long-lost horse; taste delicious and fresh food; feel the hugs and kisses of family members.I returned to the human world.

In the restaurant, the ceiling is too high, the room is too big, and there are too few people.

The mother spoke softly, smiled gently, and had reserved and serious faces.Thick woolen carpet, the knife and fork will fall on it, and the foot will not make any sound when it is stepped on.All the food is placed at one end of the long table, and it feels like the table will be tilted due to the unstable center of gravity.The heat from the fireplace cannot reach the other side of the dining room, and there are actually two seasons in one room.

I suddenly missed that small, simple, Zhao's ward very much.White and gray walls, log beds, incandescent lamps without lampshades, Christmas trees and artificial flowers brought by Martin are the only decorations.But there are no shadows, no pretense, no alienation.

I looked at my mother. I don’t remember my mother feeding me when I was a child. Now she serves my father in such an awkward and uncomfortable way. It is impossible to believe that she has been serving my father like this for nearly a year; I watched Father, I remember that he used to be majestic and tall, with a face like gold paper, a voice like a bell, and a two-character mustache that was proudly raised upwards. But now, sitting and wanting to straighten his back have become extravagant hopes, his face is pale and his expression is numb. , only the eyes can turn left and right, concentrate and gaze. It turns out that in that limp body, the thoughts and passions are still there.