Schreibaufgabe — eine angefangene Geschichte fertigstellen (für mich)

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Team: Kobold
Challenge: Schreibaufgabe — eine angefangene Geschichte fertigstellen (für mich)
Fandom: Vienna Blood
Charaktere: Clara Weiss, Leah Liebermann,

Ab dem Divider ist der neue Teil

Leah is seven, and gets a toy tea set for her birthday. She and Miriam love playing with it. They imitate what their mothers do, but because they’re children, they do it in the most exaggerated manner they can think of. Instead of a simple greeting, Miriam drops into the deepest curtsy she can manage and yells: “I am most delighted to see you, dearest!”. Instead of grabbing the other for a few moments and giving her a brief kiss on the cheek, they hug tightly and then place several long kisses on the other’s cheek. Only then do they start their pretend tea-party, that’s just as exaggerated as the greeting, full of grand gestures and “Thank you most kindly”. Her father sees them once and jokingly asks if they are preparing for Buckingham Palace. It’s just one of many games they play, and forgotten after a few years, the tea set catching dust at the back of a cupboard.

Leah is thirteen, and Cook has brought her son for the day. He’s just one year older, but looks much more grown up. He gives her a charming smile, then he bows to her, while lifting an imaginary top hat. Then he blows her kisses. A strange feeling appears in her stomach, and she enjoys it for a brief moment, until she remembers, that whatever it is, it’s certainly improper. Cook yells at her son “Not to disturb the young mistress” and he disappears with her in the kitchen.

Leah is fourteen, and the girls at school have started to talk about certain things. The main information comes from those who have older sisters and those with parents who guard their library less strictly than Leah’s. It’s not much (Julia always complains, that her sister keeps putting her off, when she asks concrete questions), and Leah has the suspicion, that the novels Matilda has snatched from home, don’t tell the full story, either. But now she has at least a broad idea, and is less surprised, when the strange feeling appears again. The boys are beginning to act differently in the girls’ presence. Some, just because, their parents have told them to, and Leah can tell, that they’d rather still grimace at them or push them in a pile of leaves, than ask about their day. Only Jakob is different. He listens attentively, when she tells him about the play, she attended with her family. One day, he gifts her a small pendant in the shape of a cat. It’s just  cheap copper of course, but it’s the first present, she’s got from a man who’s not a relative, and she feels it again. When she learns that he’s given more girls small trinkets, she’s disappointed, but nothing more. Nothing like the desperation, described in one of the novels, where the heroine discovered, that their love was already married. She is relieved, of course. She does not want to fell bad. But she also wonders if the flip-side of utter desperation is something much more intense, than what she previously felt.

Leah is fifteen, and they pack their things for the move to Vienna. That’s when she finds the tea set again. It’s still in a good condition, so Leah sets it on the table with the other things, they are going to donate. That’s where Miriam sees it later that day, when she visits. She grabs the pot, shrieks in delight and puts it down again, with a mischievous grin and yells “I am most delighted to see you dearest!”. Leah laughs and for a moment all the worries about the upcoming move are forgotten. Especially once Miriam has embraced her in a tight hug. Then she kisses her on the cheek, and Leah freezes. She never expected that feeling in such a situation. Not with another girl, not when doing something, they have already done countless times. And especially not so much more intense than anything she previously felt.

“Leah? Are you all right?”, Miriam grabs her shoulders, and gives her a worried look. Leah takes a step back, out of Miriam’s reach.

“It’s nothing”, she assures her. “The move. There’s so much to do. I’m just a bit tired.” She steels herself, takes a step forward and embraces Miriam. “But thanks so much for coming. I don’t have the time to go anywhere right now.”

Miriam smiles, and doesn’t bring up Leah’s reaction again. And after all, she truly is tired. She probably just imagined that feeling.

Leah is eighteen, and Benjamin almost twenty-three. Max declares, that this makes him ancient, but Leah ignores his comments, as she usually does. She likes talking with him, and he enjoys her company as well. It doesn’t take long, until her mother tells her that they need to talk. It ends up being mostly her mother doing the talking. She says, that she doesn’t want to push her to do anything, she doesn’t want. That the most important thing is, that she’s happy, and that she should take her time, before making important decisions. But Leah can read between the lines. Eighteen is not old to be unmarried, not any more, but in their circle, it’s old to be not engaged, to not have at least an understanding with anybody. And so she tells her mother what she wants to hear, and what she believes is true. And in a way it becomes true, over the course of the understanding, that turns into an engagement, that turns into a marriage. She cares deeply about Benjamin, and he about her. Perhaps it’s not the passion, she’s read about in the novels (she now has a few more of those, since she’s always sensible and her parents worry a lot less about what she’s doing, than about what Max is doing), but perhaps it’s better that way. And Benjamin is a good man. He cares about her. He's responsible, and has a well-paying work. Every woman should be happy to have a man like him.

Leah is twenty-two, and the Weiss family moves in next-door. She appreciates having someone to talk to, that is much closer to her own age than any of the other women in the street, and she assumes Clara appreciates the comparative freedom that comes with having a female Jewish friend, who’s already married and who her parents consider appropriate company. But it soon blossoms in a true friendship. Clara shares with her the frustration about her overprotective parents, who also parade prospective husband after prospective husband in front of her, despite her feeling not ready, yet. Clara is the first one to know, that Leah is pregnant. She had suspected it before, but not wanted to tell Benjamin, until she could be fairly certain. And now she is fairly certain and Benjamin is away on business for the week. Clara is the one she discusses names with, because Benjamin just smiles, and says “I’m sure you will find the perfect one, dear”, and she knows, he means it as a compliment and that she won’t make him understand, that it’s something she wants to do together with him.

---

Leah is twenty-six, and Herr Lindner, who lives opposite her, dies. Leah had never exchanged more than the usual neighbourly pleasantries with him and his wife, a Christian couple in their seventies, but of course she goes over, to pay her respect and offer help. Frau Lindner's sister opens the door. The woman herself is sitting almost motionless in the drawing room. When she looks up to greet Leah, she can see that she's been crying. She offers her condolences, and Frau Lindner starts sobbing loudly.

Leah thinks back to her own grandfather's death, and her grandmother's Stoic reaction. If she had cried, nobody in her family had seen it.

Leah is twenty-seven, and Benjamin is dead. She grieves because Daniel will barely have any memory of his father. She grieves for a husband, who was good to her, and who was a good friend, when he was at home with her. But she thinks of the overwhelming grief, Frau Leitner showed, and knows that she does not feel the same way.

Leah is twenty-nine, and is spending more time with her parents again. And because Clara is her best friend, so does she. And because Max has still not moved out, the two meet frequently, and they clearly get on well. Leah is happy, that two people, who are so important to her, also enjoy each other’s company.

One evening, she overhears her parents talking about what a good match Clara would be for Max. She wants to rush in and tell them, that this is a horrible idea. That Max is too irresponsible. That he would make her unhappy. She stops herself. Max has changed. He has become more responsible. His work might not be too well-paying at the moment, but he is bright and determined. He'll make it far. Every woman should be happy to have a man like him. And she wants Clara to be happy.

Leah is thirty, and they are celebrating the engagement. Her best friend is marrying her brother, and everyone keeps telling her how fortunate that is. That she must be incredibly happy about it. She says, that of course she is. She tells herself, that she has to be. After all, Clara is so happy, and she would be a bad friend, if she didn't wish her best friend happiness.

Leah is still thirty, when the engagement with Max breaks, and when Clara gets engaged to Jonas Korngold soon after. She can’t bring herself to ask Clara if she really cares for him, or if she was too afraid of being the one who is blamed, even though it was all Max's fault. If she was too afraid, of not finding anyone if she doesn't accept this offer. Because she knows she'd never forgive Max, if that was the case.

Leah is thirty-one, when the engagement with Jonas Korngold also breaks. Clara comes to her place, and tells her about it in tears. Leah puts her arms around her friend and lets her cry on her shoulder. Then she makes her some tea, and they sit together. Clara doesn't want to talk, and Leah doesn't pressure her. She just sits with her, and holds her, until Clara whispers: “He realized, that I have still feelings for Max.”

Leah's hand tightens around Clara's shoulder, and she quickly pulls it away.

„I know it's stupid after everything that happened. After ... Amelia. But“, she smiles sadly, „you can't control your feelings.”

“No”, says Leah, matching Clara's smile, “you can't.”