My German Lover, Part 27, chapter 1

He has an athletic build… and a lean, built and buff body… He knows he’s cute, and he has all the girls at his feet.

He’s six feet tall, has auburn wavy hair and beautiful hazel eyes. In fact, he looks a lot like our dad. But as I said, sometimes he can be a pain in the ass, as he likes to be in the limelight, making sure he’s getting all the stares!

As at the time I was shorter than him -I was five feet nine inches at the time- he used to call me “little man” or “little dude”. I hated it when he did that.

Although I’m only fifteen, nevertheless I have a well toned body for my age, from all the sports I play. I’m on the swim team at my school, and I really like to swim. And I sure don’t think I'm a “little dude”…

Since I take after my mum, I have dirty blond hair and blue eyes. And when my brother wants to tease me, he calls me “mum’s little baby”… I would kill him when he says that!

So today I didn’t want him to come with me on my tour of the Plantation, not only because I didn’t want to hear his usual sarcasm… but also because I didn’t want to see him take all the place on the stage at my expense, as he usually does. And last, I didn’t want our new neighbours to think I was too young to do something without having my big brother at my side.

“…The “little dude” as you say is fed up Robert! I’m not going with you, period! If you want to go, then just go… Knock on their door, and ask them to tour the place…”, I finally said, sitting on the couch, stretching my arms above my head…

“…I don’t even know them!”, my dear brother answered, staring at me… realizing that for once, I had the upper hand…

“Introduce yourself…”, I answered, grinning…

I knew perfectly well Robert was not going do that. As much as he likes to show off… and usually has a laid-back attitude, I know perfectly well that it’s just a façade and that deep inside, he’s rather shy and very insecure. And I was no longer ready to play his game and be manipulated by him: My patience with him was running thin. Very thin!

I know, I know! Robert is a good guy… and I know he loves me. And I love him too. But over the years I’ve noticed that he tends to use me and make me do things in order for him to reach his goals, when he’s too shy or too insecure to do those things by himself. “Jack, go ask dad…” or “Jack, ask mum if we can take her car tonight…”. Yeah. Sure. Like if he wanted me to go someplace with him! “Jack, do this… Jack, do that…”. I was fed up with that.

So today was “THE” day: I had just decided he wasn’t going to manipulate me anymore… or at least, that he would realize he needed me much more than I needed him and that I was well aware of that! For the first time, I had decided to assert myself… something I had never done before.

So for a while, my poor brother just stood there in front of me, staring at me... not knowing what to do or say. I knew perfectly well what was going through his mind. And I was beaming in my mind: He really wanted to tour the Plantation and was as curious as I was… but way too shy to go there alone! He needed me!

From the couch where I was sitting I looked up at him…

He ran his hand through his auburn, wavy hair… then went rubbing the back of his neck… staring at me all the while…

From that moment, I knew I had my victory! But I wanted it to be a total victory, not just a small one. So I said to him:

“…You don’t want to go there alone huh? Too shy for that huh?”

“Look…”, he started to say…

But I wasn’t going to give him a chance to slip away from the trap I had set for him… so I interrupted him and, with a grin on my face I said:

“…That’s okay bro… You can come with me if you want… but no more patronizing… no sarcasm, ever! Stop using me, will you? I’m sick and tired of doing things on your behalf, while you keep teasing me, treating me like if I was still a little kid!”

He remained silent for a while, trying to figure out what I had just said to him. For the first time, he was realizing I was able to read him like a book! Of course he didn’t like that and wanted to find a way out of our discussion as fast as possible… 

“Okay okay…”, he answered… “It’s a deal, I’ll stop teasing you!”

“…Not only that Robert…”

“Okay I said… No need to rub it in!”

I stared at him for a while with a very satisfied grin on my face. 

Then I slowly rose to my feet and took him by the arm, tugging…

“…Okay then… You can come with me… Let’s go…”, I finally said, knowing he felt humiliated. I didn’t need to further humiliate him. That’s not what I wanted. I’m not like that. I wanted to make my point, and I had done that. 

“Come on bro… move your fanny, will you?”, I said…

“Oh no you two…”, we heard our mother say to us… “You’re not going there like that. Put your T-shirts on…”.

“…But mum… we’re in Martinique, and it’s hot outside…”, I protested…

“I don’t care where we are. Never go anywhere except the beach without your T-shirts on… and never come to sit at the table to eat without a T-shirt on! It’s not because it’s hot outside that you can act like uncivilized people. That’s not how we raised you guys…”

I looked at my brother and rolled my eyes…

“Yeah yeah…”, I answered, grabbing a T-shirt…

“Put it on…” I heard my mum say, with her sternest voice…

“Yeah yeah…”, I answered, grinning…

“…And you too Robert…”, she added…

“Okay…”, he answered.

We both put our T-shirts on, then left.

“…Shit… It’s going to be a hot one today…”, I said.

“Yeah… But that’s why we came down here huh? Would you prefer to be in Montréal, freezing?”

“Nah!”, I answered, laughing.

We started to walk towards the Plantation and as we were walking pass another house that looked a lot like ours, Robert asked me:

“…I wonder who lives there?”

“…Don’t know. I’ll ask Paul…”

“You call him by his surname?”

“Well… he told me to do so… and so did the others…”

“Oh… How old are they? Do you know?”

“I know the guy that sold our house to dad is eighty-two, cause he told me so… The others are younger I think… in their seventies I’d say…”

“I heard dad say some of them are gay…”, Robert said…

“So what? Even if that’s true it doesn’t bother me… You?”

“No… not really… I just hope they’re not old perverts, lusting after young guys like us, that’s all…”.

“Oh come on Robert… you’ll see they are not like that. They are friendly, old gentlemen… that’s all!”

“…If you say so…”

As we were walking towards the mansion Robert said:

“…Shit! Look at that house… those guys must be full. Have you seen those big columns… and everything around here is perfect…”

“Yeah! Nice place huh?”

We walked up the stairs to the colonnaded front porch and of course, I’m the one who knocked on the big door…

Seconds later, a tall Martinican opened the door and, with a big smile on my face, I said to him:

“Bonjour monsieur… Nous sommes vos nouveaux voisins… et nous avons été invités pour une visite de la Plantation par monsieur Paul…” (Good day Sir… We are your new neighbours… and we’ve been invited to tour the Plantation by monsieur Paul…).

“Oh oui! Monsieur Paul nous a parlé de vous… mais entrez voyons…” (Oh yes! Monsieur Paul told us about you… but please, do come in…), the man said…

Robert and I followed the Martinican inside the mansion, then the man said to us:

“Wait here for a minute, please… I will tell monsieur Paul that you are here…”

“Of course!”, Robert and I answered, smiling at the man…

As soon as the Martinican had left the two of us alone, Robert looked at me and said:

“…I’ve never seen a place like that before… It’s grand! I thought our house back in Montréal was big… but I mean… this is something else!”

“Wow!”, I answered… “Look at the stairs…”

“Shit! What a place! Unbelievable! I’ve seen houses like that in films, but I didn’t know such a house really existed outside the film studios…”, Robert added…

“…I take it you like our house…”, we heard Paul say, as we saw him enter the large hall, walking towards us with a big smile on his face… “Sorry… but I couldn’t help overhearing you… Welcome to our house Jack!”, he said to me…

“It’s beautiful… Really! We can’t believe our eyes…”, I answered… “Oh, and this is my brother Robert…”

“Nice to meet you Robert. Welcome! Now, we were about to have breakfast so… would the two of you like to join us? And after breakfast, we’ll take you on a tour of the Plantation…”, Paul said…

“Oh… We don’t want to abuse your hospitality… Our mum warned us not to…”, I answered. Then I blushed, realizing too late how boyish my answer sounded…

Paul looked at me and burst out laughing. Then he said:

“…Don’t worry guys… You’re not abusing…. Come on, follow me…”

We followed Paul to a large and beautiful dining room, and as we entered the room Paul said to the other gentlemen sitting around a large dining-table:

“You all remember Jack, don’t you? And this is his brother Robert…”

We shook hands with Will, Lutz and Hans… then Paul said:

“Now, please… sit down and have breakfast with us…”

A Martinican rolled a food cart to where I was sitting, and Paul said:

“Serve yourself Jack… At your age, you must be hungry like a bear… Come on… take some more…”

And he was right! Although I already had breakfast that morning, I was still hungry! And just looking at all the food on that cart made me salivate!

Bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, hash brown potatoes, muffins, croissants… I mean… I had everything right before my eyes, and it smelled so delicious…

“…Take some more…”, I heard Will say, as I was serving myself… “Now, your turn Robert… come on… serve yourself. That food is there to be eaten…”

And Robert didn’t wait to be told twice before he began to fill his plate…

As we were all eating, Lutz asked us:

“So guys… how do you like it here, in Martinique…”

“It’s fantastic…”, my brother answered… “And the seawater is so warm…”

“…Never under 27 degrees…”, Hans answered…

“I love it too! But I don’t like to train in salt water, and since we don’t have a pool…”, I started to say…

“Oh, you train?”, Paul asked me…

“…Yes. I’m on our swim team at school…”, I answered, smiling back at him…

“…That's all he talks about: His training… and his piano lessons…”, my dear brother said, rolling his eyes…

I looked at him:

“Hey you… you promised!”, I said to him, frowning…

“Yeah yeah… sorry!”

“You guys remind me of my sons when they were about your age…”, Hans said, laughing…

“…But if you want to train… You can use our pool, Jack… We have a very nice swimming pool here, and I’m afraid we don’t use it as often as we used to when Franz was still alive…”, Paul said to me, smiling…

“…Who was Franz?”, I ventured to ask…

“…My life-companion…”, Lutz said, in a whisper… “He died six years ago, of a bite from a pit viper…”

“Oh… I’m so sorry I’ve asked…”, I said, feeling bad that I had asked the question…

“No fault pal… Anyway, I prefer that you know who he was cause around here, we talk about him all the time… just like if he was still with us…”, Lutz answered.

“I can understand that… I can see he was very dear to all of you…”, I answered, feeling very sorry they had lost such a good friend…

“He sure was! He sure was”, Paul answered in a sad voice…

“…But what’s a pit viper?”, my brother asked, after a moment of silence…

“Here in Martinique, it’s called a “fer-de-lance”… Will started to explain… “It’s the only venomous snake we have on the island… and thank God, most of them have been exterminated. But we still have a few, and they are especially dangerous at night, when they hunt. Usually, they hide in the rainforest… and sometimes, you can find one hiding around the sugarcanes… That’s why when we work the fields to inspect the sugarcanes, we always wear thick leather boots… and most of the time, our approach sent the vipers slithering off in a panic…”

“…Except the day Franz got bitten, he was not wearing his boots… and… well… a viper bit him… and such a bite is fatal!”, Lutz explained, with tears in his eyes…

“Such accidents rarely happen nowadays… but every once in a while, someone is bitten… so never forget to wear leather boots if you walk the fields…”, Paul added…

“Oh… and you must know about the mancenillier…”, Will said…

“What are they?”, I asked…

“It’s a tree… a manchineel tree…”, Paul started to explain… “The sap of this tree is highly poisonous and can cause serious burns. If you see one, be especially careful to avoid it, and if it’s raining, never hide under a mancenillier… cause the liquid that comes out of its leaves or branches will fall on you and burn you… and never touch its fruit… which looks like a small apple…”

“…Don’t look so worried guys…”, Hans said, looking at us… “The only place you’ll find manchineel trees is along certain beaches… and most of them are marked with a red paint stripe… and anyway, you won’t find any around here, since when we got here in 1945, we’ve destroyed all those that were growing around the beach… and since then, we’ve always made sure they could never grow back…”

“…That’s good to hear…”, I said… “Anything else dangerous we should know about?”

“No. That’s all!”, Paul answered, laughing…

“I was wondering… My I ask you who is living in the house not too far from ours?”, Robert asked Paul…

“The cream-colored Creole house?”, he asked…

“Yes…”

“My brother Ludwig and his wife live there…”, Will answered. “That’s where they’ve raised their children… His eldest son Marc is in charge of the Plantation now…”

“…Any people our age on the Plantation?”, my brother asked…

“Sure! Ludwig’s children are all married and have children of their own… some about your age…”, Will answered, smiling…

“…My youngest son also lives on the Plantation…”, Hans said… “And his youngest daughters are about your age Robert… because if I read you right… that’s what you really wanted to know huh? If there are girls living on the Plantation?”

“Right on Sir!”, I answered, laughing my heart out… “That’s exactly what he wanted to know…”

My brother blushed and turned to look at me. Obviously, he was mad at me…

“Don’t look at me like that Robert…”, I said to him… “That’s exactly what you wanted to know but were too shy to ask…”

Now that my brother was blushing scarlet red, I looked at him straight in the eyes and said:

“I think you’ve already got sunburned, bro… Yet, we haven’t been that much under the sun… Guess you’re gonna have to put some sunscreen lotion huh?”

Shit, was he mad at me! But there wasn’t much he could do or say in front of our hosts… so he kept silent!

“…How do you like to be teased bro? Huh? … See what I mean?”, I added, smiling at him…

Yes! My victory over him was total!

“…So guys… ready for the tour?”, Paul asked…

“Yes!”, we answered.

They gave us leather boots to wear then we took a big truck and our tour of the Plantation began. They showed us the fields and explained to us all there is to know about how to grow sugarcanes. Then, we drove to the banana plantation and they explained to us how bananas are grown and why the banana clusters are grown inside big, blue plastic bags…

“…So that’s a banana tree huh?”, Robert asked Lutz…

“Although it looks like a tree… it’s not really a tree: It’s a plant!”, Lutz answered, laughing…

“…A plant?”, I asked, a bit surprised…

“Yup! And after each harvest we must cut each one of them, so a new plant can grow from its root and produce new clusters… Otherwise, the plant would just keep growing, but without producing any new banana…”, Lutz explained…

“…Oh, I didn’t know that…”, I answered…

“And you know”, Paul added… “We not only grow bananas on the Plantation… Other crops have also been developed over the years, thanks to Ludwig… and now we also grow melons, pineapples, limes and avocados…”, he explained…

“…Oh, and you forgot to mention anthuriums…”, Will said, laughing…

“Oh yes… That’s Ludwig’s latest hobby…”, Paul answered, laughing…

“Everything we grow on the Plantation is ship to France and sold in Europe…”, Hans explained…

Later, as we were driving through the Plantation, we saw a Chapel…

“You even have a Chapel on the Plantation?”, I asked Paul, a little surprised…

“…We didn’t built it… It was already there when we moved here in 1945…”, he answered.

We stopped near the Chapel and went inside for a little visit. Then, as we were walking back to our truck, I noticed a small cemetery, right next to the Chapel…

“That’s where all the previous owners are buried… as well as our own departed…”, Will said, looking at me…

I took time to look at the tombstones…

Obviously, some were very old… and I had difficulties reading their inscriptions…

Others were more recent. I looked at a more recent one and read its inscription:

“FRANZ SCHMIDT
1921-1991”

And right under that inscription, I read:

“LUTZ REINBERGER
1920- _____”

“Yes”, Lutz said to me… That’s where my Franz is buried… and that’s also where I’ll be buried one day…”

That’s how I learned that in 1997, Lutz’s was seventy-seven…

Then, I looked at another tombstone, and read its inscription:

“YOLANDE LARUE-REINBERGER
1926-1994
BELOVED WIFE OF
HANS REINBERGER
1915-_____”

“That’s my wife’s grave you’re looking at…”, Hans said to me…

“Yes…”, I respectfully answered…

Then… another tombstone caught my eyes. There were three inscriptions on that tombstone that read:

“PIERRE de BRION
1928-1986"

“PAUL de BRION
1921-____”

“WILHELM VON RUNDSTEDT
1920-____”

Of course, it didn’t take long for me to count… thus learning that Paul was now seventy-five and Will seventy-six…

As I was looking at Pierre de Brion’s grave, Paul came to me and said:

“He was my younger brother… He died of cancer at the age of fifty-eight…”