My German Lover, Part 27, chapter 1

“That’s not very old to die…”, I said…

“No…”, Paul answered in a whisper… “And I still miss him very much…”

After a long moment of silence Lutz said:

“Well… Let’s go on with the tour, and let them rest in peace, shall we?”

“Yes”, we all answered…

So we went on… and finally reached a large building.

“…That’s the distillerie guys (Distillery…) (…) That’s where we produce our rums…”, Paul proudly said. “Several of our vintage aged rums have made Bagatelle name famous in Europe”

We went inside the distillerie, where many people were working…

Paul showed us around and explained to us how rum is made.

“…Now, what makes our rums famous is that they undergo a long period of aging in very old oak casks. Those casks are priceless, and were brought from France almost two hundred years ago. But they are much older than that… In France, Cognac was aging into them… and so, with time, Cognac impregnated the oak, and that’s what gives our rums their distinctive taste… Only in the French West Indies and in the old French colony of Haïti can you find casks like ours. On some of the other islands where they produce rum, they don’t have casks like ours and so, many producers over there have no other choice but to add all kinds of coloring stuff to their rums… even caramel… so that they look old… and taste a bit like ours… with limited success, of course!”, he said, laughing…

“And where do you keep those casks?”, I asked, curious…

“They are kept in tunnels that were dug by slaves into the limestone a long, long time ago… right under the distillerie. There, the temperature is perfect for the rums to slowly age… Some have been kept there for more than twenty years, and are still aging…”, Paul answered…

“…And that’s also where we all hide, when there’s a hurricane… like in 1963, when we were hit by Edith… or in 1979, when we were hit by David… although that year, much of the damages were caused to the North part of the island…”, Will added…

“…Do you think… I mean… Could we have a taste of your rums?”, Robert asked…

“Ahhhhhh… I knew you’d be asking…”, Will said, laughing his heart out…
Again, my brother blushed! At least, he had the courage to ask… And I must say I was rather proud of him! Also, I must say that I, too, wanted to taste some rum…

They took us to a room full of bottles ready to be shipped over to France…

Paul took a bottle, opened it and poured some old aged rum into a few glasses…

“Now guys… smell it…”, he said.

We did… and indeed, it smelled very good… a lot like Cognac.

“Now… taste it… Very slowly, because this is very strong…”, Paul warned us…

We tasted it…

And as the rum went down my throat and made its way into my stomach… I felt a burning sensation throughout my whole body…

“Shit!”, I said in a coarse voice… “It tastes good but God! It’s strong…”, I exclaimed…

Then I turned to look at my brother…

He was as red as the maple leaf on our national flag!

They all burst out laughing, looking at him, and Paul said:

“…Told you to drink it slowly…”

“…Yeah!”, Robert answered, coughing: He had swallowed all of his glass in one, big gulp! Poor guy! 

“Sit down for a minute…”, Paul said to him, still laughing… Then, he turned to look at me and said: “Here… take that bottle to your parents, so they can taste it…”

“Thanks…”

“Well guys… I think it’s time to go back to the mansion…”, Hans said, looking at his watch…

“Yes… I’m sure our mum will be mad at us if we’re late for dinner… and we better have our T-shirts on, if we want to approach the table…”, I answered, laughing…

As we were about to leave our hosts, Paul turned to me and said:

“…And don’t forget Jack: You can use our pool as often as you want, if you want to train… and you too, Robert… I’ll tell our staff, so they are not surprised to see you swimming in there…”

“…You were serious about that offer?”, I asked Paul…

“Absolutely…”, He answered, looking at me. “And as you’ll learn to know me better, you’ll see I never speak through my hat, and that I always tell the truth!”

“Yeah…”, Will said, grinning… “Even when he should keep his mouth shut!”

“…Well… at least, you always know what I think!”, Paul answered, laughing…

“Ohhhhh yessssss… That, we do!”, Lutz added, laughing too…

“Don’t listen to them guys… they are only grumpy, old men…”, Paul said to us, laughing…

“Speak for yourself!”, Lutz answered, still laughing…

It was obvious to me that, even after all those years, those guys still had fun, living together…

“…Okay”, I said to Paul… “But I like to train early in the morning, when its not too hot…”

“No problem my friend. Come when you like!”, he answered.

“Thanks a lot! And thank you very much for the tour…”

“Our pleasure!”, they answered…

As we were walking back home, I turned to look at my bro and asked him:

“So… What do you think?”

“…About what?”

“Do you still think they are old, pervert guys…”

“Of course not, silly! I think they’re cool!”

“Un-huh… Told you so…”

“Yeah… But you didn’t have to tease me in front of them you know…”

“Oh?”

“…About the girls on the Plantation… you know perfectly well what I mean…”

“I only served to you your own medicine… Now you know how I feel when you tease me…”, I answered, grinning…

My brother kept silent for a while… then he said:

“…That bad huh?”

“Look Robert… it’s just that I’m fed up with your crap, can’t you understand that? Most of the time, I know you don’t do that conscientiously… but I mean… Stop doing that. Stop using me and stop patronizing me… I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself… and I don’t need your help, thank you!”

Robert suddenly stopped walking and looked at me…

“…I’m sorry Jack, really… I didn’t realized…”

“Yeah… I know.”, I answered, grinning…

“Okay bro… from now on, I’ll do my best…”

“Fine!”

“Um… you know what you said to me the other day?”

“What?”

“That I’m flashy… Do you really think…”

“Sometimes, yes!”

“Oh…”

“And Robert, please: Don’t try to fuck with all the girls on the Plantation. I don’t want to have them on our back later…”

“Okay okay… I’ll try to keep my dick in my pants…”, he answered, laughing…

“Yeah! Wank all you want, but don’t turn the Plantation up side down…”, I answered, laughing too…

“You’re gross…”

“Maybe… But you know what I mean…”

Two days later, I resumed my training in the pool at the Plantation… and gradually, I started to know Paul, Will, Lutz and Hans better…

During my training, I had the pool all to myself, with no one around. But often after my training, Paul or Will would invite me to share breakfast with them and of course, most of the time I would accept.

A few days later, as Christmas was around the corner, Paul told me:

“…Don’t forget… We expect you and your family to be here at around ten o’clock, on Christmas Eve…”

“I know… Mum told me! And don’t worry: We’ll be here!”, I answered, smiling…

That night, lots of people were at the Plantation, and we were all introduced to Ludwig and his wife, as well as to his children and grandchildren. We were also introduced to Hans’ family, as well as to monsieur Dubois, a retired doctor from Fort-de-France…

“Oh yes doctor Dubois!”, I heard my dad say to him as they were introduced to one another…”I understand you and I studied at the same University, back in Paris…”

“Yes yes… that’s what Paul told me…”, Dr Dubois answered, smiling at my dad… “But please, call me François…”

“Should I?”, my dad asked him…

“I understand you’re much younger than I am… but please do. I’m still young at heart you know…”, Dr Dubois answered, with a nice smile on his face…

“Of course!”, my dad answered… “And in that case… please, call me Maurice. (…) And I hope we’ll have time later this evening so you can tell me how come you left Paris to come to Martinique to practice medicine…”

“Oh… That’s a long story my friend!”, Dr Dubois answered, laughing… “A long story! And my friend Paul played a big part in it! During the War, he saved my life you know! I had been beaten by thugs… and he paid for the surgery I urgently needed, for the hospital, for the doctor… he paid for everything. And later, he paid my tuition while I was in college as well as when I studied to become a doctor! He’s been like a brother to me, you know. And when I finally graduated, he invited me and my life-companion to spend some time in Martinique. We never left!”, Dr Dubois said, laughing… “But as I said, that’s a long story… and perhaps, some day, we’ll have time so I can tell you all about it…”

“I would like that…”, my dad answered, a bit curious…

Later that evening, as I was talking with one of Ludwig’s grandchildren, Will came to me and said:

“… If I remember correctly Jack, your brother Robert said you take piano lessons…”

“Yes… that’s true. For the last six years I’ve been studying…”
“…Well then, would you please play a song for us?”

“Do you have a piano?”, I asked…

“Of course… but we don’t play. No one has ever played on that grand piano since… well since the War I guess… But Paul has always made sure it was kept well tuned…”, Will answered, grinning… “Follow me…”

So I followed him to a large room where many guests were standing, talking to one another… drinking and having fun…

I had never been in that room before… It was a large and very beautiful drawing-room with expensive furniture. I must say I was impressed.

Will led me to a grand piano and on our way, I saw Paul talking with other guests. He didn’t notice me nor Will…

“Wow!”, I exclaimed, looking at the grand piano… “A Playel huh? That’s a very expensive grand piano!”…

“Yes!”, Will answered, smiling… “It belonged to Paul’s grandmother… Come sit down… I’ll give you the sheet music of the song I’d like you to play for me… It’s an old German Christmas song…”

Will gave me the sheet music of a song titled “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht”. At the bottom of it, I read that that song had been written in Germany in 1818 by Joseph Mohr and Franz Grüber… All the words were in German. I had never seen before the German title of that song so at first, I was at lost. But when I started to read the music I smiled, realizing that that song was none other than “Silent Night”… Up until then, I had always been under the impression that that famous song was an American song! Not so!

I sat down and opened the lid over the keyboard, as Will was standing right next to the grand piano, looking down at me… Then, I tried the piano and played a few scales!

“What an instrument!”, I said to Will… not realizing that all the guests had gone silent.

I raised my head to look at the guests… and saw Paul standing over there. He was looking at Will with very anxious eyes… Will looked back at him and, with a nice smile on his face, he nodded to Paul… to let his lover know that everything was okay. I had no idea about what was going on between the two of them… How could have I know that once, Will had been an excellent pianist, but had totally refused to play after his parents and his sister had been killed in 1943 during the War, when Berlin was bombed.

Will looked back at me and, with a nice smile, he asked me:

“Do you think you can play that song?”

“Sure! No problem!”

“Go ahead my friend…”

So I began playing the song…

As all of my attention was drawn to the sheet music, not wanting to miss a single note, I didn’t see Paul walk towards Will. But when I rose my eyes for a second, I saw him standing there, right next to Will. Both of them had tears in their eyes. And I had not realized that, hearing the music from the distance, Ludwig, Lutz and Hans had walked into the drawing-room and were now standing right behind me. Then they started to sing the song in German… They still had beautiful voices…

Many of the guests followed and began singing the song in French… while a few others began singing it in English, as some of them were from the United States.

Whatever the language… the song was beautiful!

When the music stilled to nothing, there was a moment of total silence. Then the guests started to applaud… and Will walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said:

“Thank you very, very much Jack! You have no idea how much that song means to me! It’s a very beautiful Christmas gift you just gave to me. Thanks!”

“… You’ve brought back so many memories Jack…”, Ludwig said… “Thank you!”. I could see Ludwig was very moved. And so were Lutz and his brother Hans!

A bit later, as I was talking to my dad Paul came to me and said:

“Thank you so much Jack. I hope that before you go back to Montréal, you’ll come back to play for us… Without you knowing it, a miracle happened here tonight! 

Then Paul told me that Will used to play piano beautifully, but had stopped after the death of his parents and of his sister. “Since that day, he hasn’t played one single note and the piano has remained silent. Now, it’s like if music was back into our house after all those years… Thanks again Jack…”

Of course, before we went back to Montréal in January, I went to see our old friends a few times, and played for them.

After Christmas, Paul had searched into old crates and had found many old sheet music. Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Schubert… name them, he had their music! He also had the sheet music of many songs I had never heard, that were popular during the War, and even before that…