Refined by Fire by Ruth VanDyke

Author:Ruth VanDyke [Vandyke Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-938416-85-9
Publisher: River Grove Books
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

25

GÖPPINGEN, WEST GERMANY, SATURDAY, 8 JANUARY 1977

SUNLIGHT STREAMING THROUGH HER window woke Maura up. As she slowly gained full consciousness, she remembered the nightmare of a day she’d had the day before. Looking at her watch, she saw it was eight a.m., which meant she had plenty of time to take a shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast before they stopped serving at ten.

She slipped out from beneath the thick goose down coverlet and got the first shock wave of cold. “Shit!” she said between clenched teeth as she wondered if the hotel heating system had broken down during the night She wondered if the shower would be as cold. She hurried to the wardrobe to get her robe and slippers. Walking down the hall a few minutes later to go to the WC and take a shower, she prayed they had plenty of hot water.

Walking downstairs to the dining room for breakfast, she tried hard to keep her teeth from chattering. The shower had been hot, but everything else was frigid.

Stopping at the front desk, she said, “Guten Morgen.”

The desk clerk, an older woman who looked none too friendly, looked up, nodded, and then went back to her paperwork.

“Excuse me,” Maura said in German.

The clerk looked up again. Maura mentioned that the hotel was freezing and asked if there was a problem with the heating system and, if so, when it would be fixed.

The clerk replied matter of factly, “It will warm up in another two hours. To save energy, we turn off all heat from midnight until six in the morning. Our guests are in a warm bed, and the heat would be wasted. We Germans are used to cool houses. I see you have plenty of clothing on, so you will be fine.” Then she surprised Maura by smiling and pointing to the dining room. “We have a lovely breakfast and lots of hot coffee to warm you up.”

Maura relaxed, said, “Danke,” and headed in for what she hoped would be a warm breakfast. She was not disappointed. As soon as she had taken a seat, a waitress poured her a cup of hot coffee and explained to her that she could visit the buffet as many times as she liked. While her coffee was cooling, she walked over to the buffet. They had four different kinds of freshly made juices, including passion fruit juice, which was a nice treat. There were fresh and dried fruits, nuts, muesli, yogurt, several kinds of cold cuts, and cheeses. On a side table were several different kinds of bread and Brötchen, butter, margarine, and a large variety of homemade marmalades. Two stainless steel steamers on another table held eggs—hard-boiled in one and soft boiled in the other.

Maura had to make several trips to her table, but she finally sat down, said a short prayer, and sliced into one of the fresh, warm rolls. As she began eating, she began to relax. She spent the next hour reading and eating an unusually large breakfast because she just could not stop eating the Brötchen and raisin bread.

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