The Old King in his Exile by Stefan Tobler

Author:Stefan Tobler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dementia;Alzheimer’s;Alzheimers;Alzheimer;Ageing;Old Age;Elderly;Family;Father;Son;Austria;Austrian;Wolfurt;German;translation;literature in translation;translated literature;Alps;Alpine;rural;rural community;Second World War;WWII;orchard;memoir;biography;narrative non-fiction;literary non-fiction;creative non-fiction;Seethaler;Sally Magnusson;Magnusson;Emma Healey;Alan Bennett;A Whole Life;When Dementia Changes Everything;Elizabeth is Missing;Untold Stories;A Life Like Other People’s;German Book Prize;Friedrich Hölderlin-Preis;Literarurpreis der Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung;Johann Beer-Preis;Anton Wildgans-Preis
Publisher: And Other Stories Publishing
Published: 2016-12-06T14:38:38+00:00

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A few weeks later, Aunt Hedwig, Emil’s wife, left a message on my answering machine. I called her back. It was about Katharina, my cousin Maria’s daughter. A viral infection had left Katharina paralysed for weeks, and she was able to move only her eyes. Afterwards, she had recorded the whole experience, including the nightmares brought on by the medicine. Aunt Hedwig and I also talked about my father. She mentioned a trip that my cousin Stefan had gone on with him, during which my father made a point of saying he’d always had it good in life. Aunt Hedwig was quite amazed at that. She heard so few people say anything like it. She commented that his attitude was all the more remarkable when you recalled the photo taken after his captivity.

I replied that it was a shame the photo had been lost along with his wallet. Aunt Hedwig said, ‘Oh, Arno, we’ve got a copy. No idea how we came by it, but we’ve got one.’

‘Are you sure?’

I described the photo.

‘Yes, I’m sure. If you want, I’ll dig it out for you. You can pick it up tomorrow.’

So I picked up the photo and made a copy of the copy and was allowed to keep the original copy. It’s one of the things I treasure most.

The stamp on the back of the photo reveals that Emil made the copy in 1995, when he and my father were already old men. 1995. It was around then that the whole mess started.

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