CHAPTER 19

1960
Amsterdam, Summer

On a summer’s evening, while sitting in the yard that Judith had transformed into a garden, Lars gazed over at their greenhouse, at its flowering blossoms that danced against the windows, and wondered at it all. He looked at Beatrix too. What a beauty she had become.

As usual, her head was bent over a book. She had just graduated from university and was engaged to a nice young man who lived in England. They had met at school, but which school? It was getting harder and harder for Lars to remember names. As he concentrated, little rivers formed across his brow and his mouth pulled in as tight as a drawstring purse. Shoes. It is the same as a type of shoes, hmmm. Oxford, that’s it! Beatrix went to Oxford University in England. But she mentioned a college too. What was its name? He pondered and then there it was, St. Hilda’s! He chuckled to himself.

“Why are you laughing, Uncle Lars?” Beatrix looked up from her book.

“I was thinking that I cannot imagine our lives without you in it,” Lars said shyly as he glanced at the lovely young woman sitting a few feet away.

Beatrix closed her book, jumped up, and hugged him. “I love you bunches, you silly old uncle.” She kissed him on both cheeks. Tears filled his eyes.

“Uncle Hans, careful!” cried Beatrix. Uncle Hans was walking down the garden steps without his cane. “Here, take my arm.” Beatrix ran to his side.

They walked slowly to his special chair. Soon Judith would call them in for dinner. It was Friday, and so they would eat roast chicken, their favorite.

Hans and Lars died in l961 within a week of each other, Lars in his sleep and Hans in his chair in the garden. Neither experienced any pain. All that they owned was left to Judith and Beatrix.