in your life. I haven’t told you what to do since you were eighteen. You know my philosophy. After that age, you’re on your own. But damn it, when it comes to important decisions you can never make up your mind. It’s enough to drive me crazy. Go see the pastor and get the job done. I want to put a grandchild on my knee some day.” He paused, looking directly at Werner. “Well?”
“I been thinking about it.”
“For how long, damn it? It’s decision time, tonight. What about you, Brigid? And look me in the eye when you say it. Don’t put your head down like a whipped dog and look away. Are you ready to adopt?”
“Yes, I would. Yes.”
“I take it that means you’re not interested in divorce.”
Brigid shook her head, no.
The imposing presence of his father silenced Werner.
“Looks like a no to me. We’ve got one yes and one maybe on adoption, two no’s on divorce. Now you have to decide if you’re going to spend the rest of your married-life without kids. I wouldn’t recommend it. I had two boys and two girls. Granted you kids could be pains–in-the-ass sometimes, but you were worth it. I wouldn’t trade parenthood for anything. Werner, you need a kid to put some purpose in your life. Go back to the pastor and tell him to close the deal, instead of thinking about it for another month.”
Werner looked at his wife and then at Ludwig. There was the usual firmness in his father’s words that he had learned to pay strict attention to. “I’ll go,” Werner said.
Brigid nodded. “Yes,” she said.
“Alright, let’s eat,” said Ludwig. “By the way, I’ll be talking to Mr. Weiss tomorrow. You know he’s been advising me about business matters for ten years, on and off. He’s never steered me wrong. Anything happens to me, he’s your man.”
The next afternoon, Ludwig went to Weiss’s house, a small home on the edge of Augsberg, and told Weiss that he had told Werner to continue using Weiss as an advisor, should Werner take over the farm. “He knows nothing about finances. I’m trying to teach him, but it’s an uphill battle,” said Ludwig.
Joshua Weiss laughed. He was five foot nine inches tall and weighed only 130 pounds. He stroked his salt and pepper beard. He had thick, black eyebrows, a prominent nose, and thinning black hair. With his thin spectacles perched on the center of his nose, he said, “First as far as anything happening to you, I don’t think that’ll be a problem because you’ll no doubt outlive us all. And number two, I wish I had your brain with figures. Werner didn’t inherit that, huh?”
“Afraid not, he’s no Einstein.”
“Who?”
“Einstein. Albert Einstein. He’s one of your boys.”
“Never heard of him. What did he do?”
“I read about him in a physics journal. He published three papers in the Annalen der Physik last year. I’ve since read that these three papers are thought to be the most amazing intellectual output by one man in one single scientific journal in all of history.”
“That’s impressive. Still into that stuff, Faraday?”
“Always will be, Joshua”
“Tell me about it, but let’s get some more coffee, so I can wake up my brain first.”
Ludwig expounded with obvious glee, his arms never still, his face enraptured.
“It all sounds pretty weird to me. Maybe this Einstein is nuts, huh? I don’t know why you didn’t become a scientist, Werner.”
“Sometimes I wonder.”
CHAPTER 9
Once again, Werner and Brigid arrived at Pastor Braun’s residence. The pastor was smiling. “It’s good to see you both. You’ve made the right decision.”
“We’ve got a lot of questions,” said Brigid.
Nodding his head, the Pastor smiled and said,” I’m sure you do.”
“We decided we’ll adopt a boy. You said that you would try to match us up with a pregnant girl, but what if she doesn’t have a boy,” said Werner.
“Here’s how it works. The children are born first before we match people up. Then we call them in to see the baby. We match up prospective parents who do not have a sex preference with a pregnant girl who has characteristics similar to the adoptive mother. The agreement is that, when the baby is born, they take the baby regardless of whether it’s a boy or a girl. They’ve agreed to that in advance, and we’ve never had a problem, assuming the baby is healthy.”
“So in our case, you’ll call us in after a boy is born so that we can come and make a decision?” said Brigid.
“Yes, that’s right. But you have to understand that it could take a long time, and we won’t be able to give you advance notice of when you’ll get your baby.”
“How long?” said Werner.
“It could be years. The way to be sure you’ll get your baby when you want it is for you to agree that you would take the child regardless of its sex. That way we can match you up with a specific pregnant girl, and you’ll know when the baby should be born. If you go along with that, I could promise you a baby in less then six months.”
“My husband wants a boy,” said Brigid.
Werner waved his hand. “Yeah, that’s what we talked about, but I’m impatient. I hoped we could have a son in a few months, but now we got some thinking to do. One thing for sure, if we match and take the baby whether it’s a boy or a girl, we have a fifty-fifty chance of a boy. That would be like a real pregnancy where we wouldn’t know what we’re going to have until the second it pops out.”
“So are you considering getting matched up and accepting whatever is born?” asked the pastor with surprise.
“It may take me a while to decide on something, but once I make up my mind I don’t wanna wait forever,” said Werner, who had his father’s admonition on his mind.
Brigid sat upright in her chair. Her eyes lit up. “Do you mean it?” she said.
“Yeah, I do. It sounds better then waiting for years.”
“That’s good thinking, Werner,” said the pastor. “Now I know you’re serious to get moving.”
Brigid said, “I never thought of anything other than a son, because I know that’s what you wanted.”
“You’re right, but now I’ll take what we can get. As long as it’s healthy, that’s all.
“But what about your father?” asked Brigid.
“What about my father? He said his piece. If I went back to him, he’d kick my ass out the door. It’s up to us now.”
The pastor took down all of Brigid’s physical characteristics: brown
