Intermission, Volume 1

By Marc Twine

A collection of brief comedy, drama and historical fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marc Twine
• Release date: Nov 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311294333

Marc Twine

Retired Critical Care nurse

Book preview

Intermission, Volume 1

by Marc Twine

Copyright 2014 Marc Twine

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

Ach Du Lieber

Besame Mucho

Digital Craps

Light My Fire

Mother's Days

Need, Want, Greed

One Last Thought

The Candyman

The Eyes Have It

The Messenger

Two Rivers Ran Through It

When The Postman Rings

You Take My Breath Away

About the Author

About This Collection:

Welcome!

Here you will find some offerings to provide brief respite in your busy lives,

  suitable for coffee breaks, abbreviated lunches or those rare moments when you have a minute to spare.

I hope you enjoy the tales.

Marc

Ach, Du Lieber !

Augustine Gus Himmel had lived in the Texas Hill Country for his entire life. A third- generation Texan, he called Fredericksburg his home as did many descendants of the original German immigrants that settled in the region.

Gus inherited the family business, originally started by his grandmother many years before. Of course it was called: Oma's. Somewhat predictably, it specialized in handmade smoked sausage. Tradition has value, after all.

Germans loved their wurst and it happened that non-Germans did too. All admitted that Gus made the best of the wurst. His reputation was well-established: a clean, modern operation that created a variety of seasonably appropriate sausages, hand-crafted and reasonably priced. Why he even had a radio program: Grilling with Gus. It achieved some notoriety among local aficionados.

Fredericksburg, together with the surrounding hamlets of Mason City, Comfort and Johnson City were primarily agricultural communities. Over time, each grew and prospered. Fredericksburg gradually assumed the dominant commercial position among the group. Its schnitzel and sausage, cabbage rolls and rouladen, hasenpfeffer and sauerbraten framed the culinary landscape. Especially Oma's sausage.

Producing sausage is truly a hands-on process. Choosing the appropriate cuts of meat, adding just the right blend of seasonings, enclosing the result in animal casings -- all of this was an art form. Smoking the meats required time: long periods of minimal heat and maximum smoke. The aroma of oak, hickory, mesquite or apple wood often escaped from the closed container. A given batch might need 5-7 days of slow percolation until the links achieved their tongue-pleasing perfection. This worked out well for Gus. After all, the bulk of his business occurred on weekends when tourists were in abundance. Gus had patience. The remainder of the week allowed him to perfect his recipes, explore new ones and, of course, record Grilling with Gus.

*****

Augustine was in a quandary. His success was bedeviling him. He was featured in national food magazines, especially those catering to the gourmand persuasion. His business was reaching the bursting point: he had to employ three production workers and a weekend sales clerk. The mail-order business had grown to a point where two employees were needed for order fulfillment alone.  His smoker, now an enormous 2000sq. ft. encasement, was refilled daily, but the cold storage locker was regularly emptied as his mail-order base grew.

*****

.Looking back, he remembered when it began.

His nephew Heidrich was a good boy, a student at the University of Texas, Austin.  While he pursued a career in healthcare, he had settled for a part-time job as caretaker at the Hillcrest Funeral Home. It was, to say the least, boring. But he needed the money.

Uncle Gus, he pleaded, Just keep an eye on the mortuary on Saturday nights. He wanted to party on 6th street with his college counterparts. Old people don't seem to die on weekends. What do you say?

Sure, Gus replied, I've got some time on my hands. Too much time.

The Ganz family had lived in the Hill Country for generations. They were among the original settlers. All that remained of their lineage were the brothers and sisters: Evita, 96; Eric, 95; Gunther, 97; Suzanna, 93. They resided at the Vista Village nursing home in Comfort. While generally healthy for their advanced years, time was taking its toll.

They were wealthy by local standards. Long ago they executed a Tontine:  an agreement whereby each survivor inherited the wealth of his or her predecessor upon their respective deaths. Such agreements had been declared illegal by the Texas courts. But hell, the Ganz progeny were around long before there were effective courts in Texas. And so it began

*****

Gus grew increasingly desperate: for two years drought had plagued the state of Texas.  Cattlemen had reduced their herds and pork producers had cut back production as grain prices sky-rocketed. For a time, local hunters augmented his meager supplies with deer, squirrel and feral hogs. But, it just wasn't enough. The advertisement in the Austin Statesman read:

For a limited time, Gus's Best wieners are available.

Hand-crafted, flash frozen and delivered to your door.

These are unique tube steaks: Order now while supplies last.

 Hugely popular, they were said to be better than Oscar Mayer, Nathan's Famous or Hebrew National brands. The best taste, they said, Succulent. The epitome of the sausage art. Sold out for the season, Gus basked in the glow of his success.

*****

A Tontine is a powerful inheritance tool. Mark Heidelberg learned about his heritage online. Ancestry.com  listed his past. He was a Graf on his mother's side of the family tree. And there was money, money to be had. The last of the surviving Grafs had died. What the hell?  he thought, It's all about money.

 In order to challenge the tontine, Mark needed DNA. It could establish his generational rights. The court order allowed for the exhumation of Eric Graf...a man whom he'd never met. The medical examiner pried open the casket holding the man's musty remains:

Empty, he said. Sand bags took the place of the body of the deceased. The sheriff supervised the remaining exhumations. All Graf caskets were empty.

*****

He was famous. He was hopeless. Now they knew how he had succeeded.

 It was all so simple! Gus thought

As the hydraulic compactor closed in upon him, he exclaimed: Auf wiedersehen!

Soon his earthly remains resembled his famous wiener. Flavor in every bite.

~~~

Besamé Mucho

By most accounts, Veronica Kalin, (pronounced Kay-lin), had lived a privileged life. The daughter of a state department employee, she had traveled the world with her father. He served as a cultural attaché in many of the world’s capitals: Tokyo, Madrid, Jakarta, Singapore, Berlin, Paris, Beirut and Tel Aviv. Rumor had it that he actually served as station chief for the CIA throughout his thirty year career, but that was never proven. And he, Kevin Kalin, wouldn’t confirm or deny the rumors.

Veronica, a grown woman now, was drop-dead gorgeous. Her flowing raven-colored hair cascaded to her lower back. When draped across her shoulders, it framed a high-boned aristocratic face that featured a pair of bottomless blue-green eyes, pouty bee-stung coral lips and a radiant smile. Alabaster skin…her figure was highlighted by sensuous contours that produced a jaw-dropping effect on the men (and some women) who caught a view of it. She was accomplished and talented. Fluent in Spanish, German, Portuguese and Japanese, she moved with ease and grace across the world’s diplomatic landscape. Her master’s degree in fine arts from Vassar College prompted her to choose a career buying and selling artworks from across the globe.

Veronica had other talents as well. While an undergraduate,