No one there had heard of the incident so I was quizzed in depth. I was taken to the Bursar. His take on it was simple.
“You are worth more to us than that Don, do you want to continue in that class?”
“Not really, as a matter of fact, I didn’t want to take poets of the Regency period in the first place. The Wasp of Twickenham never did anything for me.”
“Pope is not everyone's cup of coffee.”
I had to smile at that, the Bursar certainly knew his Alexander Pope who was known for his love of coffee.
It was decided I would be enrolled in a class on Victorian poets. Out of the frying pan into the fire.
The Bursar wanted to know if I wanted any steps taken against the Don as he had exceeded his bounds. I told the Bursar, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”
He about fell out of his chair laughing.
“I can’t wait to tell this story in the faculty lounge. What an ironic act of revenge.”
That saying first written by Pope and how I used it followed that Don for his entire career. I shouldn’t have been but I was very proud of using his own field of expertise to get back at him. So sue me.
The Bursar also questioned me about the military students moving out of rented flats. I explained what had been done, the purchase of the failed college which was now Rawden Hall named after the First Marquis of Hastings, and Rogers Manor named after a NATO commander, both graduates of Oxford.
He was mixed emotions about the whole thing as he confided that he owned several of the flats that were now vacant. I asked him if he had been in any of them recently and he had not. I suggested he take a good look at them before letting them out.
He agreed, but I could see he wasn’t thrilled about the loss to his pocketbook. Oh Well.
Two evenings later, I went to a meeting at Rawden Hall with the military students. It was very interesting they had come together as a community. Before, they were each person or family on their own. Now they were a group with common goals.
It had been decided to put up a stone wall around Rogers Manor, as the housing project was now named. They were also developing a park in the center of the area. It would have children’s swings etc. plus a pavilion for group events and picnics.
Even the single officers living in Rawden Hall got behind this.
I spent Thursday night at the Dog and Crown with Bill, Tom, and Steve. Of course, they wanted to know about my German adventure. As I told the tale others listened.
I also learned about the saying, dining out on this story. I didn’t have to buy a pint all night. The guys told me I was a regular James Bond.
Well, I was if getting forced down, running for my life then getting shot, wandering in the woods in a fever made me a high-class agent. I don’t think that was how Mr. Bond would have handled it.
Several of the girls were very flirty but I wasn’t interested I had other plans for the weekend.
I had called Nina Monroe at her school in Switzerland. Her Dad had made certain I had her phone number. Hmm, I wonder what Dad’s agenda was? No matter I liked both him and Nina.
I wondered what sort of young lady she had grown into at the high-class boarding school. My experiences with girls of that ilk weren’t the greatest.
Using my civilian Cessna I flew to Zurich Friday afternoon. I had hotel reservations at the Marktgasse Hotel. I told my travel agent I wanted an upscale address. She assured me this was as upscale as it got. The quoted price was certainly upscale.
I took a taxi from Zürich Flughafen to the hotel. I thought about a car and driver but my trip was only for the weekend and I didn’t even know if it would be needed.
I met Nina in the hotel lounge before dinner Friday evening. She was accompanied by two friends. Nothing had been said about them.
Since they were dressed to the nines I was glad I wore a suit and tie.
Nina had changed, man, she had changed. The high school girl I knew in California had grown into a beautiful young lady. This is what Anna Romanov must have looked like in her late teens.
She came up to me and gave me a hug and did the kissy thing on the cheeks. I liked her kisses from our parking days better.
She introduced her friends. Apparently, the whole girl's school was atwitter about my visit. They were along to confirm that Nina actually knew me and I would show up.
At first, they came across as reserved and trying to act as though they were ‘upper-class’. That pose fell apart pretty quickly as I answered their questions about my recent German experience.
If I had allowed them they would have grilled me all evening about my exciting life. Instead, I redirected them to tell me about their school. It really is much easier to listen than talk, that is if what you’re listening to is interesting.
It sounded like an all-girls school is a snake pit. It also sounded like it could be a lot of fun or a nightmare depending on where you were in the pecking order.
These girls appeared to be in the middle.
As they talked they relaxed and came across as high school girls of their age. They were all seniors.
Nina was the most interesting to me. She held back
