TS3 Chapter 17

 Chapter 17

Guntram de Lisle's diary 

January 16^th, 2016

I must be mad, crazy, looney or stupid because I'm still here; at Konrad's house. I can only say in my defense that tomorrow I'll move out... to the cottage, not to my flat. Why? Because the children can't bear the mere thought of me living more than a kilometer from them. 

Kurt and Kostya returned Friday afternoon and they were so happy to see me that I nearly cried when I saw them. Kostya cuddled himself against me and stayed there until bedtime and I had to stay with him until he fell asleep. On Saturday they didn't leave me a minute alone and clung to my neck. Klaus and Karl looked gloomy and I asked them why, assuming that they were jealous of their younger brothers. 

“You'll be going away now that they're back,” Karl said. “Like always.” 

That was a stab right on the centre of my chest but I've given him cause to think like that. 

“We aren't stupid.” Klaus told me. “You want to divorce and go away. If you do that, it's logical to think that you'll take Kurt and Kostya away. We've seen that happening at school many times before.” 

“Don't come with that shit of telling us that you love us or spoiling us with gifts because it's all shit.” Karl said and I was speechless. I mean, I couldn't even tell them off for the foul language. 

“But I do love you,” I said and that sounded lame even up to me. “Your father and I don't get along at all.” 

“Guntram, you're being selfish.” Klaus said. “I know you've been sick for a long time, but this is your chance to do the right thing. Don't have children if you don't want to look after them.” 

TS3 Chapter 16

 Chapter 16

Guntram de Lisle's diary

January 12^th, 2016 

Zurich 

I've known this lot for almost fifteen years and I still don't get it. When will I learn that they're the sneakiest creatures to crawl upon this earth? Never. Guntram is too stupid to see through their lies. 

I should have suspected it since two nights ago when they were so nice to Altair and me. I was released midday from the Cleveland Institute and Michael “ordered” Fefo to take me in one of those luxury city tours. I was a bit shocked because all of them hate tourism but the idea of being trapped in a suite with a sour Ferdinand, a cranky Ratko and a funny Michael for the whole afternoon, made up my mind. I went away. 

We returned at dinnertime and I must say Abu Dhabi is the largest and most opulent city I've ever been to. The size of the skyscrapers, marinas, malls and everything seems to be big -bordering on huge- around here. If something is golden, it's probably gold. 

They were so nice during dinner and when Altair arrived -unannounced- the three of them were civil and posed no objections to me going out with Altair, without any kind of security. Probably they were thinking something like “let Guntram have a last fuck” or something like that. Yeah, a fuck a week after a heart transplant.  

Altair drove us for about an hour or so into the desert at sunset. The dunes here are unlike anything else I've ever seen, some of them up to 200 or 300 meters high. Driving through no paths is a bit scary but he knew what he was doing. He finally “parked” in the middle of nowhere and it was pretty amazing to feel that silky sand under my feet. The temperature wasn't hot and there was a nice cold breeze. 

While I was looking at the dying sun, Altair was busy getting things out of the Range Rover. He set up a large blanket and pillows and had something like a big picnic basket. It made me smile because the last time I ate from a picnic basket I was around seven and it was a school trip and we all got lukewarm sandwiches for lunch. 

“It's a pity you already ate.” 

“Germans. They dine at seven or die.” I smiled. “But I'm going tomorrow to London.”