Watching Fritz

Chapter Eighteen

Shortly after Bethia, Jacob and David had resettled in the drawing room, Georg led the men in. David rose and welcomed them, then he walked across to Georg and shook his shoulder. "Thank you for the quick thinking."

"I caught them as they were ready to come up. We need a more accurate clock for their mess. It can't decide to be fast or slow. Unpredictable."

David Laughed. "We'll take care of that." He pointed to the chairs arranged in a semicircle around the tree, then he motioned to the men. "Please sit. Wine is on its way."

Once everyone was seated and had a glass in hand, David stood beside the tree. "I've not organised one of these before, so bear with me as we proceed. Most of you are familiar with the tradition of your officers and NCOs serving Christmas dinner." He saw the many nods, so he continued, "We're doing that today."

He pointed to Jacob and Michael. "Both Herr Meier and Mr Smeaton had been officers in the Swiss Army, and they'll be assisting Georg and me with this." He paused and looked at the presents under the tree. "The next tradition I'm imposing on you is gift giving, and the last one is singing songs and carols." He chuckled. "But we'll do that one after dinner when we're mellow and less concerned about how we sound."

David lifted his glass and swirled it. "This is the wine we served when you arrived in October. Remember how cloudy it was then? It had just finished its fermentation, and it had not had a chance to clarify." He swept his finger past the men, then he pointed to his chest. "We were the same at that time. Our scheme had barely finished brewing, and it had not had time to settle."

He raised his glass. "Things always change. Here's to changing with them." He took a sip and gathered his thoughts before he continued, "Alright, those are my traditions. Who has more to add to the mix?"

There was silence for a while, then Georg spoke up. "We were always snowbound. Zermatt is buried under snow from mid-November until early April, and there's seldom less than two metres; more often three and more on the ground. We'd spend most of our time inside and telling stories."

"But what did you eat? How did you get it?" Maria asked.

Georg chuckled. "By acting like squirrels. We'd spend the autumn drying and smoking meat, making cheese, gathering and drying berries, fruit and nuts. These were added to the grains and hay..." He looked up from his memories. "Seems I'm telling a story, as was our tradition, so I'll continue. The animals lived on the ground floor, so we had fresh milk and occasionally a supply of fresh meat. We lived above them, and their heat helped keep us warm."

"Crikey! Christmas came in the middle of our summer school break. We'd all go down to the beach at Bondi and play in the waves as they rolled onto the shore. That and try to cop a Sheila or two." Manny looked into his glass. "But we was always tryin' that."

Several of the others contributed memories from Christmases with their families, and when David sensed they were done, he stood again. "Right. Now let's begin the gift-giving." He reached under the tree and picked up the eleven boxes wrapped in blue tissue. After he had given one to each of the men, he said, "These will keep our timing more precise."

He picked up the green package and handed it to Georg. "And yours is set to correct time, so the men can set theirs from it. Go on, open them. At least that's what we did in my family." He laughed. "And since this is my tradition, we'll do it my way."

Georg removed the tissue and opened his box, stared at the gold wristwatch for a while, then lifted his hand to wipe his tears.