After lunch, David took Georg aside. "Again, my congratulations on your decision with Rachel." He punched him lightly on the shoulder and chuckled. "Though with the way you've behaved around her from the beginning, I'm not surprised."
"Rachel was telling me that you and Maria were also very quickly into an intense relationship."
"True. We've considered ourselves married for many months now." He raised his hand to show his wedding band. "We even bought rings, and we've been wearing them since June." He shrugged. "With my Swiss identification being her brother's birth certificate, we couldn't make it official, and as a Canadian soldier, I was an illegal foreign belligerent, liable to be arrested and detained under their treaty of neutrality."
Georg nodded, then tilted his head. "So how are you getting around that now?"
"The War Office posted me to Bern as the Aide-de-Camp to the Ambassador, so I'm now legally in the country." David patted his breast pocket and motioned across the courtyard. "Let's go talk with the men. I've the identification papers now for the remainder of them, and also their pay and advances."
The men were all relaxing in their mess when David and Georg entered, and they gathered them around the long table. David began by adding to the information he had briefly shared on his way through Sonnenhang the previous day. "The newspapers continue to report the damage as being from an earthquake, and our intercepted German messages still point to sabotage by French sympathisers in Alsace and Lorraine."
Manny chuckled as he looked up from his cup. "That's ace they're lookin' at their own people doin' the dirt, and not at someone like us crossin' their borders. Speakin' of the borders, any word yet on our Swiss papers?"
David smiled as he reached into his breast pocket. "I've them here." He opened the envelope and pulled out an assortment of paper and placed it on the table. "Some of these are rather frail from repeated handling and folding, so be careful." He opened the first one and read the name. "This is yours, Dolf."
After the seven had received their papers, Manny held his up. "Crikey! No wonder it took them so long. This looks like it's older than me."
"That was the big delay; getting them to appear properly aged." David again reached into his breast pocket. "I've your pay here, plus an advance of your January's. This should give you a good stash to help you enjoy your leave."
When the money had been issued and signed for, David opened the large mainla envelope and slid its contents onto the table. "Here's a selection of maps, brochures and information sheets on places of interest in the cantons of Schaffhausen, Thurgau and Zürich." He unfolded one map. "This shows the odd shape of the canton of Schaffhausen and its location on the north side of the Rhine River as a mushroom bulge into Germany."
David ran his finger around the periphery of the bulge. "Be careful with the German border; it encircles us here, except for about five kilometres along the Rhine at the city of Schaffhausen." He pulled another map from the selection. "This shows the city and its immediate vicinity. Just downstream from the city is a large waterfall, a hundred and fifty metres wide and twenty-five metres high, the largest in Europe. You can see it from both sides of the river because they're both in Switzerland."
"Why is this little piece of Switzerland located across the Rhine in what should be Germany?"
"Good question, Franz. I had asked it myself, and Frau Meier told me it goes back to the fourteen hundreds when there were two popes. The Habsburg Duke aligned with the wrong one, and he was banned by the Emperor. His fortunes fell, and to raise money, he sold Schaffhausen its independence. A few decades later, his former Ducal lands allied with the Swiss cantons of Zürich and Thurgau across the Rhein, and Schaffhausen has been Swiss ever since."
David paused to gather his thoughts, then he continued. "You can use the lorry for transportation, but it's best not to travel too broadly this time. Schaffhausen is a fine historic city with many sights to see and things to do, and you should be well satisfied. But, I advise you to plan on being back here by mid-afternoon on Christmas eve."
He paused again, smiled and nodded to Georg. "You've all surely noticed the affinity between Georg and Frau Meier. They're making it official and being married next Friday afternoon."
There was a loud and boisterous round of congratulations, and after it had subsided, Georg pointed at David. "And he and Maria are being wed at the same time, so we've much celebrating to do. Plan your travels to ensure you're back here to help us celebrate."
After the new round of cheering had quieted, David pointed to Georg and laughed. "And since he's marrying my new mother-in-law, he'll be my new stepfather-in-law."
David held up his hand to stop the laughing. "And on Christmas Day, we'll have a traditional family gathering in the schloss." He swept his finger back and forth, indicating each of the men. "And since you're all members of the family, you're expected to be part of it." David shrugged his shoulders and looked at each of the men. "Traditional? What's traditional? We'll have a mishmash of traditions since we're from such diverse backgrounds — six countries and countless heritages. Each of us will add bits of our own."