Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Alexandra had waited for him and finally decided to find a seat in an empty compartment. In
the very last minute, the train was already moving, she saw him running down the platform and
jump on the last car.
Eventually they embraced.
"What happened?"
"We now have a policeman stationed in front of our door. To escape and prevent him
from following me, I had our chauffeur drop me at the station just as the train was about to
leave, an old trick. Now we will be unobserved."
She shook her head. "Where is this all leading to?"
He shrugged. "Sometimes I take life as a challenge, at other times as a game, but for
my parents the condition of our existence is demoralizing. Father is thinking of sending us all to
the West, should the situation deteriorate any further. He is determined to stay and help
prevent the worst. Maybe I will tell you more when we are out there in the woods. Do tell me of
your life in the past four years."
Alexandra contemplated this welcome opportunity to clear her mind of the thoughts that
had gone through her head since Konrad had left. Vladimir was an outsider in her marriage,
but not an unsympathetic one, and he appeared to have matured in those four years.
"I am hesitant to burden you with my personal problems. It is not in good taste to talk to
you about my marriage, but I did a lot of thinking about our life since Konrad left, and it may
help me to speak my mind."
He inclined his head and looked at her with understanding. "It was much harder to get
your degree and keep Konrad and the child happy than you had expected?"
"As you know, I am very strong willed. I wanted this professional education as a
safeguard against bad times, to conquer this city and my fears, and yes, to test my strength
and intellectual capabilities.... Konrad supported me selflessly, but at times it was very hard on
him. For five years our only recreation was to go riding outside on the weekends. These rides
kept our marriage in balance. But the long winters and the bad weather in the summer often
prevented this healing of our strained relationship. The long darkness of this northern world
proved most depressing. I come from a warm and sunny country."
Her lively face clouded over. She had a fleeting doubt of telling him more, but then
brushing her hand over her forehead and continued. "During the summer after the child was
born, my mother stayed with us. Her loving insight and her hysterical humor prevented many
quarrels between us. She wanted to take the child and me to Georgia, but I refused. In that
winter died our mutual promise to have an open house full of friends."
She peered at Vladimir’s face looking for a sign of recognition. He had never been
married, would he understand these intimate tensions that surface under stress even in a great
love?
"Konrad had planned to spend the following year on sabbatical in Tiflis teaching and
collecting plants in the mountains for the institute. I finally gave in and let myself be persuaded
to spend the winter with him, doing part of my clinical year at the hospital in Tiflis. At first these
were most happy months, my family, old friends, a strenuous expedition on horseback to
Tusheti. Konrad loves the easy, unstressed life of Tiflis, my family adores him. But as spring
approached I became increasingly restless. Georgia was threatening to reclaim me."
She looked out the window. Heavy clouds hung over the countryside. The train had
passed the ugly industrial suburbs of the city and ran along the shore of the Finnish Gulf.
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