Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

director at the hospital until the university actually became reality. As she had guessed,
Javakhashvili did not have a paid position for her at this time. He gladly accepted this facesaving
solution.
By the end of the summer Konrad and Alexandra were professionally in more interesting
and challenging positions than they had been in St. Petersburg.
Once again, Konrad taught chemistry, physics, and botany at the good, old Gymnasium.
He was touched by nostalgia, the same auditorium, similar faces. The number of women had
quadrupled, most of them studied medicine. They no longer confused him with their giggles,
but neither did he find an Alexandra among them, except in his visions of a time long past.
"My God," he told his wife, "if I were to find you one morning sitting again at your old
place, I would have a dizzy spell and completely lose my composure. I see you all the time in
front of me: ‘Princess Dadiani where did you learn your excellent German?’"
She smiled. "You did not call me Princess Dadiani although you should have known that
I was Irakli’s daughter—and I was so excited that I was afraid that my legs would give way."
In the middle of these explorations of their new world a haggard, worn-out Tamara
descended upon them. Dressed all in black, she looked like out of a painting by Pirosmani. She
accepted the shelter Irakli offered her, but spoke little. They sympathized with her grief.
Alexandra extracted the full, horrible story of Vladimir’s end only several days later.
Deda wordlessly adopted Asmat, who became an animated doll for little Sophia. For
Konrad and Alexandra, Tamara was a constant reminder that the terrifying world they had left
behind indeed existed.
Often Tamara vanished in the morning and did not return until after midnight. Nobody
asked questions about her comings and goings, and she did not volunteer any information.
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