Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

He found Alexandra waiting at the restaurant. She was flushed and excited.
"I discovered my painting. It is a Giorgione: The Tempest. For over an hour I searched
for the reason why I was in that museum, for the painting that touched me. There are many
beautiful pictures in the gallery, but the Giorgione is mine."
Konrad had not heard of this painting.
"I had not either, it was a true surprise, a real discovery."
She described the painting to him: In the foreground a soldier who must have just
arrived home from a war stands facing a young woman who nurses a child in a sunny
landscape, a bridge, the houses of a town, a castle. The last lightning in a dark storm cloud
drifting away into the background.
"The woman—she must be the soldier’s wife—and the child are completely nude. The
beauty of the painting lies in the contrast of the dark thundercloud and the light color of the
woman’s body. Maybe the soldier has never seen his child before."
She described the painting to him: In the foreground a soldier who must have just
arrived home from a war stands facing a young woman who nurses a child in a sunny
landscape, a bridge, the houses of a town, a castle. The last lightning in a dark storm cloud
drifting away into the background.
"The woman—she must be the soldier’s wife—and the child are completely nude. The
beauty of the painting lies in the contrast of the dark thundercloud and the light color of the
woman’s body. Maybe the soldier has never seen his child before." Alexandra sat across from
Konrad and smiled. "Konrad, I want a child. A child conceived over the waters of Venice."
Konrad arched his eyebrows in surprise and smiled. "That happens when I let you go
alone to the Accademia. You come back with all kinds of revolutionary ideas! You will have to
take me to see your Giorgione, maybe I can identify with the soldier in the painting. But I
thought you wanted to dance at the balls of St. Petersburg this winter, not walk around hugely
pregnant? And what about the Italian silk dress, you will not be able to squeeze into it when we
get home!"
"I have thought of that." She smiled. "I am tall and slender. I have much room for a child,
it might not be visible for a while. "
"Forever the practical Dadiani! So you think you can have both, a child and half a winter
of fun!"
He took her hand and kissed it tenderly.
"Let’s go home. I like to make love to you in the afternoon, when I can see your eyes.
But first I have to show you my treasures. I found something for my lunar goddess."
Konrad took the moon mask out of the bag.
"You see, the moon is waxing, it has just passed your First Quarter! And for myself I
finally bought a Dadiani nose!"
He pulled out the Pierrot mask.
She laughed as hard as only her father would have laughed.
Wearing only the masks, in the slanting afternoon light, they clowned around in front of
the mirrors until he pulled his lunar goddess down onto their bed.
It was not to be a Venetian child. A week later it became suddenly very hot. Bubbles
rose from the waters, and the canals began to reek. Overnight, bevor their eyes Alexandra’s
Venice turned into a nightmare.
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