Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

37.The summer in Ca' Savio1905From the crest of the dune Alexandra saw Friedrich running into the blue sea, stark naked. Katharina, hesitant, balancingher big belly, hovered at the edge of the water—also in the nude. The color of their skin under the southern sun, thesandy cove, dark pine trees in the background, and the sea, green near the shore, stretching in all shades of blue to analmost black, sharp line at the horizon.Alexandra let out a cry and ran down the hill. Before the others could catch up with her—Konrad carrying Otto across thehot sand, Niko with Ruth on his shoulders, Clara and Claudia—Alexandra had stripped and pulled Katharina into the sea.Friedrich was swimming towards the horizon, Alexandra and Katharina stood hand-in-hand in the knee-deep, transparentwater."I have never been in water like this. I feel newborn, Botticelli’s Venus!" shouted Alexandra coyly imitating Aphrodite’sfamous stance. "The cool water on the bare skin is wonderful."The group of latecomers hovered undecided at the edge of the lazily lapping sea.Alexandra laughed. "You look like hens whose ducklings have swum away"Katharina, clowning, put her arm around Alexandra, her left hand rested protectively on her belly. The two, deprived oftheir long legs, presented a most comical picture.Katharina giggled. "The moment before the Fall."Waving to the undecided landlubbers, Katharina put her arms around Alexandra and made her fall backwards with agreat splash.Clara pulled her dress over her head and in her full, strong beauty dived into the sea. Konrad was next. Only Niko andClaudia, embarrassed by the general exhibitionism, would not take off their bathing suits. Claudia undressed the twochildren, who ran off to dig in the sand."We will watch the children as long as you are in the water."Konrad began splashing his two women. With long crawl strokes, Clara followed Friedrich out into the open sea.At noon the sun became hot. Sprinkled with glittering grains they lay idly in the sand, sleeping or reading in variouspositions. Claudia, in her elegant, black bathing suit, suffered from the heat. Friedrich, sarcastic as always, had triedunsuccessfully to persuade her to take it off. Finally Niko pulled Claudia into the water. They swam far out into the sea.Katharina walked off by herself, to find a bush, she said.When Claudia and Niko returned, Niko had tied her bathing suit to his arm. Claudia hovered offshore, hiding in the water."Alexandra, you are right, the water is wonderful. Now I don’t want to ever leave it again."And then Katharina reappeared at a distance, limping. Friedrich jumped up, what had happened to her? As she drewnearer he broke out in laughter: Katharina wore a red fisherman’s boot on her limping foot!The women craned their necks. Katharina looked fantastic, her hair in disarray, her belly protruding, her full breasts andbushy blond triangle—and that red boot!Konrad stood up, and as he faced her, his penis rose involuntarily and irrepressibly in adoration of her bizarre beauty.Everybody broke out in mirth. Alexandra clapped her hand over her open mouth. Katharina made a deep bow before theGod of Love, and Konrad, blushing furiously, ran desperately for the sea. They all applauded."Help! Help, my lover is on fire!" cried Alexandra and ran after Konrad, splashing and spraying him with cold water. In notime they were embroiled in a free-for-all water battle, except for Katharina, who in her boot contemplated the havoc shehad wrought. With sudden resolve she kicked the boot in a high arc in Friedrich’s direction and ran into the water.Friedrich passed the boot to Claudia, who instinctively rose from the protective element, to catch it.With the afternoon boat, two teenage sisters arrived, accompanied by an old, unmistakably Russian aristocrat. After thegentleman had assured himself that his charges were in the good hands of Mama Angelina, the proprietress of thepensione, he returned to Venice.Marina and Anastasia, Asya for short, came from Moscow. They had spent the year in a boarding school in Geneva, andtheir uncle had been burdened with the responsibility of chaperoning the sisters during summer vacation. BecauseVenice, where he lived, was too hot and at this time of the year stank abysmally, his choice had fallen on Angelina’splace.The sisters spoke the usual four languages, but only Marina was fluent in German. They were relieved to discover thatAlexandra and Konrad spoke Russian."Ach," exclaimed Asya, "in matters of the soul Russian is irreplaceable." Asya confided to Konrad that Marina wrotepoetry, which she, being the younger by a year and a half, admired glowingly.Marina, short, shy, with a round face and a pageboy haircut, was badly nearsighted, but too vain to wear glasses in120