A Dutch Fairytale

Lucy had started her day at 8 am in rural France and 14 hours later she was looking out of an airplane window at the disappearing lights of Paris. She felt immensely sad. Exhausted after the bad night and the long day full of emotions, she fell asleep.

After a time, she woke up with her cheeks wet. Next to her was an old woman looking at her. She had a wrinkled smiling face with dark penetrating eyes. Softly with a compassionate voice she asked, "Are you in distress, girl?"

Lucy bit back an angry retort, thinking, This attitude has cost you dearly. You need to keep your stubbornness and temper under control.

She answered the woman, "Yes. I've been so stupid."

She couldn't stop talking anymore and the whole story poured out in one gush. Finally she said with a quivering voice, "Sorry. It was not my intention to bother you with my woes."

The woman said, "Not at all my dear. It seems you learned a painful lesson. I'm glad I was here to help you unburden yourself. Now only one question remains. That is the most important one. What are you going to do about it?"

"My temper?"

"No. About the man you love? Are you going to try and find him and win his heart again? I'm sure that you will succeed, but you have to give it all you have to do that, your effort and your courage. Think about that," admonished the woman.

"Thank you, I will," Lucy replied when she drifted into dreamland again. 

The steward woke her when they reached their destination. Lucy looked around but the friendly granny was nowhere to be seen. She asked the steward who replied, "Sorry Ma'am, there is no such person on board. You slept during the whole flight so it must have been a dream."

====

Meanwhile, 6000 kilometers to the east, a very tired Karel leveled out his caravan and connected the electricity.

He thought to himself, Driving this long is stupidly irresponsible, Karel. He'd started his journey at 2 pm. Of the ten hour drive, the last four were very difficult. Small, winding roads and early darkness, due to the thick cloud layer, had made it hard work.

When he was finally settled, Karel went inside, undressed, crashed in bed, and was asleep immediately.

====

As usual, he woke early, but this time he was still feeling tired and empty. The empty feeling became sadness when he realized that Lucy wasn't sleeping next to him.

He got up, took a shower in the campsite bathhouse, and went hunting for a boulangerie (bakery) for freshly baked croissants. When he walked into the village, he was breathing hard; it was just a short walk from the campsite but it was a very steep, uphill, one.

He found a supermarché (supermarket), the bakery, and a restaurant annex pub. Next to the pub he saw a sign. 'à vendre. Eau de vie. Mirabelles ou poires' (For sale). Eau de vie is the French, but mostly legal, version of moonshine, and Karel had developed a taste for it.

As is usual outside the regions with lots of tourists, when one speaks even a bit of French, the people are very hospitable.  Karel asked to taste the hard liquor before buying and ended up getting a bottle of the Mirabelle plum type and another of the pear.

Therefore, when he arrived back at the caravan, he had a slight buzz. After breakfasting on the croissants, he seated himself in front of the caravan nurturing a healthy glass of eau de vie, with a coffee within reach. He promised himself a day of leisure.

He was dozing off when he noticed an old man looking at him. Penetrating brown eyes, behind spectacles, in a wrinkled face took him in.

"Ça va?" the man asked. (Are you alright?)

"C'est bon," Karel replied. (It's okay.)

"Would you be surprised if I don't believe you?" the man asked in slighted accented but otherwise-perfect Dutch.

"You're from the Netherlands?"

"No, but no one can say that I don't speak my languages. Now, you want to talk about it? I'm a good listener. You can see it as a confession."

Karel replied, "You need a chair. It's a long story."

The man smiled and answered, "I have all the time in the world." 

Karel unburdened his soul. His marriage in two parts. Before and after the cheating of his wife, the difficult, nearly impossible reconciliation. Worrying when she became ill. The care for his children. Finally, how he met Lucy and how it ended. all together with the painful question: what went wrong and what was his part in it?

When Karel finished he felt drained.

The man smiled a soft smile and the brown eyes sparkled when he said, "From your story, I surmise that she is a strong woman who had to fight for her place in the world. She did that by adopting an attitude that is being headstrong, pushy, and acting without thinking of the consequences. I'm quite certain that, if she feels about you as you do about her, by now, she really regrets the way she acted. So, should you meet again, can you forgive her and find a place for her in your heart once again?"

Karel had no answer. He said, "I don't know. I haven't thought about it yet. She lives in the USA. I'm European, Dutch to be precise, and the chances we meet again are small."

The man had a serious look on his face when he said, "Try to find that forgiveness. I have a feeling that it's going to be alright "

Karel woke up, light hearted, with the sun in his face. His glass was upside down in the grass, his coffee was cold and stale, and the man was gone.

He groaned, "That's what you get when you're drinking in the morning, I presume. I have to find the poor man and excuse myself."

He went looking for the man, but his search was in vain. The man was nowhere to be found.

Karel shrugged it off. He needed to inform his children that he was traveling alone now and to ask Anna to pack Lucy's belongings and send them to Louis's address since he didn't have Lucy's. 

====

A week later.

At home, Lucy was still reluctant to call her sister and brother-in-law; she could predict their reaction.

Her phone rang just as she was having her morning coffee. She jumped up to look if it was by any means Karel, but no such luck.

Tara. Lucy took the call.

"Lucy, can you explain why first we get a sculpture dumped in front of our door and this morning your suitcases arrived the same way? What's going on? Where are you?"

Lucy stammered and started to sob, "I'm home. It's complicated. I was afraid to tell you because I've been so stupid."

"Don't move. We'll be there in an hour," Tara said.

When Lucy told the whole story, Louis growled angrily, "Well, the man was right. That statue is way too heavy to transport loose. That's bloody dangerous; you can't stop it once it's moving. What were you thinking? You let your ego get the best of you again and hurt a decent man in the process too!"

"Louis," Tara admonished. "She has punished herself more than enough. Now we need to find a way to contact Karel since he's not taking her calls. Do you have an idea?"

"Use the internet. Check all numbers from Van der Goos in the telephone book of Amsterdam and pray you will find one of his children."

Luckily there were not many people with that name in Amsterdam. The third call, "Jimmy van der Goos, what can I do for you?"

He spoke in English and at first Lucy and Tara thought it was Karel. Their voices were so much alike. 

"Good afternoon.  It's afternoon in Amsterdam isn't it? My name is Lucy and I hope you know Karel van der Goos."

"Of course, I know him. That's my father. Uhh, you're the lady he went on holiday with?"

"Yes."

"Please hold on. My sister is here and she wants to know what has happened."

Lucy heard a rapid exchange of words, in Dutch, and it didn't sound good.

Jimmy came back to the phone and said, "My sister wants a word with you." Very softly he went on, "Please be warned. She is very angry," and louder again, he added, "Here she is."

"Lucy, this is Anna. We haven't met, have we? What the heck did you do to our dad?"

Lucy was completely surprised by the blunt way the question was asked. She stammered, "It's all my fault and Karel won't answer my calls and I need to apologize and try to make amends."

Anna's voice softened a bit. "Our dad went dark when you left him. He mailed us that you split and asked if I can send you your things. He only did that twice before. We don't know what caused the first time, but the second time was after our mother's funeral. On top of that, today we got a message that his organization needed him to investigate a factory in Naples, Italy."

Louis interrupted, "Investigation in Naples? You don't mean the hazardous & toxic waste removal factory, do you? I know he is an auditor but what kind of work does Karel do exactly?"

Anna replied with a hint of surprise in her voice, "Yes, that's the one. My father is an investigator for an organization under the auspices from the EEC. The last five years he's been what they call their senior investigator. His boss asked my brother Bob to collect the car and the caravan while they airlifted him to Italy. I'm not sure but I suspect Dad's already on his way."

Lucy was a bit jumpy and stuttered, "You can't reach him at all?"

"Yes, through his organization, but only in matters of life and death and, alas, your excuses, no matter how important for you and my dad, don't meet that criterion. I'll leave a message on his cell, though, that you called and begged to talk to him? I cannot do more at this moment."

After they disconnected Louis was very quiet. Tara, of course, noticed it immediately and whispered, "Love, I can see that something is terribly wrong. Please share if you can."

Louis looked at her and whispered back, "Lucy is not going to like what I have to tell but if you insist. After that your sister is going to need your support badly."

"That bad?"

"Yes. That bad."

"Ok. But she will be mad if we withhold it. I think you have to tell her too."

"Right. OK, Lucy! I think that you don't want to hear this but I must tell you,"

Louis started, "This is bad news. The company I work for is involved in this investigation too. A subsidiary of ours is involved with a criminal organization. We know who is corrupt but can't prove it. Yet! The equipment installed in that facility in Italy is partly provided by that subsidiary. We also suspect that the same organization had its tentacles in Italy, or the other way around.

"Our inspectors here are being intimidated and their families are being threatened. With this I mean dead rats, with a note, in their hallway while they were sleeping. And one woman's dog was shot while she was walking it. As you now know, Lucy, Karel is not one to be intimidated easily and I happen to know the organization he works for and they are a tough and very thorough bunch. I think Karel knows the danger and is deliberately stepping into it."

Lucy felt her stomach drop and the blood drained from her face when she said, "Karel told me that he used to have assignments, which were dangerous, abroad, but because of his age he wouldn't have to do them anymore. And he, until now, always refused them because of his family. It's my fault. If I stayed he never would have accepted this assignment."

Louis and Tara looked at the very distraught Lucy when Louis whispered, "There is that. And now we can only pray."

The local newspapers took up the story because of the connection with the local company and regularly reported about the progress. Three weeks later fat headlines shouted: "Criminal Organization Dismantled!" Under the headlines was a story about a firefight and how the senior investigator got his report out just in time but was shot while doing so.

Lucy was beside herself and immediately started to call to the Netherlands. Neither Anna, nor Jimmy picked up the phone, but after two harrowing days, she finally got a reply.

"Anna speaking. Hi, Lucy, how are you doing?"

"Anna, has Karel been shot?"

There was a pause on the line. "Yes, but he is stabilized now and has been airlifted to Amsterdam for surgery. He was shot twice. One bullet in his left leg and one in his right shoulder. The wound in his leg was life threatening because the bullet lodged next to an artery. Luckily not the major one, even though.... "

"Can I come and see him?"

"Not now, while he's in hospital. And we're told that he needs someone at home to take care of him. Otherwise they send him to a rehabilitation facility because of his shoulder. We're trying to arrange home care, but that turns out to be rather difficult."

Almost beside herself from relief and that this opportunity opened up she almost shouted, "But I'm a trained nurse. I can take care of Karel if you'll let me. I beg you, please let me help?"

Anna thought about it. It was, seriously, a good solution to get her father at home instead of in a rehab clinic, but it also contained a risk. What if her father didn't want to have anything to do with Lucy anymore?

Therefore, she tried to tell Lucy as gently as possible, "Lucy, your offer would solve a lot of problems but I don't know how my father will react when he sees you. Maybe he throws you out of his house the moment he sees you."

"Anna, please. It's possibly my only chance. If Karel doesn't want me as his nurse, I'll take the next flight back home, but I really want to apologize and try to make amends for acting so selfishly. I feel that I am partly to blame for this bigger mess, too. If I hadn't acted like I did...."

Lucy let the rest of the sentence hang.

"Let me talk to my brothers first. Can I call you back?"

"Anytime. Don't mind the time difference."

====

A week later, Lucy arrived at Schiphol Airport. Nervously, she collected her suitcases and went through His Majesty's Customs. She came through the doors and saw a tall woman with a sign on which was written LUCY.

Lucy greeted her, "You must be Anna. I didn't expect you to meet me here. How very kind."

Anna replied, "I thought it was best. Now we can get to know each other and talk a little in private. But first, how are you doing? Tired? Do you mind sleeping at Karel's in the spare bedroom?"

"I'm not tired, yet, And to be brutally honest, I'd rather sleep with Karel in his bed but I have forfeited that privilege. Anna, I have to tell you, though I'm not coming here just to nurse your father. I also hope I can win his heart back."

Softly, but with compassion Anna replied, "You know, I hope so too. When my father met you he became a different man. Much more like the father I used to have before the problems with my mother began."

"What kind of trouble? Do you know that? Oh, I'm sorry. I really need to learn not to be so nosey. It's none of my business."

"It might be, but I don't know. I found divorce papers. Not that my father divorced my mother. But it seems that something very serious was going on before my mother became ill."

Anna parked the car in front of Karel's house. She used a key and when the door was open she handed the key ring to Lucy with the words, "I sincerely hope that you don't have to return them to me. You are a beautiful woman. You need to learn a lot about my dad but I think you are precisely what Dad needs."

Lucy was surprised, pleasantly so but surprised anyway, that Anna endorsed a relationship with her father even after she had abandoned him in the middle of their holiday.

A man entered the hallway in front of them. "Hi, I'm Bob. I'm Karel's oldest son. Dad's asleep. The doctor gave him a shot for the pain in his shoulder caused by the transport."

"Hi, Bob, I'm Lucy. Do I sleep in the same room as before? I'll get my suitcase upstairs. Then I'll wait for your father to wake up again. Do you mind if I do that in his room?"

Bob asked, "Don't you need to unpack first?"

"Do you know how Karel's going to react? It's likely he throws me out the minute he sees me."

"Yeah. Sorry, there is that of course, so Lucy, I wish you luck. Now, I have to get home. Sis, you'll stay here until Dad wakes up?"

"Yes. If the worst comes true, someone needs to take care of both Lucy and Dad. Lucy for another place to sleep and Dad because he can't be alone."

====

Karel was walking along a narrow path surrounded by trees. He had a thought, How can I walk here with a bullet in my leg?

Just as easily, he forgot all about it when he came to a sunlit clearing with a small bench where a man was seated.

Ahh. There is my old and wrinkled friend again.

He seated himself next to the man. "Good morning, we meet again."

"And a good morning it is," said the old man. "You know, your girlfriend is here. Did you think about what I asked you? The forgiveness bit?"

"I did, but I was too busy to do anything about it."

"Excuses young man, excuses. But now is the time to make up your mind. Look into your heart young man. Look into your heart!"

And with that the man stood and walked away, vanishing into the woods.

Karel woke up, looked around and saw Lucy dozing in a chair next to his bed. He cleared his throat and whispered, "Lucy, why are you here?"

Lucy, hearing Karel's voice, was awake in an instant and realized that she was asked a totally different question than she had envisioned.

She stuttered, "Aren't you surprised that I'm here? To answer your question, though, I came to tell you that I am so sorry for how I treated you and to ask you for forgiveness. Lastly, I'm your nurse, if you let me be, so you can heal at home."

Karel smiled when he said, "Believe it or not, an old wrinkled man told me in my dreams you were here and you were here when I woke up. Do you really want to be my nurse?"

"Yes!" Lucy cried. "Please let me help you? I need to make amends"

"You don't need to make anything. But if you insist you're welcome."

Lucy wanted to throw herself into Karel's arms but she restrained herself, kissing him softly on his lips. Much to her surprise, Karel kissed back.

With a slight grin on his face, he told her, "The old man also emphatically told me to look in my heart and find a place for you, so I will try. And you? Do you have a place for me in your heart?"

"How can you ask me that? I'm here aren't I? Almost immediately after that train left Avignon, I came to my senses and realized that I threw the love of my life away and couldn't reach you anymore."

"Okay. So from here, where do we take this?"

"First, I promise you that I will never leave you like that anymore. If I leave you at all! You need to tell me when I start acting like a spoiled child again and make me listen to you. I never want to be like that again. It almost cost me my love. You that is."

"I'm willing if you are," was Karel's reply.

Lucy teared up. "That's more than I hoped for today. I told Anna honestly that my agenda was to win you back but you don't put up much of a fight do you?" I'm so happy now."

"Anna gave you her blessing? Wow, I'm cornered by women. I surrender." Karel laughed.

Lucy changed Karel's dressings and fed him his dinner. They talked about Louis and Tara. Later that evening, Lucy decided that Karel needed his sleep. When Karel was comfortable, Lucy called her sister to share her feelings. They both cried tears of relief and joy.

Next morning Lucy woke up early. She remembered how Karel liked his coffee and breakfast. When the coffee was ready she took a tray to Karel's bedroom. She woke him with a soft kiss on his lips and, when he was awake, she fed him breakfast. She cleared the tray and announced, "Bath time, big boy. When did they bathe you last?"

"I don't know. I can't remember," Karel replied shyly.

Lucy undressed Karel and started to wash him with a soft cloth. Karel just accepted it. His upper body was clean and she dressed him in a t-shirt. Now she was washing his crotch. Karel cock started to react to the ministrations of Lucy until it was rigid as steel.