The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) by Christoph Fischer Read Free Book Online Page A

Especially in the early days of the workshops on Gajova, Orthodox Jews would visit and try to persuade Jonah and his family to come to the synagogue regularly. Jonah always treated them kindly and with generous hospitality, but stood firm on his decision not to practice his faith. He knew how dangerous it was to offend the very faithful of any religion and so he offered donations to the Jewish community to maintain friendly relations, explaining that he just did not feel comfortable in any religious community. Of course, this did not buy him the respect of the Rabbis, but the donations lessened the frequency and intensity of their visits, which was important to Jonah and his plans to remain religiously anonymous. It was suspicious enough that they made the girls in their employ work most Saturdays on their own with only minimal supervision from the Weissensteiner family, but so far the plan had worked and their secret was safe.  
    Jonah was particularly pleased about Greta ’s conversion to Catholicism and the prospects this would bring to his grandson Karl. If this was what society demanded from his child and grandson to treat them with the respect they deserved, then lying was a minor price to pay. To Jonah, the only thing that counted was your inner life and that, no one could control. He wished his other children would do the same. Wilma and Egon were very lethargic and seemed to have no interest in either a good or an exciting life. If only they would be interested in the other sex or at least go out from time to time and experience things. It seemed they would be staying at home with him for quite some time to come. Greta however was his pride and joy, and his hope. She could not come home often enough to satisfy Jonah’s longing for her.
    Whenever Greta came back home from such visits to her family in Bratislava , Johanna couldn't help herself and immediately found as many tasks for her to do as she could, just to show that the time away from the farm was like missed working hours that needed to be made up for. Johanna hoped this would discourage Greta from going away as often as she did, but the young mother possessed an abundance of patience and never showed any signs of rebellion against these orders. Elizabeth however, had more understanding and always managed secretly to save some food for Greta and Karl, knowing full well that there wouldn't have been much food to be had at the Weissensteiner house, especially ever since that mad and disorganised sister Wilma had become the one responsible for the domestic duties.
    While Greta was being fed in the kitchen , Roswitha was always keen to play with little Karl and to carry him around. She cherished these moments during which she could be in charge of the little child.
    In exchange for a smile and a little warmth , Maria was also happy to help out and she would assist Greta with those tasks that Johanna had compiled for her on her return. Since the start of these arrangements, Johanna had unwittingly created a team of deceivers in the four women and instead of punishing Greta for leaving, she had given her an opportunity to grow closer to the women of the farm. A real circle of friends had developed from which Johanna herself was excluded.
    Johanna however persisted in her campaign to keep Greta from leaving the farm so often and started to suggest that it should be the Weissensteiners who should make the journey from now on – if they wanted to see so much of their Greta. The Winkelmeiers could not afford to spare her for such long periods of time anymore and, as far as Johanna was concerned, it just was not natural for a married woman to spend so much of her time with her old family. Elizabeth tried to intervene on Greta's behalf but Johanna was adamant, even though it was an obvious exaggeration. Benedikt could not care less and in order to be left alone he decided in favour of his wife's demands. From here on, the Weissensteiners would have to travel on the