EPILOGUE
The hotel in Vienna was lovely. Daniel was standing out on the balcony of their hotel room drinking a cup of complimentary tea and looking out over the city as it began to wake up to the new day.
He and Sarah were finally getting to do some traveling -- alone. The children were all grown, and the last one had recently spread her wings and flew out of the nest. It did take some time for them to settle into retirement, but now they were fully embracing the less demanding schedule, and enjoying every opportunity they had to spend greater amounts of time in each other’s presence.
This leg of their tour of the Union would be over the next day when they got back on the train and headed north to explore the beautiful city of Prague.
Sarah was in the hotel room straightening up the bed and putting things in order. Daniel turned and walked back into the room, and said, “This is a vacation, you know.”
“Force of habit,” smiled Sarah.
She was still so beautiful after all these years. ‘How does she do it?’ thought Daniel. ‘It’s like I have gone back in time.’
Daniel held out a local train schedule, and said, “Since we are on our own today and leaving Austria tomorrow, I think it might be fun to take this train right here to hop on over to Linz... and then maybe spend some time taking a look around there. According to this schedule, we should easily be able to get there early enough to have plenty of time to explore a few things, and then get back here this evening without any problem at all. What do you think?”
Sarah finished fluffing up the pillows on the bed, and then smiled and walked over to Daniel. She put her arms around his neck, and said, “I think we are going to Linz.”
Touring the Union by train was a brilliant decision. Daniel and Sarah both enjoyed looking out the train car window and watching the country go by at the slower pace by which they could observe the wealth of this part of the world that was so rich with history.
After they arrived in Linz and started walking around the city, it didn’t take long for Sarah to realize, yet again, the value of following one of Daniel’s hunches. They both agreed that Linz certainly qualified as yet another beautiful city in the Union they could add to their list of wonderful places they had visited on their trip.
During lunch, Daniel laid out a local Linz tram schedule on the table. He put his finger down on the map, and said, “Let’s check out this area. It’s not far and it looks interesting. I want to get out of the city for a while and take some time exploring a more residential area.”
“I’m with you, Mr. Tourguide,” smiled Sarah.
Daniel’s intuition was correct. He and Sarah enjoyed walking up and down the rows of quaint houses, and pointing out a variety of interesting things they saw. They found themselves imagining what it must have been like to live long ago in such a lovely neighborhood.
Daniel then stopped walking, stood in front of one of the houses and looked at it for a few moments. There was a small ‘For Sale’ sign up on the front porch.
Sarah took a few steps ahead of Daniel before she noticed he had stopped, so she turned and walked back to him, and said, “Shall we buy it?”
Daniel looked around, and said, “Let’s check it out.”
“I was just kidding!” said Sarah.
“I know. I know... but I just want to check it out,” said Daniel.
“Uugh, you and your intuitions,” groaned Sarah. “You are going to be the death of me, mister. All right... I know that look in your eyes. I might as well face it. We’re going in.”
Daniel did not even hear Sarah as he made his way up the walkway to the front door and gave it a knock. There was no answer, so Daniel backed down the front steps and took another long look at the front of the house.
Then he took an innocent and cautious glance up and down the street, and said, “Let’s go and take a look around the back.”
“Oh, Daniel, no,” urged Sarah. “You are impossible.” But, she knew there was no stopping Daniel when he got one of his visions. He would always ‘see’ something and then he simply had to do whatever it took to follow through with it.
“Nobody is going to be suspicious of a couple of old folks taking a walk around a house that’s for sale,” assured Daniel, as he made his way around the side of the house.
When they got to the backyard, Daniel saw what he was looking for. There was a smaller structure standing there by itself at the back of the property, nestled under a majestic old oak tree.
Sarah took a nervous look around as Daniel walked over to the structure and tried the door. It was locked, so he moved back a step or two to survey the area.
“Daniel! Are you crazy! Let’s get out of here,” urged Sarah.
Daniel seemed to be in a trance as he noticed a flowerpot next to the door and walked over to it. He knelt down, tipped the pot to one side, reached under it and found a key. So, he picked up the key and tipped the flowerpot back down. Then he stood, held up the key and grinned victoriously at Sarah.
Sarah rolled her eyes and shook her head, now fully resigned to allowing this particular adventure to unfold.
The key did unlock the door, so Daniel opened it and slowly walked inside. He saw that it was some type of an art studio, but it was obvious the room had not been opened or used for quite a long time. Sarah followed him in and saw several easels propped up around the room, and a few flat tables covered with large sheets of drawing paper. As she looked around, it seemed to her as though the room was wallpapered with paintbrush containers and splotchy pallets, lots of drippy glass jars and a multitude of squeezed out tubes of paint.
Daniel stood there rubbing his chin and absorbing every detail in the room. Then he squinted his eyes slightly and looked over at an old bookcase that was leaning against the wall. He walked over to it, cocked his head and looked around it on both sides. Then he grabbed it by the sides and started to move it.
“Daniel! What on earth... ” whispered Sarah, nervously.
Daniel looked around on the right side of the bookcase, reached back behind it and pulled out an old leather portfolio.
Sarah stood there shaking her head.
Daniel took the portfolio over to a large flat table and set it down. There was a cloth nearby, so he picked it up, shook out the dust and used it to wipe off the surface of the portfolio. Then he slowly unbuckled the leather straps and gently opened it up.
Inside were several watercolor paintings on stiff watercolor board. Daniel slowly turned them over like pages in a giant children’s picture book.
“They are lovely,” said Sarah.
Daniel turned another one over and stared at it for a few moments, and then agreed, “Yes, they are. Quite lovely, indeed.”
“All this beauty. All this talent just sitting here in a dusty old shack,” continued Sarah. “I wonder who painted them.”
Daniel took a deep breath, and said, “Probably just another frustrated young artist with great ability, whom the world will never know.”
Sarah then reached over and turned to the next painting. She was surprised when she noticed that this one had the artist’s signature down at the bottom right edge of it. She looked at Daniel and then back down at the painting, and read, “Adolf.”
At that moment, a trigger released a hammer in Daniel’s mind and buckshots of information began to ricochet off the walls of his memory. His knees buckled and he reached forward to the table for support.
“Daniel! What is it? What’s wrong?” exclaimed Sarah.
Daniel took a few breaths, and then said, slowly, “I can’t believe this. Oh, Sarah, I can’t believe this.”
“What’s wrong, Darling? What’s the matter?” asked Sarah, as she put her arms around Daniel’s shoulders.
“I can see it all now,” said Daniel. “All of it is crystal clear. My father. My mother... ”
Daniel looked down at the painting on the table and gently moved his hand across the surface of the canvas, and said, “It all began right here, Sarah. It all began with this
painting. It all began with Adolf.”