Refugee in search of a homeland

Emersleben, Tower House with stork nest

Next to the tower house was a three storey building. The ground floor consisted of the horse stables, the first floor was to be our new flat, and the second floor had another flat with a row of dormer windows.

Vater stood at the entrance door and greeted us all with a very happy face.

"Welcome to Emersleben. I hope you had a good trip?" I looked at the driver before I jumped down from the front seat and said: "Not so good." I had to tell him in a few words what had happened.

Vater looked anxiously at Oma, but she seemed to look all right. "Well, I'm even happier now, that you have all arrived unharmed. Come upstairs and see where we are going to live."

We walked up one flight of stairs. At the top was a door to the left which led into the office. The door on our right stood open and Vater motioned us to enter.

Directly opposite was the kitchen, but Vater showed us a long corridor with several doors on the right and left.

"The first door on our left is the room for Gerda and Fräulein Lina, then comes Oma's room, and the last room is going to be our lounge, where you, Dieter, are going to sleep. The door on the opposite side leads to the bath room, and next to it is Mutter's and my bedroom. This door here leads to Fräulein Rimpau's bedroom, and the other door to her lounge/dining room, where she is also going to cook. As I've told you,

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