Talk of the Town Read Free

chuckled. “You’re such a good person, Alice. You’re quite right. We shouldn’t be gossiping.” She leaned forward. “But if you learn anything else about him, I do hope you’ll share it.”
    All four women laughed.
    They were just finishing an excellent baklava, a deliciously sweet Greek dessert, when the telephone rang.
    Jane rose. “I’ll get that.”
    “Perhaps it’s another guest booking a room for a month,” Alice joked.
    “Somehow, I suspect that is not the case.” Louise smiled. “I’d be thrilled with a week.”
    They heard Jane answer the phone with the inn’s standard greeting.
    After an unusually long silence, Jane said. “I’m sorry. I don’t … no, no, ma’am, is there anyone with you who speaks English? … Deutsch? No, I don’t speak Deutsch. I’m so sorry—”
    “Landsake!” Ethel pushed back her chair and went to Jane’s side. “Jane, let me have that.”
    Jane, looking rather bewildered, slowly surrendered the handset.
    “Hello? Sprechen Sie Englisch ? May I help you?”
    Jane turned to Louise and Alice. “It’s a woman caller. She just kept repeating, ‘ Sprechen Sie Deutsch ?’”
    “ Deutsch is German,” said Louise. “I have a smattering of it thanks to my music studies, but certainly not enough to communicate.”
    “Aunt Ethel apparently does.” Jane indicated their aunt, shaking her head in wonder.
    “I had no idea she spoke German,” Louise said.
    “And it seems quite well,” Alice observed, amazed. Their aunt’s first words were halting and slow, but she quickly picked up speed as the language came back to her.
    “This is an inn— das gasthof . You may, oh, what’s the word? Reservieren? Reserve a private room … Breakfast is included, but not lunch or dinner, except by special arrangement … What’s that? No, we do not offer transportmittel , but if you need help getting to Acorn Hill from Philadelphia, we might be able to—let me think, what’s the word for arrange? … Ordnen dich abzuholen …
    Ethel turned after a few moments and beckoned frantically for Jane. She mouthed, “This lady would like to book a room.”
    Jane nodded, and quickly fetched the reservation book. Ethel translated as more questions and answers about dates, rates and amenities were exchanged, and Jane took down credit card information.
    After a few more moments, Ethel said, “ Auf wiedersehen. ” She placed the receiver back on its stand and returned to the table.
    “What?” she asked, when she noticed that Alice, Jane and Louise were all staring at her as if she’d suddenly sprouted wings.
    “You speak German,” said Louise, restating the obvious as if she could not believe it.
    “You speak German very well,” added Jane.
    “I don’t know about the ‘very well’ part,” Ethel said modestly. “I haven’t spoken it in years.”
    “I’ve never heard you speak German,” Alice told her aunt.
    “Well, I don’t imagine you have,” said Ethel brusquely. “I’ve had no call to use it in a very long time.”
    “It’s a good thing you were able to recall it so easily,” Alice said with admiration in her voice. “We would have found it very difficult to help that caller without you.”
    “I’m glad I could be helpful.”
    “So give us the details,” Jane said. “The caller is visiting from Germany? What brings her to Acorn Hill?”
    “Her name is Clothilda Moeller. Right now she is in Philadelphia visiting distant relatives while she researches her family genealogy,” Ethel told her nieces. “Though no one else was home just now to help her with the call. She said that some of her ancestors came through the Port of Philadelphia and that she believes they may have settled in this area. Ms. Moeller will be checking in at the inn on Saturday and plans to stay for a little more than two weeks. She is hoping to pursue her genealogical research while she is here.”
    “Gracious,” said Louise. “This has been our day for long-term guests, hasn’t