A Game of Chess

West Berlin, East Germany

October 2 1950

6:00 PM

It felt like the air in West Berlin was a bit crispier than the air in NYC. Although it seemed that Ludwig didn't seem to enjoy it as much as Alfred did, cranking the heater in the car high enough to make him regret putting on his fluffy bomber jacket before getting in. He contemplated on asking to turn the heater a bit lower, before quickly pushing away the idea. Things weren't very comfy between the two, in fact he was convinced Ludwig didn't want him here in the first place.

But what could he do? He had tried everything to make him talk, but Ludwig just ignored him. The other nations were easily charmed, of course they were, they had a good relationship. And when Alfred openly expressed his concerns about the Soviet Union, everyone agreed with him. Of course they did, they were the Allies. But Germany wasn't, and that was the problem. He glanced at Ludwig with a friendly smile for a moment hoping that he would notice. The German was moody, it was blatant that he didn't even want to be in the same car as him. Was he still mad about the whole chair incident?

"It's getting cold here huh?" He tried to muster out confidently.

"Mmh." Ludwig grunted back

"I bet it'll start snowing next month."

"Mmh."

He stared at him dumbfounded, before letting out a small sigh and leaning back into the car seat. He'd really hope that things would go a bit smoother than this. He at least thought that maybe Ludwig would try to put a little effort in keeping the conversation afloat. But Ludwig hasn't even responded to most of his questions, or just shut down anything he'd say. It was honestly starting to get embarrassing, seeing that this was the third time he tried and failed to talk about the weather. It worked on Arthur so well, he would ramble off onto speeches on how drastically the weather has been changing, all Alfred had to do was sit there and let him talk.

But Ludwig didn't like to talk about the weather. Or movies. Or even music. Nothing would get him speaking. When he was about to attempt to talk again, the car had pulled into a driveway of a large house. Not sparing a look at him, Ludwig got out of the driver seat and immediately went to get Alfred's luggage out of the trunk. Alfred stared into the space where Ludwig was sitting before following suit.

As he got out of the car, he took some time to admire the house. It was actually quite beautiful. Ludwig made his way with the bag in one hand and an organized set of keys in the other on a small cobblestone pathway. Surrounding it was a lovely garden filled with growing vegetables and some flowers. A section of the walls were covered in a large twisting vine bearing plump purple grapes. Alfred looked in amazement. Ludwig must've put a lot of effort into maintaining such a beautiful yard.

He followed the German into the house, immediately catching glimpse of the glimmering windows shining sunlight into the room from the right. It was finely furnished with sofas, a small TV, and a dinner table. To the left was a neatly kept kitchen with pots and pans hanging from the cupboards. Ludwig was more dismissive about how shiny and new his home looked, quickly leading the suitcases up a flight of stairs, and entered the last door of the hallway.

"This is a really nice place you got here man!"

Ludwig didn't answer, he expected as much. Loud clacks of the mens' business shoes created echoes that bounced around the empty home. The room was a typical guest room, nothing too different then what you'd see at a hotel. All in all, it was actually better than decent.

"Thanks for the-"

"There's a kitchen on the first floor. I'll be cooking dinner at 6:30 and if you're not there by 7:30, then I'll assume that you're not hungry. When you are, I'll leave an extra meal in the refrigerator and you may use the microwave to heat it up, any questions?" Ludwig said, cutting him off.