Chapter 26 - Fountainpen

Karl was fond of old things and his parents owned and operated a stationary shop well stocked in antiquated fountain pens.  They were not very good sellers and only a few obscure collectors and hobbyists would ever want one.  It was the one little joy in Karl's life and a passion he could share with his father.

They both had their favorite fountain pen and his was an exquisitely made black laquer with gold inlays and an 18k gold nib.  He always used the same ocean blue ink and had a way of scratching the surface ever so gently to cause a pleasant sound of touching parchment.  He had gifted the pen to me a few days before the revolt and over the years had showed me how to care and refill the ink reservoir.  I rarely used it, but for a time and fashion practice my penmanship with it.

I largely had forgotten and buried it in my desk.  It somehow survived there unscatched when the shells and explosions rocketed the old Politiburo.  It was my reason for admiring all the bullet holes and find that beautiful pen completely untouched and working as perfectly as the day Karl handed it to me.

It turned out to be one of the most prized of Karl's possessions and everyone knew about the significance of this humble instrument.  It was one of the holy grails of all Artesian converts and by me carelessly handing it to a young girl like Anna it completely shattered her world view and it took her years to recover and realize it wasn't the greatest con and just a mere coincidence, even when there were a relentless number of coincidences.  She honestly admitted she could never be quite sure of my duplicity, but she had surrendered the outcome and only wanted to touch the Knut.

When her adoptive father was in danger, it wasn't the Colonel who rescued him.  It was that pen.  She handed it over to the authorities and pulled the greatest con of her life.  She terrified their Commissariat to thinking the Artesians were alive and well and in fact had a new leader.  They quickly revised all their strategies overnight in preparing for the coming wave of the Artesian revolution.  And as a shrewed master of craft she made the Colonel believe he had wronged them, which he did, but he in turned absolved himself of his sins, which he didnt.

She gave whatever she thought was fair trade and that secret in exchange for the gift of a pen.  I now understand why and scratched my head then as I do now at how trifling it all seemed and yet meant everything to Anna.

I really didn't want any secrets between us and asked Anna was there anything else or anything that we should explain.  She laughed and said she had always been telling me the truth and always would be honest with me, she just didn't know when to say it and had always been waiting patiently.  She still believed I was that secret leader and the champion of Knut, awaiting for further instruction.

I feigned for her to get me a sandwich from some obscure delicatessen on the other side of town.  She dutifully obeyed and left in her car and returned.  She wasn't joking.