Trude and Otto

This information was shared with me by my Aunt Trude, one of the few times she shared anything real with me. “Oh how Mela cried when she heard that!” (Papa had referred to m y grandmother as "mein kuh" (my cow) when she was pregnant. Although it is real, it smacks of malice. She does not want me to love my grandfather. She does not want me to love my mother. She wants me to love only her. She has no children. I was the closest.  

Her brother Otto once remarked callously to me during my one and only visit to his Manhattan apartment, “That Luzi, still jealous.” I forget what prompted this remark, but I’ll never forget the feeling of his disdain, watching him smile slightly as he said it, first him for my mother, and later me for him. He and Trude were cut from the same cloth.