Roses by the Rhine River

Chapter 8: Iron Net Vines of "Roses by the Rhine"

June 5, 1947, the day of the launch of the Marshall Plan. Negotiation in the morning mist.

Isabella's wool gloves brushed over the thorns of the "Peace Rose", and her fingertips hovered over the loan agreement with the American major. The ruins of the rose manor loomed faintly in the morning mist. In the distance, an East German patrol boat floated on the Rhine River. The searchlight swept over the pearl necklace around her neck - it was exchanged for the gastric ulcer medicine of the Marshall Plan special envoy.

"Mrs. Hoffman, this is the first agricultural loan in western Germany." The major's pen tip was dipped in bourbon. "But the FBI needs you to prove... that your husband's experience as a prisoner of war has no communist tendency."

Suddenly, there was a sound of gears turning from the cellar. Karl's mechanical prosthetic limb held up the 1941 ice wine. The frost on the wine bottle reflected the snow in Stalingrad. "Major sir," his severed finger tapped on the grapevine decoration on the prosthetic limb. "This irrigation system uses the hydraulic tube of a Soviet tank. Every drop of Rhine water has been filtered through a Nazi gun barrel."

Lia suddenly jumped out from behind the wine barrel. The skirt of the nine-year-old girl hid the bamboo flute of the East German boy. The flyer of the Marshall Plan was stuffed in the flute hole. "Dad's prosthetic limb can understand what grapes say!" She pressed the gear, and the water mist sprayed from the nozzle of the prosthetic limb drew a dollar sign in the air. "Yesterday it said that it needs 5000 dollars to buy Bordeaux grafting knives."

14:23 The postman under the East German barbed wire.

Lia's canvas shoes stepped over the shoal of the Rhine River. The bamboo flute jingled in the backpack. In the reeds on the opposite bank, the blue eyes of Otto, the East German boy, flashed - the Communist Youth League badge on his school uniform was replaced by a grape leaf embroidery, which was exactly the logo of Karl's pre-war winemakers' association.

"This is mom's gastric ulcer medicine." Lia handed over the oiled paper package, which contained the American fertilizer formula. "Dad said that mixing with the silt of the Rhine River... can make the grapevine pass through the barbed wire."

Otto suddenly lifted his shirt. The grapevine tattoo on his left chest was exactly the same as Karl's scar - it was the tattoo his father (a Soviet second lieutenant) had in the prisoner-of-war camp. "My dad said that in 1943 your father saved his life with ice wine." The boy stuffed her with half a loaf of rye bread. Hidden in the bread core was the secret report of the East German agricultural reform. "The Berlin Wall is about to be built. We have to bury seeds at the bottom of the river."

In the reeds on the way back, Lia bumped into the patrolling East German military dog. She inserted the bamboo flute into the mud. On the wings of the wild pigeons startled by the flute sound, there was a letter from Otto's mother tied: "On May 7, 1945, your husband taught me to make ice wine in the prisoner-of-war camp."

19:47 Irrigation system launching ceremony.

The leather shoes of the Allied high-ranking officials crushed over the newly paved gravel road. The spotlight illuminated Karl's modified mechanical prosthetic limb - now it is the central irrigation hub of the manor. The vines of the "Peace Rose" are intertwined among the gears. When the first drop of Rhine water was injected into the grape roots, Lia's piano sound came from the lookout tower. The strings made of Soviet springs were playing the Marshall Plan variation of "Wild Roses".

"This is the first automated irrigation system in postwar Germany." Isabella poured ice wine into the American military helmet. The wine liquid reflected the bullet holes on the prosthetic limb. "Every part comes from the battlefield: the hydraulic tube of the Soviet army, the jeep spring of the American army, and..." She suddenly held the hand of Otto's father (the current East German minister of agriculture). "The grapevine hidden in the bread by the comrades from East Germany."

The applause of the high-ranking officials was interrupted by gunshots from the opposite bank. Otto's bamboo flute floated on the river. Tied to the end of the flute was the warning letter from the East German border guards: "Stop espionage activities, or the rose garden will be destroyed." Karl's prosthetic limb suddenly turned towards the direction of the gunshot. The water mist sprayed from the nozzle formed a rainbow in the sunset, covering the border guards on the opposite bank who were holding guns - on their gun barrels, there were grapevines secretly planted by Otto.

23:59 Seeds at the bottom of the river.

When Lia and Otto buried the last bag of seeds at the bottom of the Rhine River, the first brick of the Berlin Wall was being laid. The Communist Youth League badge of the boy fell into the mud and was picked up by Lia and tied to the root of the "Peace Rose". "When the grapevine passes through the iron net," she stuffed a grape seed into the notch of the badge. "We will make ice wine in the middle."

Karl's mechanical prosthetic limb suddenly detected vibrations at the bottom of the river - it was the wreckage of the Soviet tank he buried in 1945. Isabella pressed her wedding ring on the red star of the wreckage. The "1936 Nuremberg" on the inside of the ring overlapped with the "1945 Stalingrad" on the red star in the moonlight.

"Do you know why we chose today to bury the seeds?" Otto suddenly hummed "Katyusha", which was the melody that Karl taught his father in the prisoner-of-war camp. "My dad said that on this day in 1943, your husband used frozen grapevines to stop the bleeding of the wounded."

When the three were silent, Lia's bamboo flute suddenly sounded - it was "Wild Roses" hummed by the East German mothers on the other side of the barbed wire. Isabella poured the last drop of 1947 ice wine into the river. The wine liquid spread along the Marshall Plan logo on the seed packaging bag, forming a blood-colored bond under the iron net.

【Wine Tasting Notes】

1947 Marshall Plan Special Brew: The wine body presents a golden brown color of dollars, suspended with cement particles of the Berlin Wall and rye bran of East German bread. At first smell, it is the spiciness of bourbon. When it enters the mouth, there is the mellow thickness of Rhine River silt. The aftertaste hides the rusty astringency of barbed wire. When the wine liquid slides down the throat, you will hear the roar of mechanical prosthetic limb irrigation and see two teenagers from opposing camps planting grapevines that cross the Iron Curtain at the bottom of the river. And their fathers are brewing the sweetness of peace with the scars of war.