Thirty Four (Posted by Giovanni)

[Karl Franz Fredrick Stahlwelt]

Giovanni found himself, once again, sitting at his desk, scanning around the huge office that was his 400 square meter office. Giovanni yawned, looking around the room, it was much larger than his usualy office, in the old Italian parlimetnary building, but, this was his new palace, out with the old, and in with the new, as they say.

Giovanni looked over at his computer monitor, yet another little window had popped up, alerting him that a fellow politicians birthday was today.

He reluctantly clicked down on the right mouse button, he hadnt gotten used to the concept of computers yet, despite his officers, and his butlers, constant nagging to learn how to use one.

Giovanni watched as the window opened, and he read through the list of politicians, many of them were unimportant, or dead, but a few stook out to him, one of them in particular, Johann Blauvent, the Leader of Germany.

Giovanni looked at the monitor somewhat confused, then remembered who the man was, almost jumping out of his chair as he walked across the floor of his office, and out the door, into the many hallways and areas of his beloved palace.

He had grown to love his palace, to the point of obsession. It was a marvel, over 10,000 square feet, a garage that could hold over 100 cars of his choosing, and underground facilities to hold even more cars, or offices, whatever he chose to do with them.

We stepped into his personal, large, alcohol locker. It was a room that he hadnt entered yet, most of the bottles lining the racks were still dusty, the only clean spots were the places were the fingerprints of the people who had taken the bottles from his old palace, to this palace, had been.

Giovanni scanned through the racks, looking for a bottle in particular. It was a rather great Konyal, Spirit of the Seas, a Konyak made for the Tsar of Russia after their victory over Napoleon in the early 19th century. It was a personal gift from his mentor, to celebrate their winning of the Italian Revolution, and Giovanni had found it so grand, at the time, that it was only missing two shots, so it was still rather full. He eventually found it, mainly due to the fact that a small lable, with the title and the history of the alcohol, was hanging off the neck of it. Giovanni pulled it off the rack, and hurried out of the alcohol chamber, it was rather cold, and Givoanni hated the cold, he despised the cold.

Giovanni carried the bottle with him as he walked down the hallway of his palace, and soon found himself entering the office of his Chief of Staff, a personal friend. He set the bottle down on the desk where the Cheif of Staff had been sitting, doing paperwork, and said "Hans, Send this, and car #39, my Black Hudson Hornet, from my private collection to Mr. Johann Blauvent, its his birthday soon."

The cheif nodded, replying "Shall I include a letter?"

Giovanni nodded, sitting down at a side table, and picked up a piece of paper and a fountain pen, drawling ink from the ink well as he wrote.

"My Friend, Johann Blauvent

As the years go by, i see politicians come and go, leaders rise and fall, and I have even seen entire empires rise up, but crash again. Throughout the years of my life, I have seen one control group, and that is Your country, and Your people. I believe that the German people could have no better a leader at this time, than you, and I value our friendship very much. I heard it was your birthday, so i hope you accept the gifts that come with this letter, as they are a token of our good friendship.

Sincerely,
Your Friend,

Giovanni Facilli."

As Giovanni finished writing the letter, he handed it to Hans, and he looked at it, and nodded, saying "Ill get to it right now!"

*Note* The next post, Johanns, should be based on Johanns Birthday, the day he recieves the gifts.

[Karl Franz Fredrick Stahlwelt]

Johann was looking out the dome of the Reichstag, facing toward the West, and thinking. Today, he was 38 years old, not that old, but getting there. He still acted like a young person sometimes, especially on long road trips, but he was mostly mature. But still, Johann felt lonely sometimes, even though his house was never empty, and even when he sometimes slept in the Reichstag, which happens when you're a busy leader, with the night activity going on around him, he was still lonely. Johann let his mind drift around these thoughts and more for awhile, and had probably dozed off, when a loud pop startled him, and nearly sent him flying through the glass. He looked around for the source of the noise, and eventually saw some of his staff, with Fredrich trying to hide a broken paper bag behind his back.

Johann got up, walked over to Fredrich with an angry look on his face, then suddenly changed his expression to joy. Fredrich, who was cowering a second ago, smiled, and started laughing, everybody else joining in. "Happy birthday, sir," said Fredrich. "What are you now, 24? 25?" Johann laughed again, and eventually replied. "Close, but no. I'm 38 now. I'm almost 40. Like I said before, I'm gonna be an old man soon." Everybody laughed again, and Secretary Schmitt presented a huge bottle of Stroh 80, specially sized for today. "Excellent!" Johann said, accepting the bottle. "Everybody, gather around! Drinks for everybody!" And everybody got a drink, even the 15 year old gymnasium student, training to be a polititian someday, who was legally too young to drink, but everybody can make exceptions.

A little later, Johann and Fredrich were driving to Johann's place, in their favorite Beetle. When they arrived, instead of finding the garage empty, they found an occupant. It was a black Hudson Hornet, that had somehow been placed there. "Fredrich," asked Johann. "Do you know how this car got here?" Fredrich, who was as confused as Johann, just shrugged. They cautiously walked over to the car, and found a letter in the windshield wipers. Fredrich picked it up, and cautiously opened it. Inside was a letter, handwritten with a fountain pen, addressed to Johann, from Giovanni. Johann grabbed the letter from Fredrich, who was halfway done with reading it, and read it for himself.

"Well, this is a very generous gift, Fredrich. I'll go write him back. You look for any other 'surprises'." Fredrich nodded, and started looking. Johann went inside, and quickly composed a letter, which went something like this:

Dear Giovanni Facilli

I have recieved your gifts with much enthusiasm, and of course I accept. Thank you for the gifts. I feel the same way about Italy, you are the perfect leader for the perfect time. I feel that this it's been too long since Italy has had the same status its Roman Empire grandfather had, and am glad that I can call you an ally, and much more importantly, a friend.

Sincerely yours,
Johann Blauvelt.

Johann came back to the garage with the letter, to find Fredrich in the the Hudson with a bottle in his hands. The bottle, after closer inspection, and reading of the small tag on the neck of the bottle, turned out to be a very rare bottle of alcohol, made for the Russian Tzar Nicholas I. "And when were you going to tell me about this present, Fredrich?" He smiled, and handed the bottle over to Johann. "Just as soon as you got out here, sir. I propose we have a shot of it." Johann nodded, and brought out two shot glasses from his shirt pocket, filled them up, and handed one to Fredrich. "Cheers!" they both exclaimed, and downed the alcohol. It was very pleasing. "Go put this somewhere safe, only take one more shot if you have to, though I would prefer you not to, and go send this letter to Giovanni." Fredrich nodded, and went to do as he was told, as Johann occupied his place in the Hornet.