Mr. Bock was Earl’s high school German teacher about sixty-five years ago. I’d heard about him from time to time, mostly how he wasn’t able to explain his native language to Earl, who is half German, and how he cut his own hair. Earl was certain his teacher had been a refugee from the war.
Today Mr. Bock redeemed himself.
We had a little time to ourselves during our scheduled bus tour, so we visited a shop on the City Hall Square in Hamburg. It was the only one open at 9 AM in the morning, which is why it caught our attention.
A large sign with a heart and the words “Muttertag” greeted us. Even I, who never took German, recognized that the store was promoting Mother’s Day. Boxes of candy, wrapped in pink and white, surrounded “Muttertag.”
But Earl’s attention was drawn to a smaller sign. He studied it a couple moments and then said: “Always love your mother. That’s what the sign says.” A smile crossed his almost eighty-year-old face.
“I guess I can thank Mr. Bock after all,” he said.
Leave a Reply