The Braun Farm

The Braun Farm Karl and Gottfried slapped each other on the back and hugged each other.
“Good to see you again,” Gottfried said to his younger, blonder brother. “How long have you got?”
“Six weeks before my next contract starts, and I know how busy this time is on the farm. So I thought I’d come home and give you a hand.” Karl was back home again – and doing the first thing that he did every time he was back home. Setting up a dating profile. He needed some fun in between all the hard work! And then messaging people. Meanwhile, Gottfried was busy too – feeding the hens… Milking the cow…. And picking apples. To be fair, Karl not only set up his profile, but also unpacked neatly, put the clean bedding on his bed and got the evening meal ready.
“This kitchen could really do with modernising though.”
Gottfried merely grunted, and Karl went on, determined to get a rise out of his older brother.
“A bit like your dress sense really.” But there was no malice behind his comments. He knew Gottfried liked wearing the traditional clothes of the area.
“I’m all yours for the next two days, so suppose you tell me what you need me to do. Then I’m taking Liesel out for the day…”
How did Karl do it, Gottfried wondered. What was the magic his brother had that he himself didn’t. He’d love to meet someone – and get married too, unlike Karl, whose main aim was to meet as many someones as possible and marry none of them. This farmhouse had been built – and extended – to house a large family. And now there was only Karl and himself living there, and Karl would move into his own place as soon as he could get a permanent job rather than a series of (quite well-paid) short-term contracts. There was room for children. Lots of children. Gottfried quite liked that idea. There were two double bedrooms as well: there had been one big one, opening out onto the balcony, but they’d been made into two smallish ones when there had been three generations living in the house. Now there was just one small generation there.
The trouble was, every time Gottfried met a nice girl who looked like she might be interested in him, she eventually met his brother. Met Karl. And promptly lost all interest in him. And he didn’t know what to do about that.