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Kaiser's Bunker


I am not sure how it happened, but the rooms that I display my collection in, were suddenly claimed by Kaiser as "his" rooms, and they were to play in. We spent countless hours throwing his beloved little red rubber ball back and forth. As soon as I would pick it up, he would go screaming the length of the house to wait for it. I could see in the distance his little face peering at me in anticipation. I would throw it, inevitably it would ricochet, and he would leap a meter in the air to catch it. A true athlete. It impressed me every time and made me laugh. So naturally when I started up a web site it became "Kaiser's Bunker"

One year, I made a large table in my Imperial room to hold my ship model the SMS Pommern. Kaiser immediately discovered that if he lied sideways on the floor he could stuff his ball under the bottom of the table ONLY so he could then bark at it at 110 decibels until I fished it out with a yard-stick. The little brat was a total pain doing this over and over to the point where some evenings I spent more time on my hands and knees getting his %$#& ball out than I did on my feet. Eventually I had to install wooden slats to keep the ball out. Problem solved.

Its funny, I used to chuck his red ball into the Imperial room from the other end of the house and often it would ricochet off a Pickelhaube or tunic. Seeing rare and expensive items being hit with a rubber ball covered in slobber used to make visitors wince, but I didn't care. I always thought that collectibles are just "things" but playing with Kaiser was far more important, and would not last forever.
Sadly, I was right. I would give 20 years of my life to throw that little red ball one more time and see him catch it. Now his little red ball sits in my Imperial room, in the dark, unattended. It breaks my heart every time I see it sitting there, and memories of us playing wash over me like a wave.
 
Click on the thumbnail picture for the full-size photo.
Kais in "his" Bunker
Ricochet ball in here somewhere!
I'm waiting here!
Waiting for the throw
Come on! Throw it!