Hilde and Walter planned their first vacation together on the island of Sardinia. It also was Walter’s first airplane flight ever, in a turboprop from Frankfurt to Alghero. Their room in a small pensione had a balcony with view of the blue Mediterranean Sea down the rocky hill. The family business, a restaurant with a couple of rooms and full board, was set on top of a beautifully nestled bay with sandy beaches and space to walk.
The couple liked to hike to the neighboring beach beyond a hill and then another hill where they could bathe in the nude. Often, both of them spent hours in the water snorkeling, while fishermen anchored their boats out in the water, catching lobsters in wooden traps, and mussels, calamari, and tuna fish with nets.
One early morning before sunrise, Hilde and Walter went on a boat with one of the fishermen and his helper. The captain, a strong, stocky, small man with a huge mustache and deep lines in his brown skin, owned the wooden boat with its diesel engine and a couple of tanks in the floor. When the sun reached its zenith, no more shade was on hand, the tourists began to dry out and feel nauseous. Hilde puked over the low barrier while Walter held her. For him it was thrilling to be so close to water, fish, lobster, and many shrimp. The fishermen, the sun, and the wind were used to each other; the men worked very hard to retrieve their traps from deep in the sea, secured on strings and marked with small buoys. On that day, the traps contained a rich haul of fresh lobster, which crawled all over the boat deck with their large calipers clicking until one of the fishermen threw them into a tank. In wide nets, they also caught a lot of tuna fish and smaller red snapper, a delicacy in the Mediterranean.
Being on their first vacation together and very much in love, Hilde and Walter enjoyed each other’s company. Her body had round curves at the right places and looked like a pristine Roman sculpture. Perfect hairless legs and black hair that shimmered in sunlight gave her a unique desirability. Medaled breasts were round and firm, with nipples that became hard when aroused. Between her legs rested a sexual wonderland, surrounded by a full tuft of black hair. They made love in the morning, during their lunch siesta, and again at night while having a bottle of wine. Sometimes they hung out on the beach, snorkeled, went for a walk to the beach over the hill, and made love on the sand or between some rocks. One afternoon, after extensive snorkeling, watching the starfish and fish swimming around, they reached an isolated pebbly inlet and climbed slowly up some slippery rocks. Both took off their wet gear, standing on their feet and leaning against a big rock to dry. At that moment, Hilde pulled him toward her and between her legs, and since he already had a beautiful erection, entered right into her and made love to her on that rock. Both bodies glimmered in the sun from sweat mixed with salt water shining on their skin.
Their prepaid vacation package had been booked for two weeks, but Hilde’s personal time off covered only one week. She called the Frankfurt office and reported a sudden illness. This decision produced consequences. By the beginning of the second week, Walter became tired of the lovemaking and Hilde’s screams, the wine, the food. The situation evolved suddenly in a direction difficult for him to handle. He felt bored and lethargic, eating three meals a day and developing his first paunch. An initial tension built between the couple, but Hilde’s love for Walter expressed itself; she bought him a nice, soft leather jacket and matching dress shirt. Walter felt satiated and confused. He showed his gratitude by participating during the usual activities in a mechanical way, but was not really involved anymore. Because the couple did not use their return flights, Hilde and Walter went back to Frankfurt by way of ferry to Naples and then took trains through northern Italy and Switzerland.
After their return, when Hilde went to the office, she got tortured with questions “How could you do that, coming back one week late?”
Walter called in sick, feeling depressed. After a few days, his boss stood in front of the door, presenting him with a resignation letter to sign. It was an agreement of contract termination; they wanted to fire him. Hilde also quit and moved to a larger advertising firm with big clients where she became liked and respected.
She appeared very happy with Walter and the things they did together. The couple took short weekend vacations to Alsace or southern Germany. They enjoyed cooking together, invited friends over and listened to music on Walter’s used stereo. He bought vinyl records from British and American bands, such as Faces with Rod Stewart, Cream, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix.
Walter enrolled in night school to obtain a high-school diploma. He also got a job as the secretary of the Young Democrats in the state of Hessen through recommendation and mediation of Andreas, who thought this position would be perfect for Walter, and sat on the executive committee of the organization. Andreas and Walter went to meetings together, talked to individuals about the direction and positions the organization should take. Statewide conventions needed to be planned and organized, which fell under Walter’s responsibilities. He learned about influence, power, and internal politics and felt content with his administrative position, which did not require him to get involved directly in power plays and scheming.
It was the summer of the Woodstock festival; Walter’s hair grew curly and longer and soon reached his shoulders. He caught hepatitis from eating mussels in a Spanish restaurant and spent six weeks in a hospital. During that stay, he met Helmut in the isolation unit. Helmut also had hepatitis, but a different kind. Walter caught it through a virus in food, Helmut infected himself by using a dirty syringe to shoot something up his vein—a more severe type of hepatitis. The two became friends during the long days and nights in the hospital.
Hilde received permission from the teachers at evening school to attend in Walter’s place. She made sure to collect all necessary details for Walter to continue with class when released from the hospital. She painted large posters with Latin verb conjugations, which she posted on the opposite wall of Walter’s bed in the hospital.
The long period of rest and the ability to think and observe the world from that place affected Walter in more ways than he or anybody else would have thought. After he was discharged and returned to his apartment, he was amazed by the intensity of the colors of items such as cushions, towels, and furniture, and by the smell of everything.
One day, sitting on the large meadow in nearby Grueneburgpark, Walter bumped into Gerhard. He knew him from trade school and his apprenticeship. Gerhard happened to live only a few blocks away, with his mother, in a very fine, large condominium. Walter invited him to his apartment, and Gerhard happily accepted, glad to escape his mother for a while to meet with an old friend.
At Walter’s apartment, Hilde, Walter, and Gerhard became comfortable in the small living room where they kept the stereo, self-made furniture, and a cozy easy chair. They opened a couple of beer bottles and then Gerhard asked, “Would you like to try something I have here?”
He showed them a small plastic bag with a few small, brown-greenish lumps in it. “Hash,” he said.
Walter and Hilde looked at each other and then answered, “Why not?”
Gerhard squeezed and knocked the tobacco out of one of his filter cigarettes. Then he took a little lump of hash, put it in a piece of tin foil, and heated it up. When it started to smoke, he crumbled the hot hash over the tobacco, kneaded both into one mass, and refilled the empty cigarette with it. Then he cut off the cigarette’s filter, lit it up, and inhaled deeply.
He immediately started to cough fiercely and handed the cigarette to Walter, who also inhaled and kept the smoke down his lungs as he was told. An unfamiliar feeling overcame him, as if the room expanded in its dimensions, and suddenly the music of Led Zeppelin sounded more detailed. He had never noticed certain background drum rhythms before. The three looked at each other to see how they were doing; Walter and Gerhard first smiled widely and then chuckled wildly for a long time.
Hilde appeared unaffected. She said, “Perhaps I did not do it right,” and puffed again on the cigarette.
They told her to inhale and keep it down. Walter had never enjoyed the records so much and sat down in front of one of the speakers. With tears in his eyes, he could hardly trust his own ears to experience what Eric Clapton did with his guitar. He had never distinguished Ginger Baker so much on his drums.
Hilde went to sleep in the bedroom, the boys continued to enjoy the effects of this one cigarette for hours, having extreme fun.