As Walter walked up the stairs to the third-floor apartment where his friends lived and arrived at the second floor, Irene shouted down to him, “Walt, Walt, you know what happened? I talked to Hilde. She wants to come back.”
The news took his breath away, already a bit strained from carrying his luggage up the stairs.
When he made it up the final set of steps, the two hugged each other and said at the same time, “Good to see you.”
Laughing aloud, Irene added, “Welcome back. Make yourself at home.”
At that moment, Walter experienced happiness for the first time in months.
He sat down and asked, “How did that happen?”
Walter found out that the relationship with Hilde’s new boyfriend never actually developed into one, and Hilde’s desires did not include keeping a waitress job without cause. Irene and he contemplated the situation, not knowing what Hilde’s plans looked like or even whether she had any.
“Well, she could stay here; we could all live together for some time,” Irene said, smiling.
Walter liked the idea, even in the ignorance of the moment and the ambiguity of the future. When Gerhard arrived, he greeted Walter with warmth and a hug and totally agreed with the idea that all four could live together for some time. Therefore, Walter made his bed on one of the couches under the roof, and all of them waited full of expectation for Hilde.
During the week of waiting, Walter went to the hairdresser and got a short haircut to look presentable while searching for a job. The country’s economy was in full gear, enabling him to find a position within a few days. A small securities-trading company hired him as telex operator immediately after a typewriting test.
Drained, weary, and uncertain, Hilde arrived back at the end of the week. The friends welcomed her and gave her the option of taking the second couch for a while until she knew what to do. It meant sleeping with Walter in the same room, but on a different couch. He had forgiven her a long time ago, still liked Hilde a lot, and could not imagine anything better than being together with her again. Through her exhaustion, she recognized the efforts of her well-meaning friends and at the same time felt sure that Walter would not interfere with her wishes. She fell onto the couch and slept instantly.
The next morning they all relished breakfast together. It was a feast none of the travelers had enjoyed for a long time. Over the weekend, they went into the Taunus, a low mountain range close by, and took a long hike, followed by brunch in a rural inn.
Walter sensed that Hilde still favored him, and she enjoyed all the attention she received. He knew this part of her very well—standing out from the crowd, excelling through her sharp mind and composed approach. She liked to be courted, and he did not mind playing the part of the wooer silently. When alone, they chatted about the past. Hilde told him that after only a brief stretch, she realized that this person in Oklahoma City was with her only to have some fun and appeared unable or unwilling to go deeper or make any effort at all. She did not feel sorry for what she did, but found herself clueless, considering what she had projected into the guy. Walter was happy to see her softening on the subject of himself and his efforts and vulnerability.
One day she asked him straightforwardly, “If we live together again, where should we do that?”
“What if you contact your friend who lives in our apartment and give notice that we are back?” he said smiling. “This would be the way.”
The situation normalized rapidly. Hilde found work at her previous advertising agency, with increased benefits. Walter operated the telex machine of the securities-trading firm. Both of them met with old friends and found a few new ones.
One day as Walter sat in the red rattan rocking chair, the telephone rang. He picked it up and heard, “Hi, this is Werner”
Walter asked, “Werner who? What Werner?”
“Werner Puck—you remember. You intended to join me in Australia but you never did. Why?”
An old movie passed in front of Walter’s eyes. Five years ago, he and Werner had gone to the Australian consulate in Frankfurt and filled out immigration applications. Because both of the boys were underage at that time, the applications needed to be approved by their parents. The Australian government would pay for the passage by boat or a plane ticket, plus a modest amount of start-up money. Werner completed his apprenticeship six months earlier than Walter did and had no patience to wait for him. He left for Australia immediately by ship. Walter had used his father’s car to drop him off in Bremerhaven at the North Sea. He waved good-bye while the huge cruise ship left the harbor in direction of Genova, Italy, and then Sydney. Walter had never followed through with his own departure. He could not separate from Madeleine and his life in Germany.
“Man, where are you, and how are you doing?” he asked.
“We arrived three days ago from Sydney. I visited my mother in Bad Homburg, but it did not work out. Now we are staying in a hotel near the train station. It is a miserable situation.”
“Why don’t you come to our place, then?” asked Walter.
“I am not alone; I came with my wife, Ruth.”
“Hold on a second,” Walter said and looked for Hilde, who had just entered the room. He explained the situation and asked if she would be OK with having two guests for a few days.
“It is your friend, and if he is OK with it, they can stay here and sleep on the mattresses,” Hilde said, indicating the smaller room, which served as living room.
When the visitors arrived, breathing heavily and with serious faces, Walter knew immediately the couple had gone through a rough period. He greeted them in a friendly manner, shook hands, and took a close look at Werner. He appeared more mature, much thinner in the face, and Walter sensed a rough edge in his attitude. Walter tried to make them feel at ease, offering tea and some cookies, and later Hilde cooked one of her fast but delicious dishes. They opened a bottle of wine.
Werner related what had happened to him during the five years in Australia. It must have been tough in the beginning because he started in a mining town where he could make the most money. He labored in different places and jobs until he moved to Sydney, where he eventually met Ruth. Werner had never really forgiven Walter for not showing up in Australia.
Then Walter explained his reasons and situation of the past. With the help of good food and wine they all appreciated, Werner warmed up enough to laugh once or twice. Ruth appeared to be rather introverted, with large brown eyes and black hair. Both of them wore black corduroy and seemed to share a bond that included secrets not revealed straightforwardly. While Werner and Ruth exchanged remarks about stories they had written, Hilde and Walter looked at each other and raised their shoulders a bit, wondering what they might mean.
Walter felt guilty for breaking his promise to move to Australia, but Werner and Ruth’s visit relieved him greatly from that weight. The more they opened up to him and talked about their recent past, the better he felt about his decision.
He had obtained a piece of Lebanese hash from Gerhard, who still lived only a few blocks away, and a routine was established. After work and dinner, the guests and hosts came together in the small room with the stereo and drank a bottle of beer, while Walter fabricated a cigarette with tobacco and hash mix.
Walter and Werner delighted in extreme audio pleasures while listening to his record collection of about two hundred popular and less-well-known blues and rock-and-roll albums. There were long periods when nobody talked, the volume turned to the maximum without distortion. Ruth and Werner loved these nightly sessions; they were their first experiences with hash. They revealed that during the previous six months they had lived in Ruth’s parents’ house, in a room they insulated against external light so they could be a hundred percent focused on what they did. Werner presented Walter with a couple of handwritten pages, but when Walter tried to read them, he could not understand them. He blamed his English for it. Ruth and Werner talked in a different accent and perhaps used a different vocabulary—very dark, and as if stemming from a combination of Nietsche and Nostradamus, perhaps as an attempt to express nihilism.
When the couple left for London, Walter was pleased. He received a few letters and always replied, but one day the letters stopped coming.
One weekend, Hilde and Walter visited her parents in Wetzlar; they had just purchased a townhouse outside the city. Hilde’s sister also dropped by, and they all joined with friends from their past and celebrated a reunion.
They also visited Walter’s parents in Oberrad, where Lisa Herzog had inherited a modest piece of garden property, the last of her father and stepmother’s estate. Her father had passed away years ago. Walter’s parents kept the garden land with a shed for weekend visits, to sit outside under an apple tree and roam around, keeping the place in order. Lisa and Friedrich Herzog appeared to be enjoying life in a modest fashion.
Hilde and Walter enjoyed a pleasant summer in Frankfurt, during which an idea surfaced and slowly matured. Both read books by Hermann Hesse, short stories, articles by Leary, and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and they listened to Bob Dylan. Once again, a yearning, almost an aching, rose within Walter. People he knew or heard of had gone to the East, to India and other places, and seemed different when they returned. Small shops, tearooms, and cafés offered imported items from these very exotic places: scents of incense and patchouli oil, colors and textures of fabrics, Ravi Shankar’s music. Many famous people went on pilgrimages to meet gurus in India. John McLaughlin named his new band Mahavishnu Orchestra. All of these observations left impressions on Walter.
The couple spent another relaxed, warm Sunday afternoon outside Frankfurt at a former gravel pit that contained cool, greenish soft water. It had been converted into a public recreation area without any services or lifeguards. The swimmers and sunbathers were students, hippies, alternatives, and political activists who initially had liberated the area from the city. Most of the visitors used the opportunity to be in the nude. As Walter and Hilde were lying naked on a blanket in the sun, they talked about what they would like to do next.
Walter burst out, “I want to visit India.”
Hilde’s reply from the back of her throat sounded like a growling, “Hmmm…” The sun shined pleasantly on her outstretched body, her breasts turned up and legs ever so slightly apart. “How do you want to travel?” she asked.
Walter said, “I would like to go over land, make the whole trip by bus, and see all the countries in between, have a lot of time available.”
Later that night, when they returned home and went to bed, they made sweet love and the following week started implementing the idea.