Gaspar, Gerhard, and Walter talked in the kitchen. Everyone had agreed it might be a good time for change in Walter and Hilde’s life, Walter having enjoyed his recent affairs with other women. All three, in their own way and time, had conversations with Hilde about looking for a boyfriend or lover to experience something new, to open up her relationship with Walter and become more flexible. She also was told of his experiences in the Bransfeld disco and involvements with other women in Frankfurt. It may not have been the best time for her to hear these encouragements and news. Her belly showed the pregnancy state, but Hilde’s robust disposition enabled her to take it all in stride, and see it as another alternative experiment and play along.
For the time being, summer continued with an unusual number of hot days. It forced the hobby farmers to water the garden on a daily basis. That could take up to two or more hours. Some of Walter’s cannabis sativa specimen had already reached his own height and had many dark-green leaves. Everybody fought the battle against snails on the cabbage.
A new visitor arrived in company of Kurt from Neudorfer Hof. Bert was a tall, blond, blue-eyed young man whose father owned a large, rare horse ranch where they also provided natural impregnation of mares by purebred stallions. Bert had grown up about twenty miles from Hohenhausen. He knew everything that happened in the area and was an excellent source of information and advice.
A letter from Anthony in Boston arrived with greetings and an update. He told Walter he had enrolled into the Boston School of Music and moved to the city. He also asked whether Walter would like to receive some pure LSD, clean lysergic acid diethylamide, which he had and some of which he would happily send to him. Even though Walter’s initial experience with the drug resulted in a major breakdown, further tests with it after that first dramatic episode, however, did not cause any recurrence of madness. He replied to Anthony that he looked forward to receiving it.
The summer sustained its lovely nature, the framework double-glass window inserts had been delivered by the glass factory, and the team completed installation of the individual pieces with wooden strips and insulation paste. The overall appearance and atmosphere in the kitchen and dining space improved dramatically with the increased sense of space and more light. Visiting family members and friends praised the group’s work.
Walter’s mother did not come to the farm any longer because her driver—his father—had died, but Walter and Hilde went to see her occasionally in Frankfurt. She had relocated into an apartment building with subsidized rent for retired people. Each time they met, she appeared to be happy to see Magda. Lisa Herzog took the child into her arms and rocked her. Whenever she talked to Walter privately, however, she expressed concern about Hilde’s growing belly and his unemployed status. Walter told her not to worry, that everything would be all right, but he felt guilty saying it.
When harvest time arrived, he cut nearly thirty hemp plants, some of them eight feet tall, and hung them up to dry in the attic. This process took a very long time because the weather turned; it started to rain a lot, and the humidity prevented the leaves from drying. Walter had no information regarding male and female plants or flowers and buds. He felt satisfied with the amount of leaves he had gained from his land.
Shortly after reaping season, Gerhard gave notice that he had to return to Frankfurt permanently because of his inability to sustain essential income for himself in Hohenhausen. Nobody liked the news, including Gerhard, but reality for him pointed that way. He moved all his furniture out of the house, promising to visit often, and Hilde and Walter assured him that he could return any time he wanted. A chapter in the history of the small community closed and gave way for new events to come.
It did not take long before Egon and Andrea paid a visit and brought along Silke. A mother of a two-year-old boy and pregnant again with her second child, Silke wished to relocate into the area, separating from an interrupted relationship with the father of the children. He belonged to a music group that was modestly popular on the alternative country scene. When she visited her friends, who knew of the potential vacancy in Hilde and Walter’s house, they all dropped in to find out whether it would be an option for Silke to get the space and join the small family in Hohenhausen.
Hilde and Walter discussed the visit. She appeared to be a nice woman who needed some help, and her demeanor had a quality different from the usual visitor in Hohenhausen. Spending a long time with the traveling music group, even performing in it, had implanted lightness in her. A major benefit having her in the house would be the presence of another child. They decided to try it, and soon Silke and little Florian became the newest additions in Hohenhausen.
The character of the house changed immediately into a more emotional and sensitive environment. Walter liked Silke’s courage to go forward with her life alone and take responsibility for the kids. She also possessed an attractiveness that went beyond her physique. Sometimes she appeared as if she directed psychic powers, and other times utter nonsense came out of her. Little Florian could walk already and looked at the world through his large, blue eyes with fear. Magda developed more and more into a proper playmate. Silke liked to wear long, colorful Indian or Afghan dresses that gave the household an exotic touch. Soon she became a pleasant pillar of their community.
Kurt organized a big event at Neudorfer Hof for all to celebrate. They slaughtered a pig and a sheep and cooked them to perfection in the stone oven. Knut had been busy in his bakery for hours preparing different kind of pizzas. Tables were set up on the lawn, and people seated themselves. A rustic binge began and lasted through the night until dawn. The crew from Hohenhausen left in a happy mood around midnight. Hilde promised to arrange another feast in the near future.
Silke located a physician and a midwife in Flederbach who agreed to assist with her intended home birth when the time came. Gaspar arrived to visit for some days. Walter and he drove to the disco in Bransfeld, where they danced with some pretty girls. Later, Gaspar asked the girls to drive back with them to Hohenhausen for some more fun. Hauke and Wilma agreed to follow in their own car. Everybody gathered in the kitchen to smoke a few joints and have a bottle of wine or two. When they became tired, all four of them went to Walter’s room with the large custom-made bed. The two couples spent the night next to each other. Walter made love to young, pretty, brunette Hauke, who enjoyed the experience; the next morning she looked at him with warm, brown, encouraging eyes before she and Wilma left. All four promised each other to meet again.
Gaspar had a new book that he opened during breakfast and introduced to Walter, Factotum by Charles Bukowski. The novel by the German-born, American poet and novelist turned into the next hobby translation project. Both interpreters had fun for many hours with this story. It reflected their own experiences in life. The author used a simple narrative style without morality, just the truth.
For a long while, Gaspar held something back, but then confessed that he had fallen in love. Deeply in love, lovesick for two weeks, he had come to Hohenhausen to clear his mind and perhaps find out what had been going on with him recently. The source of his infatuation lived in Bad Homburg, which Walter knew very well; she was a twenty-year-old social-work student who Gaspar had met at a music concert. Gaspar talked about his current emotional condition and Walter listened.
Another letter from Boston, Massachusetts, had been delivered to the mailbox. Walter fingered it carefully and noticed its lightweight padding. Anthony reported that all had been going according to his plan, that he enjoyed his first semester at the music school. He also gave instructions on how to use the padded contents of his letter. On strips of blotting paper were small dots of something that had been dropped onto it, approximately fifty spots. Each dot contained dried, pure, and powerful LSD 25. The sheer quantity surprised Walter.
Gaspar thought it could be a way out of his ongoing misery, and he said, “Let’s do one tonight.”
The old bench in the kitchen with its closable compartments below the seating area and a comfortable, slanted backrest had become a favorite place to relax. It offered a vantage point for seeing through the windows into the garden and the rest of nature behind the house. Walter and others cherished the time spent in that position. When Magda grew up and began to walk, sit, and play on her own, father watched his little girl through the glass as she sat with her blanket and cushions outside on the cobblestones. The duck family that they had obtained would come by and approach Magda, who would roll onto her side and then get up on her feet to stroke a duck. She did in a distinctive way along its body and then neck. When Magda finished the caressing motion, she embraced the neck with one little hand. The duck would become still and rigid as if it had turned into wood, and Magda could sit on it like on a rocking horse.
Walter had bought a used Marshall amplifier and electric guitar that he sometimes played in the barn on full volume. It produced a rough and raunchy sound that he loved. As he worked on the electric guitar one Sunday afternoon in the barn’s somewhat insulated space, he heard his name called. When Walter turned off the amp and walked outside, he could not believe his eyes: there was his old and intimate friend Andreas standing in front of the wooden fence. Walter had not seen him for years. It was an odd moment to face him with his styled, blow-dried hair. A new Citroën SM with a blond-haired woman inside parked on the other side of the road. Walter invited them for tea, and they talked. Andreas had won an election to the German House of Representatives and married the woman in the car, a journalist for a network radio station in Frankfurt. Last time the two had met, Andreas came to Westendstrasse in his old Volkswagen Beetle to announce his success. One of the privileges he received was free first-class travel on trains. Walter was amazed to find out how much money representatives made. He felt envious and later wrote a song about his friend.
Another big surprise materialized in form of a telephone call from Madeleine, his ex-girlfriend from a long time ago. She had talked to his mother in Frankfurt to get the number. They chatted for a long time on the phone, and Walter invited Madeleine to come visit. When she arrived a few days later, she appeared to be the same Madeleine he knew before—without any emotional substance. It felt good and at the same time unfamiliar. She remained for dinner and later a glass of wine in the kitchen. After Walter’s assurance that it would be completely acceptable to Hilde, she stayed the night. So it happened that Walter slept with the woman he’d had his first important relationship with, ten years later and next to each other. They shared the same bed under separate covers and talked for most of the night.
The season gradually changed to autumn, with falling leaves and strong wind gusts. Walter lit a wood fire in the stove in his room to reduce the sudden coolness. As he stood at the window, looking outside onto the empty, winding village road while waiting for the larger wood pieces to catch sparks from the kindling, he noticed an old Mercedes pull up. The car made a left turn into the small side street opposite the house and then parked behind the two Citroëns. To his big surprise, he watched Bert approach the house, open the front gate and the front door, then knock on the door of Hilde’s room. There were voices, then the door closed and then nothing. Next morning when Walter got up, the Mercedes was gone.