CHAPTER 05
When I came to the vicinity of the place, I saw Shane waiting from a distance as he was wearing the same over coat he was wearing yesterday. My heart started beating faster. I was happy to see him. I parked the car near him and opened the front door for him to get in.
“Hi Sera! How are you?”
He gave me his hand I wanted to kiss him and say hello but he is not interested.
“I am fine.....and you?”
“I am alright.”
I started driving again towards the Pizzeria Gino.
“How long did you sleep today?”
I asked him.
“I don’t sleep more than seven hours a day. I went to sleep at about six in the morning and got up at one. what about you?”
I wanted to ask him what he was doing until six in the morning because when he dropped me to the car it was ten to four. Apart from that now he is asking me how long I slept. How can I tell him that he made me sick and for the past fifteen hours I was out of sleep thinking about him?
“I slept till about twelve.”
I had to lie otherwise he will think that I have gone mad.
“Do you know something? If a man sleeps eight hours a day he will be sleeping one third of his whole life. I think one third is too much because there are so many beautiful things you could do and see if you are awake. I make it a point to get up after seven hours every day.”
Tonight you won’t be sleeping for seven hours but you'll be making love to me for more than seven hours. Thinking of it is making me horny. I felt the wetness of my muschie.
“Yes, you are right, I think people shouldn’t sleep too much.”
“I thought that you might not come.”
I don’t know why I said that. It’s a slip of my tongue.
“I don't break promises, and I always try to be punctual whenever I have an appointment.”
Pizzeria Gino was located a little bit outside of the city. Whenever I come to Germany I made it a point to go there for a meal. The place is good. Not as crowded as the other places as they serve only on reservation and it is a bit expensive than other places. They had the best wine cellar in Frankfurt there. I believe even for the Germans it is a bit on the expensive side. The restaurant is divided inside for the customers to have more privacy. The Pizzas are extremely good as they only use the original clay ovens and authentic Italian recipes.
The service is the best as they have well experienced people to serve and most of them are Italians. They always promoted the best for their customers to get a better tip. Though they don't know who I am, even if I go there after one year they remember me. That's their specialty in serving.
When we got there it was seven twenty five and we are just on time.
“Here we are.”
I told him after parking the car.
“It looks like a nice place.”
“It is!..Gino’s in New York is very popular and we used to go there very often, and Gino himself is a family friend of ours. When I told him that I will be going to Germany, he insisted that I should visit this place for a meal. I happily agreed. When I phoned them to confirm my invitation today in the afternoon they were very happy.”
“So you are a lucky girl Ah?”
“I think you are also lucky. Otherwise you won't be here today? It is the luck of both of us. Most of all I was lucky to meet you yesterday otherwise I will never come here alone”.
As soon as we walked in the chief butler came running to us.
“Good evening to you and have you made a reservation?”
“Yes it's Sera Felsner.”
“We are very happy to have you here this evening and if you kindly follow me I could take you to your table.”
Our table was in a corner and well covered for privacy. I liked it very much. After we settled down I saw a hostess coming back with a rose and the menu cards.
“Here we are!..This is for the lady and the menu card is for the gentleman.”
“What do you like to drink Shane?”
“I am on your invitation and it is you who should decide.”
It's true.... I should decide what we should have. I took the vine list from him and went through it. Before looking at it I knew what I should order. Again I went through the food menu the same way but I knew what I am going to order. When the hostess came I gave her the order.
“What time the dinner should be served madam?”
I looked at the time and it is seven forty.
“Make it nine O’clock.”
“Most certainly madam”.
She quickly served the vine and left.
I wanted to kiss him and say happy birthday and make a toast. But I can't do it, as he will wonder how I got to know that today is his birthday. After saying cheers with the drinks I asked him to tell me about him.
“Shane tell me about yourself. I like to know more about you and consider me as your friend.”
“I am not sure whether my story will make this evening a happy one for you but If you insist I can tell you but after hearing it don’t tell me that you have lost your appetite. Also don’t think that I have made your evening a misery”.
“Oh! no Shane tell me.”
“Ok let’s have it then.”
“You already know that I come from Sri-Lanka. Sri-Lanka is a third world country and poor country as ever. I was the only child in my family and I was a bright student in school.
Though it is a poor country, the people of this country smile more than the whole world put together. They are happy than the whole world put together.
My father died when I was seventeen. It was a tragic accident. He went under a landslide on duty. After one month of his death I got selected to the university to do medicine but at that time mother and I were nearly starving without money. So I decided not to continue with my studies and tried my best to find a job. Another month went by but I was not successful. To our luck the next week the government of Sri-Lanka paid a compensation of seventy five thousand rupees for my father's death and we managed survive for awhile with it. Because before we got that money we were nearly begging people for survival and most of the time we went to sleep without any food.
At the same time my father’s brother tricked my mother and got hold of our house we were living. An old friend of my father gave us a room in his house to stay and we moved there. All the time I was searching for a job but never successful.
Then one day I met an old school friend of mine and he told me that there is a ship at the Colombo harbor which recruiting workers and if I could pay twenty five thousand rupees as a bribe I will get a job. I spoke to my mother about this but she was reluctant not to send me. She told me that I am the only one she has in this whole world and she can’t let me go. But with the education I had, I knew very soon the money will be over and again we will be begging on the streets.
After pleading with her finally she agreed and gave me the money. The very next day I went to Colombo and met this middleman and he said everything is all right and for me to come back in two days with the necessary documents to get the passport. Further he said I have to give him the money only when I get the letter of appointment and I was happy about it. After two days I went to see him and he had everything ready for me. I paid his money and managed to get the passport also the same day, just in time to board the ship.
I started working for Harris Cargo Company on January 1983. It was hard work, very little money. Sometimes I used to work sixteen hours a day but we had no chance of questioning the company because if anybody question he will be meat to the fish in the sea. Only thing that was satisfying in the ship was food because we were transporting food items and almost all the minor staff used to rob and eat.
When I left home my mother said,
“I don't know whether I will see you again, but where ever you may be may God look after you”.
Though I have heard about winter I didn’t know the gravity of it until I faced it. I had no winter clothes. Luckily there were some Indians working in the ship and they gave me some winter clothes otherwise I would have been dead by now.
They paid me two hundred dollars a month and every month I sent hundred and fifty from that to my mother. I had only fifty dollars left and with that I used to write to my mother about two letters a month and bought the most needed things for survival.
The day I joined the ship the captain gave a very nice speech saying that he hope to see all of us in his suit someday as captains and it was encouraging. Once we started working he didn’t know whether we are working there or whether we have fallen from the sky. Though the company promised sun moon and stars to the new comers very soon all of them realize it is only a dream. While at sea we have no voice the moment we go against the rules of the captain we are black listed and it is better jumping to the sea than sailing with him after that.
At that time the company had a fleet of thirty eight ships. We knew one man who had a teenage daughter owns the company though we never got a chance to see them. All the time I was wondering what he might be doing with the money he is making. But all the while I understood that some people have all the luck in this world. Therefore I didn’t hate anybody for that because everybody was getting what is due for them.
After working for more than two years, I had about four hundred dollars with me saved. As the time was right I decided to quit. On the 15th of July 1985 we docked at Hamburg and I knew this is where I am going to disappear. It was a bright summer morning when I left the ship with the pass we get from the authorities to visit the town. I never came back”.
“Sir, can we serve the dinner now?”
The steward is ready to serve dinner. As we have already had three quarters from the bottle of wine I said yes…..
“Yes please.”
“So Sera you heard the first part of my story and if you are still interested I could continue after dinner.”
“Yes Shane I am still interested.., we will continue it after dinner.”
Shane just told me some very good news about my company, which I was unaware of up to today. I am not sure whether my father knew about this situation. I think the most important thing we have missed in this business and that is to check whether the people working for us are happy or not. If Shane gets to know that my father owns the company he will start hating me also. When I get what I want from him, I won't be seeing him again. At the same time as soon as I go back to the States I should check on the people who work for us and should make arrangements for them to have better conditions.
“What are you thinking Sera?”
That question surprised me as I didn’t realize I was thinking.
“Shane you didn’t have a girl friend in your life?”
“Were you thinking about that all this time?”
I felt my face getting red....
“Yes and no... But you didn’t mention anything about your love life.”
“Do you think a seaman could think of love? Whenever we dock at a seaport, girls come in and the people who have money to spend will have a ball with them. I don’t say I didn’t but that was only when somebody paid for it. I used to see the captain and the engineers go for the best while the normal workers got the shit leftovers. But still we enjoyed that because the pressure was so high and the desire was so high. Sometimes we don’t see a woman for more than a month. I have waited without it for more than three months. But now I am used to it. Those days when I see a woman I get very excited but today I don’t have the desire. I managed to overcome that desire.”
“What do you mean? I,…. I…… don’t understand.... If you want you can have a woman everyday now and the girls are falling for you easily.”
Now I am beginning to have doubts on this man. He might refuse my idea of going to bed together.
“When you hear the second part of my story you will know about it.”
The pizzas we ordered were fantastic. I noticed Shane eating everything on the plate very fast. He is having a good meal after a long time I suppose. He is a penniless man. I wanted to ask him whether he would like to have another because I want him to eat good for tonight.
“The food is really good. I really enjoyed. In fact as a poor man I can’t afford to have a meal like this. If I eat like this my mother will be starving in Sri-Lanka. Today I live for my mother but the day I find the correct woman and if I can afford to have a family I will marry.”
I couldn’t eat even half of that pizza.
“Have you finished eating Sera?”
He asked me when he saw that I have finished eating.
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t mind eating the rest, You know food is a thing that must never go waste. In this world there are so many thousands of people who are going to sleep without a meal and here, what we have is too much for us.”
“OK you have it.”
He took my plate and started eating. This time he is slow but steady. I just can’t understand this man. I never came across a man who eats the balance left from a plate in a restaurant when he goes out to dinner with a woman. He is so strange. Strange is not the word.
All the while as I was watching him closely I found that he has a good physic body and a beautiful skin.
“Have you done body building Shane?”
“No... I have worked in a ship. The work I used to do in the ship built my body. That is the only thing I could be happy of working in that ship.”
When the steward cleared the table we ordered coffee. His talk so far has made me a little calmer than yesterday. I should hear the rest of the story also.
“Shane will you continue your story?”
I asked him while having the coffee....
“Yes Sera If you like to hear I don’t mind. But do you know something?... This is the first time that I am telling my story to somebody.”
“You mean to say that you never met somebody in your life so far who was interested to know about you?”
“I have met so many people in my life but they were not interested to know about me but they were interested in me.
You know what I mean!... no? You are the only person who was interested to know about me during the last four years. I am glad that you are interested.”
Thanks to our intelligence department. He doesn’t know that we always check on the people before we talk to them.
“I noticed something different in you yesterday at the dancing. I never saw you going to somebody and talking. I only saw girls coming to you to have a conversation. I saw you talking to them very friendly. I saw you are different to the others and that is why I am sitting with you here tonight or otherwise I will never go out with somebody whom I don't know in a strange country.”
“So you have watched me very closely ah!...Why?”
At last the conversation is taking shape on the correct path. But I couldn’t say why, instead I said,
“I don't know.”
There was silence for a moment but he broke the silence by putting me at ease.
“When I left the ship I didn’t know where to go. I have been to Hamburg so many times but I never went out of the ship. If I went out I will see so many things, which I want to buy. By staying in the ship I managed to avoid a lot of expenses and I saved a lot. With eight hundred dollars in hand I came into the town centre and I thought what I am going to do? First I got hold of a map of Germany with all the details and I went through it while wondering where to go.
Finally I decided to go to Kleetgau which was about eighty Kilo Meters to the south of Hamburg. I wanted to avoid Hamburg thinking that I might get caught to the Police. I took a train to Kleetgau and started walking. Just a little bit outside that town I saw a building named “Kreuz Gasthof.” There was a notice board in front of the guesthouse saying “Zimmer Frei.”
Then I knew before I find any kind of employment first I should find a place to live. So I decided that I should take a room in this guesthouse and went in. when I walked in I saw a man of about thirty five years of age in front of the counter. He spoke to me in German, which I didn’t understand. At the same time he asked me to wait and called somebody. A woman suitable to be his wife came to the reception counter. She spoke a little English and I managed to tell her what I want. She agreed to give me a room for fifteen marks a day and I agreed.
At the same time I felt that she is over interested to give me the room. But anyway I took it. When she asked me about my meals I told her anything that she prepares for them to eat is good with me. I went in to my room and had a good shower and then went to sleep. When I went downstairs for dinner in the evening to the restaurant I noticed some drunkards and her husband was one of them. He was extremely drunk and acting like a crazy man. The whole crowd he was with were cracking jokes I believe which were dirty I suppose. The other drunkards used to squeeze the back of his wife but he is laughing at it.
I had to wait until eleven to get my dinner. Only after all those drunkards left she prepared some dinner. By that time her husband was sleeping in a couch in the restaurant fully drunk. After dinner she asked me whether I could help her to take him to the room. As I am a very strong man by working in the ship I saw him as a toy. So I raised him from the couch and he was like feathers in my strong hands. I felt that alcohol is making him to pulp day by day. All the while Susie was watching me. After putting him to the bed she asked me why I am here in Kleetgau and what I am doing here.
Then I told her my story. The first half of it. Then after hearing my story she offered me a job in that place. She told me that the place is not running well and for a start she could only pay me 200 D Marks for a month as I am staying in Germany black. I agreed. I had to agree with her as I was staying in Germany illegally. If I refused her she could have inform the Police about me. Anyway beggars can’t be choosers. So I took it. She told me after closing down she would like to have a drink with me and I said OK.
At about one O’clock in the morning she came into my room with a bottle of white wine. When we finished the bottle she opened up another bottle. All the time she told me her story. I found out because of her husband’s drinking habit they are losing business, they are becoming poorer, she is finding it very hard to live with this man and the best of her young days are passing without any happiness. She told me that she never had a man for more than six months. Even at that time I was starving for a woman as I also didn’t have a woman for about three months. So that night we satisfied our sexual desires. In the morning she gave me ten Deutsch Marks and left the room. I was happy as I didn’t know in my life so far, a woman paying a man for sex. She must have felt sorry for me and that is why she gave me the money. From the next morning I started working in the guesthouse. Of course black without a visa.
I suggested many things to Susie and the ones she agreed, she decided to go along with me and implement for the betterment of the place. She managed to borrow some financing from her parents as they were well to do people very close to Hamberg. In a month or so we did a full refurbishment of the place and even from outside it looked good. The piano was repaired and I started playing the favorite German tunes on piano and people who came to dine liked me a lot. When business was booming my salary went up to 400 D M. Only then I was able to buy a few things on my own according to my liking.
Her man continued drinking for the eighteen months I was there and she came into my room every night other than the three days of her monthly period. Every day she gave me ten marks when I made her happy. In fact I was looking forward everyday to go to bed with her.
Only after about six months that I realized that I have become a sex slave. She was using me very badly and I have become a puppet. But she was good to me. She managed to work out a visa for me to stay in Germany while getting me a brand new passport from the Sri Lankan embassy in Bonn and at the same time she treated me well. Even today I don’t blame her for what happened between us. It was my fault too.
I did everything in that guesthouse from chopping wood for the fire place to cooking in the kitchen finally to playing the piano. I never complained. I still think I was a great help to them. All the time I managed to send money to my mother every month and she used to write to me once in two weeks. After about one year in the guesthouse all her writing style of letters changed dramatically. She spoke more about God than talking of other things. She wrote to me and said that she has become a born again Christian. I didn’t understand anything about Christianity and I was not interested to know about it also. I couldn’t remember the day I went to church last or prayed to any God for that matter. So how can somebody expect me to be holy all of a sudden? Even in the cold nights I spent in the ship, I never prayed to God as God is a very strange and a foreign name to me.
“Do you like to have anything more sir because it is closing time.”
I looked at my watch and it is five to twelve.
“No.... we will leave.”
He said.
“I want you to complete your story. Are you feeling sleepy?”
“No Sera this is my day time I can stay awake the whole night even. No problem.”
“Then shall we go to my place?”
“If you don't mind it is OK with me, but I should insist that you should drop me at my place afterwards. Can you do that for me?”
“No problem Shane I will come and drop you where ever you want me to.”
Finally he agreed to go to my place for the rest of the story.