by Kitty Parker
"EW!" I screeched, jumping up. "You kissed me! Icky! I will tell my brother! He is ten and he is bigger than you!"
I ran over to the area of the playground where the fifth-graders usually hung out. "HANS!" I shouted. "Einer eklige Junge hat mein Knie geküsst! (An icky boy kissed my knee!)"
Hans furrowed his brow and made his way over to me. "Welche Junge? (Which boy?)" he asked.
Triumphantly, I pointed at Kurt. Now he would face justice.
Hans narrowed his eyes. This would have made most third-graders piss themselves.
Kurt, however, seemed unfazed, even though he was only nine (he was one of the older boys in my grade, having been born in mid-August). He gave me what was, even then, his trademark smirk. "Bye-bye!" he exclaimed, then bolted across the blacktop, trying to make a clean getaway.
Hans chased after him, quickly gaining on him. I watched them criss-cross the playground, random groups of kids jumping out of their way.
Kurt looked over his shoulder to gauge how close my brother was. Unfortunately for him, he failed to notice the large puddle of mud right in front of him.
SPLUT.
I doubled over with laughter as Kurt did a face-plant in the sludge. Served him right. Stupid boy.
Chapter 12 - Das Ist Berlin, Die Meine Liebe Hat
I cannot possibly describe to you the feeling of ecstasy that coursed through my veins as the wheels of the Lufthansa plane hit the landing strip at Schönefeld Airport in Berlin. I was home.
Although I had been born and had spent my early childhood in Aschaffenburg, a small city in northern Bavaria, Berlin was almost like a second hometown to me. Most of my father's side of the family lived there, and I consequently visited quite frequently. I knew all of the local hot-spots and could navigate my way around the city with my eyes closed.
"Come on, come ON!" I muttered impatiently as the enormous metal carcass dragged itself at an impossibly slow pace across the tarmac. When it finally pulled to a stop at the gate, I attempted to bolt into the aisle to avoid getting stuck behind the hordes of people yanking their luggage out of the overhead thingies. Of course, this was an abysmal failure.
The PA system clicked on. "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, wilkommen in Berlin! Die Ortzeit ist jetzt fast elf Uhr Morgens. Wir haben heute Schönwetter mit siebenundzwanzig Grad, Sonnenschein, ung geringe Feuchtigkeit. Wenn Sie wieterfliegen, bitte gucken Sie an die Anschlussflüge Liste in dem Terminal. Wenn Sie hier bleiben, dann wünschen wir Ihnen einre erfreuliche Besuch."
The pilot repeated himself in English, albeit with a rather strong German accent. "Ladies and Gentlemen, velcome in Berlin. Local time is now nearly eleven o'clock in the morning. Ve have today fair veather vith about tventy-seven degrees Celsius, or eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and low humidity. If you are flying onvard, please look on the connecting flight list in the terminal. If you are staying here, then ve vish you a pleasant stay."
When the pilot finished, the typical obnoxious background music resumed. I looked about the plane, attempting to locate my fellow choir-members. This flight had been slightly different from the others in that we were all spread out across the cabin as opposed to being seated alphabetically. For this, I was incredibly grateful. Sitting next to Kurt for a three-hour plane ride was not exactly my idea of a pleasant way to pass the time, particularly after our last little episode. I would rather have sat next to a grouchy, slightly pedophilic old fogy with a tendency to call for the stewardess every five minutes, which was, coincidentally, exactly what had happened. His name was Herrmann. I wanted to castrate him. Still, he was better than Kurt.
After finally getting off the plane and into the terminal, I noticed Jane and Brigid up ahead on their way to the baggage claim area and jogged to catch up.
"Hey," I panted as I reached them.
"Hey!" Brigid replied enthusiastically.
Jane looped her arm through mine. "Hey, darlin'."
I grinned mischievously. "Where's lover-boy?"
"Who, Luke?"
I raised my eyebrows in mock surprise. "You mean there are more lovers that I'm not aware of?"
"Of course!" Jane answered, beaming. "Hundreds of them."
We giggled simultaneously. This was what I loved about Jane: we could banter in the most ridiculous, suggestive fashion for hours, and it would never get old.
Unfortunately, this levity was short-lived. My little bubble of happiness burst when I noticed a certain someone trudging dismally along about twenty feet to my left, flanked by his concerned friends.
"Scheiße," I muttered, looking around for something to hide behind. Unfortunately, there were no large objects in sight to act as shields, so I simply moved to Jane's other side and allowed my hair to hang in front of my face, hoping that Kurt wouldn't notice me. He did, of course. My shuffling around caught his attention, and my hair failed to act as a protective curtain. I cautiously used my peripheral vision to gauge his reaction to my presence. He gazed at me forlornly before turning bright pink and directing his vision back to the floor and walking a bit faster to increase the distance between us.
" Ok, what the hell was that?" asked Brigid, confused. She and Jane were pretty much in the dark about my fight with Kurt. They knew only that I "did something" to him and that Eden knew what it was.
I tried to act casual. "What was what?" I inquired innocently, brushing my hair out of my eyes.
"What was that whole ducking-behind-Jane thing?" she elaborated.
I remained silent.
Jane gave me a serious look. "Lotte, what's going on between you and Kurt?"
I bit my lip uncomfortably. "I really don't want to talk about it."
"Too bad," Jane answered stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I want to hear about it."
I sighed. "Ask Eden. She knows the whole deal. I just want to get my mind off of it and onto more…pleasant things. You know, like rainbows and stuff; whatever it is that supposedly represents happiness."
Brigid snorted. "Rainbows?"
I shrugged. "Why not?"
She grinned. "Hey, whatever floats your boat."
As awesome as rainbows were, the thought of them didn't make me quite as happy as my activity of choice upon getting settled in the hotel: shopping on the Kurfürstendamm! Known as the Ku-damm, the long avenue was widely known as Berlin's "shopping district." And Lord only knew, I really needed some therapeutic shopping right about then. Naturally, Eden, Jane, and Brigid came along for the ride.
"DUDE, check this out!" shouted Brigid excitedly, dashing into a souvenir shop. She held up a black t-shirt with Berlin's signature "Ampelmann," aka traffic signal guy, printed on the front. "What do you think?"
"Touristy," Jane and I chorused. Eden, of course, was reluctant to criticize anything.
Brigid scrunched up her nose. "You guys are no fun."
"Well excuse us for trying to blend in," Jane retorted.
Brigid raised an eyebrow at her. After all, Jane's choice of outfit (a bright red tank-top, skinny jeans, and black leather boots) was not what one would normally wear when attempting to "blend in" anywhere. In fact, it was more like what one would wear when attempting to get laid or at least whistled at. Besides, Jane was about the last person anyone would ever peg for being German. Nonetheless, Brigid put down the shirt and came back out of the shop, following the rest of us into a nearby department store.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, Jane, as always, made a beeline for the lingerie section. I never could figure out exactly why underwear fascinated her so much. It must have been some sort of sexual thing.
"Maybe she's going to try to seduce Luke again tonight," I thought, grinning.
"What?" Eden inquired, nudging me. "What's the mischievous smile for?"
I chuckled. "Just thinking about why Jane would be wandering into the lingerie section."
She gave me a strange, half-amused, half-weirded-out look. "Oooookay…that wasn't sketchy at all…"
"Well, you know me…always perving on my
friends…"
Giggling, Eden gave me a shove. "You're too much."
"But you love me anyway."
"You know it."
----------------
An hour later, Eden had found herself a nice skirt, Brigid had tried on a few too many different sorts of perfume, making her smell like a walking Sephora store, and I had lost myself in a book of poetry in the café next door. My three companions emerged from the store and made their way over to me, Jane clutching a mysterious-looking bag.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's that?"
She grinned. "Secret."
"What sort of secret?"
"A secret-secret."
I gave her a knowing look. "Ah, that sort of secret."
She nodded, her grin growing wider.
"Oooookay," Brigid interrupted, probably fairly sketched out by our antics. "What now?"
Eden gestured to me. "Ask Lotte. She's the expert."
"Lotte?" Brigid looked at me expectantly.
I thought for a minute or two. It was late afternoon, a bit too early to go to my favorite spot in the city (an artsy, avant-garde, outdoor bar), so I decided to show my friends the Mauerpark, a park built on a hill right near the old sector border. It had a fantastic view. This idea was met with enthusiasm on Brigid's part and compliant grins and shrugs from Jane and Eden.
The four of us took the S-Bahn (more or less Berlin's subway) up to Gesundbrunnen, a neighborhood in the northern part of the city where the park was located. I wanted to head straight there, but Jane insisted on making a pit stop to buy a beer.
"Do you seriously need that now?" I asked as she handed over three Euros for the bottle of Beck's. "I am taking you to a bar later, you know."
She chuckled. "I'm just into the fact that I can have a bottle of booze out in the open and not get arrested."
"Because you're underage?" asked Eden.
Jane shook her head. "Nah, I was thinking more along the lines of those laws they have in cities where you're not allowed to have an open can of alcohol visible on the streets."
"Ah," I exclaimed, feeling suddenly enlightened. "That's why all the bums have those paper bags!"
My three companions stared at me incredulously.
I shrugged. "What? I just never got that before."
Jane patted my head. "That's my silly little German."
I pouted. "Don't patronize me."
"Whatever you say, Fraulein."
"It's Fräulein," I corrected automatically. "With an umlaut."
My friends just laughed in response.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, guys."
I led the way out of the shop and up the street to the Mauerpark. A warm, fuzzy feeling lodged itself in my heart at the familiar sight of the green hill dotted with trees and topped with giant wooden swings. I climbed up the stone steps to the top of the park, my friends close behind me.
"Wow, Lotte, is this part of the real Berlin wall?" asked Brigid, stopping to marvel at the graffiti-covered wall separating the park from the public sports park behind it.
"Sort of," I replied. "It was part of the hinterland wall, which is the inside part. Basically they had that wall, and then the wall between the East and the West, and the part in between was no-man's land."
Eden cocked her head to the side. "So we're in no-man's land, then?"
I nodded. "They made this part of it into a park after reunification."
Brigid reached out a hand to touch the wall. "Cool."
I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. Brigid was stroking the wall right on top of the breast of a naked woman that someone had spray-painted. It was absolutely hilarious. Either that or I was incredibly immature.
"Brigid," Eden began slowly. "You might want to take a second to look at what you're touching."
Brigid stepped back from the wall, gave it a once-over, then turned back to us, face red as Lucille Ball's hair.
Being the wonderful, supportive friends that we were, we all snorted with laughter.
As though to shake off her embarrassment, Brigid rolled her eyes and made her way over to one of the giant, wooden swings. She pushed off of the ground and started to pump, getting higher and higher.
"How's the view up there?" asked Jane as Brigid swung forward.
"Amazing," she answered. "I can see so much of the city."
I watched my pet freshman with nostalgia. As a child, I had come to the Mauerpark on numerous occasions with my family whenever I had visited Berlin. My cousin Anna and I had always had contests to see who could swing the highest. Although no one ever mentioned it, I think that these were really contests between my dad and Onkel (uncle)Franz to see who could push harder. Ah, sibling rivalry. It never gets old.
"I'm going to jump!" Brigid announced once she had reached what she thought was a sufficient height. We all watched as she flew through the air, then landed awkwardly on the grassy slope and proceeded to tumble down to the bottom.
"Brigid, are you alright?" shouted Eden, chasing after her.
An arm rose up from the heap that was our friend and gave us a thumb's up.
Eden looped her arms under Brigid's and attempted to pull her up to a standing position. She looked alright, save a few blades of grass and twigs caught in her fiery red hair, but as soon as she put weight on her left foot, we knew something was wrong.
"Ow," Brigid winced. "Damn, that hurts."
"Do you think it's broken?" asked Jane, concerned.
Brigid shook her head. "Nah, probably just sprained. Wow, twice in one trip. First you, then me, eh, Lotte?"
I exchanged a worried look with Eden. "Maybe we should go back to the hotel," I suggested.
Jane waved us off. "No, no, it's fine. I'll help Brigid get back. You guys can stay."
I looked at her suspiciously. "Eden told you about the Kurt thing, didn't she?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"And you want us to be alone to talk about it, don't you?"
She raised the other one.
"AHA!" I crowed triumphantly. "I can see right through your thinly veiled little plot, missy!"
"So what?" Jane retorted defiantly. "You're still going to do it, anyway, since I'm still taking Brigid home." As if to prove her point, she looped Brigid's arm over her shoulders and helped her hobble toward the S-Bahn station. She stopped halfway there to give me a cheeky wave. "Later!"
I glared after her.
"Have you worked out what you're going to say to Kurt yet?" asked Eden gently.
I grimaced. "Nah. I've been trying to avoid thinking about it."
Eden moved to sit down on the crest of the hill. "He hasn't been himself all day."
"I noticed."
"He's really a good guy, you know."
I nodded.
"Hopefully you'll work things out."
"Can we please not talk about this right now?" I pleaded.
Eden nodded in understanding. "Sure. So, since we're in Berlin, I'm assuming that you're going to go see your family."
I smiled. "Yeah, I'm going to go tomorrow. Everyone on my dad's side of the family is going to be there."
"That sounds exciting," Eden replied.
An idea struck me. "Hey, why don't you come with me?"
Eden seemed surprised by this suggestion. "You want me to?"
I nodded emphatically. "Yeah, why not? You're my best friend. I'm sure they'd love to meet you."
She beamed at me. "Sure! I'd love to."
"Awesome!"
"So who all's going to be there and what are they like?" Eden inquired.
I thought for a moment. "Well, I know that Opa (grandpa)Karl and Oma (grandma)Irmgard are going to be there. They're my dad's parents," I clarified. "You'll like them. Opa's 80, but he's really…enthusiastic. He'll probably whip out the family photo album and try to show you baby pictures of everyone there, so be prepared."
"He sounds great," Eden giggled.
"Oma," I continued. "Will probably stuff you to the gills with food. She's a swe
etie, though, you'll love her. The only thing to remember about my grandparents, though, is not to talk about the war at all. They're both pretty sensitive about it. Oma's father froze to death at Stalingrad, and Opa's brother was killed in the final occupation of Berlin. They've tried to put it behind them, so it's just not a good topic of conversation."
Eden nodded. "Don't worry, I have more tact than that."
I smiled, knowing that my Eden was far too sweet to offend little old ladies and men. "So yeah, they'll be there. My Onkel Friedrich is also coming. Don't take it personally if he doesn't talk to you that much. Trust me, it has nothing to do with you. He just hasn't really been himself since the eighties, at least according to my dad. He was imprisoned by Stasi, you know."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "What's Stasi?"
"Staat Sicherheit," I explained. "State Security. They were basically the secret police of East Germany."
"Oh, alright."
"Yeah, so Onkel Friedrich…" I trailed off, thinking about my poor, troubled uncle. Although he could at times seal himself off as tightly and securely as a bank vault, I knew that he really did love all of us, in his way. I decided to move on to happier thoughts. "Onkel Franz is going to be there as well. He's my dad's younger brother, and he turns everything into a big joke, so don't take him seriously. When my dad introduced my mom to him for the first time at a family party, she thought he was a complete ass. She didn't realize that he was completely kidding when he made fun of her for being Bavarian. She got over it, though, and he's a great guy; hilarious, so long as you're not too easily offended."
"Don't worry, sweetie," Eden assured me. "I'm not that touchy."
I grinned. "Yeah, I know. So anyway, Onkel Franz's family is going to be there. That's my Tante (aunt) Elsa, and my cousins, Anna, Wolfgang, and Lukas. You'll like Anna. She's our age, and she's pretty awesome. Lukas is adorable, since he's only six and not old enough to be a pain in the ass yet, and Wolfgang's just an annoying know-it-all. He's got a major case of middle-child-syndrome," I informed her. "I love him anyway, of course."
Eden furrowed her brow, taking in all of this information. "I'm not going to be able to remember all these names, you know," she pointed out.
I chuckled. "I wouldn't expect you to. It's a bit confusing."
