chapter 3

the date goes into the morning...

3.

They danced until the band stopped for the night. Still holding each other and swaying to a beat that they shared in their own heads.

“This has been some night, eh?” he asked.

“It’s not over yet, is it?” she stopped swaying and looked at Gunnar pleadingly.

“Well, the band is done play….”

“Come!” she said yanking his hand towards the door.

“Where are we…..”

“Shhhhh, just come with me.”

They ran out of the club and down the sidewalk towards a park just down the street from the marketplatz.

A large iron gate greeted them into the park. There was a garden just inside and a walkway went through the center and then branched off into two directions. Adele guided him to the one on the right. They ran silently into the dark, beyond the path and into the trees. Branches whipping past them as they made it into a clearing that dropped down onto the banks of the Danube river.

Beyond the Danube the city was lit up. A few couples and servicemen walked along the west side.

“This is beautiful.” Gunnar stood in awe. He breathed in the river scent, “I’ve never come down here…even as a kid.”

“I’ve always seen this place from the other side of the river.” She threw a rock into the center of the river, “Always wanted to come here…wanted to find it…like it was something hidden.”

“And now you have found it.” Gunnar joined her on the bank.

“With you.” She said, “This is our place and no one else can have it.”

She gripped his hand tight and then looked up into his eyes wanting another kiss.

The kiss was electric. Lips perfectly fit together as if they were created for this moment. They lost themselves in the caressing of each others lips.

They walked their way to the Brandenburg Gate, slowly not wanting the evening to end. Morning was coming as the birds had awoken and chatted to each other from the tree tops. The sun was casting a slight pink glow to the east.

“Is this real?” Gunnar asked.

“What’s that, Gunnar?” she looked at his face which had a slightly tortured expression on it.

“This.” He said simply, “This…is this real?”

He had pulled their entwined hands up between them.

She kissed his knuckles.

“I sure hope all this is real.” She took his face in her hands once again, “Otherwise, I don’t ever want to wake up again.”

“Can I paint you?” he asked timidly.

“Me?” she stuttered, “I…I don’t kn….”

“Don’t answer me now, please. Tell me tomorrow.”

“You want to see me again?”

His look was so serious it put a smile on the corner of her mouth.

“Of course, Adele, is that okay?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“To paint me, silly boy.”

“That’s great! When?”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow night.”

“Okay. Good night, Adele.” Her name felt good on his tongue.

She leaned into him and crushed his mouth with her own.

“Good night, Gunnar.” She slipped off through the gate and into the west end of Berlin.