chapter 4

A Chapter by Brad

morning..

12 August 1961

A heavy hand slapped his face.

“Get up, boy!” his father yelled above his bed, “You’re going to be late for work!”

Gunnar flew up out of bed watching his father glare at him.

“Do you know what time you came in?” his father asked.

“Uh…um….last night?” Gunnar stumbled.

“Not last night, Gunnar, this morning! This morning! 5:20 A.M.!!”

Gunnar looked into the mirror above his dresser. A stubby red hand print stood out on his face. He brought water to it and the cold water woke him up.

“What on earth did you and that western girl do last night till those hours?” Rudolph asked.

“We listened to jazz.” Gunnar smiled into the mirror remembering the evening before.

“Listened to jazz….” His father continued his tirade, “You stay out till all hours when you have to work the next day? That’s not responsibility….that’s not how your mother and I raised….”

Gunnar walked out of the room, leaving his father rambling on and on. He passed his mother and gave her a kiss while grabbing his lunch his mother prepared for him and placed into a galvanized bucket.

His father was still ranting when he opened the front door.

“….talking to you, Gunnar!!” his father made his way into the hall.

“Love to chat, father, but I’m running late, have a good day today, eh?” and with that he walked down the front steps with a kick in his stride and went down about a block where he met up with his friend Dieter every morning.

Dieter usually leaned himself against a street light with a cigarette in his mouth. He thought he was James Dean. Always posing and doing his hair like the star.

“You’re late.” Dieter said looking moody.

“And you’re ugly.” Gunnar shot back.

“How did your date go with the westie?”

“Adele.”

“Adele. Whatever you want to call her, how was it?”

“Good.”

“That it?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not it! Come now and share with your friend Dieter.”

“Nothing to share…we had a good time…listened to Eric Dolphy at the pub, then we went into the park and talked for awhile…”

“Talked?”

“Yes, we talked.”

“What time did you get back?”

“Don’t know, about 5 or something this morning.”

Dieter stopped his friend and looked him in the eyes, “You were out till 5 in the morning with this girl and you….talked?”

“Come on, we’re going to be late…”

“You talked and that’s it?” Dieter was persistent.

“Yes, we talked and that was it.”

“You love this one, don’t you?”

“Can we go now, Dieter?”

“You do!”

“I don’t know…we just went out last night…”

“You seeing her tonight too?”

“Yes, now can we go on to work please?”

The day was tough, as everyday at the factory. Gunnar was a machinist, but in a communist world, he made as much as everyone else. No one made more, no one made less.

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