BORROW MONEY
Werner was my mother's younger brother and my
uncle. So we visited the mother of Werner's wife.
So much I could already explain about
relationships in the kinship It was also clear to me
that mom wanted to borrow money that she would
never pay back. But how she had come across Aunt
Annemarie, of all people, was a mystery to me.
The house of my uncle's parents-in-law was
located in a village on a hill. I would have had to
pedal quite a bit if I had come here with the bicycle.
Now we stood in front of the old, crooked, half-
timbered building. The cellar consisted of – these
typical for Central Germany – coarse-beaten light
brown sandstones. There was nothing left of the
half-timbering, as the house was covered with
square slates. Before we climbed the steep stairs to
the entrance with its tiny vestibule, Mother looked
into the open door of the laundry room. “Two
buckets of Dash detergent,” she whispered,
grinning conspiratorially at me.