Cafe Babanussa by Karen Hill Read Free Book Online

that so many Americans always say they love people they are just screwing?”
    â€œI don’t know about ‘so many Americans,’” Ruby replied, “but Canadians are different from Americans. Don’t lump us in with the Hollywood lot. Personally, I don’t know how you could tell if you really loved someone without having sex with them first.”
    Werner began to massage Ruby’s feet. Then he took her big toe in his mouth and said, “Mmm, juicy, smoky and a little salty. Just like a piece of ham.”
    â€œAre you calling me a pig?” asked Ruby as she wriggled around.
    â€œI will worship them one by one, how do you say, until the cows come home?”
    â€œFirst a pig, now a cow—Werner, you’re not very flattering.”
    â€œThis little piggy goes to market, this little piggy comes running all the way home. That’s right, come to Werner, baby.”
    â€œOh my god, get off my toes.” On and on they went through the night, with Werner joking all the way.
    Ruby postponed her departure to Berlin. She and Werner spent the next two weeks wandering the streets of Paris together. At the end of it all Ruby was ready to leave for Berlin, with Werner in tow.
    The train rumbled sluggishly through the flat and colourless countryside, having slowed measurably since they crossed the border into East Germany. Ruby chatted with Werner and with a young West German couple sitting opposite them. They all laughed at her attempts to pronounce the few German words she knew, the language sounding rough and angry to her untrained ear. Often she would open her eyes to see the young man and woman necking, hands caressing each other’s bodies without a care in the world.
    Werner carried on trying to drill some German words and phrases into her, but Ruby was only half-interested. Then he said, “I think you should stay with me. Let’s take a chance on each other and see how it works out. Anyhow, where else are you going to go?”
    â€œWell, I would have stayed in a youth hostel for a while. But thank you for asking me to stay with you.” Her first instinct was to go with the flow and say yes. It would be ideal for her, she thought, more than she could have asked for. “This will be true immersion in more than one sense,” she said as she smiled at Werner, who seemed both nervous and pleased about her answer. They pressed rather uncomfortably into each other and let the night fall upon them.
    Morning arrived cheerless and dim; whistles blew and the train jolted to a stop. Ruby saw guards perched on towers, rifles slung over their shoulders.
    â€œWe’re here,” Werner said, yet there was no station or city to be seen.
    Ruby leaned out the window and spied a group of soldiersin grey uniforms that seemed to match the countryside walking purposefully along the side of the train, reining in large German shepherds on leashes. The dogs sniffed at the underbelly of the train.
    â€œWhat on earth are the dogs for?” she asked Werner.
    â€œTo check if anyone is hiding underneath,” Werner replied a little curtly.
    â€œAnyone . . . ?” Ruby asked.
    â€œEast Germans, of course. We’ve been passing through East Germany and are about to enter West Berlin and no one from the East is allowed in. Some people will try any means to escape to the West.”
    â€œDo they always do this?”
    â€œYes.” His voice betrayed exasperation with her naïveté. It was ironic to Ruby that she, for some strange reason, was taking a reverse escape route, from West to East.
    A voice rang out. “Halten Sie bitte die Pässe bereit.” Get your passports ready .
    The East German officers came through first, silently checking everyone’s papers. Then came the West Germans, in dark olive-green uniforms, looking every inch as dour and authoritarian as their Eastern counterparts. They asked Ruby which baggage belonged to her, and after