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250
Zöe Beck
Model Army. My brother,
who was living in Berlin
in order to skip out on his
military service, sent me a
New Model Army t-shirt.
My grandparents, aunts
and uncles gave me the
money I had wished for,
so I could buy a leather
motorcycle
jacket
as
soon as possible from the
secondhand shop. I had
seen one there for forty-
five marks, but I had to
first save up for it.
I had also invited a few
girls, including Silvana,
because she was in my
class and because she
was pretty and because
they said she was willing
do things with boys that
the other girls wouldn’t.
We were not the kind of
boys who easily got girls.
We were the outsiders.
Unathletic,
shy,
not
particularly
attractive.
Our parents were not
wealthy. Thorsten, whose
father had been out of
work since they’d shut
down
Rammelsberg
the year before, always
rode around on an old
collapsible bike, while
boys like Max and Marcel
showed up at school with
brand new BMX bikes.
In the winter, if we did
anything, we stayed with
relatives in Salzgitter and
went ice skating, while
the others took ski trips
to Switzerland. Some had
gotten into snowboarding
last year. We didn’t even
have a skateboard.
Thorstenwas the short, fat
one, who only attracted
attention because of his
perverted stories and
stupid jokes. He could
also belch and fart on
command.
Michael
owned the biggest music
collection in the entire
school, but this consisted