TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Taddeusz. Period

at weekends or drove out of the region for holidays. Two of her girlfriends sometimes came with them, Berit and Silvia, whose lust for him was virtually on a level with Pia’s, although - as they had to keep reminding themselves - they had husbands. Being unemployed like Tadeusz, they hung out at home with beer and movies, but unlike him would never dream of becoming experts in crochet hook specifications or in imitating birdcalls. Bergit’s grey-eyed gaze met Silvia’s green one and they sighed in unison, then mostly looked out of the window on their own side of the car. For this particular Saturday Pia Geissler had suggested a jaunt by theFamousFour (asshe liked tocall them) toJohanngeorgenstadt. After breakfast she cut some sliced bread into heart-shapes and piled them up so amply with salad, salami, ham and slices of egg that it was going to be tricky taking a bite out of such a sandwich. All the while Pia was popping the cut-off crusts into her mouth, but not before naughtily balancing a little bit of ham on them, or a sliver of salami. Eight sandwiches, each made of two bread slices, amounted to sixteen thick crusts with hearts cut out of their middles. Pia burped happily, wrapping the final sandwich in paper. Her husband was warm and cozy under the duvet and emerged only slowly. While he was in the shower Pia glanced round the door, which he never closed, and felt a frisson of happiness. Berit and Silvia had, as always, tarted themselves up to the nines. Berit’s newly re-dyed red hair was down today, not up in her normal sixties-style bun. Why she usually wore it like that was a mystery to Pia, considering she otherwise dressed in quite a modern style, without being ultra-trendy; the sort of look you’d 165