TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Birke

Thomas asked if he could touch her breasts after they kissed for the first time. He grasped them gently and cupped them as if they were treasured orbs. This man values me. He felt around for her nipple and let his finger graze against it, slowly, but not timidly—just respectfully—until it began to stiffen against the tip of his finger. The first time they went out for a date, they strolled along the Donau Kanal, then had a drink at one of those leftist bars where the bartenders have funky hair and don’t wear bras. He asked me if I wanted to split the bill! He doesn’t try to take care of me. He just gets it , just as those other guys before himdid not get it at all. When Thomas told Birke that going to cabin would help with the process , she ignored it. She knew he meant well. He told her that she was making a good decision. The afteroon after he said that, she walked home from his flat in Vienna’s third district to her place in the fifth district. She stopped by a park where a couple was playing ping-pong. The man was not wearing a shirt. The sun shone on his tanned upper body. Sweat began to build up around his nipples. He served and the girl, dressed in a short summer dress, flailed her arms embarrassingly and smacked the ball into the net. You’re up. He looked so fucking good. The girl served the ping pong ball from below. It bellowed up higher than his serve before falling down onto the table, where after he immediately returned the serve, this time slicing his paddle upwards to give his shot backspin. The girl miscalculated the rotation of the ping-pong and whiffed. The ping-pong dribbled on the ground. She laughed and her sundress danced around as she skipped to pick up the ball. Theman looked 219