Trafika Europe 9/10 - UK in Europe

two crimestories

piece of homework.

talked to her for a while. Afterschool, I founda letter from my brother waiting for me at home. He wrote about the cool bands he’d recently discovered. I finished my homework and wanted to head right out for the record store, but my mother had pulled together a package for her cousin in the GDR, and I had to take it to the post office. She was always sending the lamest things over there: chocolate, cocoa, gum, candles, even handkerchiefs. Sometimes on the weekends, we drove with Grandma and Grandpa as close to the border as we could, and then all anyone ever did was stare across. Of course, there was never anything to see, except for the border guard shacks and the mountains, which didn’t

Cem and I agreed to never tell anyone about what we’d seen. Despite that, the story made its rounds during the first major recess on Monday, and blushing deeply, Silvana locked herself in the girls’ bathroom, because she could no longer take the teasing and giggling. Someone called after her: “Don’t feel embarrassed. That’s just the way you Spaghettis are!” A few kids laughed loudly, but then Mario, the son of the Albertis who ran a local pizza joint, walked up and punched the boy who’d said that. Herr Schneider had recess duty, and he intervened. Herr Schneider was also the one who fetched Silvana out of the bathroom and

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