Something that doesn8217;t like a Wall

DECEMBER 26: Driving back to Lauenburg from Berlin, we tuned in as usual to the Third Program, so we got the news late, but when it finall...

DECEMBER 26: Driving back to Lauenburg from Berlin, we tuned in as usual to the Third Program, so we got the news late, but when it finally came I cried out in joy and in panic like thousands of others, I8217;m sure 8220;Madness! Sheer madness!8221; and then sank into thoughts running both forward and back. Meanwhile, an acquaintance who lived on the other side of the Wall and worked in the archives of the Academy of Arts8230;was likewise late in receiving the glad tidings, which reached him like a time bomb.

The way he tells it, he was jogging home from the Friedrichshain 8212; nothing out of the ordinary, because even East Berliners had taken up that American-inspired form of self-castigation by then 8212; when at the intersection of Kathe-Niederkirchner-Strasse and Botzowstrasse he came upon an acquaintance who was likewise panting and sweating from his jog. Bobbing up and down, they agreed to meet for a beer that evening, and that evening he repaired to the acquaintance8217;s spacious flat, where, since his acquaintancewas employed in what the East called 8220;material production8221;, my acquaintance was not particularly surprised to find a newly laid parquet living-room floor, an achievement utterly beyond the means of an archival paper-pusher in charge of nothing more than footnotes.

They had a Pilsner, then another, and before long a bottle of Nordhauser schnapps appeared on the table. They talked about the old days and their children and the ideological constraints at parent-teacher meetings. My acquaintance8230;told his acquaintance he was planning a ski trip there that winter with his wife but was having trouble with his Wartburg 8212; the tires, both front and back, had hardly any tread left and hoped his acquaintance could put him on the track of some snow tires: anyone who could have a parquet floor laid by a private person under the conditions of 8220;actually existing socialism8221;, as the regime was called at the time, would have an idea of how to get hold of so precious a commodity.

As we arrived home in Behlendorf withthe good news from the radio now in our hearts, the volume on the television set in the living room of my acquaintance8217;s was turned down low so the two of them could go on undisturbed about the tire problem, and the man with the parquet floor said the only way to get snow tires was to come up with some 8220;real money8221; but he could find him some carburetor jets. Glancing over at the silent screen, my acquaintance thought the program must be a feature film of some kind because it showed young people climbing the wall and sitting astride it while the border police stood idly by. When my acquaintance8217;s acquaintance was made aware of the flagrant disregard for the wall8217;s protective function, he muttered, 8220;Typical8221;, and the two men quickly dismissed the tastelessness of 8220;yet another cold war product8221; so as to get back to the subject at hand8230;

8230;As we switched on the TV sets, deep in thought by then over the coming post-wall period, my acquaintance8217;s acquaintance had not yet decided to take the few steps overthe newly laid parquet floor to turn up the volume, but when he finally did there was not another word about tires: it was a problem the new period and its 8220;real money8221; could solve instantly. Stopping only to down the rest of the schnapps, they made their way to Invalidenstrasse, which was jammed with cars8230;trying to cross the 8212; wonder of wonders open border8230;

Excerpted from My Century8217; by Gunter Grass; Faberamp;Faber; Pounds 11.99