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Here the thought struck me, that from the first moment I met her, my heart had been filled with such a deep appreciation for her, which went so deep that I had never dared to admit its wonder to myself, much less proclaim it to others, least of all to her. I stopped in my tracks and thought about it, all the while watching her. I observed her every move, wondering if it was possible to re-capture that dizzying feeling that I had felt when I first fell in love with her, that I had later learned to suppress.
Her image blended well with the silver hue of the water reflecting the bright sky at the beach. Her hair barely moved in the breeze of the morning. Her breasts appeared so inviting to touch. But I also knew that I ought not even to think about this level of appreciation. Discouraged, I let my gaze fall. The crude reality was, that mankind had become much more segregated than most people would admit to themselves. The East/West segregation, enforced by nuclear war, appeared almost shallow by comparison to what happened on the deeper, private level.
Oh boy, I thought, did we ever fool ourselves with vain hopes, believing that we were close to resolving the nuclear arms crisis! How could we even dream to tackle the East/West segregation while a much more deeply rooted segregation governed our heart and soul in our everyday private living?
Deeply discouraged by this realization, I suggested to Jennie that it was time to go on.
In the car we began to talk about Papakeea. We had to face the situation that we would be living together. I suggested to her that McTaggert's apartment was probably much like the one we had during our last holiday. Most of these complexes appeared to be basically alike. "You will love it," I said to her. "It will be one of those wonderful places by the sea, surrounded by lawns, palm trees, and small gardens with lily-ponds. It may even have a few swimming pools, and certainly a Jacuzzi."
The subject got Jennie to ask all sorts of questions. She wanted to know how big the kitchen would be, and the living room; whether the place might have a dining room or a dinette, and how many bedrooms and beds we had in our last apartment there.
I answered as best I could. There was only one bedroom in the place we had rented earlier, but I couldn't remember what it was like.
"If there's just one bed, I'll sleep on the Chesterfield, or we'll buy a camping mattress or something like that," I said to Jennie at one point. "There are plenty of stores in Lahina, where I could get a cot."
"We should stop there anyway," she suggested, "we need to get groceries, tooth paste, soap, I need a bathing suit and a few other things..."
"Sure," I agreed, "but who knows, maybe the stores aren't open anymore."
It suddenly dawned on me that she would also need a nightgown. If the stores were still open, I determined that I would buy her one. It would make a lovely surprise present. With this thought in my mind we came to Lahina.
Some places were closed, as we suspected, but most were open. There was commotion, here and there. People were milling about in the streets, some debating the war. We heard talk about Russia taking us over, which someone said had already started, which I denied. However, while listening to their talk, the idea came that it would be wise to stock up on groceries for more that just a few days, especially the none-perishable items.
Since I had most of my expense money left over, as it has been hard to spend money during the seminar, we went on a gigantic shopping spree. We shopped in three super markets. Surprisingly, groceries were as freely available as at any time before. Also our money was still accepted without the slightest hesitation, something McTaggert would have found strange. Luckily we had a car to transport everything.
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Stories about
War
from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche
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