over her — and all over Noah, too, who stood there like a fool. It took him a few seconds to recollect himself well enough to recognize her: it was Frau März, his mother’s minder.
And she was very, very, very angry.
Sometimes she paused in her long scolding of Cloud to shake a fist at Noah, too. Apparently he had done something wrong by simply being in the non-park with Cloud, who had gone limp in the hands of Frau März and was only just barely standing now, with her head hanging down, all the spirit gone from her.
And while Noah stared in horror, the woman dragged poor Cloud back toward the door of their apartment building, pausing now and then to glare back at Noah so that he wouldn’t follow them. Except of course he did have to follow them eventually, because he lived in that building, too, didn’t he?
He gave them a few minutes to get into their apartment and then tiptoed up the stairs to the fourth floor, passing two men with briefcases coming down from upstairs. It was a busy day in that stairwell!
It was only when he opened the door of his own front hall and went inside that he realized Cloud had gone off with his map of Berlin.
Secret File #10
CHANGE IN THE AIR
It might have been hard to notice, if you were just a kid rushing through the hazy streets of Berlin or talking to your maybe-new-friend in the non-park across the street from your apartment building, but change
was
in the air in 1989. Not just in Berlin but all over the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain dividing East and West.
The leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, had started talking about change, for instance. He called it “perestroika.” And at the beginning of May, the Hungarians — a couple countries south of East Germany but on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain — had decided not to be so particular about enforcing the border between Hungary and Austria.
That plays a big role in our story.
But Noah doesn’t know that yet.
Cloud’s grandmother must have been watching her like a hawk, because Noah didn’t see her again all that week.
She came up during a dinner conversation, however. Noah’s mother was happily talking about her research and about how well it was going.
“School’s ending, but I got so much data these last few weeks!” she said. “Enough to keep me happily busy all summer. And now I know the school people, so I’ll have a running start on round two in the fall when the schools start up again.”
“School? School? When do I get to go to school?”
His mother looked at him with those bright, sympathetic eyes of hers.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “I’m so sorry about that. I’ve put lots of requests through, you know. I’ve told them it will not reflect well on socialism if you die of boredom. Everyone’s just worried about what someone somewhere will think. I’ve been meaning to take it up with Frau März again — she’s the one my official requests are supposed to trickle through. Although this whole week I haven’t seen her. She’s been ill, apparently. I’ve had to do this final round of schools on my own. Means I’ve triumphed over the Berlin bus and S-Bahn system, though.”
“She’s sick, Frau März?”
“That’s what they told me. Haven’t seen her in the stairwell recently, either, but I don’t want to trouble her by knocking on the door. That seems too forward.”
“She has a kid living with her, you know,” Noah said. “Her granddaughter.”
“Really?” she said. She was so surprised, she almost broke her own rules — Noah could see her swallowing her next question. “How — nice! Someone for you to play with.”
Noah waited until he and his mother were walking to the supermarket to buy more cardboard pyramids filled with milk before bringing up Frau März and Cloud-Claudia again. Then he unfolded his theory, such as it was.
“I think Frau März is holding Cloud prisoner. Locked up, like in the Rapunzel story. Maybe Frau März isn’t really her grandmother.
And she was very, very, very angry.
Sometimes she paused in her long scolding of Cloud to shake a fist at Noah, too. Apparently he had done something wrong by simply being in the non-park with Cloud, who had gone limp in the hands of Frau März and was only just barely standing now, with her head hanging down, all the spirit gone from her.
And while Noah stared in horror, the woman dragged poor Cloud back toward the door of their apartment building, pausing now and then to glare back at Noah so that he wouldn’t follow them. Except of course he did have to follow them eventually, because he lived in that building, too, didn’t he?
He gave them a few minutes to get into their apartment and then tiptoed up the stairs to the fourth floor, passing two men with briefcases coming down from upstairs. It was a busy day in that stairwell!
It was only when he opened the door of his own front hall and went inside that he realized Cloud had gone off with his map of Berlin.
Secret File #10
CHANGE IN THE AIR
It might have been hard to notice, if you were just a kid rushing through the hazy streets of Berlin or talking to your maybe-new-friend in the non-park across the street from your apartment building, but change
was
in the air in 1989. Not just in Berlin but all over the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain dividing East and West.
The leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, had started talking about change, for instance. He called it “perestroika.” And at the beginning of May, the Hungarians — a couple countries south of East Germany but on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain — had decided not to be so particular about enforcing the border between Hungary and Austria.
That plays a big role in our story.
But Noah doesn’t know that yet.
Cloud’s grandmother must have been watching her like a hawk, because Noah didn’t see her again all that week.
She came up during a dinner conversation, however. Noah’s mother was happily talking about her research and about how well it was going.
“School’s ending, but I got so much data these last few weeks!” she said. “Enough to keep me happily busy all summer. And now I know the school people, so I’ll have a running start on round two in the fall when the schools start up again.”
“School? School? When do I get to go to school?”
His mother looked at him with those bright, sympathetic eyes of hers.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “I’m so sorry about that. I’ve put lots of requests through, you know. I’ve told them it will not reflect well on socialism if you die of boredom. Everyone’s just worried about what someone somewhere will think. I’ve been meaning to take it up with Frau März again — she’s the one my official requests are supposed to trickle through. Although this whole week I haven’t seen her. She’s been ill, apparently. I’ve had to do this final round of schools on my own. Means I’ve triumphed over the Berlin bus and S-Bahn system, though.”
“She’s sick, Frau März?”
“That’s what they told me. Haven’t seen her in the stairwell recently, either, but I don’t want to trouble her by knocking on the door. That seems too forward.”
“She has a kid living with her, you know,” Noah said. “Her granddaughter.”
“Really?” she said. She was so surprised, she almost broke her own rules — Noah could see her swallowing her next question. “How — nice! Someone for you to play with.”
Noah waited until he and his mother were walking to the supermarket to buy more cardboard pyramids filled with milk before bringing up Frau März and Cloud-Claudia again. Then he unfolded his theory, such as it was.
“I think Frau März is holding Cloud prisoner. Locked up, like in the Rapunzel story. Maybe Frau März isn’t really her grandmother.
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