CHAPTER FOUR
RIDING THE RAILS
Of course, the next morning Emily had insisted on
walking to the Hauptbahnhof, pulling luggage the whole way. By the time
they crossed Bismarckstraße, Perry had plenty of motivation to regret
bringing a duffle without wheels. But it was sweet of Stone to make a point of
walking in front with him, carrying his bag even though it had wheels. Had
Emily put him up to it? Perhaps she’d also wanted one last chance to pop
into a shop or two.
A darker thought presented itself: perhaps she just
wanted to pass through the scene of the previous day’s ‘unpleasantness.’ If it
was catharsis she was after, Li Li appeared not even to notice, though she had
developed an air of inscrutability that could rival Emily’s, on occasion. By
contrast, Stone was preoccupied with the pleasures of walking in a group.
When they passed by the fountain in the central
market square, too early yet for the tourists to have finished their hotel breakfasts,
and still time for the merchants to busy themselves about opening their shops,
Perry thought a few of them paused to take notice of their little procession.
In fact, one old man, who had just moved several displays onto the pavement in
front of his shop, took particular notice of Emily, and stepped back inside. In
the windows on either side, other faces had paused from their labors to take
notice of her. Perry glanced around the square, and thought this curiosity had
become more widespread than he was comfortable with, though she seemed not to
notice, or at least, was not letting on if she did.
“Bitte,” the old man cried out. “Warten
Sie mal, gnädige
Fräulein.” He turned to say something to the old woman who’d
remained in the back of the shop, and repeated his call, since Emily had not
responded. “Bitte, warten Sie mal…”
Finally, Emily stopped to consider the old man. In
the meantime, the food stalls at the far end of the square had begun to show
signs of life, and some part of their activity seemed to have reference to
them. Perry pulled Stone to one side, to better take stock of the situation.
“Bitte, Fräulein.” The
old shopkeeper had caught up to Emily by this time. “Verzeihen sie uns, gnädige Fräulein… was sie gestern getan haben… Danke vielmals.” He tried to push a
small package into her hands. “Bitte, Fräulein.”
