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along?’ Anna had asked Kathie. It would be boring to stay here all evening with her mother, she added. Kathie was happy with that idea, so she went along with Anna to Soller’s.
    She met Mitzi Zimmermann that evening, and later onHans too. Gretel, the waitress at Soller’s, sat with them for a while, ‘Because there’s not much going on here today, they’re all out on the Wiesn for the Oktoberfest.’ She was curious, wanted to know who Anna’s friend was, and Kathie told Gretel about herself.
    Gradually the inn filled up with guests. Gretel rose to her feet and served them. Kathie and Anna hadn’t been in the bar of the inn for long, maybe half an hour, when Mitzi Zimmermann came over to their table. Anna introduced Mitzi to Kathie. It seemed to Kathie that Anna knew everyone at Soller’s, and everyone knew Anna.
    A little later in the evening Hans arrived. Kathie liked him at once. As soon as he came through the door with his grey felt hat, and his black moustache. He came over to their table. Mitzi jumped up at once and hugged him. Hans pushed her away when he saw Kathie. He wanted to know who she was, kissed her hand as if she were a fine lady. Kathie went quite red in the face when he looked at her with his dark eyes. He sat down on the empty chair beside her, moved really close, and Kathie liked that.
    Where did she come from, he asked, and what was she doing in Munich? She told him all about it. All the ups and downs, the trouble with her father, and how she’d come to Munich to look for a job.
    Finding a job wouldn’t be easy, he told her, but he’d help her. After all, he knew plenty of people, and a pretty girl like Kathie was sure to find something.
    ‘Oh, go on with you, don’t talk such nonsense to the girl. You don’t have any work yourself, like most who come here to Soller’s, you live off Mitzi and the dole. As for the kind of work you have in mind for her, there’s many young girls have come to grief that way.’
    ‘Don’t talk such nonsense, just you get on with your own job while you still have one.’ And Hans dismissed Gretel’s objection with a scornful gesture.
    It was a fun evening at Soller’s. At some point Anna began to sing. All the street ballads that she and her father used to perform when she was little and they went about from inn to inn. And in the course of the evening Hans moved closer and closer to Kathie. He put his hand on her thigh. Kathie didn’t push it away. Mitzi didn’t notice, or if she did notice she didn’t let it show.
    Now Kathie slowly puts back the covers. They’d stayed late at Soller’s, and it was well after midnight when Anna took her home to Ickstattstrasse.
    Kathie was a little surprised that Anna herself didn’t stay, just brought Kathie back to the apartment. Anna herself left again, but Kathie was too tired to wonder why. They’d fixed to meet again this evening and go to Soller’s in the valley together. Anna would come for her.
    Kathie pushes the covers right off, gets out of bed. She feels the cold floor under her bare feet. Goes to the washbasin.What is she going to do until six o’clock, when Anna comes to fetch her?
    She takes the jug, pours water into the basin, dips both hands in the cold water and washes her face.

Walburga
     
    When exactly did I meet Josef ? Can’t remember now. We’ve known each other for ever. Since we were kids. Over in the railwaymen’s apartments on the housing estate, that’s where we lived. My dad’s with the railway. Same as his too. Everyone there works on the railway. And they all have ever so many children. Us kids, we always met to play in the yard. Mostly it was girls playing one game, boys playing another, but then with cops and robbers, that was different, we all mucked in together then. Boys too. That’s how come I knew Josef. We were out of doors all day. Didn’t go home until our mums called us in, or the street lights came on.
    As a kid myself I always thought him a bit odd. When he