The Safety Net Read Online Free PDF

the Riding Club. He was pretty sure that she hadn’t found happiness with Erwin Fischer, or “with others” for that matter. He would never have mentioned this, never been able to prove it or discuss it with anyone, and yet: Sabine had deserved someone who really loved her, not that snooty bastard whom, when he was alone with Käthe, he called “that human repellent.”
    Käthe had planned to be back from Sabine’s around six. Itwas only just four-thirty; the cars were all gone, goodbyes all said. There would have been time simply to walk to the village. But that wasn’t possible anymore, he could no longer just walk off like that, not even at his own risk. Bleibl had put it well in the overt sarcasm of his congratulatory address: “Now you will belong even less to yourself, and even less to your family.” And supposing he took a chance—surely they wouldn’t actually restrain him, or would they? He couldn’t saddle the tireless young guards with that; although it would have been his fault, they would have to take the blame, they would bear the responsibility, swallow the disgrace. Moreover, he had promised Holzpuke faithfully not to indulge in escapades or tolerate any on Käthe’s part, in fact to inform him if Käthe had any in mind. There had been a few occasions when she had succeeded in going beyond the park, through the strip of forest, and walking to Hetzigrath, and from there going by taxi, unescorted, into town. She had soon been tracked down—there were only her two old friends, whose addresses were known, of course, and only the two cafés, Getzloser’s and Kaint’s, or Zwirner’s shoe store or Holdkamp’s and Breslitzer’s dress shops, or the four churches she loved—she had soon been picked up, once even in the taxi on her way into town (by this time Holzpuke presumably had a system going with all the taxi companies), but still it was annoying, a nuisance, a waste of effort, and by now she had acknowledged herself to be “converted” and had “come to terms with Tolmshoven Prison.”
    He did not doubt for a moment that all the measures, no matter how crazy and extreme they might seem, were justified. He wanted to be cooperative, indeed had to be; as it was, he sometimes worried about the mental stamina of the men, and his mind was not entirely set at ease by Holzpuke’s assurance that they were under the constant psychological observation of an outstanding specialist, a certain Dr. Kiernter. He knew only too well that there were many things he had never told his doctor, never told Grebnitzer. He had never yet mentioned the deadly boredom in the vast offices of his “little paper.” Andto walk into the village
with
an escort, he wouldn’t want to do that. What would young Hendler think, for instance, if he went into the village church and sat down, then looked in on the priest? Everyone—certainly Holzpuke—knew that the priest was carrying on with Gerta and that, since Veronica had recently had the eccentric idea of phoning Käthe there—of all places—he had been drawn, perhaps unwittingly, into the entire safety net. The possible thoughts of the security guards killed all spontaneity in him. Holzpuke had introduced them to him: Hendler, Zurmack, Lühler, “a good team, a magnificently balanced group, which has proved its excellence in protecting your daughter, your son-in-law, and your granddaughter.” Needless to say, he had contacted Sabine by phone, although he knew the line must be bugged, and she had nothing but praise for all three, especially for that young Hendler, whom she described as “a very serious, considerate, and courteous person.”
    His mind was always turning to Sabine, who was now more and more often asking for Käthe, calling her up, inviting her over, or coming over herself. Probably due to that idiot Fischer, who couldn’t resist letting the weekly illustrateds in on his erotic and sexual escapades.
    It wasn’t only the security measures that deterred