CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
You go to Prague on the night train. The westerner pays for a couchette, and you have it to yourselves. As the train leaves the station you say, “Now’s our chance.” You know they’ll check the tickets after Dresden. Then there will be the border guards.
He makes love to you slowly and tenderly on the bottom bunk. When he comes, he buries his head against your shoulder. Afterwards, you curl up together, and he falls asleep. You lie awake and think about the last time you made this journey. You were with Kerstin, and you told her about Hencke for the first time. Her face clouded, then she shrugged and said, “You have to do what you have to do.”
At Dresden, the train screeches to a halt. You hear doors bang, and people shouting compartment numbers to one another. As the tr
