The next day we visited the parents. Father how, always politically active, knobbed again on a new improvement suggestion for his enterprise.
Most of his proposals had already been realized. For this he was awarded several times as an ‘activist of socialist work.’ In the coming October, on the occasion of the Day of the Republic, he was to be honored with the title of ‘Meritorious Activist.’
My mother had lost some of her freshness and proverbial zest for life, but in her early 50s everyone becomes a little calmer. My sister was not wallowing in great happiness with her two children, but there was no reason to worry. She was also preparing to move into a larger apartment.
However, I painfully felt that due to the different life paths, our always remarkably close, intimate sibling relationship had lost some of its depth. The weekend went by much too quickly. Early the following Monday morning, I finally started the second year of my studies.
After the long summer break, the old study group met well rested and full of energy. Not much had changed at the Penne, apart from two new lecturers in the subjects of psychology and teaching methodology. The focus of study was still the German language with its complicated grammar and classical German literature.
The subject of history was dominated, as always, by the development of the German and European labor movements and the progressive disintegration of the imperialist colonial system after World War II. Lunch in the refectory was still as lousy as last year.
The eternal mixed vegetables, to make matters worse, thickened with flour, were a pain in the neck for all the students. On my first weekend trip home, I passed the motorcycle workshop and remembered the offer from the old gentleman I had picked up in the car.
A few days later I was standing in front of the workshop with the Trabant. His sons were not particularly enthusiastic about my request but let me take care of the car. I learned in passing that the younger one was in the process of building his own workshop.
The foundation and walls were already finished. But the laboriously procured iron girders for the flat roof turned out to be too short. The construction stagnated. I offered to solve the problem. My proposal was met with skepticism, but I had long since noticed that everything I needed for my project was available in the workshop.
The following weekend I ignited the welding torch, cut one of the iron girders into the missing lengths and welded the obtained ends to the remaining steel girders. The problem was solved, the flat building could be completed.
Father and sons were amazed at what the unknown student could do. Only after we had become friends did I tell them about my previous professional life. The mutual helpfulness turned into a friendship for life. 𝓣𝓸 𝓑𝓮 𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮𝓭…
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