1 The Traffic Lights Change
The whole of Europe passed through if you waited long enough. The traffic sped by. There was a constant need for the drivers to make fifty or more lifesaving decisions every minute behind the wheel, and this eliminated all poetic and philosophical thoughts from their minds. New devices kept having to be put in place to help them do this safely. These devices were as radical and new as anything seen in the art galleries except such developments were perfectly acceptable to everyone because everyone wanted to take part in going as fast as possible.
Karl didn’t know if he would ever go back to Berlin. He had been forbidden to return for at least a year by his uncle, until things changed, ‘blew over’ as his uncle called it, until there was a chance of a fresh start, until things could be forgotten about and left to the archives, or else used partially with the names changed in some work of fiction by a writer in exile.
Karl’s uncle was called Ingo, although he never answered to it even if it was shouted across a playing field at him. With periodic help from the fire brigade, Ingo had brought Karl up in the puzzled and distant way someone who had always known he didn’t want any children did. Both Karl’s parents had died of Spanish Influenza in 1919, causing something of a kerfuffle, and a very young Karl had ended up at his uncle’s clutching a quickly scribbled note saying ‘Look after this child.’
At first Ingo had looked at the child as if it was a surprise Christmas present he didn’t like and wouldn’t use, before he relented and agreed to have as little to do with him as possible. Karl’s uncle was someone who could remember in some detail the lives of indecent behaviour based on sound principles many had led before the Great War. There was his season ticket to the brothels of Paris, and the planning of meetings to celebrate the joint jubilees of the Emperor Franz Joseph and Kaiser Wilhelm in 1918. He enjoyed going to concerts by thirteen-year old wunderkinds and drank good wine to keep up his stamina. It should never have ended in Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia – Russia’s mobilization in support of Belgrade - The blank cheque issued to Austria by Germany – The need to knock France quickly out of the war – The violation of Belgian neutrality and the committing of British troops to the continent of Europe. No, uncle Ingo would not personally take the blame for all that.
