2 Tickets to Hanau

I walked up to the ticket agent window at the Frankfurt Airport Train Station. It was very late at night, few people lingered in the station. In my best college German I said, “Gutten abend. Meine Frau und ich have just arrived from California. We would like to take the train into Frankfurt to find a hotel room.”

The ticket agent looked at me through coke bottle lenses. He seemed to be processing my American student German that sounded like pouring gravel into a tin bucket. “Gutten abend. I am sorry to inform you that there are no available hotel rooms in Frankfurt.”

“Es gibt keine hotel rooms in all of Frankfurt?” I was incredulous. No rooms in a city of thousands of hotel rooms? “How could that be?”

The ticket agent again peered at me for a moment. He looked tired, like he was just getting ready to end his shift. Sally and I were certainly looking forward to ending our shift and sleeping off our long trip in the smoking tube in a nice hotel bed.

“Entschuldigen Sie,my apologies sir. There is an International Book Fair in Frankfurt. There are thousands of visitors. It appears that most of the Pakistani book enthusiasts are in Frankfurt.”

“Pakistan?”

“Yawohl.”

“Und thousenden Pakistanishes book enthusiasts have rented all the hotel rooms in Frankfurt?”

“Yawohl, und many others from different countries. The International Book Fair is a very large annual event in Frankfurt.”

“Mein Gott, do you have any suggestions on what we can do?”

“Yawohl, you may stay in the train station until morning. But I am sorry, you would have to stand up. There are rules against lying down on train station benches. I am sorry.”

Sally heard that, “I can’t stay in the train station. I’m pregnant. This station smells like sausages and it’s making me woozy.”

I repeated Sally’s comments to the agent in Deutch. He looked at Sally with concern. “Perhaps you could take the train the Hanau. It is about the same distance as Frankfurt city center. 30 kilometers. There are sure to be rooms available there.”

Sally nodded. I fumbled with my wallet. “Bitte, zwei bahntickets nach Hanau.”

Sal and I took up our positions sitting on a station bench near the track for the Hanau train. Not standing. We could sit if we didn’t stay there all night. Sally looked at me, “Sausages. Stand up in the train station. No rooms. SO FAR, SO BAD. I don’t think I will ever eat a sausage again.”

“Sorry babe, we’ll be out of here soon. 5 minutes until the train”.

 

We boarded the train and sat down. Sally put her head on my shoulder. We were both very tired and groggy from the flight and the long day. We would rest a little on the way to Hanau.

2 young couples boarded the train. They guys were drunk. And American. The guys were smoking and cussing. Smoking right under the no smoking sign in the train car. “Rauchen Verbotten!”

“Hey you all, I’m Jesse, how ya doin?” One of the guys asked us. He was tall and skinny.

“Oh, pretty well. We’re Andy and Sally. We just flew in from the US. Going to Hanau to find a hotel room, A gasthaus. Hostel. Anything.”

“Oh yeah? We live in Hanau. U.S. army, stationed there. But we have a house. You’re welcome to sleep on our floor. It’ll be easy to find a place to stay in the morning. Yup. Lots of gasthouses around there with rooms.”

One of the girls sat next to Sally. “I see you have sleeping bags. We have some blankets. You’ll be fine for the night.”

Sally said, “Thank you. That will really be nice. What’s your name?”

“Belle, and this is Bill and Tammy. We’re married couples. That’s why we can live off base.”

“Nice to meet you.” Sal and I said in unison.

Bill and Tammy came over to us. “Nice to meet you all too.”

Bill looked over at Jessy, “Hey, we got just 6 more weeks in this hell hole and back to the land of round doorknobs. Round doorknobs and plumbing on the INSIDE of buildings.”

Jesse looked at us. “You all know that the krauts use square doorknobs?”

Sal and I both shook our heads.

“What the fuck is up with that. Square doorknobs.“

“Yeah, and no real hamburgers,” said Tammy. “I really miss hamburgers.”

The couples sat down. The train sound was a soft buzz. Smooth. Not the clickity clack and diesel growl of Amtrak.

Billy looked at the window at the darkness, “Fuckin a, 6 weeks and we are fuckin done.”

 

We arrived in Hanau and walked through the station. Bill said, “We can get a cab out front of the station. We are only a couple of miles from our house. But we got to see if the fuckin taxi kraut will let all 6 of us ride. They have a rule against that. A lot of rules in krautland.”

We approached the taxi area. As late as it was there were only 2 cabs. Jesse walked up to a taxi and hollered at the driver, “Hey, you take 6 tonight?”

“Entschuldigen Sie, my apologies sir, we can only take 5 passengers in Deutchland. It is a rule.”

“I know it is a fuckin rule. But it is late. Who will know? Nothing will happen to you, right?”

“Entschuldigen Sie, my apologies sir, we can only take 5 passengers in Deutchland. It is a rule.”

Bill was right next to Jesse at the cab. He kicked the taxi passenger door. “Fuck you,” he yelled at the driver. The driver was impassive.

I spoke up, “Bill, Jesse, it’s ok. We will take our own cab. We can follow you. Please.”

We approached the second cab and got into the back seat. I spoke to the driver, “Guten Abend, mein Herr. Entschuldigen Sie,my apologies sir for our companions.”

“Guten Abend junge Mann. Danke. Where would you like to go in Hanau?”

Belle followed us into the cab. “Andy and Sally, I’ll go with you. Sorry about the boys. They are a little tired of being stationed in Germany. They miss home. It’s ok. It’s ok. Sorry.”

Sally looked at Belle and smiled weakly.

 

We walked into a modest rental house. Small living room, little furniture, small kitchen, bedrooms in the back. Belle and Tammy went into one of the bedrooms. They returned with some blankets.

‘Here are some blankets for you. If you want you could make a kind of bed with these and sleep on them in your sleeping bags,” said Tammy

Belle jumped in, “They are not great but softer than the floor.”

“Thank you,” Sal and I said in unison. “Is it possible for us to take a bath?” Sally added. “It would help us get over the flight and the long day.”

Tammy began to lead us into the bathroom, “Yes, of course, go right ahead. Let me show you. The bathtub has a little water heater right on the wall above. It’s easy to use.”

It was bath of purgation. A purgation of the day and the long ride in Charon’s boat. We lay in the tub together. We held onto each other in a kind of sleepy haze. Sally exhaled, “Wow,” I sighed and held her a little tighter.

 

We woke up to the sound of glass breaking and yelling. Banging on the front door. Hey let me in. Bill. Jesse. The nigers. Let me in. Pounding on the door. The lights turned on. Belle opened the door. He stumbled in. Screaming. The nigers. Jumped us. He was covered in blood. A broken beer bottle in one hand. Bill grabbed him and led him to the kitchen. Blood everywhere. What happened. Richard, pay attention to me. What happened. The nigers. They jumped us. Big fight. I’m hurt. I’m hurt. Help me. We are going to the base infirmary. No. No. I can’t. You are badly hurt. Stitches. Concussion. Broken arm maybe. Let’s go. 3 went out the door. Gone. Blood everywhere.

An hour later it was dawn. The house was quiet. “Let’s go, Sal.”

We packed up our sleeping bags, pulled on our backpacks, and went outside. The sidewalk and road were thick with blood and broken beer bottles. We headed down the street. Blood on our shoes.

Barreling down the road towards us was an old Cadillac. It was listing to the passenger’s side and belching blue smoke. As it flew by, we could see the driver clearly. A man in U.S. army officers’ uniform.

We kept walking. Awake. Wide awake.