The Berlin Connection by Johannes Mario Simmel Page B

I told you—"
    "Tell me about him." I pulled another fifty marks. "Who were his friends? What did he look like? Perhaps then I can find him ..."
    "I really don't know much more ..." He walked ahead of me into a bedroom with twin beds. "Excuse me, I have to get dressed." He threw off his robe. Again I saw the firm breasts of a young woman, a wide back, narrow hips, soft white skin. "Our first show is at seven-thirty."
    "That early?"
    "Special performance. A British destroyer is in the harbor. Those boys are just crazy about Raoul and me." He sneezed loudly and sat in front of a dressing table. "Imagine. We have to do our show six times." He said it with pride. He began to shave his underarms with a small electric shaver. And sorrowfully he said, "It's awful. The more one shaves the faster the hairs grow. And it shows in evening dresses."
    "When did Schauberg leave here?"
    "He didn't leave. I threw him out."
    "Why?"
    "I don't want anything unlawful in my house." He spat into a box of mascara and stirred with a small brush. "I swear, I didn't know about it at first."
    "About his drugs?"

    "Yes. As soon as T found out I threw him out. My partner, Raoul, and I earn our living as decent artistes. We didn't have anything to do with Schauberg's dirty business."
    "I'm sure you didn't."
    But he would not stop: he continued to lament, while he applied mascara to his lashes. "We have our license. We pay our taxes . . .'* "All right."
    ". . . We are being examined at regular intervals." A small stove gave oflf heat. It smelled of powder, make-up, cheap perfume. Stuffed dolls, boxes of chocolate and silken cushions were strewn around. Photographs of the female impersonator and different partners hune on the walls. On the bed were silk stockings, ladies' undergarments, a decollete black cocktail dress.
    "Of course I thought it strange when so many people came. But he said thev were his friends and T believed him. That's my trouble, I believe anybody. That's why I'm never a success."
    "How did you find out about the doctor's business?" "One of his customers had an attack here. You know, complete with screaming, frothing at the mouth, and all that. Very pleasant, something like that, right?" Plaintively he called out, "Where is my bra then?"
    Raoul's droll voice answered from the adjacent room. "Just another moment, Erika."
    I began to feel ill. The fist. No. No. Not here. Not now. I opened the window a little.
    "What are you doing? My cold—" "Just for a second. I don't feel very well." The cold air I inhaled smelled of the close-by harbor.
    Gehzuweit paled. "Good God, then you are one of those!" "No . . ." "Just don't have an attack here!"

    The fist rose. I held on to the window. Suppose I were to have an attack. I was inhaling deeply.
    "You want a cognac?"
    "Yes ..."
    I gulped the cognac. I felt better. From the window I could see the now deserted fish market. There, every Sunday morning at five, stalls and booths were erected. At the Hamburg Fischmarkt one can buy not only fish but groceries, housewares, toys, dresses—cheaper than anywhere else. Until ten o'clock. Then a siren wails and the booths have to close.
    Every Sunday, at daybreak, the Fischmarkt looks like the set of a surrealistic film. The poorest and saddest humanity appears in rags, unshaven, drunk; whores, stragglers from the Reeperbahn, foreign sailors, ordinary people, busy housewives trying to stretch a penny; beautiful women in evening dresses and mink coats, jewelry-laden, excitedly laughing, escorted by gentlemen in tuxedos.
    Then the bars are crowded. Now they are empty. Empty the *Eierkorb' where I had eaten fried fish and drunk beer with Kostasch one Saturday night when jazz blared from loudspeakers, churchbells summoned believers to Mass, and the two girls we had picked up argued.
    "Eh, you!"
    Gehzuweit looked at me. "Please go. I don't want any trouble here." He was half-naked, made-up, powdered, and looked troubled.
    "I'm all right now." I gave him the second