rumble

2. June 2020

Leave the door on the latch, the building workers    

will come later. They will not have to ring the

doorbell, the wife and the son's sleep will not be disturbed.

It is quiet in the street, the light from the sun is at a low angle, there are shadows everywhere The air is still damp and fresh, as it takes up the moisture from the night.

At the end of the alley, there is traffic, early morning drivers hurrying to work. Take a left turn down the

Neustadt street, there is a baker's shop there, it will be possible to buy a roll.

Fumble for the mask, and when it has been removed from the inside pocket put the left ear loop over the left ear, and the same on the right. Enter the baker's shop, there are plastic shields on the counter.

Because of the mask, exhaled breath fogs the glasses Push the glasses up onto the forehead, say good morning and look at the contents of the display.

Pick out a roll and place the money on a tray. The tray is withdrawn through an opening in the clear plastic shield, and the change is put onto the tray which is returned via this same opening. The roll is placed in a paper bag and reached around the plastic shield. The woman behind the shield wishes a good day. The sound is muffled because of her mask. Wish her the same, take the roll and leave.

Outside the shop, take of the mask and put it into the breast pocket of the shirt.

and walk on through the town, down an alley, to the parking spot where the small black car is.

There is a rumble of tyres or cobbles,

and a cyclist grazes his mountain bike just past the door of the car.

He was fast and nearly silent.

But for the rumble of his profiled tyres

on the cobbled street.