Chapter 14

Richard returns to the room of the young man, Awad, the following Friday and tells him his name is Richard. The two had previously discussed things without exchanging names. The new ‘first name basis’ coincides with Awad’s willingness to share his story. Awad shares his memories from Ghana. At one stage, he tries to recall his grandmother but can’t fully remember her. The metaphor of recalling her and trying to lift her back from the ‘lower stratum’ where she sinks to after the unsuccessful recall is typical of the other-worldly theme in the novel. It also prompts Richard to wonder what would happen to the deceased man in the lake when the lake freezes over. History, memories and people can be lost to the world. Awad shares about the war and how he received an alarming phone call but by the time he raced home, his house had been ransacked, his father shot. He was alone until the military came and picked him up. On his way to the barracks, he saw men lying dead, stabbed or shot. He says ‘on this day, I saw the war’. He spent time in the barracks before being forced to board the boat to Italy, not even sure where it was headed. Awad was homeless in Italy, unable to wash or earn money. An opportunity came to travel to Berlin to meet other Africans and Awad, thinking he could wash and be civil, arrived at the plaza to be disappointed by the refugee tent city.

Chapter 14 Quotes

And beyond that she has no name, she remains trapped in this lower stratum and silently sinks back down again. (About trying to remember Awad’s grandmother) Chapter 14

On this day, I saw the war. (Awad) Chapter 14

War destroys everything. (Awad) Chapter 14

I can’t see myself anymore, can’t see the child I used to be. (Awad) Chapter 14

Maybe one just has to say: this isn’t me. Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Richard spends time reflecting on his early encounters with the African men. He researches the laws regarding refugees, especially the Dublin II agreement. The agreement operates on the assumption that the asylum laws and practices of the EU States are based on the same common standards and sets out those common principles to be followed. Originally established in Dublin, Ireland on 15 June 1990, and first coming into force on 1 September 1997, the Dublin II Regulation was adopted in 2003, updating the original. As Richard finds, despite the notion of common standards, the actual laws are different, especially where an EU country has a coastline, making it a point of origin for refugees, and in relation to the rights of refugees to leave a country in which they had arrived seeking asylum. The differences, Richard believes, result in a bickering between countries and arbitrary legislation and discussions that fail to compassionately focus on the needs of the refugees or listen to their stories.

After his day of reading, Richard attends a birthday party with Sylvia and Detlef. A lavish description of food, including roast wild boar, a symbol of medieval feasts, reminds the reader of the partygoers’ privileges. The party guests are still exploring the benefits that have come to them since the falling of the Berlin wall. In many ways, their state before the fall of the wall reflects the hardships of the refugees. They had lost their rights and had limited options open to them under very strict government controls. The party is filled with the mundane chatter of the lives of its attendees.

Chapter 15 Quotes

When you become foreign, Awad says, you have no choice. Chapter 15

In other words, so-called ‘asylum fraud’ is nothing more than telling a true story in a country where no one’s legally obliged to listen, much less do anything in response. Chapter 15

The foreigner … is trapped between the now invisible fronts in an intra-European discussion that has nothing at all to do with him or the actual war he’s trying to escape from. Chapter 15

He and his friends still aren’t done exploring all the blessings of this other world that has become more and more tightly entwined with theirs over the past twenty-five years. Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Richard returns to the nursing home as naturally as if he was going to the university. On his way he notices cars rapidly slow down after seeing a display of their excessive speed. Richard recognises the ‘usual story, shame and remorse – the crooked pair has made him cower too’, and recalls a time when his wife was shouting at him holding a letter from his lover that he had failed to effectively hide. When he arrives, the men are studying German with a teacher from Ethiopia. In her exchange with Richard, the teacher explains the men’s need for peace and certainty and that a purpose and assurance would encourage them to learn, suggesting ‘it’s difficult to learn a language if you don’t know what is for’. She also says that you have to fill your time with something and Richard feels uncomfortable as he initially thought it was about him, but it was about the men. Richard seems interested in her and refers to her as the Virgin Astraea who was, in ancient Greek religion, a daughter of Astraeus and Eos, the virgin goddess of justice, innocence, purity and precision.

Chapter 16 Quotes

… the usual story, shame and remorse – the crooked pair has made him cower too… Chapter 16

It’s difficult to learn a language if you don’t know what is for. Chapter 16

You have to fill your time with something she says. (Ethiopian teacher) Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Richard arrives at the nursing home to see Rashid. As he approaches the door, it flies open, and Rashid runs out and is chased throughout the home by other men. The disturbance seems related to a move that has been flagged by the authorities. The men are to move to a place in the woods, where there will be a meeting.

Richard attends the meeting which is led by a man from the senate. He explains that the men are to move and the men respond with a list of demands including shower doors and no more than four to a room. Richard realises they are still asking to be visible and to be able to work and organise their lives like ‘any other person of sound body and mind’. The move is postponed when the director of the nursing home announces there is chickenpox in the facility and they will have to wait for the incubation period.

Richard retrieves his old state ID from a chest.

Chapter 17 Quotes

When you’re foreign you don’t have a choice anymore Tristan says. Chapter 17

They assail these newcomers with their secret weapon called time, poking out their eyes with days and weeks, crushing them with months. Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Richard returns to the home and speaks with Rashid, the man he first spoke with. Rashid tells him about his religion, stressing that ‘A person who kills is not a Muslim’. They discuss Eid Mubarak, the holiday to end a time of fasting known as Ramadan. Rashid recalls celebrating this in simpler times with family and neighbours among gifts of toys and fabric. Richard reflects on his own faith, which he formally abandoned when he started teaching. Rashid wishes to celebrate Eid Mubarak one last time with his mother but that would mean returning to Nigeria and not being allowed back to Europe. Richard asks why he doesn’t just simply return to Nigeria but the question is unanswered.

Rashid describes the final Eid Mubarak he experienced in Nigeria that was interrupted by attackers who took his father away. In a single day, Rashid’s life was completely changed. He escaped the bloodshed of the raid on his village but left behind all that was dear and valuable to him, cut from it ‘as if with a knife’. Richard’s notes from the session reflect the difficulty in comprehending the loss but also highlight how ‘normal’ life was for Rashid before the raid. He writes, ‘There was childhood. There was day to day life. There was adolescence’.

Chapter 18 Quotes

A person who kills is not a Muslim. Chapter 18

Richard hoped that what people said was true: that the dead and buried know no pain and feel nothing at all. Chapter 18

From one day to the next I had no father, no family, no house, no workshop. (Rashid) Chapter 18

There was childhood. There was day to day life. There was adolescence. (Richard on Rashid’s life) Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Richard goes to lunch with Sylvia and Detlef, his friends from the party. Richard tells them about the men he has being interviewing, feeling that telling their stories has given Apollo, Tristan and the Olympian, as he calls them, a place in a German living room. His friends are compassionately interested in the dilemma facing the men, each thinking their past is a reason they are ‘doing better’ than the African men. Richard’s father was a soldier sent to Norway and Russia, Detlef’s mother had scraped mortar from bricks in the rubble to rebuild the country, Sylvia’s grandfather had sent bloodstained clothes from Russian children home for her grandmother to wash and reuse for her own children. The common thread is that they are ‘post war’ lives, the African men are still experiencing some form of their war. They reflect on how their prosperity is built on others and realise that the refugees’ difficulties are also the result of others.

They discuss what they would do if they had to flee. Detlef has thought about escaping across the lake. This turns the discussion to the drowned man still lying undiscovered. They eat, the meal itself a sign of the prosperity they are enjoying.

Chapter 19 Quotes

The reason they were doing so much better than, say, these three African men Richard was talking about? The ones sitting on this sofa were post-war children … (Richard, Detlef and Sylvia) Chapter 19

.. if this prosperity couldn’t be attributed to their own personal merit, then by the same token the refugees were not to blame for their reduced circumstances. Things might have turned out the other way around. For a moment, this thought opens its jaws wide, displaying its frightening teeth. Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Richard returns to the nursing home but, as it is a Friday afternoon, the men he is used to talking to have gone for prayers. A security guard informs him that only the Christian men remain. Richard knocks on doors and finds a young man from Niger, Osarobo, who is willing to talk to him. They head out for a coffee, Richard noticing the young man doesn’t have a warm coat and doesn’t fix his unkempt hair. Richard buys the young man a tea and tries to ask questions that will unlock beautiful answers. He fails, but realises that ‘his failure isn’t what matters here. He’s not what matters’.

The young man is mostly silent but, on the way back to the home, he asks Richard if he believes in God. Richard explains that he doesn’t really but the boy says he does, and that he believes God saved him for a reason when others around him perished. Seemingly at a loss to gain a connection, Richard asks Osarobo what he would like to do if he could do anything. Osarobo says he would like to play piano. Richard reveals he has a piano and the young man can’t believe there is no admission fee or catch, that he can come over to play.

Chapter 20 Quotes

No I lost all my friends… I saw them die, many, many people died. (Osarobo) Chapter 20

Richard wished he knew what questions would lead to the land of beautiful answers. Chapter 20

But his failure isn’t what matters here. He’s not what matters. Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Richard spends some time with Peter, his archaeologist friend, and then creates time to investigate the ‘agreement’ document that the senate presented to the refugees. Although he set aside a whole day, he is surprised to find it is smaller than a contract with his phone supplier. The agreement is seemingly vague at times but offers to those who ‘can’t afford a lawyer’ and ‘barely speak German’, some hope. Richard sees it is the hope in ‘assistance in pursuing vocational activities’ that would appeal to the men. It is hope that keeps them going.

Chapter 21 Quotes

Hope is what is keeping them alive, and hope is cheap. Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Richard returns to the home on a day when the men study German. Last time Richard saw the teacher he said he wished he wore his light blue shirt, an indication of his attraction to her. Today he is wearing his light blue shirt and aftershave. The teacher asks him to consider helping with the advanced students.

Richard returns the following day and finds the teacher putting posters up in the nursing home. She explains that ‘even fish in an aquarium have something to look at’. Richard helps her and, when pressed on helping out, he agrees to teach the advanced German class. During the conversation, the woman reveals that the men were only paid half this month and will get the other half when they move. Richard recalls the bribes he was offered as a child to collect potato beetles and kill them in exchange for toys and coins. He was told the Americans had been dropping them in the fields to destroy the crops. In reality there was just a lot of these beetles across the whole of Europe at the time.

Chapter 22 Quotes

Don’t the people here deserve to have as much as a couple of fish? (teacher) Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Richard is at home recalling the conversation he had with a man who he inadvertently met at the nursing home. The man was sweeping but was very willing to retell his story to Richard. He recounts the hardships of working for unscrupulous landlords who withheld his pay or changed the terms, leaving him without pay. When his father died, he struggled to take care of his family. He managed to make his way to Libya to work on a construction site and, after that, Italy, Finland and eventually, Germany. His life is spotted with hardship but also with kindness as some acquaintances lend him money or offer accommodation to help with the next part of his journey. Eventually, he lands in Germany but has nothing. The recurring phrase ‘I looked in front of me and behind me and saw nothing’ echoes the man’s desperation.

Chapter 23 Quotes

I looked in front of me and behind me and saw nothing. Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Richard arrives at the nursing home to pick up Osarobo for his piano session. Osarobo isn’t ready and had forgotten the appointment. This irritates Richard and he has to wrestle with the fact that what Richard thought was a big opportunity in reality may only be a distraction for Osarobo. This is typical of the exchange between the workers, the state and the refugees. There is a delicate balance between helping purely for the sake of the refugees and the helpers’ need for control and validation. Richard’s history of setting expectations and being disappointed if they are not met is explored through recalling his time with his lover. Osarobo spends the day at Richard’s, playing on the piano. Richard enjoys the company and it occurs to ‘him how long his daily life has been lacking sounds other than the ones he makes himself’.

Chapter 24 Quotes

He feels irritated… this African isn’t as happy and grateful as he expected. Chapter 24

Anything predictable and rigid can be undermined and broken. Chapter 24

Only now does it occur to him how long his daily life has been lacking sounds other than the ones he makes himself. Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Richard attends the home and participates in the German lesson with the Ethiopian teacher he has come to admire. He takes the advanced group and they discuss professions. They have dreams of becoming a nurse and an engineer. Richard considers that this is unlikely to happen. This is more confusing as the country is crying out for workers but refuses these men entry into the workforce. Between the two men talking to Richard, they possess a range of skills and languages and a desire to work which the German state fails to recognise.

When demonstrating the singular form of a verb, the teacher singles out a student, Rufu, who is always alone and there is an awkward moment. Richard is pleased that the teacher recognises it and sees it as a sign of inner beauty in her. He recalls the Stasi (German Secret Police) file that he gained access to after the fall of the wall that knew of his attraction to women, his affair, and his dissatisfaction with the political system.

Chapter 25 Quotes

Richard considers what to say as a resident of a country that has seventy thousand apprenticeship positions with no one to fill … but is nonetheless unwilling to accept these dark-skinned refugees. Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Richard is at the supermarket and Rufu joins him in line. They acknowledge each other and then it is Richard’s turn to pay. He can’t find his wallet and for a fleeting second, wonders if Rufu has taken it. The suspicion reveals that Richard is not beyond the stereotypes the wider community may hold. Rufu eventually pays for Richard’s groceries and Richard invites him to lunch. They arrive home and Richard’s wallet is on the floor where it fell out when he tied his shoes. Rufu only takes half the money back and enjoys reading. He reads Dante’s Divine Comedy, the only Italian book Richard has. Richard recalls the opening line, ‘midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood the right road lost’, which aptly describes the plight of these young men, whose lives have been brutally interrupted. Rufu is amused at the bin with the foot pedal that pops the lid open. This small novelty further highlights his innocence.

Chapter 26 Quotes

Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood the right road lost. Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Awad is distressed by the amount of thinking he is doing, his anxiety and pacing having driven others from his room. All the uncertainty – the upcoming move, the general state of their unsettled lives, misinterpreting the German’s intentions – plagues Awad, so much so that when he is presented with an opportunity to be tested to see if he has chickenpox, he excuses himself and returns to his room. He is waiting there as if they are coming for him, breathing rapidly, worried. Awad is also worried that the doctor who is testing him was ‘once was a doctor’. He thinks the Germans are playing tricks, wondering if the so-called doctor, who was there as a worker to help fill in forms yesterday, will become a judge or policeman tomorrow if needed.

Chapter 27 Quotes

The thinking has been locked up in his head and is pounding his skull from the inside. (Awad) Chapter 27

In wartime, it’s only the war you see. Chapter 27

The visitor rubs one of his hands over the back of the other, as if he could rub the age spots away. (about Richard) Chapter 27

Awad thinks and notes the panic rising up in him. Chapter 27