Flotsam (48 page)

He finished his drink.

“Will you come with us?” Kern asked.

“No.”

“Isn’t there enough money for three? After all, we still have some left over.”

“That’s not the point. I’m going to stay here. I can’t explain to you why. I’m going to stay. No matter what happens. You can’t explain it. You just know, that’s all.”

“I understand,” Kern said.

“There comes Ruth,” Marill exclaimed. “And just as certainly as I am going to stay here, you are going to go. Do you understand that too?”

“Yes, Marill.”

“Thank God!” Ruth paused for a moment in the doorway. Then she rushed into Kern’s arms. “When did you get here?”

“Half an hour ago.”

Ruth lifted her head from the embrace that had been endless and yet shorter than a heartbeat. “Do you know …?”

“Yes. Marill has told me everything.”

Kern looked around. Marill was no longer there.

“And do you know …?” Ruth asked hesitantly.

“Yes, I know. We won’t talk about it now. Come on, let’s get out of here. We’ll go out on the street. Somewhere outside. I want to get away from here. Let’s go out on the street.”

“Yes.”

They walked along the Champs Elysées. It was evening and a pale half-moon hung in the apple-green sky. The air was silvery and clear and so mild that the sidewalk cafés were filled with people. They walked in silence for a long time. “Do you know exactly where Mexico is?” Kern asked finally.

Ruth shook her head. “Not precisely. But then I no longer know where Germany is.”

Kern looked at her. Then he took her arm. “We’ll have to buy a grammar and learn Spanish, Ruth.”

“I bought one, day before yesterday. Secondhand.”

“Secondhand, eh?” Kern smiled. “We’ll make out, won’t we, Ruth?”

She nodded.

“Anyhow we’ll see a little of the world. That’s something we wouldn’t have had otherwise, back home.”

She nodded again.

They walked on past the Rond Point. The first tender green leaves were showing on the trees. They gleamed in the early lamplight like the flickering of St. Elmo’s fire rising from the earth and running along the branches and twigs of the chestnut trees. The soil of the gardens had been spaded and its strong scent mixed strangely with the smell of gasoline and oil that always hung over the broad avenue. In a few places the gardeners had planted flowering narcissi that shimmered in the darkness. It was the hour when the shops were closing, and the crowds were so thick it was hard to move.

Kern looked at Ruth. “How many people there are!” he said.

“Yes,” she replied. “Frightfully many people.”

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Road Back

Three Comrades

Flotsam

Arch of Triumph

Spark of Life

A Time to Love and a Time to Die

The Black Obelisk

Heaven Has No Favorites

The Night in Lisbon

Shadows in Paradise

E
RICH
M
ARIA
R
EMARQUE
was born in Germany in 1898, and was drafted into the German army during World War I. Throughout the hazardous years following the war he worked at many occupations—schoolteacher, small-town drama critic, racing driver, and editor of a sports magazine. His first novel,
All Quiet on the Western Front
, vividly describing the experiences of German soldiers during World War I, was published in Germany in 1928. It was a brilliant success, selling over a million copies, and it was the first of many literary triumphs by Erich Remarque.

When the Nazis came to power, Remarque left Germany for Switzerland. He rejected all attempts to persuade him to return, and as a result he lost his German citizenship, his books were burned, and
his films were banned. He went to the United States in 1938 and became a citizen in 1947. He later lived in Switzerland with his second wife, the actress Paulette Goddard. He died in Switzerland in September 1970.