Index

Preamble

Preview to book 2:

Autor

Impressum

Foreword

Carpe Diem, dear readers. First of all, I would like to thank all the people who helped me write this book and all people who have supported me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

My name is Marius Vascan, I was born in 1979 in Romania, that is, in Medias, a small town in the province of Sibiu. When I was 14 years old, I decided to take my life in my own hands and I went to look for love and a better life; this search was very emotional, sad and exhausting. I even had to risk my life just to live a normal human life but I am aware that I am not the only one who is striving for love. There are much more serious cases in countries where there is war and the people do not have anything to eat and drink; I just ask myself: why must all these things happen? Yes, to survive. The whole life is a struggle for survival and in the end, we just take a black suit with us and nothing remains of us but ashes. So is that worth behaving in such a negative way? Is that worth waging war? Is that worth hating and destroying each other? I am very certain that this is NOT worth it. We were all born as angels and we all strive for love and safety. We humans are what we do and not what we say. Together we are strong.

I wrote this book without taking some drugs or drinking alcohol or something like that – I only continued writing this book when I felt like writing. You cannot buy emotions nor can you buy a human’s heart. I am not perfect, too and I have not found a better life. You cannot find a better life, you will only discover a better life within your own heart. I hope this book will entertain you and just make the best of your life without hurting other beings. Peace!

Fourteen-year old Babu is sitting on a bench on the edge of the park overlooking the basketball court and is watching other teenagers playing basketball and football on the sports court and a beggar is sitting on the roadside and next to the boy there is a woman who is selling sunflower seeds in little bags. Babu gets up and buys a bag. And while he is walking, he eats the sunflower seeds …

After Nicolae Ceausescus death and the fall of the whole regime in Romania many Romanians of German origin apply for Visa to come over to Germany. But there were also many native Romanian inhabitants who wanted to come, too, and they tried to pass the borders illegally. There was chaos at the borders and in the whole country.

A nice, sunny day is about to begin and the sun is shining over the flower hill, and Babu, a 14-year-old boy is walking through the flowers and is laughing for joy. Babu grew up in a very problematic and chaotic family, since his father got drunk very often and, as a consequence, became very aggressive and beat everyone up. Babu had two brothers, a younger one and an older one and he also had an older sister. There came a day when Babu could not stand his father’s beatings and his rage anymore and he decided to run away from home. Babu loved to play football and found it very hard to leave his football behind. He took the ball with him on each occasion. He always carried the ball around in a transparent net with a holding strap and while walking, he kicked the ball. The boy played everywhere on the streets, on concrete and stones or between the cars, no matter where, and playing football with bare feet was not problem for him.

On a sunny day, when Babu returned from school and stood before the block of houses, he took off his school satchel and threw it on the bench and his father yelled at him from the balcony: ‘You idiot! The bench is freshly painted!’ Startled, Babu ran there, took the satchel and put it on the ground. Children played football on the concrete street in front of the house door, where many cars were parked on the left side. Babu joined them and played with them. After a short time his fellow players warned him: ‘Watch out!’, but Babu could not answer them, as a heavy flowerpot hit his back and he fell on the ground directly on this face. And his father yelled very loudly: ‘Are you mad, you idiot, you are playing football with your new shoes! Get upstairs immediately!’ Babu got up, and crying, he took his satchel and went upstairs. When he reached the door, his father slapped him heavily, pulled him into the apartment and closed the door. He grabbed Babu by the hand and hauled him into the bathroom, took the hair trimmer and cut away all his hair so that he was bald. Babu cried and cried and his father said: ‘Now you can always stay at home and the shoes will last longer, too.’ When mother came home from work and heard Babu crying, she went into his room to look for him and when she saw him sitting there like a picture of misery, she gave him a hug and said: ‘Why are you crying, son? Who cut your hair like that?’ Babu answered, ‘Dad.’ Mother became very furious, went into the kitchen where his father sat at the table and drank his Raki and asked, ‘Why did you cut the boy’s hair? Are you crazy? What is the point?’ Then Babu heard from his room how his father scolded, ‘You bitch, what do you want?,’ and then, there was a loud noise. His father had hit his mother and had thrown her on the floor. He stood up from his bed, went in to the kitchen and said, as he stood between them: ‘Leave my mother alone!’ His father pushed Babu to the floor and said: ‘You are nothing’, sat down again and drank his Raki. Babus mother stood up, helped her son get up and they left the room.

The father beat up the children and their mother, his own wife, by means of his fists. This period of time was very depressing. When the father returned home, the children hid under the bed or the table for fear of him.

Babu told his mother, ‘I will leave one day and go far far away. I cannot stand that anymore, and it makes me sad that I know already now that I have to leave.’ His mum gazed at him, said: ‘My son!’ and gave him a firm hug.

Babu grew up in the city of Medias (Romania) and in this city there was a great number of criminals and gypsies. 45 per cent of the population were gypsies – thieves and criminals. At the age of 14, Babu decided for the first time to run away from home, and he did so late in the evening while the whole family was sleeping; Babu climbed down the balcony in the first floor via the full-length gas pipe on the outer facade of the house. Then he headed for the city alone and sat down on a bench in the middle of the city park. The green areas were full of red roses and illuminated; it was so beautiful and Babu just sat there until the morning came, let his thoughts wander, just looking into the void and enjoying the stillness.

At about 5 o’clock in the morning after he had had his rest refuel, he went home. When he reached his home, he silently climbed upwards onto the gas pipe leading to the first floor and climbed over the balcony without anybody noticing him. It was very dangerous to climb up the balcony, because the ground was made of concrete. Massive wooden benches and an iron fence with tips on the top. But the boy did not give a damn to that.

And so he left home every evening without his parents noticing and got to know many people who took him everywhere, to bars, cafés and discotheques. These people were all gypsies, small-time crooks, thieves and fraudsters. It was very bad company, but the people loved Babu, as he was courageous, had a lot of energy and was not afraid of anything. Babu then learned how to steal, to cheat and he began smoking. Then, he went to school increasingly rare, or he went into class, reported himself as present, but during class, he opened the door and while the teacher turned his back on him and wrote something on the blackboard, Babu threw his satchel out of the window and jumped out. Afterwards, he went into the city and met his thief friends.

One day, Babus teacher visited his parents to talk to them. When she knocked on the door and his father let her in, Babu sneaked out because he already knew what would happen to him next. After he had sneaked out, he went to the hill with the flowers alone, ran there and laughed and beamed with joy and happiness, because this nice environment made him forget all the negative things.

When Babu returned to his home and went through the door, he saw his father sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of Raki and a long leather belt lying on that table. He ruthlessly beat Babu black and blue with it. The boy screamed with pain, but he did not shed any tear – he was hardened and had already known what would await him. But he also knew that one day he would have to take his life in his own hands and turn out great. All the blows were useless because they could not keep Babu from all the things he wanted to do. He did not play football anymore and only hung around with shady people who were all about 30 to 40 years old. Babu was the youngest but the older ones treated him with great respect because he was a clever, swift and uncomplicated kid.

On a Saturday, Babu went into the city to a well-known café and sat down on the terrace. The bar’s name was ‘Fortune’. The sun was shining and it was very hot, a wonderful day.

Babu is sitting there and enjoying the sun, when someone grabs his shoulder from the side and says: ‘Babu! What are you doing here? Don’t you have to be at school?’ Babu is looking at the person and answers. ‘Hello Maria! What are you doing here?’ Babu is laughing while he is saying that. ‘I’d like to drink a glass of water, please.’ She gives him a very surprised look and heads for the counter. Maria is Babus neighbour living on the ground floor.

Opposite to Babu’s table there were to men around the age of 40 who were dressed very elegantly. One wore a thick golden necklace and many golden rings on his fingers. The man got up and told his friend: ‘I am going to the restroom.’ When he passed Babus table, Babu looked at him and scanned him from Head to feet. The silk pants and the suede shoes were great. When the man walked to the restroom, his friend, who was now alone at the table, got out a bundle of rolled banknotes and began to count the money under the table.

Babu observed him the whole time and noticed that it was no Romanian money. When the man returned from the restroom, he passed Babu and looked over to him and sat down next to his friend. Then the friend gave him the bundle of rolled banknotes, looked at him and said: ‘These are 6500 Deutsch Marks.’ He looked to the left and to the right, took the bundle and put it into one pocket of his pants. The man sat right opposite to Babu and thus precisely in his focus and had already recognized that the boy stared at him the whole time. The man told his friend that Babu was looking into their direction all the time. The boy overheard their whole discussion and they were discussing many topics about Germany. The one man said, that he could steal 10000 Mark and 5 kilos of Gold in Germany in one week. The other man listened attentively and with full concentration.

Babu was enthusiastic and continued to listen until the men noticed him again; then the men stopped talking. Babu was very neatly and elegantly dressed: he wore a white turtleneck sweater, fine slacks and shoes and a coat he had stolen from his father which almost reached the floor, too long and too big, so that Babu almost swept the streets with it, but he did not care about that; he loved that leather coat.

After the men had noticed Babu, he slowly got up and walked over to their table slowly and cool. When he stood in front of them, they looked up and said nothing, but Babu directly said with a clear, explicit voice: ‘How much Lei will it cost me to go to Germany?’ (Lei is the Romanian currency). The two men began to laugh, they made fun of Babu and answered: ‘Hey, Zorro! We are only taking Deutsch Marks!’ and then they laughed out loudly again. Until one of the men pointed to him with his finger which meant he had to leave. The boy turned around, went to the bar, paid for his drink and left. While doing so, he asked the waitress (his neighbor) Maria: ‘What kind of people are they? Who are the two guys out there?’ Maria answered: ‘What do you want from these people? You should keep off these criminals.’ Babu looked at her and paid, then he turned around and headed for the exit. Maria looked at him and started laughing about his long leather coat, which was sliding over the ground.

On his way to the center of the city Babu imagined how he would one day drive a cool car and wear very stylish clothes, have lots of money and a lot of golden jewelry round his neck and on his fingers. He was so lost in his thoughts that he overlooked a car, and the driver who had to do a maximum braking, opened his car window and yelled at Babu: ‘Are you mad? You dreamer!’ And he drove away. Babu, who almost fell to the ground, was very shocked, looked at the driver and said: ‘Good Bye’, and afterwards he also shouted: ‘Thank you!’ and went into the city.

Babu always lingered in the center of the city and knew many people who were much older than him, and for them, he was a young man whom they could trust and give tasks to without having to worry that they would not be carried out. He associated with many dealers and moneychangers in the city. They liked the boy, because he was trustworthy, clever and fast. Babu stayed in the city until late in the evening; then we went home and took a shower. And then he put on his pajamas like a good boy and got to bed. He waited until everybody was sleeping, then he changed, went on the balcony, climbed down from the first floor and went to the city until 4 o’clock in the evening. Then he returned home and laid down into his bed with his younger and older brother. His older sister had a room of her own and her own bed.

At 7 o’clock Babu got up in order to go to school, but he was very tired and worked out after only two hours of sleep. He put on his clothes and waited until everybody went to work and to school, then he undressed again, got to bed and slept until 12 o’clock. After getting up then, he got dressed and went downstairs to see his neighbor Maria in order to question her about the two men in the café. He knocked at the door. Maria opened and called out in surprise: ‘Hello Babu! Is school already over?’ Babu looked at her and said: ‘Yes, Maria, it’s Friday and school is over earlier.’ ‘Just come in!’ she said and closed the door right after him. She hugged him, kissed him with passion and lust, nudged the young man onto the bed and laid down next to him. Babu was, of course, very surprised and a little shocked and joined in voluntarily. She undressed Babu and herself and then she grabbed his hand, and naked as he was, he fell on her.

Suddenly Maria’s little brother came home from school and knocked on the door. Maria pushed Babu off the couch so that he fell to the ground and hurt himself. She got up, dressed quickly and told Babu: ‘Come on, hurry up, my brother is home from school!’

The boy also got dressed quickly, went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. She opened the door and her brother came in, saw Babu in the kitchen and said: ‘Hallo Babu! Where have you been today? No school?’ Babu looked at him and said: ‘I did a traineeship at a bank in the city!’ and grinned. Maria joined them in the kitchen and Babu asked her curiously: ‘Maria, what did you mean precisely concerning the men in the Café?’ Maria shook her head from the left to the right and said: ‘Babu, these guys are criminals and they are literally walking over dead bodies, you better keep away from them.’ She continued: ‘They meet in the Café about every three weeks and talk about business and human trafficking to Germany. Please keep away from them!’

Babu thanked Maria, got up, went home, dressed up and then went to town. He was very curious and wanted to flee to Germany by all means in order to lead a better life there.

As he arrived in the Café, he sat down on the terrace, lit up a cigarette and smoked discreetly so that nobody would see him and throw him out. He ordered a Cappucchino and waited impatiently, smoking one cigarette after the other. Suddenly a new black Audi A8 Limousine stopped in front of the terrace. Babu was curious who these people were, were they the guys he was looking for? About a minute later, the driver got out, went to the rear door and opened it. A very elegant man in a black Chanel jacket got out. When he passed Babus table, the boy smelled a load of very pleasantly smelling perfume which surprised Babu. When the last of the men passed Babu, he recognized him and asked: ‘How are you, Zorro?’ All the guys turned over to Babu and began to laugh out loud. They were making fun of him and sat down at the table opposite to him. The boy was angry and at the same time had an unpleasant, embarrassing feeling. He got up slowly and went to the men. Then he stopped in front of their table, held on to it with both hands and asked: ‘How much money will it cost me to go to Germany?’ The odd bird grabbed Babu by his collar and pulled him downwards in front of his face. Thereby he angrily looked at him and said: ‘1500 DM and four passport photos.’

Then the man pushed Babu aside and said: ‘I am traveling to Munich today and I’ll be back in two weeks, so be here in 2 weeks with the money and the photos …’ He made a short break and added: ‘Zorro!’ And the men looked at each other and again, laughed at him loudly. Babu looked at them unblinking and with a self-confident look on his face, he said: ‘Okay! See you.’ Then he just moved on without paying his bill. He felt something like happiness.

When Babu passed the café and turned around the corner, he jumped for joy and laughed and sang; this was again this moment on the hill full of dandelions and he ran into the midst of them beaming for joy and happiness. The people on the street asked him if everything was okay.

The boy looked at them and answered cheerfully: ‘Of course everything is okay! I am the richest boy in the world!’ And then he moved on. It was very difficult for Babu to earn so much money in only two weeks, but he was happy and he saw himself being rich and in Germany with cars, lots of gold jewelry and a better life.

After this experience he went home and slept like never before; he was in bed already at eight o’clock in the evening. He took a book out of the bookshelf and went to sleep with the book on his chest. When Babu’s father came home in the evening and was drunk, he immediately went into the children’s bedroom and was surprised when he saw that Babu went to sleep with a book on his chest. He left the room.

Later he was rudely woken up and was terrified to hear that his father yelled and beat his mother up. Babu could not stand hearing how his mother cried and screamed for pain and fear. Just in his pajamas, he went out of his room in order to stop his father. He went between mother and father, looked upwards into his father’s eyes and said with a determined voice: ‘If you do not leave my mother alone, I will run away from home without return!’ Babus father, still holding his big, outstretched hand up, gave him a surprised gaze and could not understand what was happening. Slowly, he lowered his hand without giving one more blow. Without a further reaction, he turned around and sat down at the kitchen table. This was a good moment for Babu, who felt very strong. His mother hugged him, accompanied him to his room, covered him with the blanket and said: ‘Sleep well, son – I am proud of you.’

Babu slept like a baby and did not hear any quarrel or bawling anymore.

At 8 o’clock in the morning Babu woke up, got ready and went into the city in order to fulfill his new mission. Nicely and elegantly dressed, he went into the stores with a sports bag on his shoulder and two towels inside. The store was full of people and many people did their shopping there. Babu positioned himself in front of the shelves with the alcoholic drinks and took a look on the most expensive alcoholic drinks at first. Then he shortly looked to the left and to the right and quickly put 12 bottles from the shelves into his sports bag. Discreetly and slowly Babu moved to the exit and passed the checkout and he was out again.

Proudly and happily, he went to the wholesale store where many traders and gypsies were lingering. In the wholesale store, there was a big crowd of people, there, gypsies played ‘Alba Neagra’: this is a game with three round black rubber parts and one of this had a white dot on the bottom. The man showed them to the crowd and mixed them up again and finally you had to guess, which of the three parts was the one with the white dot. They defrauded the people with that game and took their money. Babu also watched it and when they made a break and all the people had gone away, the boy went to the gypsy who had a very thick bundle of money in his hands and asked him: ‘Do you want to have whiskey for a good price? Original whisky …’ The gypsy looked at him questioningly and said: ‘Come with me behind the shed and show me what you have.’

Babu went with him, placed his bag on the ground and opened it. The man looked at all the goods and said: ‘Son, this is the finest stuff! How much do you want for that?’ Babu looked at the man’s hand and answered: ‘All you have in your hand!’ The gypsy laughed: ‘You are very greedy, boy! But I will give you half of it.’ Baby closed the zipper of the bag, put it on his shoulder and said: ‘Buy your stuff in the store, it might be cheaper there’, and walked a few steps farther. The gypsy said: ‘Stop, son, come back!’ He gave Babu all the money and said: ‘But together with the bag.’ Babu laughed, gave him the bag with the drinks and told the man: ‘You will earn the money again with one more game, good luck’, and he moved on. Babu who was very proud of having so much money, went out of the wholesale store and into the direction of the exchange office in the center of the city.

The exchange office was closed and in front of it, there were gypsies standing who changed money. They had another exchange rate as the exchange office, but in spite of that, Babu changed the money at the gypsies and got 300 DM. Proudly, Babu put the money into his pants pocket and went home.

When Babu arrived at home and looked into the kitchen, his father was there sitting at the kitchen table drinking his hard liquor, and loudly asked: ‘Where have you been again? Come here immediately!’ Babu came over to him slowly and frightened with his head bowed, but kept a big distance to him. His father yelled at him: ‘I told you to come here!’ Babu made a few steps forward and when he was close enough, his father slapped him so hard that he fell to the ground. His father looked at him and said: ‘Now go and do your homework.’ With tears in his eyes, Babu stood up and went into his room. The boy took all his school things, put them on the table and sadly and helplessly he looked into the books and notebooks and did not know what to do and how.

Then he put his head on the books and notebooks on the table and fell asleep … He was deeply asleep when a yell stopped him from sleeping. ‘I told you to do your homework!’ His father yelled very loudly. Babu looked at his father with fear and hate and said: ‘And who is helping me?’ His father raised his hand and wanted to slap him. But when the boy looked straight into his eyes, something prevented him from doing it and he slowly lowered his hand, turned around and left the room.

Babu put his head again on his school books on the table and fell asleep again. It got dark and light again and in the morning, he was awakened by his brothers who got ready for school. Babu got up, cleared up his desk, put the school books into his satchel and went into the bathroom, locked the door up from inside and washed his face with ice cold water because there was no warm water. Then he went out, took his satchel and said: ‘Wish you a nice day.’

He headed out towards school and on the way there, he suddenly turned into the other side street and took another way home. On the right and the left side, there were only nice big houses with fences full of rambler roses and vines with large grapes. Babu climbed on the fence and took some of the giant grapes, went down and ate his grapes.

Thoughtfully he continued his way, passed a house and saw an apple tree with very fine and big apples. Babu looked to the left and right, then he climbed on this fence, too and when he wanted to jump into the garden, he saw an old man coming out of the house who yelled at him: ‘You thief! Get down there!’ Startled, Babu jumped down and ran away. He went home and hid his satchel in the hallway under the stairs.

Then, Babu went to the river and threw stones into the water. Over the water, at a height of 15 to 20 meters, there was a continuous pipe which was so stable that you could carefully move forward step by step on it. When Babu looked at the pipe, the whole thing suddenly looked familiar to him and he closed his eyes. He felt as if he heard a voice from the apple plantation which was situated on the other side of the river. His father told him: ‘Follow me.’ And his father moved ahead with two small and full sacs in the left and the right hand. Babu saw his Dad walking ahead of him and getting faster and faster so that he followed him quickly.

When his father arrived at the pipe stretching over the water to the other side, he turned around and told Babu: ‘Come. Quickly.’ He went down on his knees and instructed his son: ‘Get up on my shoulders.’ When his son had climbed on his shoulders, his father mounted the pipe with one small sac in each hand and moved forward step by step over the river. Babu was very frightened and cried. His father became very nervous and angrily said: ‘When I hear you crying again, I’ll throw you into the river!’ Then, Babu immediately stopped crying, but the pipe shaked heavily.

Babu slowly opened his eyes and he woke up as if he had dreamt.

He looked at the pipe and over to the other side. He had been there with his father when he was six years old, and he had remembered all that when saw the pipe. And so, the boy had a brilliant idea. He turned around and ran home quickly.

He did not stop until he was at home. Not even on the street, where cars were driving. Between the cars, he ran from one side of the street to the other, in order to get home faster. When he arrived at home, nobody was at home. He climbed up via the thin gas pipe which lead to the first floor under the balcony. When he arrived there, he held tight to the pipe with one hand and with the other hand he tried to grip the edge on which the flower pots stood on the outer part of the balcony, and slowly pulled himself up. Standing on the gas pipe with his feet on the pipe and his hands on the flower pots, he cautiously moved to the balcony window. It was a closed balcony made of glass with only one window in the middle, which was always open. He reached the window and slowly pulled himself up.

He manages to get inside, goes to the kitchen, looks through the drawers and finds two big bags. He takes them, puts them underneath his jacket and quickly goes to the bathroom.

Suddenly, he heard the door lock of the entrance door, he heard it open and someone coming in. Babu prayed that it was not his father … Actually, Babu, had to be in school; he waited in the bathroom with one ear at the door and listened. Suddenly, he heard George Michael’s song ‘Careless Whisper’ … – this could only be his older brother. Babu went out and said: ‘Hey brother, what are you doing?’ His older brother looked at him amazedly and said: ‘What are you doing here?’ Babu grinned at him. ‘I get prepared for my trip to Germany and if you are a good boy, I’ll take you with me’, Babu said with a laugh and went out of the door.

Then he went to the giant apple plantation which was strictly guarded by guardians with shotguns. When Babu reached the pipe leading over the river, he slowly mounted it and his feet were shaking for fear. He moved to steps ahead and then he sat down on the pipe and pulled himself forward with his hands and both legs.

It took some time until Babu made it; when he arrived on the other side, he took the bags out of his jacked and slowly turned into the direction of the apple plantation. There was a wire fence all around the plantation. The boy took a small branch in the forest and pushed it under the fence so that he could sneak in underneath. When he arrived on the other side, he took the branch away so that nobody would become aware.

Very silently, Babu tiptoed deeper into the apple plantation; he looked around and it was like the Garden of Eden. For a short time, he laid down on the ground and looked upwards: all around, there were only big red apples – it was just like in paradise! And he closed his eyes and again, he saw this green meadow and how he walks around liberated and happy.

Suddenly, he heard a bang within the plantation. Babu was scared and awake, slowly he stood up and started picking apples from the trees and putting them into the bags. When he had filled the two bags, he slowly went into the direction of the fence, took the branch to lift the fence and left it there so that he could sneak out underneath. Babu pushed the two bags through and sneaked through himself. Between the pipe leading over the water and the plantation, there was a small path. Babu took this way to get to the pipe, stopped there and reflected – he looked to the left and to the right, and there was a small piece of woodland and bushes. He went there and emptied the bags. Then he covered the apples with hay. And he went back to the fence and repeated the whole thing. From noon until late in the evening, when it had gotten dark, he took the apples with him and hid them under the bushes. Suddenly, it was dark and Babu was afraid to climb over the pipe. But he had no other choice and he got prepared. He couldn’t almost see anything and he just heard the water streaming and pushing against the big stones that were lying in the water. And slowly, he pulled himself forward piece by piece until he arrived on the other side. Then he ran home quickly.

When he reached his block of houses, there were many neighbors sitting outside on the benches who talked to each other, laughed and played the guitar. When they saw Babu, they said: ‘Where have you been, Babu? You have to go upstairs, because your father has searched you everywhere.’ The boy told the people: ‘Now he can still search for me, but soon he will not find me anymore.’ Then he went upstairs. When he arrived, he looked to the right into the kitchen, and his father was sitting at the table as always with a table of self-produced Raki and a glass of Coke. He looks at Babu and says in a quiet tone: ‘Come here!’ Babu did not think that something would happen, as his father talked to him in a quiet and relaxed tone. When he stood directly before him, his father spat him in the face and said: ‘Get off, you rat.’ Babu turned around and went into the bathroom, locked the door behind him and looked into the mirror for one minute. Then he bended down, took a piece of toilet paper and looked into the mirror again. With tears in his eyes, he wiped the spit away from his face. Opened the faucet and thoroughly washed his face with water. Then he took a towel and dried himself. Afterwards, he went to bed.

The next morning, he got up early, took his satchel and went to the river ‘Tirnava’. When he arrived there, he reflected about how to transport the apples over to the other side via the pipe over the water. Babu looked for a place at the river where the water was not so deep so that he could carry all the apples to the other side. He ran up and down at the river shore and successfully found a place where the water was not deep, it only reached up to his knees. Then he crossed the river and went back with two bags full of apples, hid them under the bushes and crossed the river again, filled the bags again and carried them to the other side. It had started to rain, but Babu continued his work until it was all done.

It was late afternoon and Babu had to consider how to transport all the apples to the bazar. Then the boy went to the Bazar on foot and got himself a roll with many sacs made of fabric. After having bought the sacs, he walked through the bazar and asked the gypsies and the traders if they were interested in buying apples. Yes, they were interested, but they wanted to see the goods, and Babu said: ‘My Dad is coming soon with the apples.’ Then he continued to walk over the market and at each sales booth, he looked at the prices of the apples so that he could negotiate a price.

So Babu went back to the river Tirnava with the roll of sacs in his hand. The rain had stopped and a beautiful rainbow stretched itself over the place where the apples were hidden. Babu was really proud and happily he began running to get ahead faster. When he arrived, he opened up the roll of sacs and started to slowly fill in the apples. The first sac was already full and there was still a big pile of apples there.

Babu continued his work until it became dark. He had now 16 full sacs of apples, laid them carefully in the high grass, covered all with straw so that nobody would see them and walked home. On his way home he already feared the coming pressure.

When Babu reached the block of houses, the first thing he saw were the neighbors sitting on the benches outside in front of the house and eating sun flower seeds.

Babus mother was standing at the balcony window and talked to the people outside. So it became clear to Babu that his father was not at home. And he stayed outside on the bench with the neighbors and they laughed and everybody was telling jokes. It was very funny and pleasant, everybody laughed until they had tears in their eyes.

Suddenly, they heard a horn and an emergency braking … All the people got up and looked on the street. Babu saw his father lying in the middle of the street on the ground with his bike next to him. The car had driven away and everyone thought, that he had been run over. Babu ran there, knelt down next to his father, who was lying on the ground, and turned him on his back. Suddenly, his father said: ‘Get off, you motherfucker.’ Then the friends and neighbors came and carried him home and laid him directly in his bed. Babu carried the bike into the cellar and went upstairs, too. His father was fast asleep. He did not get hurt; he fell on the street with the bike, because he was very drunk.

Babu went into his room, listened to some music and fell asleep.

The next day, early in the morning, Babu went to the cab stand and took a look at the cabs. He selected a cab driver, went to him and said: ‘Hello! My Dad sent me to order a cab, my

Dad is working, he owns the apple plantation and 16 sacs of apples have to be delivered to the bazar. Could you help me? He also gave me some tip money, if you help me, because he is not there.’ The cab driver looked at Babu and said: ‘Of course, boy.’ Babu boarded the passenger seat and the cab driver drove off. He asked the boy: ‘Who is your father?’ Babu answered: ‘You certainly know my father, there is nobody in the city who does not know him. He owns the apple plantation.’

Astonished, the cab driver looked at Babu and said: ‘Of course I know him, son.’ And Babu said: ‘Then turn left and then right and then we are there. But you have to drive through some grass and mud, but my father said that he will pay you a car wash if that is okay for you.’ The cab driver said: ‘No problem, son’, and drove through the mud and the grass until Babu finally said: ‘Stop! Here are the apples.’ The man asked Babu: ‘And why is your father not there and why are the apples hidden here?’ Babu looked at him and said: ‘That is why my Dad said that you will receive a tip.’ The cab driver said nothing and immediately grabbed a sac and threw it into the trunk of the car. Babu saw that and yelled at him: ‘Hello, you destroy the apples! Put the sacs in carefully, otherwise my Dad is going to break me!’

Eight sacs fitted into the trunk, and then Babu said: ‘You have to come back and take the remaining sacs.’ Then he drove off to the bazar. Babu looked for a table at the very end and helped the cab driver unload all the apples from the car. Then they put the sacs under the big concrete sales table. Babu said to the man: ‘Please go and take the remaining apples because my Dad has not arrived yet and till you arrive, he will be there.’

When the cab driver turned around and wanted to go, Babu told him: ‘Here are 10 Deutschmarks already. My Dad will give you the rest – when you came back, he will be there, too.’ The man looked at the boy doubtingly, not knowing if he should be happy or suspicious and he asked: ‘Are these real Deutschmarks?’ Babu said: ‘Of course these are Deutschmarks, but if you do not believe me, I can change it for you into Romanian Lei.’ ‘No, no’, the man answered, ‘thank you. See you later.’

Babu was very curious about the prices of the apples and went to the other selling booths and took a look on the prices and quality of the fruit as he had no scales and could not sell per kilos and it was very risky. He considered how to sell all the apples because he could not stay very long at the selling booth in the bazar as he had no license. Then a woman came to the booth and asked: ‘What are you selling in these sacs?’ When Babu emptied the sack of apples onto the booth desk, the woman told her husband: ‘Look, what a good quality! First class! Very fine apples.’ And the neighbors, the salespeople gave him angry and jealous looks. When Babu saw that more and more people gathered around his booth, he said: ‘My Dad is coming in one hour only and will bring more apples. Unfortunately, you will have to wait.’ The people lost patience and moved on. When the situation had calmed down, Babu went to the other booths in order to ask the prices for the apples so that he could determine his own price.

When he returned to his booth, he already saw the neighboring salesmen giving surprised looks and talking jealously about him. In only almost one hour, Babu sold almost all