Jojo walks in. We immediately turn and wave him over. He orders a cup of coffee. It’s surprisingly good here, for a gambling den.
“Coffee? What’s wrong with you?” Kai asks, but I quickly punch his bicep so he leaves Jojo alone. I lean back a little to be able to see Jojo, who sits down to the right of Kai and asks: “Where’d you leave fat Ulf?”
“Had to go home. Saskia had something planned. Who knows what?”
“Well, great.” Kai slams his palms on the bar, which makes the barmaid glare at him, and he waves a kiss back at her. “I discovered something really awesome. I wanted to share it with all of you.”
“Spit it out, whatever it is. Don’t piss me off, Kai!”
“All right.”
He raises his hands as if he were surrendering. Then he pulls out his iPhone and goes into the Facebook app. He has his head over the phone. Pulls back conspiratorially.
“Come a little closer…. Closer,” he whispers to us.
So we moved closer to him.
“Not so close, Jojo. You have coffee breath.”
“Go fuck yourself, asshole.”
“Come on,” I say, “either you show us the pussy you nailed or I’m going right back to the machines and make myself poor.”
Kai giggles and grins with his shark-like grin.
“It really is a pussy, just not like the one you’re thinking.”
He enters a name in the Search function that doesn’t ring a bell for me, and then shows the profile page of the person he was looking for.
“Yeah?” I say. “Some random asshole.”
“Really, Heiko,” he shakes his head back and forth, pretending to be insulted. “Then take a closer look, please.”
“What am I supposed to…,” and now the scales fall from my eyes: “All right, okay. Then just some random asshole from Braunschweig.”
Kai moans and says, “Dude, do I need to press the phone into your pupils so you finally get it? You can’t tell me he doesn’t look familiar.”
I take another look at the profile picture. Blond, side part, short hair. Stupid druggy grin. Disgusting wart on his cheek. I recognize it as one of the hooligans from Braunschweig.
“Yeah, fuck me,” escapes me.
“Let me see,” Jojo says, and Kai passes the iPhone to him.
“But what does it mean? That you’re going to the other side, you traitor? That the heart in your chest is changing colors?”
“You’re kidding me,” he says with laugh. “Nah. A classmate of mine was born in that filthy town. I’ve been stalking her for a while on Facebook. Of course, I’ve been checking out her friends too, if there are a few hot ones there, and then I notice his infamous face. And this is where things get interesting: typical Braunschweig. Of course, the dickhead is too stupid to keep his profile private. It’s all Greek to him.”
“Do you even know where Greece is?” I ask.
“Shut the fuck up! Anyway. He’s one of the people who are constantly posting pictures and have to inform everyone where they go to drink and everything. With links to friends and place. The whole fucking program!”
Jojo returns his phone and says: “You don’t mean—”
Kai interrupts: “Yes, indeed, my dear Watson. That’s exactly what I mean.”
He turns his head from me to Jojo and back. His mouth is gaping with euphoria.
“What do you think? Should we teach the stupid idiots a lesson in data management?”
I hook the wings of my nose between my finger, drawing a breath between clenched teeth, and say, “Let’s get something straight: you want to go to Braunschweig. To Braunschweig. And mess this guy up bad?”
“The scales have finally fallen, you genius.”
I reach for a beer from the tray and walk over to the wall of machines.
“What?” Kai asks, and I turn toward them again.
“You’re probably wondering what Axel would think about a stunt like that. He’d be heating up hell for us! He’d kick our asses so hard we’d have to clean the shit off his boots afterward.”
I sit down in front of a machine, shake my head, mumble to myself that Kai’s nuts, and down the beer. He isn’t giving up and comes over to me.
“Dude, wait a minute. Axel doesn’t have to know a thing. It’s just something between the four of us. Well, the three of us. We can’t rely on Ulf anymore, that old fart.”
I shake my head again and feed the money-eating machine some change. Kai grabs my hand, making me look at him. Now he’s completely serious for once.
“You keep on saying what a snooze-fest those old guys are. That they don’t have any new ideas. Finally daring something again. This is the chance, man. And if it goes well, and it will, from then on, all people will be talking about is Hannover. Then even your uncle can’t be pissed at us.”
I pull away, dodging the question: “I don’t know, Kai. For me it sounds like too many chances for it to go south.”
“You,” he emphasizes the word aggressively, “were the one who told me Axel took you to that insufferable junky in the madhouse. Because he wants you to take over the leadership someday. Wouldn’t this be a chance to show initiative? To prove you have everything under control? Can take the reins? In your way, Heiko, not Axel’s?”
My head slumps momentarily under the flood of thoughts Kai is pumping into my head. Then I try to concentrate on the game.
“Come on, at least let me play a round,” I say.
I can remember exactly how we were lounging around on the battleship-sized sectional and zapping through the channels. Then we found live coverage of the memorial service on one of the news channels. It was taking place in Hannover’s completely overcrowded Market Church.
“Look at that, it’s Sievers!” said Kai, who stood in the patio doorway, smoking. Jojo hadn’t made a sound since the day before, when Robert Enke took his life. I thought it was pretty spooky.
“Come on, turn it off,” Ulf said. “Who has the remote?”
We grope the cracks between the sofas before Jojo just stretches out his hand and turns off the television. Ulf and I exchanged glances after looking at Jojo, who was staring at the black screen, hands folded over his lap, remote in his right hand.
“Let’s go there.”
Ulf’s face, furrowed with worry, expressed what was going on inside me too. He asked Jojo if he was certain. “I mean sure,” he said, “Enke was the best and everything, and this whole thing is fucking tragic, honestly, I’m on the verge of tears myself, but do you really think it’s such a good idea?”
“It’s the right thing,” Jojo answered and turned toward us.
Kai had disappeared onto the patio to put out his cigarette but had heard everything. He came inside, clapped his hands together, and said, “All right, let’s go then.”
Jojo whipped his head around. The fastest motion he’d been able to achieve in the past two days of robotic slow-mo. Kai returned Jojo’s gaze but not with the same seriousness as on Ulf’s and my face. He raised his eyebrows, smiled at Jojo; I looked at him sideways, making him smile. Like so many times before, I thought to myself, just how does he manage to get people to react that way? It’s Kai’s personal magic, and though the word “magic” sounds completely gay, somehow it just fits. The guy is completely charismatic. Through and through. An arrogant loudmouth, for sure, but an asshole with a certain vibe.
Ulf and I had a tough time saying no, so we all climbed into Ulf’s station wagon. He’d bought it even before his house. There were no brats in sight yet, but if you saw the way he acted or his hustle, all that was missing was the coffee cup with the label “World’s Best Dad” or some other bullshit. So we drove the mommy taxi out of the suburban hell that’s Garbsen and into the city, and left it at the parking garage behind the train station. Me and Kai wanted to grab some beer in the station. We were at the cash register when we saw Ulf and Jojo standing outside in front of the shop. Jojo was rocking from one leg to the other, and once we paid he led the way. The general mood changed after we got past the square in front of the station and the horse statue. It was mainly occupied by people passing through with shopping carts who didn’t give a rat’s ass about what was going on in the city. Kröpcke Square was full of people. Most wearing at minimum a red scarf. Many decked out in full 96 gear. Jersey, hat, banners, and flags. Many were carrying candles and flowers. It seemed so surreal. I’d never experienced anything like it. Like a flash mob of blind dates made up of 96 fans who were all still waiting for their date, all full of silent nervousness. Typical for people from Hannover. You meet up at the Kröpcke clock or in front of the train station, at the statue.