Carry Me by Peter Behrens

Author:Peter Behrens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

Longo wasn’t getting the attention he thought he deserved. That probably explains everything that happened. He was too much of a snob to believe Karin could be seriously interested in a groom, but he was certainly irritated by the hours she spent on horseback with Mick that week. That’s where the idea of the excursion originated. Longo wanted to get Karin into the front seat of his powerful Mercedes car and out on the roads where she’d be much more in his hands.

Longo needed people to be fascinated with him. Unusually for a German, he’d gone to school in the United States—two years at Choate—while his father worked at Morgan’s bank in New York. Longo spoke excellent American English. Like me, he enjoyed westerns. He was a Gary Cooper fan. We went to the cinema together a few times. He insisted on paying for my ticket.

He could be charming and lively, though the grooms weren’t fond of him and neither was my father. Longo shouted at the horses and used the crop too much.

There were grains and streaks of kindness and empathy in Longo’s character. Along with charm and money and beautiful clothes, he had a natural warmth and liveliness, which explained his large circle of friends.

His scheme had been to go off with Karin alone in his car, but Lady Maire would not hear of it. My being included in the party made it acceptable. An eighteen-year-old boy could hardly be considered a proper chaperone, but from Lady Maire’s point of view I was my parents’ son, so my trustworthiness and devotion to the Weinbrenners’ good name was taken for granted.

Her grasp of human relations was flawed. I’m sure Karin knew the truth, which was that, as far as I was concerned, she could do anything she wanted. I would accept any number of saber cuts much deeper than Longo’s before I’d ever betray Karin, to her mother or anyone else.

Our original itinerary included Sankt Goar, the Lorelei, and lunch at a castle belonging to Longo’s relatives. But after he had a telegram from one of his Korpsbrüder, Longo decided we must aim for Heidelberg instead. He was proud of his membership in the Korps-Rhenania and wanted to show Karin off to his friends.

Having the stable manager’s son along was tiresome but necessary. When Karin said she’d invited the Irish groom as well, Longo gave an impatient snort. “The groom? Invite the bloody groom? Whatever for?”

“To show him more of our beautiful Germany. Don’t be such a snob, Longo.”

The excursion was set for Saturday. I worked at Kaufman’s law office until noon, when they would pick me up in the Mercedes.

Longo’s Mercedes was an S-Class, the young person’s Mercedes. The rich young person’s Mercedes: an open tourer with four bucket seats, a supercharged engine, and a top speed of one hundred thirty kilometers per hour. Painted battleship gray, she had straightforward lines and wasn’t overladen with chrome, as Mercedes cars were a decade later, when they became the chosen steeds of the major criminals.

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