Edge Of Eternity by Ken Follett

Author:Ken Follett
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Inglés
Published: 2014-09-25T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

A small colour photograph of Alice arrived in the post, and Walli studied it eagerly. It showed a baby like any other: a tiny pink face with alert blue eyes, a cap of thin dark-brown hair, a blotchy throat. The rest of her was tightly wrapped in a sky-blue blanket. All the same, Walli felt an upsurge of love and a sudden need to protect and care for the helpless creature he had made.

He wondered if he would ever see her.

With the picture was a note from Karolin. She said that she loved Walli and missed him, and she was going to apply to the East German government for permission to emigrate to the West.

In the picture, Karolin was holding Alice and looking at the camera. Karolin had put on weight, and her face was more round. Her hair was pulled back, instead of framing her face like curtains. She no longer resembled all the other pretty girls in the Minnesänger folk club. She was a mother now. It made her even more desirable in Walli’s eyes.

He showed the photograph to Dave’s mother, Daisy. ‘Well, now, what a beautiful baby!’ she said.

Walli smiled, though in his opinion no babies were beautiful, not even his own.

‘I think she has your eyes, Walli,’ Daisy went on.

Walli’s eyes had a slight Oriental look. He figured some long-ago ancestor must have been Chinese. He could not tell whether or not Alice’s eyes were similar.

Daisy continued to gush. ‘And this is Karolin.’ Daisy had not seen her before: Walli had no photos. ‘What a pretty young woman.’

‘Wait till you see her dressed up,’ Walli said proudly. ‘People stop and stare.’

‘I hope we will see her, some time.’

A shadow fell over Walli’s happiness, as if a cloud had hidden the sun. ‘So do I,’ he said.

He followed the news from East Berlin, reading the German newspapers in the public library, and he often questioned Lloyd Williams, whose speciality as a politician was foreign affairs. Walli knew that getting out of East Germany was ever more difficult: the Wall was being made larger and more formidable, with more guards and more towers. Karolin would never try to escape, especially now that she had a child. However, there might be another way. Officially, the East German government would not say whether legal emigration was possible; indeed, they would not even say which department dealt with applications. But Lloyd had learned, from the British Embassy in Bonn, that about ten thousand people a year were given permission. Perhaps Karolin would be one of them.

‘One day, I feel certain,’ said Daisy; but she was just being nice.

Walli showed the picture to Evie and Hank Remington, who were sitting in the drawing room, reading a script. The Kords were hoping to make a movie, and Hank wanted Evie to be in it. They put down their papers to coo over the baby.

‘We have our audition with Classic Records today,’ Walli told Hank. ‘I’m meeting Dave after school.’

‘Hey, good luck with that,’ Hank said.

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