The Last Analects of Jasper James Kaufmann

5. Das Buddhistische Haus

Armed with Petra's phone number, Jasper decided to call her the next afternoon. He woke up on the early side, at around 7 am. He hadn't taken any clozapine the past week; he hadn't felt the need for it. Just the previous weekend, he had been depressed and needed it to mercifully make him unaware. But meeting Petra had put a spring in his step.

He wrote in his legal pad:

"A city can be cold as steel. But when one knows people, actual breathing human beings, on a level deeper than idle chat, well, that transforms a slaughterhouse into a cozy fireplace seat."

He tried to decide how long he should wait before calling her. He walked back and forth in the apartment's main room. He decided to make breakfast while he waited. Breakfast was oatmeal. He bought steel cut oats cheap from the local market, and then cooked them each morning. He tried to add apple bits and cinnamon to make it more exciting, but it was still pretty bland. He accepted it as one of those parts of life where one must simply go along in the world, not necessarily enjoying things but doing what is right.

Finally, at 9:44, he called her.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other end of the telephone.

"Hi. It's me. Jasper."

"Oh, hi! I'm glad you called. How are you?"

That was a difficult question for him to answer.

"I'm... fine. Doing all right, all things considered. So what's up?"

"What's up? You were the one who called."

Jasper felt embarrassed and didn't know what to say. Fortunately, she spoke again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Things are good. Not much has happened since we last talked— after all, it was only last night that we parted."

"You mentioned something about a Buddhist temple. Five-mark vegetarian lunches."

"Ah! Yes. An old institution, founded in 1924. The oldest in Europe. Do you want to go? Today?"

"Of course I do. How do you get there?"

"Well, it's in Frohnau. But you can take the S-Bahn. Line S5 to Line S1."

"Sure, but what's the address?"

"Edelhofdamm 54."

"Okay. I can look at a map."

"So what do you say? Noon?"

"Yes!" said Jasper, a little more hurriedly than he meant. "Yes. I'll see you there."

"Okay, JJ."

"Could you please call me Jasper?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant it in a nice way."

"I know that. But that's such a personal thing to say. I mean, not that we're not personal. I don't know. It's just that I only just met you last week."

There was a pause.

"Okay. I understand. See you there."

She hung up. Almost immediately after he put the telephone back on the hook, Abelard emerged from his room.

"Good morning!" said Jasper cheerfully. "I'm meeting Petra at a Buddhist temple in Frohnau. They have a five-mark lunch."

"I know," he said, and yawned. "I was there when she invited you. As I said, I think it's a good thing that you go. You need to expose yourself to the world. You can't always stay in the confines of your own mind."