Olivia's perspective
Later, I tell Anja about the lunch with the girls, and she giggles and puts both hands over her eyes! She then wrings her hands in false despair. Then she places her hands down flat on the table and says with authority, "Livie, they could have just asked me and not to make all that trouble for you!"
"But Anja, the best things—they are worth the time to talk through together." I am cleverly shifting our focus to two other relationships—Anja with Horst, and Anja with me. I am no longer discussing my co-workers. I am asking Anja to acknowledge how our two compatible hearts, plus all our time together, these are the things that make a true love, and have her compare this to him—the never-present one that Anja carries on with as if in a dream. "Talking with one who matters, being together, sharing. That makes for true love, Ja, Anja?"
She looks at me, head tilted down, seeing me through her lashes, and with a coy smile says, "True love also tested by time, Ja, Livie?"
That night I can hardly get to sleep because of the agitation I feel from thinking about what she had said. Because if time is the test, she is implying years of writing letters with Horst holds more true love than mere months in person with me.
YOU ARE READING
The Wall Crossers
Non-FictionStep into the captivating world of "The Wall Crossers," a spellbinding tale set against the backdrop of Cold War-era West Berlin in 1971 and 1972 to the latter half of the 21st century, from Berlin to Bhutan. This narrative weaves together the lives...
