They Divided the Sky: A Novel by Christa Wolf

13.

they divided the sky 60 Rita looked up in surprise. Or maybe it hadn’t been necessary to crucify the guilty party? “Yes,” Rita said slowly, “Wendland made a good speech.” “And now everything’s going to change, right?” Manfred said, with a sneer. “I hope so,” Rita replied, a little uncertain. “And you really think that after the assembly things will be better than before the assembly? All of a sudden there’ll be enough materials? All of a sudden the useless functionaries will become useful? All of a sudden the workers are going to think about the big picture rather than their own wallets?” “Maybe everything will stay the way it was,” Rita answered thoughtfully. It was a still, moonlit night. They lay side by side in bed, wide awake. “Every factory has had dozens of assemblies like that one,” Manfred said. “You’ve just experienced one of them.” So what, Rita thought stubbornly. That one was important. How can he be afraid that something I think is important could drive me away from him? “Listen,” she said after a while, “let’s decide not to be jealous of assemblies, all right?” 13. September has gone by. One night, unexpectedly, the autumn rains set in, grey-shimmering drapes that cascade down the windows of the sanatorium and don’t lift for days and nights. The trees, stained black from the damp summer, drop their last leaves. The soggy park lies abandoned. She has recovered, Rita tells the doctor almost daily, who has maintained his reserve and discretion. He nods and thinks that at that age she ought to be able to get over whatever it is more quickly. It’s hard for sensitive people these days, he thinks. He doesn’t like the Christa Wolf 61 look of determined courage that her face acquires when he gazes at her. Nor does he like the dark circles under her eyes, but they are real, and tell the truth. This patient is tired. For a long time she tried to forget; now she’s afraid at the thought that she might forget. At night a wave of memories overwhelms her, swells as she shuts her eyes, and then closes over her, painful-sweet. His face, over and over again, his face. Hundreds of times she follows every line of this face that recedes as she tries to grasp it. And the touch of his hands. It makes her tremble; she clamps her teeth. Her heart beats hard. She has lost this summer; is it really over? One day comes back to mind, a perfect midsummer day. They had lived it lightly; it had seemed one of many more. Now she remembers it as unique—the climax of her life, its summit—and the strength to rise so high again seems forever gone. Early in the morning they’d left the circle of smog that envelopes the city. They travelled through the blue-grey Kupferschiefer hills and their hard-edged cliffs. They breathed the pure air of the unspoiled, hilly countryside more easily. A rich spread of colours rose out of the morning mist. Manfred had bought the car, a used older model, on the day he defended his doctorate, and Rita jokingly accused him of being happier about the car than about his new title. They waxed and polished its dull finish until it shone, and now, as the early morning landscape swiftly rolled past them, Rita could see herself sitting at the top of one of the green hills watching the little grey car creep along the road like an armoured beetle. “Can’t you go faster?” she demanded. Manfred stepped on the gas. “Faster!” she cried. They slipped into a curve, and a straight stretch lay ahead of them, with apple trees on either side of the road. “Faster!” Manfred was not an experienced driver. He was tense at the wheel, they divided the sky 62 unsure of himself, sweating, nervous, listening to the sounds of the engine. “Faster!” Rita cried again. The sound of the apple trees hurtling by grew louder. “Haven’t you had enough yet?” “More!” Rita repeated. “More, more!” She caught his glance and sent it back, a blatant challenge. There was a new expression on her face, one she didn’t know herself. This was thanks to him, and she would only show it to him, today and always. She was...