ebenso wenig wie die Sammlung von minderwertigen DVDs, die gar nicht mir gehörten, sondern die ich Daisy zuliebe bei mir aufbewahrt hatte.
ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY, A SMALL OLD WOMAN MOVED INTO THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR. Strange, I thought, I hadn't even noticed the previous tenants moving out. To be honest, I was a little disappointed, as I thought I had built up a personal relationship with the teenage daughter, whom I had helped with math. Now she was gone, along with the whole terrible family, within which Daisy, as I called the teenager, had desperately needed support like mine. While there had been no mention of Daisy's family moving out, the old lady's move-in was all the more dramatic. One moving company after another bustled about, and the meticulous renovation work heralded a major change in the house. This was clearly a lady who left nothing to chance. One specialist company after another was busy in the premises, which I hadn't actually found to be that spacious during my few visits next door, but which now apparently kept interior designers, kitchen builders, tilers, and so on busy for weeks before the little lady showed up for the first time. What surprised me most was that she was wearing a hat. An Englishwoman, I thought at first, as something so tasteless and somehow out of place is rarely seen here. She could have been the Queen. But she wasn't English, unfortunately. She was Swabian. Nevertheless, she initially lived up to the image I had formed of her. She really left nothing to chance, not even the first contact, which she arranged for a specific time with a short letter in my door slot. She had announced the moment of her first visit to me, which she intended to pay me, down to the minute. When it happened, my blood ran cold at first. It cannot be said that she thoroughly inspected my apartment, which I had felt compelled to invite her into, perplexed and somehow helpless. It was more like a series of quick reflexes, let's say scans, with which she seemed to meticulously store and evaluate every detail. Not to my advantage, I must say, as the recent breakup with Sharon had not yet passed without a trace. My girlfriend's women's clothes and toiletries, who after much hesitation had now decided to live with Aron, the African Jew, did not escape the old lady's notice, of course, nor did the alcohol on my kitchen shelf, the crookedly doweled shelves I had intended to use to build a new shelving unit, or the collection of inferior DVDs that did not even belong to me, but which I had kept at my place for Daisy's sake. ALS ER SICH AN DIE VERSAMMELTEN GÄSTE WENDEN WOLLTE, VERSAGTE IHM DIE STIMME. Er hatte die Rede lange vorbereitet. Es wäre um den Gedanken des Zusammenhalts gegangen, um die Gemeinschaft, die ihm so wichtig war. Dachte er. Da kam die SMS, schnöde und trocken wenige Augenblicke zuvor. Marian stieg aus. Marian. Partner seit
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