58
PARTISAN REVIEW
Because I was tired of hearing everyone around me speak only in
French, I replied flippantly.
Well, try not to take too many risks.
The Hargenaus are not known for their humor. But then my
brother might say: What's so funny about getting your head smashed
In.
2.
What is my brother saying?
You should never have married Paula.
I was crazy about her.
If
our father wasn't a bloody hero, and your name wasn't Harge–
nau, you'd be doing ten to fifteen behind bars. Maybe they'd permit
you to have a typewriter, he added as an afterthought.
My brother has not yet had an opportunity
to
design a house of
detention, as it is now called euphemisticall y, but he has designed a
large assembly plant for Druck Electronics, an airport in Miinchen, a
library and civic center in Heilbronn, another factory for Stiippen
Plumbing, and at least half a dozen apartment buildings and three or
four office buildings in addition to the new police station and post
office in Wiirtenburg. He has also designed the house in the country
where he and his family spend most of their weekends and their
vacation each summer. I admit he works harder than I do. He works
incessantly, spending at least a quarter of his work day on the phone.
He never loses his temper. He is never impatient. He takes after my
father.
As I was leaving my brother after spending a weekend with him
and his family , he said: we must get together, you and
1.
We really must
sit down and discuss things. I didn't have the heart to tell him that
there wasn't anything left to discuss. At one time, years ago, we had our
differences; now they hardly matter. I don't even remember what they
were. Perhaps I had been envious of the success that he took for
granted. He expected it. He was a Hargenau. He confided to me that if
our father hadn't been such a complacent and self-assured aristocrat, he
might have made a better conspirator. At least he was shot, instead of
being left to dangle from a meat hook in front of a film crew recording
the event.
Helmut rises each morning at 6:30. By 7:10 the entire family is at
