Raging Kraut

In my neighbourhood...

Posted by Ray on 05/06/03 at 01:52 PM • Sauerkraut • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

A story out of my past. I don't know why I feel compelled to tell it now. It always disturbed me.

When I was 15 or 16 my parents started hanging out with another German couple: "Walther" and "Liesl." I don't know how they met- most times my parents met someone of the same ethnicity, it was usually at a deli or bakery that catered to the specialty German foods my mother liked (and that I have come to appreciate and try to find myself- it wasn't so before!) or someone overheard them talking and noticed the accent or the language on those rare times my parents spoke to each other in German.

All I know is that Walther and Liesl started hanging around our house ALL THE TIME.

Walther was an 70-year old alcoholic. I know this because everytime he came over, the level of booze in the 40oz overproof Lamb's Navy Rum bottles would go down a good 3 to 4 inches and he was the only one drinking.

My parents didn't drink. However, every time we visited the U.S. my dad would make sure he picked up a 40oz of Lamb's Navy Rum at the duty-free shop. He'd been doing this for years and we had a good 7 or 8 bottles of this stuff in the pantry. Over the course of one summer Walther had wittled this down to 2 bottles remaining.

Liesl was a tall austere woman in her 60's with piercing blue eyes and a stern-face that didn't smile. She always wore long-sleeved blouses that ended at her wrists. I always found this strange; Kelowna in the summer was blazing hot and dry, like the blast of an oven in your face just before you stick the pizza in.

Come to think of it, most of the women in the neighbourhood wore the same thing. These were women in their 60s and 70s. (Kelowna IS the retirement capital of Canada.) She basically regarded me with thinly-veiled contempt as I usually spoke out of turn, didn't automatically accept my parents' ideas as gospel, didn't read my bible etc. Most Germans of that age group adhere to "seen, but not heard."

I didn't like her much either.

Walther was a so-called "expert" on everything. Economics, politics, sports: you name it he had all "the answers." I got tired of interjecting into conversations because any point I'd make would be dismissed because I was "just a kid." He also had what I've heard referred to as the "blind wall of ignorance" defence, which basically meant he could win any argument by just not acknowledging that you'd made any sort of logical point and bulldozing on with his bullshit rhetoric. The scary thing is that most of my parents German friends were exactly the same way. I got to thinking that Germans were like this. I still kinda think that way...

I got tired of this and started hanging out in my room whenever they'd show up. My dad was not the most argumentative of guys: he was (and still is) a peacemaker. "Why can't we all just get along!" could've come out of his mouth without the slightest trace of irony...So I was surprised when one day I heard my father get into an argument with both of them.

Walther would usually make his wife wait on him hand and foot, even in restaurants. He'd talk to her more like she was a servant rather than his wife. She would silently do as she was asked. Sometimes he would criticize and call her names as she did this. On this one day, my father had had enough of this, especially as this was going on in HIS house.

"Walther, why don't you just let your wife sit and let me get your drink?" said my father.

"It's her job. She's supposed to do this." I can tell that he's drunk because he's slurring his words. "What good is she if she doesn't get my drink?"

"Not in my house," said my father icily and stared at him. My dad seemed to be saying more than those four words with his gaze. "I'm the host here. No one else is a servant."

"You shut up!" screamed Liesl at my father with rage. "You can't talk to him that way! Just because you have no sense of discipline and don't know how to raise your child doesn't mean that you can talk to my husband that way! Come Walther!" She's leaning across the table and screaming in his face.

Walther got up and staggered towards the door with a smile on his face...

They never came again. Can't say that I missed them.
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Raging Kraut

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