A Modern Christmas Story:
THE BRIGHT WORLD OF JOSEPH HEEG.
Joseph was on his way home.
It was Friday night, 23rd of December, and he was looking forward to put
away his tools and get ready for Christmas. He lived alone, had a small
terraced house in a village in East Germany, not far from the Polish border.
It had been his parents’ house and he grew up in that village and knew
everybody.
When he reached the motorway exit which should lead him on his way
home, he saw warning lights on the side of the road. It was a rather battered
looking van with foreign number plates.
He could have sailed by without stopping but this was not his way of
behaviour. He stopped a bit further along and walked back to where he saw
three men anxiously looking under the bonnet of the van. Asking if he could
help, they answered in English, they actually were Polish workmen who had
been working in Britain and now were on their way home for Christmas,
having loaded up their van with presents for the family.
They had been travelling all day, had come from England and were now on
the last leg of their journey. Joseph at first invited one of them to come home
with him to fetch more tools, but by the time they got back it was gone 8
o’clock and too dark to see enough, and anyhow, the repair looked more
complicated for it to be done by the roadside.
An hour later the police arrived, muttering about ‘Polish slovenliness’ in
general and botched work in particular, about obstruction and the need to
have this vehicle removed. A break-down lorry was called and the van towed
away. Joseph was left with three men by the roadside.
He could have taken them to the nearest hotel and that would have been it,
but instead he took them home, warmed up some supper and fished out
some blankets from the wardrobe, pulled out the sofa-bed and made them
comfortable. He thought that the poor guys must be very tired, so he left
them, and leaving all his belongings, purse, knives etc. in the kitchen, went
to sleep himself.
Next morning all was quiet, but there were his guests, fast asleep on the
sofa-bed. At breakfast, they talked about how they could get home without
their van, they were still several hundred miles from their home town, so
Joseph said he’d lent them his car, but he needed it back on the 7th of
January.
But, said Pavel, their leader, how can we explain at the border driving a
strange car without papers? They’d think we had stolen it.
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