Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

helped with the potato harvest as usual. In those days only hoes were used, and somehow Walter must have got infected from one of those hoes we borrowed. He was very sick with scarlet fever for six weeks. To make things worse, he also contracted diphtheria and in spite of the best nursing care he never recovered. He died in November.

"This was a terrible shock to my parents and me, and we never really got over it.

"Opa and Oma then decided to send me to Antwerp, to help me forget. I went to school there from 1910 till 1912 and stayed with my grandmother Schmid, Oma's mother. Grandma's brother was Eugene Kreglinger. His children grew up with Oma like her own brothers and sisters, for they had lost their mother when they were very young. The social life in my grandmother's and uncle's houses was extraordinary. I met great artists and famous people and I remember to this day some of the most interesting conversations I had with them. I played lots of tennis, learnt fencing, went to concerts and theatres and had the best time of my life there."

"Vater, could you stop for a while please?" I interrupted. Our walk had taken us to the forest, where we had turned into a driveway, walking along the soft forest road with tall trees forming a canopy over our heads. We had just come to a silver birch grove which was less dense and had some grass growing underneath.

"I can see some mushrooms." "Where?" asked Günter, who was also keen on collecting mushrooms. "Under that beech tree. It's a Steinpilz!" It was a large mushroom, fairly firm with sponge-like gills.

"They are very nice," said Mutter. "See if we can get any more, then we can have mushrooms for supper."

I knew quite a lot of varieties of edible mushrooms. Soon I came across a large umbrella mushroom, standing above the green grass.

"We can fry this one in bread crumbs. That tastes yummy." "But we need a few more to make it worth while." Günter, who had raced ahead, shouted: "There are many more umbrella mushrooms over here, just come and see for yourselves."

"That should be enough for the whole family!" Mutter seemed very pleased. She got out her head scarf, which she always had in her pocket, just in case it would rain, and we almost filled it with those delicious mushrooms.

"They are really most delicious," Vater said, who had not found any to that point. But he knew that there were mushrooms in the pine forest, and he came back with a handful of yellow Pfifferlings.

"Oh Alfred, they will go well in our stew," said Mutter. "But I can't carry any more in this scarf. It's full to the brim."

"Please, Vater, continue your story," we both pleaded. We had just come to a T-junction, where we turned into a broad avenue

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