Lost in Our Space

Wednesday evening Linda and I went for a stroll well beyond our village boundaries, ending up in nearby Heiligenstadt--a smaller village--and taking a wrong turn in an effort to make a loop hike out of it. We'd been walking close to an hour, and the last 15 minutes, it became clear, in the wrong direction. At two points we stopped people--both with fairly good English--to ask directions. The first sent us back up the hill we had just come down; when we realized we were still lost after following her directions--at least thinking we had done so--we stopped a second person, and she graciously pointed us the way we had just come.

As we heading back up the hill again, realizing the fecklessness of our effort, I suggested we ask yet a third person. Dark was coming on, and I wanted to be home before the streets got inky black and we were beset by garden gnomes. A very kindly looking man about 200 years old was making his way along, shopping bag in hand, and Linda and I approached him. His English, unfortunately, was not so good as the others', and I found myself falling back on my limited German, trying to get him to understand that we needed to get to our village of Grinzing:

I: Grinzing?

Old Man: Wo? (where?)

I: (trying to improve my accent) Grrreenzing

Old Man: Wo?

I: Grrreeeeeeenzing

Old Man: (squinting, hand to ear) Wo?

I: Grrrrrrrreeeeeenzink!

Old Man: Aah, Grinzing!

The three of us smiled, said "Ja, Ja" repeatedly, and nodded vigorously to each other. Drawing on my store of languages, I conveyed our need to him: "Wir haben ge-walked mucho far. Want go home...hausfrau anfang pooped out eingang. Grinzing ja ja." Or somesuch phrasing, mostly picked up from traffic signs and elsewhere in the local environment.....

He asked in German whether we were on foot. I thought, yes, you dolt. And then I realized that he thought we must have gotten out of a car to approach him. He pointed up the hill and said, "I you go." Ah, we realized he was going to walk with us and show us. And so we three proceeded up the hill, in matched, shuffling baby-steps. Interminable matched, shuffling baby-steps. When we got to the top of the hill, he pointed to the right, and we three turned into a narrow lane. He pointed to an apartment and said "I go here," and then added, "But I walk with you." This wonderfully kind man stayed with us another block or two to be certain we followed the appropriate road, and then he left us for his own home. We were quite sorry our disorientation had taken him so far out of his way, particularly given the effort it was for him to walk. But we were home before the gnomes and werewolves came out.