Berlin, early morning

From Berlin-Expo, novel available at  Amazon.fr

He loved his work at Babelsberg as he loved Berlin. Sometimes, if he was not in too much of a hurry, he would stop for two minutes on his way to work to admire the view from the bridge over the Spree while lighting a Juno.

Seven thirty. Berlin got under way. An incessant caravan of workers and clerks comes out of the metro's mouth or hurries to the S-Bahn.He enjoys studying the different hats. There are wide-brimmed felts or those of a more compact shape, whose owners also wear ties or bow ties. But what prevails in this neighborhood are the caps, with a narrow visor or a wide, glossy appearance like those of coachmen or porters. Occasionally a panama, tropical island in an ocean of dark felt. And then the secretaries, typists, standard operatives, with their blue, green, pink, headpieces of color touches in the male swirl gray.

The cigarette finished, he crosses the bridge too. On the other side of the river, a circle of onlookers. A man in a brown suit and a plaid cap, standing behind a folding table, attracts the attention of passers-by with a stentor voice. "On behalf of the well-known and renowned house Krüger und Söhne, for the very first time in the capital of the Reich." But: what does he sell? There is no kitchen knife. There is no wallet with a special pocket for identity documents and pictures of "loved ones", ideal for both gentlemen and ladies.
Folded on his right arm, a jacket that he proceeds to stain with black ink. In his left hand, a small cardboard box. He deposits the jacket on the table, draws a bottle of water and a glass from his suitcase, opens the box and dilutes its contents - a white powder - into the glass of water. He clogs the opening of the glass with the palm of the hand and shakes energetically. Then he applies the mixture to the jacket.
Miraculously, the ink stain disappears. "Miracle?" No such thing, dear and highly respected public, simply the strictly scientific effect of this amazing product that I have the pleasure and honor to put at your disposal in absolute exclusiveness and in representation of the firm Krüger und Söhne, the flagship of the German chemical industry, a product whose formula is a carefully guarded secret, no miracle, ladies and gentlemen, but what can truly and without exaggeration be called miraculous is its price: barely a mark twenty box, a special promotion valid only on the date of today. "

Sacha sets out to cross the avenue running parallel to the bridge when he sees a tram of line thirty-two arriving. Two pedestrians are approaching the track too. "Watch out!" He shouts. The men look at him curiously but they do not stop their march, it is rather the tram which reduces the speed, to stop completely at two meters of the pedestrians. Unperturbed, they pass in front of the vehicle without looking at him.
How could they foresee that the tram would stop? There is no stop at this place. But they know well that at this point the conductor is obliged to go down to the track to effect the change of needles with his iron bar.

He is fascinated by this casualness, by this metropolitan assurance, by the elegance of the movement of people, skilfully avoiding other passers-by, judiciously assessing speeds and obstacles so as never to have to stop, never to break this law of the big city: the continuous movement.