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After Lenert stepped out of the bath, he was surprised the way Isaac recoiled from him. Had he done something wrong, in trying to give pleasure to the man who had been so kind to him? He had done so freely, without expecting coin or any reciprocation.
And yet Isaac had stepped away, focused on washing the clothes. Truly, Lenert had not expected anything from him, and had even turned away from his tentative offer. But he was sure that offer came from politeness—Isaac was not one who liked to remain in someone else’s debt.
Maybe Isaac had only accepted Lenert’s overtures out of that same sense of being kind to others, the way he had sat with the widow and her daughter and entertained them as welcome guests.
Was Isaac one of those men who was shamed by the sexual act? In Bremen, he had met, and serviced, several men like that. They would not look him in the eye after he sucked them. One man who had fucked him had even insisted that Lenert not get up off the bed as the man dressed and left, as if he were embarrassed to see Lenert’s face.
The rain finally broke that night, and the next day was sunny. After a flurry of barges all morning long, like a flock of ducklings, they had a break at lunchtime. Lenert had finished his meal, though Isaac was still eating, they heard a barge’s horn. “Eat,” Lenert said. “I will go.”
He hurried outside, still using the walking stick for balance, and he was surprised to see Karl-Heinz approaching.
The last time he had seen the Berliner, he was working at the canal office in Bristol. Every two weeks, Frau Anderson completed one circuit, from Bristol to Easton and back, and each time she arrived in the office, she gave part of Lenert’s salary to Karl-Heinz, until the year of his indenture was complete.
Lenert refused to watch this transaction, hating the reminder that part of his wages went away. He knew that he wasn’t the only bargeman with whom Karl-Heinz had made the same arrangement. But one day, he had been distracted thinking of a problem with Elsa’s hind foot, and he had followed Frau Anderson into the office.
She was engaged in a conversation with the lock manager when Karl-Heinz pulled Lenert aside. “You have been avoiding me,” he said in a low voice. “Have you forgotten our deal?”
“You have your money.”
“Aber ich will auch deinen Arsch.” But I want your ass, too, Karl-Heinz said in German. He tugged Lenert’s arm.
“Nein,” Lenert said, keeping his voice quiet.
“Komm mit mir, ” Karl-Heinz said. “Or oder ich werde ihnen von dir erzählen.” Come with me, or I will tell them about you.
Lenert’s heart sunk. What would Frau Anderson do if she learned about why his father had sent him away, and what he had done to earn his passage to America? She would probably fire him and maybe even report him to the police. And she would tell the other captains if the lock manager didn’t.
“Where?” Lenert asked.
“I show Lenert the machine room,” Karl-Heinz announced in English.
“Don’t take too long,” Frau Anderson said, and returned to her conversation.
Lenert had no choice but to follow Karl-Heinz to a shack behind the office, where Karl-Heinz pushed him up against a giant cogwheel and forced his pants to the floor. “Give me your finger,” Lenert said out of the side of his mouth, remembering how brutal Karl-Heinz had been before. “Please.”
Karl-Heinz allowed Lenert to suck on his index finger, and then used that to penetrate him first. Then his cock was pushing forward, into Lenert’s ass, and he cried out.
“Keep your voice down, country boy.”
Lenert pressed his face against the metal of the cogwheel, sucking in his breath to handle the pain. Fortunately, Karl-Heinz was quick, and with a final thrust he spent himself in Lenert’s ass.
“Until the next time we meet,” he said, slapping a hand over Lenert’s buttocks. Then he walked out.
After that, he had managed to avoid the Berliner. Why was he working now as a bargeman? Had someone at the canal office discovered what Karl-Heinz was doing with contracts between barge owners and hoggees and fired him, or demanded he switch jobs?
Lenert walked to the water pump as Karl-Heinz tied the mules up at the lock. The barge’s captain was a ginger-haired man named John Richards, several inches shorter than Lenert, and he walked with a slight list to the left, as if he had broken his leg and it had never healed properly.
Lenert was glad that his own leg appeared to be getting better, and he had no problem putting weight on it, though by the end of the day it often grew weaker.
Isaac talked with Captain Richards while they waited for the lock to operate. Lenert had not spoken much to Richards’ former bargeman, a quiet Irishman with a bald head and a pot belly. Karl-Heinz approached him, and Lenert’s curiosity overcame him. “You have changed jobs,” he said in German.
Karl-Heinz shrugged. “The office manager brought in his son, so I had to look elsewhere.” He looked around. “You have yourself an easy life here.”
“What do you mean?” Lenert said, ignoring the aspersion. “I work hard here. It is harder than just walking along the canal, like some men.”
Karl-Heinz leaned in close. “I’ll bet you are the lock-keeper’s little wife. You share a bed with him, don’t you, like you did with the Bavarian at Frau Schmidt’s boarding house.”
Lenert grew angry. “You think because I share a bed with a man I am his wife?”
“Oh, ho, don’t get so angry with me,” Karl-Heinz said. “I am just joking.” Then he elbowed Lenert in the ribs. “But what if he knew about your past? Would he be so happy with you?”
Then Captain Richards called Karl-Heinz over, and Lenert was able to disappear behind the cottage into the woods until he heard the barge leave.
“What did you and Captain Richards’ man argue about?” Isaac asked, after Lenert returned.
“Nothing. He is a Berliner, and arrogant to men from countryside like me.”
“But surely it must comfort you to find someone to speak your language with more easily than I can.”
Lenert sat by the canal, and Isaac leaned back on his elbows beside him and watched the way the sun dappled the water.
Lenert thought about Karl-Heinz’s threat. Isaac had been so kind to him, he owed him some explanation.
After a while Lenert said, “I come to Philadelphia on ship, and stay in boarding house in city, look for work. I do not want to go to farm again, but I do not want job in big factory, never see sunlight.”
Isaac sat quietly beside him, letting Lenert tell his story in his own time.
“One day I meet man who tell me about job with mules, walking along canal. I sign contract, that part of my wage will go to him for first year. He send me on train to Bristol, where I meet Frau Anderson.” He faced forward, staring out at the water.
“A type of indentured servitude,” Isaac said, and he explained the term to Lenert. “A terrible thing to happen to you. Did you work your year?”
“Yes. Six months ago Frau Anderson stop paying him and give me all my money.”
Lenert hesitated. “Man who get me job was Karl-Heinz.”
Isaac nodded in understanding. “I can see you would be angry with him.”
“There is more.” Lenert looked down the canal, unable to face Isaac. “He make me have sex with him, and threaten he will tell others.”
Isaac reached for Lenert, turning him gently until they faced each other. “I am so sorry for you.” He tugged Lenert forward until they embraced, and Lenert was embarrassed to feel his tears against Isaac’s cotton shirt.
“I will protect you, Lenert. Do not worry about Karl-Heinz.”
