"aaaber HALLO, jetzt geht's loooooOooooos"

it is hard to say goodbye, and so sometimes i put it off. last week my parents and i were in town and heard the news that erich was in the hospital. he died easter sunday.

erich was one of the people i had more contact with than others. he was always at the cathedral begging, often in a suit. he would scream the title sentence, meaning "ooooooooookay, HELLO, it's time to staaaaart!" then he'd tip his hat or take it in the hand and turn to the next passerby. "good day, lovely fraeulein, do you have a little change? thank you. very nice smile." he was always quite a riot. he could charm the socks off an old lady and make a guy feel like the king himself, even while reeking of hard schnapps. yeah, there were other moments, like when he fell over and lay on the tram lines with a pool of blood around him, but who thinks on those moments after a passing?

after his last stay in the hospital markus and i took him in. he couldn't stand it though, to be seperated from his friends at the dom, and decided that despite it being the sure death of him, he wanted to go back to his old life.