It had been around 3 hours and he had yet to find a lead on what happened in the soup kitchen. Theo was currently taking a break, eating a crepe he bought at a crepe stand while leaning on a wall. His thoughts on where to go next were suddenly interrupted by somewhat accented French.

"Hey buddy," a man, obviously a refugee said to him "You want cool gadget?"

Theo sighed. It wasn't the first time someone had tried to sell something to him. He supposed it was time to turn this one away too.

"I'm not interested, sorry," Theodor said amicably.

"Buddy, don't be like that," the man said "Look here, cool gadget."

He started pushing his wares at Theo. Watches of all makes were in the man's hands. Some obviously expensive ones mixed with the cheap plastic variety. All stolen no doubt.

Theo attempted to finish his crepe while holding off the advancing man with one hand.

"Listen, I don't want any of your stuff," he said somewhat annoyed now.

The man looked at him confused before a look of comprehension crossed his face.

"Okay okay, no watch for you," the man said "A walkman is what you want."

"Yes I don't want a watc- wait a Walkman?" Theodor asked confused.

Sensing a potential successful sale, the man smiled.

"Yes, do you want to see?" he asked "Come with me."

The man walked off into an alleyway, probably heading to where he stored his wares. Theo finished his crepe, crumpled up the wrapper and casually threw it before following him.

Theodor followed him through the twisting alleyways. Around him, was a hidden city within a city. Cardboard constructions, converted dumpsters, windows to apartments he didn't know existed. An undercity of refugees. He had never checked out this particular place, but perhaps he could get some information here. He was so absorbed in taking in his surroundings that he almost bumped into his guide, who had stopped in front of an unmarked side door.

"Okay, we are here Master," he said in his thickly accented French as he opened the door.

Confused about the title he was given, Theodor nonetheless followed him inside. What greeted him was shelves upon shelves of assorted electronics. All of it no doubt gained through illegal means. Theo found himself thinking of a story he read with Lise when they were still children, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The man quickly disappeared into the shelves, no doubt to get Theo the "Walkman". Looking around, he saw two other men, probably friends of the one who led him here lounging around talking.

"So here it is," the man said slightly out of breath "Japan Walkman."

"Japan?" Theo asked.

Of course he had heard of that country, but he hadn't really thought much of it. It was rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It was an American puppet state at best. Still though, to produce such an interesting... thing.

"So what does it do exactly?" Theo asked the man.

"Ah," the man grinned "Put this on."

He gave Theo some headphones which Theo put on. The man put in a cassette tape in and pressed play. After a few seconds, music started playing. Theo recognized the song.

"Keine Heimat?" he asked slightly swaying with the song with a grin on his face.

"Yes, yes!" the man replied just as excited "Ideal!"

"I'll take it!" Theo said with a smile on his face.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As Theodor made his purchase, he listened in on the two men who were talking.

"...they cancelled the meeting there after the cops came," the first one said "Something about some crazy son of a bitch."

"A really? When's the next one gonna be?" the second one asked.

"I don't know yet," the first one replied somewhat annoyed "Just look for those uppity, rebellious types and ask them. The probably know."

"Damn kids," the second one said before taking a drag on his cigarette "They think this revolutionary crap will do anyone any good? All the RLF is gonna do is make things worse for us."

Theo couldn't contain his curiosity anymore. With his bag containing his cassettes, headphone and Walkman, he walked to the two men. They looked up at him, obviously not wanting him around. Despite this, Theo stayed.

"Well," the first one asked "Whaddaya want rich guy?"

Slightly taken aback by the man's rude speech Theo took a few seconds to respond.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking," he said trying to remain genial "What exactly is this RLF?"

The second man snorted, "Damn cowards, think you can go to Britain cuz you have enough money then come back and ask us for shit."

He was almost about to spit before the first man put a hand out to stop him.

"Well ya see, I've been having trouble remembrin' stuff recently," he started slowly "Now if there was something that could make me remember, I'm sure I could tell you."

Theodor sighed. While he could beat the answer out of both of them, it seemed more hassle than it was worth. Theodor prepared his wallet.

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Theodor exited the thieves' cave, more enlightened than when he had entered. The RLF, or Refugee Liberation Front, is an organization founded by refugees to improve their living conditions. Supposedly they accomplish this through non-violent protests against the UN, but something about the whole organization seemed fishy to Theodor. It seemed very similar to groups founded by Stasi agents and other communist infiltrators in the West that were meant to undermine and destabilize the Warsaw Pact's enemies. The man earlier had mentioned that a lot of the members were impulsive youths. That combined with the multinational nature of the refugees and how most of them were undocumented, it would be very easy for a competent agent to infiltrate and subvert, assuming that the organization itself wasn't founded with that express purpose in mind.

Theodor shook his head. He had to remind himself that he wasn't still living in East Germany. Not everything was an evil plot. It is just as likely that the organization was founded by frustrated refugees who wanted a better life for themselves and their fellow men and women. While being skeptical was fine and dandy, he couldn't afford to be too close minded and ignore all the other possibilities until they were staring him right in his face and it was too late for him to change his mind and create a better outcome. Just like in Berlin, that snowy day all those years ago...

Theodor's head snapped up. It would do no good thinking about those days. At some point, it seemed he had zoned out and was already walking home with pure muscle memory. He quickly admonished himself internally. He couldn't afford to let that happen to himself too often. Unsavory sorts roamed the streets at night and it would do him good to keep his attention up.

He glanced at the bag he was holding. Perhaps some music would help him stay focused, or at least keep those thoughts away. He heard that the Bowie fellow was rather good.