A small layer of dust rested on the curtains. Squinting at the dirty cloth, Ivan Caldmier gently wiped a rag across the surface. It had been a long time since he had cleaned the curtains, they never looked dirty until he got close to them.
Outside, a group of neighborhood children danced around a makeshift baseball field.
He sighed as he noticed the window was slightly smudged as well.
“More cleaning to do”
He glanced at his reflection in the window and stopped. More wrinkles had creft on to his face. Not that he really minded, but something bothered him about his eyes. They glistened back at him, it startled him.
“De ja vu”
Notes of cleaning the drapes disappeared from his thoughts.
The face in the glass no longer resembled a man of eighty years. But the face looking back from the cracked window was that of an eighteen year old boy. The suburban neighborhood outside the house had been transformed into the dark streets of East Berlin.
Ivan shuddered. A cold draft drifted across the floor.