Dorit Linke - Beyond the Blue Border

Copyright 2014. First published as Jenseits der blauen Grenze, by Magellan GmbH & Co., Bamberg, Germany

English translation 2021 Elisabeth Lauffer

First English edition published by Charlesbridge in 2021

Cover illustration copyright 2021 by Levente Szabo

Map credit: United States Central Intelligence Agency. West Germany. 8-69. 1969. 1:1,625,000 scale, 57 x 41 cm. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C. https://www.loc.gov/item/gm70003216/.

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Charlesbridge and colophon are registered trademarks of Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

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Charlesbridge and the author are not responsible for the content or accessibility of any website.

Published by Charlesbridge

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Linke, Dorit, 1971 author. | Lauffer, Elisabeth, translator.

Title: Beyond the blue border / by Dorit Linke; [translated by Elisabeth Lauffer].

Other titles: Jenseits der blauen Grenze. English

Description: Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, [2021] | Audience: Ages 12. Summary: Expelled from their secondary school in East Germany because of their rebellious attitudes, Hanna and Andreas plan to escape by swimming across the cold and choppy waters of the Baltic Sea in a harrowing twenty-five-hour journey to freedom in West GermanyHanna is an accomplished distance swimmer, Andreas is not, and the danger of being caught, drowning, or dying of exhaustion is very real, but the two teenagers are desparate to escape their lives in the East.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020000985 (print) | LCCN 2020000986 (ebook) | ISBN 9781623541774 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781632899699 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: TeenagersGermany (East)Juvenile fiction. | Long distance swimmingJuvenile fiction. | EscapesJuvenile fiction. | Germany (East)HistoryJuvenile fiction. | Germany (East)Juvenile fiction. | Baltic SeaJuvenile fiction. | CYAC: Long distance swimmingFiction. | SwimmingFiction. | EscapesFiction. | Germany (East)History20th centuryFiction. | Baltic SeaFiction. | LCGFT: Historical fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.1.L562 Be 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.L562 (ebook) DDC 833.92 [Fic]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020000985

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020000986

Ebook ISBN9781632899699

Production supervision by Jennifer Most Delaney

Ebook design adapted from print design Diane M. Earley

a_prh_5.7.0_c0_r1

The next time we see Saxony Jensie, itll be on Kurfrstendamm, and hell still have that stupid preppy haircut. And his BMW will be old and junky, but he wont care. Neither will we. Well all be insanely happy and so incredibly proud of one another.

Our bags are buried under a wild rosebush. Anyone finds them and were screwed. I strapped the canteen to my body with Moms belt, the one with the gold buckle. Its so heinous, shell never miss it.

Later on, at just the right moment, the plan is to take off and start crawling, like we practiced in Young Pioneer drills.

Its just that we cant wind up in the beam of the searchlights, which roam for kilometers across the beach. The spot we found is good, far away from the border watchtower.

Theres NVANational Peoples Armypresence all around us. Right behind us is a sign:

Restricted Area. No Trespassing.

Grandpa told me to be on the lookout for patrols. Theyll walk past us; plus, there will be patrol cars driving around, headlights blazing. He also told me that the searchlights have to be turned off every hour to cool. Thats the moment well use to run down to the Baltic Sea.

Theres a boulder by the water we can hide behind. Well get down there in no time. The beach here isnt as wide as the one in Warnemnde. Later, once were in the Baltic, well just dive underwater whenever the searchlights come near.

I put a note for Mom under the bedspread. I dont want her to worrywhich she will anyway. Shell never suspect Im in Khlungsborn but will be waiting for me at the Neptune Indoor Pool. I almost gave myself away yesterday, because I shooshed her during the weather report. Im not usually interested in it.

Over thirty kilometers to Fehmarn. Thats really far to swim.

If the water current cooperates, well make it there in twenty-five hours. Theres an offshore wind now. Hopefully it stays that way. Once it gets dark, well start swimming, so well already be a good distance from shore by daybreak when the boats start searching for refugees. If a patrol comes along, well dive and breathe through our snorkels, which I lengthened with plastic hoses in the basement yesterday. When our neighbor Frau Lewandowski saw me messing around with them, she asked why. I told her I wanted to observe the carp in Lake Dobbertiner.

Water temps around sixty-five, so thats good. It will be colder farther out. This is going to be hard. Its impossible even to train enough. But well make it. Its finally happening! Im agitated and calm at the same time, focused on our plan.

Andreas looks pale. Im glad hes hereI couldnt do it without him. He just gives me a smile.

Hes scared. I am too, but were not allowed to think about it.

Andreas is holding a copy of The Black Felucca. Its for Saxony Jensie, wrapped to be watertight. The only issue of Mosaik missing from his collection, released in November of 1982. He cant get it in the West, so we have to bring it for him. We promised.

Pirates on the cover, fishing boats, surging waves, fire beacons, and men in turbans. Andreas studies the image, which is blue as the twilight surrounding us. Im sure he wants to page through it, but he cant because of the shrink-wrap.

I put a note inside the comic book with my parents phone number. In case anything happens and someone finds it, theyll know where to call.

What would Saxony Jensie say if he could see us here in the dunes, waiting, our eyes trained on the Baltic? All this excitement gives me a warm feeling in my belly! Its nice. Im glad were leaving. I feel light again for the first time in months, almost carefree. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. The air smells of salt water and algae. I open my eyes again. Rose hips dangle from the bush, between me and the glassy water, and theres beach grass growing a few meters off.

Saxony Jensie would try to stop us because hes a wuss. I smile. During math once, years ago, I sprinkled wild rose seeds into his collar and rubbed them around. He freaked out, scratching his skin so bad that Frau Bauermeister kicked him out of class.

Andreas unzips his wet suit and slides the issue of Mosaik in with his documents: ID card, birth certificate, tenth-grade diploma. I stuffed my packet of documentation in between my wet suit and my bathing suit. Well need to prove who we are in the West, after all.

Andreas must have felt me watching. He unzips and pulls out The Black Felucca.