„Your place is nice and clean!“ It is Klaus who addresses Hiltrud with these words. Hiltrud and I visited Elisabeth for coffee earlier in the afternoon, and later Klaus and his wife Gerda joined us. Hiltrud and I basically have nothing to do with the two of them. We only know them through Elisabeth. Klaus is treasurer of the Waldschützenverein and Gerda had turned down my wife two years ago at the associated barbecue when she wanted to join them („all reserved!“). The new and young must first of all sit at the cat tables and do not belong to the old-established (whose Düsseldorf dialect, however, also betrays those who have finally moved in…).
„Clean…“ For a split second, I’m confused. What does he mean? He can’t have been in Hiltrud’s house. What does clean mean? The moment she answers, it becomes clear to me. Hiltrud says, as if shot out of a pistol: „But not yet to the right of the gate. I still have to go there!“ I realize: he meant the garden! The leaves on the beds and the lawn! Clean! What a term! I was confused, because regarding the garden I would have expected at most a „neat“.I would never have had the idea to consider the foliage of the trees as dirt or to describe it as such. Thinking about it, I come to the conclusion that for me the free nature is clean from the deepest bottom. It is not polluted at any point. It renews itself again and again in an eternal cycle. If I were standing knee-deep in the mire, I would never think of dirt and uncleanliness (in relation to the clothes, but not because of the mire itself). Sure it’s messy on our property because the trees can do just about anything they want that way. But it is not untidy or dirty! So for Klaus – and according to the answer probably also for Hiltrud – untidiness is synonymous with uncleanliness. I have to think about it. Until now, I thought that I might be thought of as a messy person. Now it also seems possible that I am thought of as a dirty person. (Un)tidy → (un)well-kept → (un)clean. Whether garden or human. These drawers are very close to each other. I have to include this in my change.