A small book

I met her  late, late after the Wednesday night program had finished, after the camp had locked the gates for the night. She was over at the train station, looking through a small book that first I thought was a phrase book. Was she fumbling to find the right words in German? Was she looking at a map of the city to get directions?

I asked her if I could help her?

First she said ´No´ but then she asked me where was a street.

Curious about why she wanted this street, at this time I asked if I could see the address, making the excuse that she was not saying the German street name correctly to have a better look at were she wanted to go. The pictures in the advert made me ask her more questions:

Why did she want to go there?  I know what there is, are you sure you want to go there?

I must of asked her that question about 5 times. Each time she told me yes, to the point that I was starting to bother her.  I dawned on me that there was nothing I could do. She was going to go there.

In her head it was an easy way to get money.  She probably did not expect that she would be stopped by a Christian along the way, stopped by someone who cared for her welfare. Stopped by someone who wanted her to make a better decision then what she was doing to do.

But the saddest thing of it all.

There was nothing I could do. 

She only had to walk into the Turkish Cafe or ask someone else and she would have found her street.

Upon leaving I noticed that the book she was carrying was a Directory of Brothels in Vienna.