My ex-wife and I visited my friend Rudy over Christmas in 1992. Rudy had a nice third floor apartment near the Mitte on the old East side. His place overlooked the River Spree.

We had a wonderful group-cooked dinner at about noon with four other guests. Rudy used to work for the Stasi, the East German Secret Police, but he was only a "cosmetic" Commie in those bygone days. His politics had changed since the reunification and he could regale you with the stories he told about how screwed up the old administration had been.

We had a very good time.

At about two p.m. I looked out at the street and it looked bad. We had to drive to Dresden before long, and I was concerned because the weather had turned foul.

I turned to the wife and said, "We had better pack up and get on the autobahn. I think it is sleeting outside."

Rudy walked to the window and said, "No, Jon. It's only rain."

I said that it sure looked like ice to me.

My ex-wife then said:

"Rudolf the Red knows rain, dear."