I finally encountered Stuntzner at a busy corner pub in old town Prague. He was as I remembered him, tall, with a firmly set jaw and a gaze that stopped the bartender in his tracks. "Just make it warm." he demanded as he settled his lanky frame at the suddently silent bar. It was the coldest winter on recent record … Read more

I finally encountered Stuntzner at a busy corner pub in old town Prague. He was as I remembered him, tall, with a firmly set jaw and a gaze that stopped the bartender in his tracks. "Just make it warm." he demanded as he settled his lanky frame at the suddently silent bar. It was the coldest winter on recent record but Stuntzner didn't seem to notice as he was wearing only a flanel shirt and a pair of work-worn levis, worth a pretty penny in cold-war Eastern Europe. "He is so obviously American, no wonder he was so easy to find." I thought to myself. I flagged down the bartender, still rattled by his encounter, to provide payment for Stuntzner's drink, hoping to lure him into a conversion. But I was too late, Stuntzner had vanished. I had to sassume that Stuntzner recongnized me from our brief encounter in East Berlin after all. I'd alredy made my first of a series of mistakes. I would have to be more careful next time but at least I was close. Stuntzner wouldn't leave his precious Bettina in her current state, certinly not until after Carnival. Prague was his new home.