Menage a Trois


She was married with a two year old child and as far as I know, is still married to this day with two grown up children. Whilst over a period of five years of our friendship we were carnally acquainted none was more bizarre than the circumstances of our first sexual encounter.


Allow me to introduce the characters of this story. Jean Marie (JM) Renard was French, he lived and worked in what, at the time, was West Berlin. Dominique Lagrange was French, she too lived and worked in the same city. Likewise Dominque Lagrange, her husband, was French, he lived and worked in West Berlin. Finally came myself the author, Christopher Cross, who was British and spoke French. Although I lived in London, I worked so frequently in West Berlin that I part shared the rental of a flat on the Stephenstrasse belonging to Jean Marie in the Moabit area of the former German Capital.

The confusion caused by married persons in the same household required the use of special vocabulary in French. As I have said Dominque “lui” was married to Dominique “elle”. Dominique “lui” was engaged in the enciphering and deciphering of codes on behalf of the French authorities in the divided city. He talked little about his work although it clearly had a high security classification. Dominique “elle” worked part time in the Biblioteque Francais at the Economat, an establishment designated for the sale of produce to the French occupying forces. The Lagrange family lived close by in the Cite Joffre, a dedicated area of military and civilian personnel close to the airport at Berlin Tegel.

Strangely enough the link between the Lagrange family and Jean Marie came about as a consequence of the author, a wandering Englishman who was only an occasional resident.