Part I: The Pipes

"A Guide to Berlin" begins with the narrator entering a Berlin pub with a drinking companion after a morning spent, he notes, observing "utility pipes, streetcars, and other important matters." The story's first section marks the beginning of the "guide to Berlin" that the narrator describes to his listener later that day. On his way to the Berlin Zoo, the narrator had encountered several utility pipes not yet installed beneath the asphalt of the street in front of his home. He describes how the pipes got there, the exploits of the neighborhood boys on them after they were unloaded, and their appearance that morning after receiving a fresh blanket of snow. As the section closes, he notes that someone has spelled out the name "Otto" on the snow covering one of the pipes, a name that strikes him as "beautifully" mirroring the shape of...