During the Cold War in the 1970s I was in the US Air Force, working as a mechanic, and served several tours of duty in West Berlin. During one of them, I met and started dating Christiane, a single mother in her late 20s.
Christiane had a little girl, Heidi, who was six when I first got to know the family. Heidi was the sweetest, most obedient little girl I had ever come across – and it wasn’t long into my relationship with Christiane that I discovered the reason for such good behaviour.