I found it
I FOUND IT.
Saturday morning, on a whim, I searched classifieds for flat clearances in Lichtenberg. One listing: Haushaltsauflösung, alles muss raus, Samstag 9–14 Uhr. Everything must go. Same street name the radio man mentioned two years ago. I'm sure of it.
A flat on the third floor, an old woman's whole life on tables. Cups, linen, a sewing machine, a framed photo of the Baltic Sea. A nephew taking cash, bored. Books in banana boxes on the floor.
In the third box, under a stack of Neues Deutschland calendars: grey linen.
Tafeln gleichverteilter Zufallszahlen. Band II.
Price sticker on the back, old, from a GDR shop: 4,80.
The nephew wanted two euros. I gave him twenty and he looked at me like I was insane, and I walked down three floors without touching the stairs.