Weaver

by Baxter, Stephen

  XXI

  12 December

  The Wehrmacht transport dropped Ernst off, and he walked up the drive to the Miller farmhouse. It had been snowing this December Friday, though it wasn’t desperately cold; the snow was moist and sticky.

  He walked slowly. He was tired tonight, his imagination worn out by all the briefings following Hitler’s sudden declaration of war upon America.

  The declaration itself wasn’t a shock; the Fuhrer had been infuriated for years by the Americans’ bending of the meaning of neutrality in its support of Britain: ‘Roosevelt is picking a fight,’ Josef always said. And the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a good time to go to war, for suddenly America found herself fighting on two fronts.

  And he was reluctant to go into the house, so sour had the mood been that morning, after the post had come with the bad news about Alfie. This isn’t my problem, he told himself. That was what Heinz and his officers told him every time he tried to talk about this. It’s just a billet. Walk away. And yet he was bound up with these people. So he walked to the house and in he went; what else could he do?

  He hung his greatcoat and hat on a hook in the hall, items of a German soldier’s military issue beside Fred’s battered farmer’s overcoat and the children’s school blazers and gabardines. He left his slushy boots in the hallway, so that he had to walk into the kitchen in his socks. The kitchen was warm, and full of cooking smells. It was yet another memorial day, Coronation Day, the anniversary of the crowning of King Edward previously denied him by his abdication. Ernst had been able to provide another bit of meat, a pork joint; he could smell it in the oven, while pans of vegetables sat on the range, steaming.

  Only Irma was here, with baby Myrtle, six months old, in her cot. Irma was hanging decorations on her Christmas tree, a fir about five feet high. There was a Nativity scene too, a stable and little wooden figures carved in wood, set up on the mantelpiece over the stove. Myrtle’s baby bag, her haversack-like protection from poison gas, sat on the floor near the cot.

  ‘Hello, Obergefreiter,’ Irma said. She looked tired, as always, and she pushed a lank bit of hair out of her eyes. ‘Do you need a cup of tea?’

  ‘Thank you. I will wait for supper. I can smell the pork.’

  ‘I’ve salted it for crackling, the way you like it. Thanks for the joint, Ernst.’

  ‘Don’t thank me, thank the King...’

  The truth was that Ernst wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to be able to provide treats like this. At war with America, life for all of them in the protectorate, German and English, was going to get harder. But there was no need to bring that into the family home, not tonight, with a Christmas tree and a roast in the oven.

  Dutifully he inspected the tree. There were garlands of some kind of tin foil, and bits of paper made into chains, and balls of wool scraps, multi-coloured. One odd touch was a set of little wooden battleships, suspended on bits of thread from the branches. There was even an angel, carved of wood and clumsily hand-painted, strapped to the top of the tree with a bit of string. ‘It is pretty.’

  ‘Well, I’m doing my best. We have a box of stuff we bring down from the loft every year. Fred made the angel, and his father made the Nativity scene. His father was a real woodworker.’

  ‘What is this tinsel?’

  ‘Chaff, from the RAF bombers. You find it all over the fields.’

  ‘Why the little battleships? These were issued for Scharnhorst Day, last Monday. You should use the King’s coronation medallions.’ One of these, stamped in wafer-thin tin, had been issued to every child under sixteen.

  Irma tutted. ‘Tell that to Fred. I’m not having that bloody usurper’s image on my bloody tree.“ Besides, little Myrtle eats them.’

  Viv came bubbling in. She was still in her school uniform, but Ernst could see she had put a bit of lipstick on, no doubt for his benefit. ‘Good evening, Ernst! I heard you come in.’

  ‘I must have noisy socks.’

  ‘What do you think of the Nativity? I set it up.’

  ‘It is very nice.’

  ‘See what I did?’ She picked out the infant Jesus from His crib. The tiny doll, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, was quite delicately carved, though worn from handling. And it had a yellow star on its breast, cut out from paper and fixed with a spot of glue. Viv winked at Ernst, as so often trying to draw him into a private connection. Ernst said nothing. She put the model back in the crib, and got to what she was clearly longing to ask. ‘I just wondered, you know, if there was any more news about the exchange programme.’

  In fact he had enquired at the town hall in Hastings that day. ‘As far as I am aware, nothing has changed. Although, look, the war situation is changing daily, even hourly. Everything is’ - he hunted for the colloquialism - ‘up in the air.’

  ‘I don’t see why the Japanese bombing a lot of American boats in Hawaii should make any difference. I’m so glad I’m going, ever so. I mean, it will be ever such fun, to see Berlin!’

  Irma said wearily, ‘Oh, you’re such a silly girl, Viv. And so selfish. Don’t let your father hear you talking like that.’

  Viv sniffed. ‘I’ll say what I like.’

  Ernst touched Irma’s arm. ‘It is all right. She is young, after all—’

  It was the wrong thing to say. ‘I’m not young!’ Viv turned and stormed out of the kitchen, and almost collided with her father. Fred walked in and glared at Ernst.

  ‘Good evening, Fred.’

  Fred scowled, the dirt rubbed deep into his lined face. ‘Battle. I suppose you’ve heard.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The auxiliaries blew up an ammo store there. It’s on the German radio. There’ll be reprisals, won’t there?’

  Ernst knew nothing about what had happened at Battle, but he was sure that this was another consequence of Hitler’s declaration of war against the Americans. But the news was grave and depressing. In Albion resistance attacks had blossomed, bombs and assassinations and attacks on collaborators. And the reprisals had been harsh.

  ‘They’re taking one from every house, they say,’ Fred said.

  ‘It is best not to speak of this until necessary,’ Ernst said stiffly.

  Fred turned to his wife. ‘And what’s wrong with that empty-headed little bitch upstairs?’

  ‘Don’t speak of her that way.’ Irma used a fork to test how the swedes were cooking. ‘She’s just fretting about her exchange trip, that’s all.’

  ‘She can’t think she’s still going to Berlin. Not after Alfie. And not after the way everything’s blowing up.’

  ‘You know what she’s like, Fred.’

  ‘Yes, I know what she’s like, she’s bloody selfish and she couldn’t care less about her brother, and I know she’s not going to Berlin.’

  ‘Yes, well, you let her work that out for herself if that’s how it’s going to be. Don’t go wading in and calling her names.’

  He walked to the sink, his limp pronounced. He stepped over baby Myrtle as if she was no more than a heap of firewood. He never acknowledged the baby’s existence, not even by a glance. He rolled up his sleeves. He dumped out washing from the sink, underwear and smalls, shoving aside the box of Rinso, and began to wash hands and arms grimy from the fields. ‘I tell her the truth, that’s all. You’re too bloody soft.’

  ‘I wish you’d wash in the yard,’ Irma said. ‘Look at the mess you’re making. And never mind calling me soft. I’m just trying to protect Viv, is all.’

  ‘Protect her? What about protecting Alfie, eh?’ He glared over his shoulder at Ernst. ‘How can it be right to call up a fourteen-year-old boy for forced labour?’

  Irma opened the oven to draw out the roast. The air was filled with greasy steam, and the heat of the kitchen was oppressive. Ernst suddenly felt very weary. Fred had been just as angry this morning, when Alfie’s call-up letter had come; Ernst imagined him raging all day, inwardly, taking it out on his family, and himself.

  Ernst pulled out a
chair and sat at the table. ‘Look, Fred. You have to see the context. Since the declaration yesterday, we are at war with a power that already has military assets in position just the other side of the First Objective. Suddenly there is an enormous amount of defensive work that must be done, along the Objective, at the coasts. Airfields must be rebuilt, ports extended. And in Albion there is a shortage of young men of working age. There were the casualties of the invasion, the prisoners taken, the labour drafts for the continent—’

  ‘If Hitler needs fourteen-year-old English boys to defend himself against the Americans he shouldn’t have declared war on them. Alf’s not even going to get paid, is he?’ Wiping his hands, Fred jabbed his finger for emphasis. ‘I let him join the Jugend because I thought it might spare him this sort of thing, but no.’

  Irma snorted. ‘I’m surprised you don’t tell him it’ll toughen him up. That’s what you used to say to Jack. I had to do my time in the last lot and now it’s your turn.” You called him a girl, for wanting to go to technical college.’ She laughed, bitter.

  ‘You leave Jack out of this.’

  ‘Fred, I understand,’ Ernst said hastily. ‘Truly I do. But I am an obergefreiter, a corporal. I have little influence on policy.’

  ‘You’re a bloody useless little prick, is what you are.’

  Irma turned on him, suddenly furious. ‘Oh, you’re such a big man, aren’t you? You sit here night after night beating up Ernst. Why don’t you take on the Gestapo? No, you won’t, because you’re a coward and a bully, and you take it out on kids and women and—’

  ‘Now see here, I won’t be spoken to like that.’ Fred’s face was crimson, a vein in his neck bulging.

  ‘I heard shouting.’

  The three of them turned.

  Alfie stood in the doorway. He was growing fast, but he was so thin his ill-fitting clothes hung off him, his cuffs and ankles showing. His face was blotchy, as if he had been crying. He actually had his letter from the Obligatory Work Service programme in his hand. Ernst imagined him carrying it around all day, as his father had his anger.

  Fred made an obvious effort to calm down. ‘It’s all right, son. We weren’t shouting.’

  ‘Yes, you were. It’s my fault, isn’t it?’

  Fred crossed to him and took his son in his massive arms, his sleeves still rolled up. ‘Oh, no, son, it’s not like that. We’re upset about you having to go off to work, but it’s not your fault, don’t ever think that.’

  Ernst couldn’t meet Alfie’s yearning eyes. They both knew that Alfie’s best chance of being spared was to get a medical certificate, but such exemptions tended to favour the well-connected and wealthy. He said, ‘Alfie, it is only work. It will not be so bad. You will be with others of your age, and older.’

  ‘You see,’ Fred said. He mock-punched Alfie on the chest, and pinched his arms. ‘A bit of outdoor work. Better than school, eh?’

  ‘Will we get more food?’ Alfie asked Ernst.

  ‘I do not know. I will try to find out.’

  ‘Well, there’s food now,’ Irma said. She had the roast on a big serving plate; the crackling was golden brown. ‘And that’s enough fuss for now. Fred, come over here and carve. And Alfie, will you tell your sister to—’

  There was a knock at the door.

  They all froze. Fred caught Ernst’s eye, and Ernst knew what he was thinking.

  Viv came running down the stairs. She seemed excited, not alarmed. ‘Was that a knock? Who is it?’

  ‘Shut up.’ Fred walked heavily to the door, and opened it.

  The voice was a woman’s, her English heavily accented. ‘I am looking for Ernst Trojan. I - he used to lodge here—’

  Ernst ran to the door, pushing past Fred. ‘Claudine?’

  XXII

  She was dressed in a slim-fitting coat, stockings and black hat: a smart outfit but mud-splashed and torn. She looked exhausted. And an immense bruise marred one side of her face. ‘My God, Claudine, what happened to you? Come in, come in out of the cold—’ He took her arm and led her into the kitchen. In the light the bruise on her face looked even worse, and he could see how her stockings were snagged.

  The Millers stood around staring.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Ernst said in English. ‘Fred, Irma, this is a friend. Her name is Claudine Rimmer, she is from France.’

  ‘I didn’t have anywhere else to go,’ Claudine said in German. ‘I couldn’t think—’

  Fred snapped, ‘This is my house, and you’ll speak English.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ernst hastily. ‘I am sorry. Of course.’

  Irma got over her shock. ‘Oh, never mind him. Come in. Let’s get that coat off you. My, it’s pretty.’

  Claudine forced a smile. ‘It is torn,’ she said in English.

  ‘Nothing that a bit of make do and mend won’t see to.’ Irma handed the coat and Claudine’s hat to Viv. ‘Here, love, hang these up.’

  Viv took the clothes with a scowl and flounced out.

  ‘Now you come and sit down. Fred, you put that roast back in the oven.’

  Alfie stared at the meat. ‘Aren’t we going to eat?’

  ‘There’ll be time for that later. Fred, put a bit of paper on the meat so it doesn’t dry out.’ Irma bustled off to put the kettle on the range.

  Ernst sat with Claudine. He had not seen her since that October day at Hastings, when he had fled from her. Seeing her now, in this condition, he felt ashamed. And it was very, very strange to have her sitting here now, the girl he had fallen in love with in sunny Boulogne, a year and a world away. But that was the war for you, the endless, overpowering, abhuman war, mixing everything up.

  He said, ‘So you ran away. Yes?’

  ‘Me? Run? In these shoes?’ That was the old Claudine.

  He smiled at her. ‘Do you want a cigarette?’

  ‘Please.’

  Irma came over now and inspected Claudine’s face, pushing back her hair. Claudine flinched. ‘That’s a nice shiner you’ve got, love.’

  ‘I walked into a lamp-post. The blackout. You know.’

  Fred just glared, disbelieving. But Irma said, ‘Well, we’ve all done that. I could send Fred or Alfie for the doctor—’

  ‘No,’ said Claudine quickly. ‘It is just a bruise.’

  ‘Well, I’ll get you some iodine, and a sponge to clean you up a bit. You just sit there, darling. Fred, you make some tea. Get some fresh leaves from the caddy; that last lot are as old as last Christmas.’

  Fred was still putting the roast in the oven. He said, ‘Bloody hell.’ But he complied, fetching down a fresh mug from the shelf

  Viv came back in. She sat beside Ernst, as close as she could get, and she glared at Claudine. ‘So what’s your name again?’

  ‘Rimmer. Claudine Rimmer.’

  ‘Claudine. How do you know Ernst? What do you do for a living, Claudine?’

  ‘I work as a translator for the occupation authority.’

  ‘Oh, yes? I’ll bet I know what you really do.’

  ‘Viv!’ Irma came back with a bottle of iodine solution and a rag; she poured hot water from the kettle into a bowl. ‘You don’t speak to people like that.’

  ‘Come on, Mum, look at her! She’s French!’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘And she’s drenched in perfume.’

  ‘Enough. Your room, Vivien. Now.’

  Viv stood up. ‘I’ll be glad, I can’t stand the stink in here.’ She marched out, lips pulled into a pout. She had come and gone in a minute; it was as if a storm had passed through the room.

  Fred set a mug of tea before Claudine. She closed her hands around the mug, as if grateful for the warmth, but did not drink.

  Irma started working at the bruise with the iodine and water. ‘You mustn’t mind Viv. It’s just that she’s, well, she’s fifteen.’

  ‘I was fifteen once,’ Claudine said. She drew on her cigarette and eyed Ernst. ‘But she likes you, I think. She is jealous, perhaps. Of course she was right about me.’ That stunned them all to silence,
Ernst embarrassed, Fred and Irma shocked, Alfie wide-eyed. ‘It is best to be truthful, is it not? Not to hide behind lies.’

  ‘Bloody hell,’ said Fred. ‘Bloody, bloody hell. What’s it coming to, eh? That’s what I want to know.’

  Irma, resolute, kept on with her first aid. ‘Don’t mind him. We don’t all get pleasant choices, do we, in this war?’

  ‘That is true.’ Claudine flinched as Irma dabbed on the iodine.

  ’‘And whatever you’ve, you know, you didn’t deserve this done to you, did you?’

  ‘Who was it?’ Ernst asked.

  ‘English,’ she said. ‘A Landwacht. In the closed houses we are expected to entertain them too. When I would not do what he asked - well. He grew frustrated.’

  ‘So why did you leave?’ Ernst said. The military brothels were supervised, and the girls given medical attention. ‘You could have reported this.’

  ‘But he would have reported what I did to him. I did fight back, Ernst.’

  ‘Good for you.’

  ‘My punishment would have been harsh. I have not always obeyed rules before. So I fled.’

  ‘Can we eat now?’ Alfie asked pitiably.

  ‘In a minute,’ his mother said. ‘Maybe Miss Rimmer would like to join us? There’s enough meat for another plate.’

  ‘Now wait a minute,’ said Fred, and he loomed over the table. ‘Wait just a bloody minute. I hope you’re not thinking of letting this frog stay.’

  ‘Fred,’ Irma snapped.

  Ernst said quickly, ‘She has nowhere else to go, Fred.’

  ‘We ought to hand her over to the bloody Gestapo, that’s what we should do, or we’ll all be for it!’

  ‘Let it just be for the night, then. I will sort something out.’

  ‘Oh, you’ll sort her out, but you won’t get my little boy off the OWS levy, will you?’

  ‘That’s different.’

  ‘I bet it bloody is. Shall I cut him a hole so you can fuck him, will that make you help him?’

  Ernst stood, furious. ‘That is enough.’

  Irma pushed herself between them. ‘For God’s sake, Fred! Please, Obergefreiter—’