To Sleep With Reindeer

by Justine Saracen

  Her first thought was that it was Trygve and Ingar Oleson, and she puzzled at their intrusion into her private space. But then the double figure broke apart, and she grasped that one was a reindeer and the other was… Her heart leapt at the realization. Maarit.

  She stood up, still incredulous.

  Leaving the mysterious reindeer at the door of the barn, Maarit marched toward her and embraced her tightly. “I waited so long for you,” she murmured, half sobbing, into her hair.

  Kirsten felt her mouth tremble as she held back her own tears. “I’m so sorry. They wouldn’t let me come back.” She pressed her forehead against Maarit’s shoulder. “Forgive me.”

  “Of course I do.” Maarit traced her fingers lightly over Kirsten’s lips, then covered them with her own in a long, fervent kiss. They stood with closed eyes, breathing against each other, and it was for Kirsten as if a gaping wound had suddenly closed. She had expected euphoria, but instead felt serenity, rightness, wordless benediction.

  After a moment, she drew back. “Are you all right? They said you were wounded. What happened?” She guided Maarit over to the corner of the pen and drew her down to the straw that had been her bed for four nights.

  “A gunshot wound on my last mission, and I got an infection. It’s healing, but very slowly. I just don’t have much strength, yet.”

  “Shot by a German?”

  “A quisling. He killed the man I was trying to save. Fortunately, help arrived in time to get me to the hospital. But what about you? What kept you so long in Britain?”

  “The Normandy invasion.”

  “You were involved in that?”

  Kirsten chuckled softly. “Not directly. I was one of the team creating radio messages to convince the Germans the Allies were landing in Norway so they’d keep a large army up here rather than in France.”

  “But Normandy was last June. A year ago.”

  “I know. But they had no job for me in Norway, so they refused to let me return. Only when Lief Tronstad formed a team to defend power plants against the German scorched-earth withdrawal could I find a way to come back here. I was with Tronstad and then Poulsson from October until the surrender. Then, finally, they released me to look for you. Birgit told me you’d been working for the Shetland transport operation until you were wounded.”

  “Yes, I was a guide for our friend Iver, bringing people to where they could meet one of the Shetland boats. Big things now, those boats, submarine chasers and the like.”

  “Yes, the Hitra, which took me back to Scotland, was one of those. A luxury liner compared to what I first traveled on. But we’re getting away from you. What happened so that you ended up in Udsek?” She dropped her voice. “And married, I heard.”

  “Married? To whom?”

  “Niilas. The one they said rescued you and took you back to Udsek.”

  “Niilas? He did help me, but he’s already married.”

  “Not to you?

  Maarit laughed brightly. “No. Not to me. And he has a son. Also not with me. Did you really think…?”

  “I didn’t know what to think. How did he know you needed help?”

  “I told you Niilas gave up herding years ago. He’s a driver who supplies deer meat to various towns. During the war, it was all black market, of course, but he made it work. When he passed through Trondheim, a local Sami who worked at the hospital told him a Sami woman was there under a false identity and needed help. When Niilas found out it was me, he dropped everything and showed up to get me out.”

  “Oh. I’m so relieved!” Kirsten held her at arm’s length, studying the face she hadn’t seen for more than a year. Then she danced away to pile up clean straw from the barn floor. She laid her coat over it to form a pillow and held out her hand. “Come. Sit next to me and tell me everything. I’ve missed you so much.”

  Maarit lowered herself onto the little straw nest and leaned forward to stroke Kirsten’s cheek. “I’ve missed you too, darling. And I’ve been waiting for you the whole time.” She embraced Kirsten again and lay for a while with her head on her shoulder.

  “I’d made wonderful plans for us until it began to look like you weren’t coming back.”

  “What plans? To go back to school?”

  “I’d like to. I can make a better living from medicine than from reindeer. I’m just worried about whether the Trondheim hospital will let me in. Remember, the quislings there treated me like dirt.”

  “The collaborators will all be gone now, most of them to jail for treason, and the patriots will still be working. And remember, you have a commendation from the king!”

  “That’s right. At least it’s good for that. But what about you? How can we stay together?”

  “As well as that royal commendation, I also have a degree in chemistry, or almost. I was nearly finished when Terboven closed the university. It should take only a few months to get the degree. Best of all, my father is known in Trondheim, an important person in the industry. He’s all but offered me a position, once I have credentials.”

  Kirsten brushed her lips over Maarit’s hair, and as her glance wandered toward the barn door, she noticed the reindeer. It had tried to follow Maarit inside but was held back by its harness tied to something outside.

  “You brought a reindeer? In June?”

  “And a sled, too. Not that it did me much good. I still have trouble walking long distances. I get tired very quickly and could never have hiked all the way here from Udsek. That thing out there is a pulka sled, with a flat bottom, and it pulled me over the snowy and mossy patches. Rocks tear it up, of course, so half the time, I just walked alongside it like an old woman. Anyhow, I’m surprised you don’t recognize the deer.”

  “What do you mean? How should I recognize a deer?”

  “Go take a look. And while you’re there, you can unharness her and bring in the sack with her fodder. Poor thing.”

  Puzzled, Kirsten stood up, brushed straw from her legs, and strode toward the door. The animal had been in silhouette against the early evening sky, but as Kirsten came close, she halted suddenly.

  “It’s the white one. Lykke!”

  “Yes, the calf we saved.”

  “The one I slept with.” Cooing endearments, Kirsten unbuckled the harness and led the deer into the barn. “She’s really tame.”

  “She’s really spoiled. Gaiju kept her out of the herd and fed her by hand. He knew she was my pet. Fortunately, she escaped being slaughtered by the Germans.”

  Kirsten led the reindeer into the stall where Maarit sat and tugged her down onto the straw with them. “Will she stay with us?”

  “Poor girl has been dragging me overland for two days. Give her some of the moss, and she’ll snuggle up as long as you wish.”

  “I wish it forever. With you and our reindeer. Can we, do you think? I mean, make it forever?”

  “I never imagined it otherwise. So, let’s get a good night’s sleep, the three of us, and tomorrow we’ll work on the details of our plan. It’s peacetime. We can do anything we want.”

  “Even this.” Kirsten slid her arm under Maarit’s back, pressed her close, and began the lovemaking she had dreamed about for over a year. At the foot of the stall, Lykke curled into a deer doughnut and closed her eyes.

  Postscript

  During World War II, the British and Norwegians made three attempts to sabotage the German heavy-water program: Operation Freshman, Operation Gunnerside, and the Sinking of the Hydro. Freshman was a disaster, resulting in the deaths (from crashing, or in captivity) of all participants. Gunnerside was successful and commemorated in a 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark. The sinking of the Hydro, although it was the final blow to the program in Norway, remains morally questionable. The sinking caused many Norwegian casualties, and it is unlikely the heavy water it carried would have ever led to a German bomb. While women were active in both the SOE and in the Norwegian resistance, none were prominent in the three operations. Wikipedia lists the actual names of the large number
of men involved.

  Deuterium (D, or 2H), also called heavy hydrogen, is an isotope of hydrogen with a nucleus of one proton and one neutron, while the nucleus of ordinary hydrogen has one proton. D2O occurs naturally in minute quantities in ordinary water, H2O.

  Hardangervidda. Plateau (vidda) in central Norway that is particularly rugged and crisscrossed by ancient reindeer-migration trails. While barren and only marginally habitable during the period of the novel, it is now a national park enjoyed by hikers and campers in summer.

  Heavy Water D2O (water with heavy hydrogen) was useful as a moderator to slow neutrons in a nuclear reaction. As such, it was a valuable tool for atomic power research. Norwegian scientists at the hydroelectric plant at Rjukan initially undertook production, with a minute output. During the occupation, Germans expanded and controlled the program to supply the liquid for development of an atomic weapon, though there is no indication the German program advanced very far. The American program to develop an atomic weapon used other moderators.

  Milorg (Militær organisasjon). Originally merely a list of names of patriots who would fight when called upon, it was largely unarmed, untrained, and unequipped, with little leadership. By 1942, it had become a country-wide guerilla organization hoping to support an Allied landing. Each district had its own unit and leader. From May 1944, local Milorg units worked with SOE to carry out overt sabotage to prevent (German) mobilization of Norwegian workers and assisted peripherally in some of the heavy-water sabotage.

  Occupation Government: Josef Terboven. Reichskommissar of Norway and head of civilian affairs. Ruthless and petty, he was widely disliked, even by Germans. He planned several concentration camps, was responsible for the closing of Oslo University, and ordered the massacres in the village of Televåg and the Beisfjord prison camp. Upon Germany’s surrender, he blew himself up in a bunker. Vidkun Quisling. Founder of the Norwegian fascist party and prime minister of the pro-Nazi puppet government, he was largely beholden to Terboven and the fascist party, thus participated in Germany’s program of genocide. After the war, he was found guilty of murder and treason and executed by firing squad. The word quisling became a synonym for traitor and collaborator.

  Royal Family. King Haakon 7th and Crown Prince Olav (along with the much of the government) fled Norway with the aid of the British Royal Navy in June 1940 and established a government in exile in London. During the war, King Haakon broadcast regularly from London, and although he had little to say about the SOE sabotage missions, he nonetheless became the symbolic head of Norwegian resistance.

  Sami (Laplanders). Indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula. Largely reindeer herders, many also subsisted on fishing, trapping, or other trades. In all four countries, Sami were suppressed up to and through World War II. Their distinctive clothing varied according to their respective communities. Germans used Sami labor, e.g., for laying rail lines to transport troops across Sweden, and some acted as guides for the German mountain troops. The Norwegian resistance also paid them to help transport goods and fugitives. In December 1944, Swedish Sami ski troops fought in northern Norway. The retreating Germans’ scorched-earth policy caused widespread devastation of settlements and ancient structures, while destruction of forests reduced reindeer herds. In 1990, Norway officially recognized the Sami as an indigenous people and thus entitled to special protection and rights. Sami currently have their own parliament (Sámediggi) and flag. Their traditional houses, of birch frame, birch-bark waterproofing, and turf insulation, were called goahti. Temporary, teepee-like shelters used during migrations were called lavvus. Udsek is fictional and based on general information about Sami life, customs, and artifacts.

  Shetland transport (“Shetland Bus”) (1941–end of war). Officially named Royal Norwegian Naval Special Unit, though it was under the direction of the British military. It consisted first of fishing boats, later of armed submarine chasers, Vigra, Hessa, Hitra. They crossed the North Sea without lights between Norway and the Shetland Islands (northernmost Scotland) during the winter darkness to avoid capture or bombardment. Their task was to transfer agents, weapons, radios, etc. in and out of Norway and bring out Norwegians who feared arrest.

  SOE (Special Operations Executive). A secret British organization formed in July 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and to aid local resistance. Head of the Norwegian section was Jack Wilson, who sent missions to Norway both with and without the cooperation (or even knowledge) of Milorg and the Norwegian government in exile. The organization employed more than 13,000 people, about 3,200 of whom were women.

  Vemork Hydroelectric Plant (outside Rjukan, Norway). Using the flow of the Rjukan waterfall, the plant opened in 1911, primarily for the production of fertilizer. In the 1940s it began to produce heavy water, which the occupying Nazis wished to expand for use in atomic research. The plant closed in 1971 (becoming a museum), and a new plant opened behind it within the mountain. From 1929, the head chemical engineer was Jomar Brun, who sabotaged the Nazi production with castor oil, then passed diagrams and photos to the Allies before fleeing himself to Britain, where he helped plan the destructive operations. He was not married to an Englishwoman and (sadly) did not have a lesbian daughter. Leif Tronstad. Professor at the Institute of Technology, Trondheim, planned, designed, and supervised the plant until he fled to UK to become head of Section IV of the Norwegian High Command. He returned to Norway and was killed while defending local installations, as described in the novel.

  About the Author

  A recovering academic, Justine has thirteen novels under her literary belt, all setting lesbians in the historical landscape. Her tales immerse us in Ancient Egyptian theology and the Crusades, then move to Venice under the Inquisition and to Michelangelo’s Rome. Religious iconoclast, she also created an LGBT version of Sodom and Gomorrah and later an homage to Dian Fossey and her mountain gorillas.

  Saracen’s last four thriller/romances deal with World War II, shining lights on that shattering event as seen from inside Germany, from the French and Belgian Resistance, from the cockpit of a fighter flown by a female Soviet pilot, and from the focus of a Soviet woman sniper. Her last, Berlin Hungers, treats love between victor and defeated during the postwar Berlin Airlift.

  An adopted European, Saracen lives in Brussels where she has become very francofied, drinking wine, eating smelly cheese on baguettes, and enjoying the benefits of socialized medicine. In Covid-free times, she travels to Egypt to scuba dive, and to other exotic and dangerous locations like the United States.

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