In the morning, things had changed. Maddie could feel it in the air around
her: it was heavy and depressive, and she felt it press down on her; the
lightness held yesterday, gone.
The rainbow that had wrapped its arms around her had fled as well. It
wasn’t her imagination. She had called him a coward, had seen hurt in his
eyes at those damaging words. But she couldn’t take them back.
It was early, five thirty, but time to start a new day. To face reality. She
was an ATS driver and she was due back at Camp 115 in White Cross to
pick up her prickly passenger Captain Andrews at 0700 hours. She had been
living in a bubble for the past two days, not real life. An amazing dreamlike
state, inhabited by an intriguing, charismatic man who had changed her
from a girl into a woman. He had said he loved her. And perhaps he did, but
now it was time to walk out of her glorious dream and leave it behind on
the rugged Cornish shoreline.
All the same, she would like to have said goodbye to Rudi Fischer. But
now he was really gone. Vanished without a word. She’d expected more of
him, this man who had shared his memories and his love with her. His
passion for Heimat, a mythical homeland that no longer existed, was in his
mind only. She would never forget him, his tenderness, the humanity he
showed – rescuing young Harry instead of running away.
No. The man was definitely no coward, and it had been cruel of her to
use the word in anger, but it was too late. Even so, Maddie took the torch
and walked down to the cove, searched the beach and the small churchyard.
She hadn’t truly expected to find him there, but hope was a word that still
hovered in her mind. Just one last glimpse of him to carry with her. Still,
she was glad she’d come down to Church Cove this last time. A chance to
say goodbye to this incredible place at the edge of the world. The pounding
of the surf on the shore and the surge of the tide as it challenged the land
was a symphony of sound that would stay with her. And Maddie made
herself a promise that wherever else life took her on the planet, she would
return there again one day.
She shuddered in the chill morning air, felt small droplets of saltwater
spray her face from the incoming waves, and made her way reluctantly back
up the beach. He wasn’t anywhere along the path, but in a way, Maddie was
relieved. For what would she have said to him after last night? After hurting
him with that awful barb.
It seemed silly, school-girlish and sentimental, but she went into the
broken-down barn one last time, shone the torch over its walls and went
over to the ancient wooden bench, tapped it once. For luck. Said goodbye to
their special place. Not a palace but it felt like one.
She turned her back on it, heavy-hearted now, drained. He was gone,
but she must carry on. She got in the car and drove the rugged path back up
to the hamlet of Gunwalloe, the hooded headlights bouncing off the land.
The sky had lightened by the time she reached the turn-off from the village
and onto the road proper. She turned the car towards Helston. This time she
would just skirt around it, no need to go into the town. At the crossroads she
had to wait for a convoy to pass, so she pulled up patiently. It was early in
the day for traffic, but then as Annie the Land Army girl had told her, they
were building a couple of new aerodromes out this way. There’d be a lot of
lorries ferrying supplies. Wartime. Bad for most people but good for some.
For those who managed to get rich on the back of it.
Maddie turned off her hooded headlights as full daylight filtered
through the grey clouds. She checked Harriet’s instrument panel, then
looked at the leather seat beside her, where the pasties and Spingo had sat,
and that’s when she saw it.
Something small and white, like glossy paper, gleaming, smiling up at
her from the grey leather.
She picked it up and turned it over. It was a small photograph. A tall,
thin man, his face emaciated but with a smile that shone with life. A happy
face, considering the man was standing outside the hut of a POW camp.
He’d left it there for her. ‘Rudi,’ she said and smiled with relief. He
wanted her to remember him. He’d forgiven her for the damning words
she’d carelessly thrown at him. He still loved her after all. And that’s when
Maddie cried.
She cried most of the way back to Camp 115. She didn’t notice the land
as it flashed past her, or even the road ahead. All she could remember about
the trip back was the sorrow and the pain she felt at leaving him like that.
She imagined it was how bereavement felt.
It was strange, driving back in through the camp barrier again. But other
than the duty guard checking her military ID card, there was no obvious
security flap on, nothing to suggest that a prisoner had broken out. And no
one tried to arrest her for aiding and abetting a POW in his escape.
Maddie pulled the car into the parking space where the squaddie
directed her and, once she’d locked up, began the long walk down to the
temporary ‘office’ they’d assigned Captain Andrews. She’d half expected to
find him waiting for her up by the main gate, stamping around impatiently,
looking important, clutching his briefcase – as he’d been when she picked
him up from the War Office in Whitehall. He’d said 0700 hours but still,
there was fifteen minutes to go. Maddie believed in being punctual in her
duties, even if her passengers didn’t feel the same way.
Corporal Williams crossed over from one of the huts, rushed to catch up
with her. ‘Back safe then,’ he said. ‘You missed the fun.’
‘Fun?’ asked Maddie.
‘SNAFU,’ he said. ‘Situation normal, all fucked up – begging your
pardon, miss.’
‘Not to worry,’ said Maddie. ‘I’ve been in the army long enough to see
a few SNAFUs myself.’ And swearing was something you got used to.
‘This one’s a beaut,’ said Corporal Williams. ‘Heads’ve already started
to roll. Our illustrious leader for one.’
‘Oh?’
‘Major’s been reassigned, according to the grapevine. Shit usually runs
downhill,’ said the corporal, and laughed. ‘Looks like it’s made its way
uphill this time. Can’t say I’m surprised – the man’s an arse.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Maddie. Which was true. Well, partly.
‘There was a breakout. Two prisoners made it out through the wire, over
there.’ He nodded towards the railway line. ‘One stupid bastard got himself
caught in the tracks. Killed stone dead. Train ran over him. Just his legs,
mind,’ added Williams quickly, when he saw Maddie’s face turn white.
‘Took ’em clean off at the knees. But his top half was still okay,’ he said, as
if that made up for it.
‘So, you could recognise him?’ asked Maddie, urgently. It didn’t make
sense. And she wanted to throw up.
He couldn’t have come back. Couldn’t possibly have made it back here
in time.
‘Yes, I knew him. Arrogant little toad. Always marching around like he
was cock of the walk. The other one wasn’t bad – for a Kraut, that is. Ran
the camp newsletter. That one got clean away.’
She put her hand over her mouth. Felt sick with relief. Some bloke cut
in half on the railway line! But it wasn’t him.
Well, of course it wasn’t Rudi. How could it be? Surely, he would still be
somewhere on the Lizard Peninsula?
‘Right, I’ll be off. Stuff to do,’ he said. ‘You’ll find your Captain
Andrews down in the Glory Hole.’ The corporal grinned. ‘Don’t suppose
he’ll come out of this SNAFU with any medals, either.’
‘Why?’ asked Maddie. ‘They can’t blame him for…’
‘He’s from the POW department. Happened on his watch. Lucky you
had yourself a 48-hour pass. Did you a service there, eh?’
‘How’s that?’
‘You weren’t nowhere near when this kicked off. Right, I’m off for
some grub. Pleasure to meet you, miss. Have a good trip back.’
Maddie smiled at the corporal. He seemed like a decent sort. But she
doubted she’d have a good trip back, for too many thoughts invaded her
head. There’d been a SNAFU all right, like Corporal Williams had said, and– accidental or not – she was right there in the middle of it.
How long before someone with half a brain found out what had really
happened, and they kicked her out?
She heard footsteps behind her on the concrete path as she headed down
towards the water tower. They quickened, and when she walked past the
football pitch, their owner caught up with her: suddenly, she was grabbed
hold of from behind and pulled around the side of a hut, out of sight.
Maddie tried to scream, but the man in front of her covered her mouth
with his hands.
‘No hurt,’ he said, and took his hands away. ‘I no hurt.’
‘Who are you? What do you want with me?’ Her voice shook. She was
frightened, but then this strange man looked frightened as well.
‘Ich bin Hans Meyer.’
‘What?’
‘Mein name ist Hans. Freund,’ he said. ‘Freund!’
‘Friend?’ she asked.
‘Ja, ja.’ The man’s face relaxed into an expression of relief that she had
understood. ‘Friend for Rudi. Rudi Fischer ist mein Freund.’
‘So, you’re Rudi’s friend. He told me about you,’ she said.
‘You see him? He escapes okay?’
‘He got away,’ she told him. ‘I don’t know where he is now, but for two
days they didn’t find him.’
‘He tells me to cut hole in wire so they don’t think you do this.’
‘My God, he told you to do that? And the other man – the one on the
railway line?’
‘Very bad man,’ said Hans Meyer. ‘Nazi. Oberleutnant Karl Hoffmann.
Rudi try to stop him bullying, but he want to kill mein Freund. Rudi must
escape. We help him get in your car.’
‘You did?’
‘Ja.’ Meyer shrugged his shoulders.
‘And this Hoffmann? He wanted to escape too?’ she asked.
‘Nein.’
‘No? Then how did he get on the railway line?’
‘I go,’ said Meyer. ‘Roll call. Danke,’ he said. ‘Thanks you.’ He shook
hands with her before he walked away.
‘For what?’ said Maddie. ‘I didn’t do anything. And how did Hoffmann
get on the line?’ she shouted at his retreating back.
Hans Meyer looked back at her and winked. ‘Maybe he tripped,’ he
said.
She could hear him chuckling as he walked away.
