Wolfgang Riebe stormed out of Leah’s house, angrier at himself than at her. She had saved him in a moment of weakness when he had seriously contemplated suicide. She had saved him on more occasions than that, helping him cross the mountains, and taking care of him through his recovery. He thought of her as a person he could trust. Forever.
Yet when he hadn’t explained himself well, hadn’t been able to communicate to her how important it was that he keep covenants he had made and felt were sacred, she had twisted it all around, not understanding him or his intentions. Were such things really so alien to people?
Lost in thought, he stopped just short of running into a woman wearing a pale gray suit with red epaulets and red tabs on the collar. She had a rifle slung over her shoulder and spoke to him in Italian.
“I don’t understand,” he replied in English.
“Stop right there and don’t move,” she ordered in English with a heavy accent. Wolfgang stopped and raised his arms. Looking around now, he saw two armored cars and several troop trucks. Soldiers, some dressed in gray, some in camouflage, fanned out around the village. Others were being stopped.
“Arms. Put down,” the soldier said. Wolfgang complied.
She yelled in Italian over his shoulder and Wolfgang looked behind.
Leah was running towards them.
She stopped when the soldier yelled at her and she raised her hands. She responded to the soldier in Italian. They conversed a while and Wolfgang wished he had a clue what they were saying. When they finished, Leah walked over slowly and stood next to him, her hands up.
“What’s going on?” he asked in English. He didn’t want to give away just yet that he spoke German.
“I don’t know.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She asked me questions. Why I wanted to be with you. I told her we were married.”
“I’m sorry, Leah. I didn’t mean...”
“We’ll discuss it later. Don’t lie to these people. They are Swiss soldiers. But I don’t know why they are here. Don’t say anything unless they ask you.”
He put his arm around her and asked, “How long did you tell them we have been married?”
She didn’t pull away. “We don’t know each other that well. We must be recently married.”
He held her more closely and she leaned into him.
“Leah, I love you.” The words shocked him. He hadn’t meant to say them, but as soon as he did, he knew they were true. Could he honestly love someone again after losing his wife? He knew others did, but the pain of his wife’s death was so great at times that he never thought he could feel another happy thought. But he knew, above all, despite the pain, that now he wanted to be with Leah, while honoring his first family’s memory. He thought that might be possible.
“We’ll discuss it later,” she replied.
Everyone between the ages of fifteen and forty-five was rounded up in the village square. There were about fifty in all, men, women, and children. A man in a gray uniform with more lines on his epaulets than the soldier who had stopped Wolfgang climbed up on top of one of the armored cars and began reading in Italian from a tablet. Leah translated bits and pieces of what he read, adding her own commentary.
“The Swiss Army Command was destroyed in the meteor attack...It’s been reconstituted...gangs and militias forming all over the country...For the first time since World War Two, a General has been appointed...Everyone is conscripted to put an end to the violence. Wait, conscripted?”
She raised her hand. She was ignored.
The assembled crowd murmured. The officer on the armored car read louder.
“Mandatory conscription not to exceed the duration of the war plus six months...Prison sentences and harsh punishment for those seeking to avoid service. This is ridiculous. All nationalities presently in Switzerland. No. This isn’t right.” Leah looked furious. Wolfgang held onto her. Some of the soldiers grew nervous, and nervous soldiers scared him. She continued translating. “After registering, we will be given a packing list and we must return to the trucks by two p.m. to depart for basic training. This is so wrong, Wolfgang.”
“You haven’t had a General since World War Two?”
“We use the title differently than other countries. He is like a Supreme Commander. He is probably running the entire country.”
Some of the officers moved out with tablets, including the one who had stopped Wolfgang. She went to him first.
“Name?” she asked in English.
This was happening too fast for Wolfgang. His mind wasn’t processing information quickly enough. He thought about running but saw that other soldiers, the ones in camouflage, surrounded the group and had their guns ready. This was involuntary.
“Name?” she repeated, her voice escalating. Every officer knew how to do that. To make others feel like they had to obey their will. He knew that but complied anyway.
“Wolfgang Riebe.”
“Age?”
“Thirty-two.”
“Nationality?”
Wolfgang hesitated, then said, “German.” The officer raised an eyebrow at him.
“Languages?”
“German. Some English.”
She switched to German.
“Why didn’t you just tell me you spoke German the first time?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Look. There’s no reason to be afraid. We just have to get things under control, and quickly. You can be repatriated to your homeland after a few months service. We aren’t bad people, but there is a lot of panic.” Her accent was the typical Swiss sing-song, but she spoke High German and Wolfgang understood it much better than he did her English. She smiled warmly at him. “We have many German language units.”
“My wife doesn’t speak German very well.”
“It’s okay. We’ll still keep you two together. All married couples without children are being kept together. You don’t have children, do you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“What happens to the couples who do?”
“One has to stay behind to take care of them. We allow the couples to choose. I don’t know what will happen to them.”
“Why?”
“I shouldn’t tell you this, but I want you to understand why we are conscripting everyone, including foreigners. Our country is running out of food. Crops are failing and our reserve stores are not what they should be. The only way we can control those willing to kill each other for food is to conscript them.”
It made some sense, but suddenly Wolfgang worried for Leah’s parents. Their hot house was too small to grow enough food to feed both of them, and their garden plot in the yard, although much bigger, wouldn’t have fed them even if it’s vegetables weren’t stunted and withered. Wolfgang looked up at the perpetually cloudy skies and feared for the future.
The soldier spoke in Italian and Leah replied, “Leah Riebe.”
He chuckled to himself when she used his last name. He didn’t understand the Italian words for her age, but he knew she was twenty-three. She continued to answer and then the soldier spoke to her a few minutes.
“Come, let us get our things,” Leah said, pulling Wolfgang behind her.
They were supposed to bring their own firearms, if they had any, but they debated the sanity of bringing the American MP23s.
“There are those who would kill for such magnificent weapons,” Wolfgang said. “I think we should keep them hidden in your parents’ basement.” Wolfgang didn’t even know how to shoot his.
“Okay. My father has a pistol and a small rifle.”
“Leave them. He may need them. Unless you own a firearm yourself, simply tell them you have nothing.”
“I’m worried for my parents.”
“I am, too.”
She squeezed his hand when he said that. Maybe she was on the way to forgiving him.
They packed. Leah’s mother cried.
Her father asked Wolfgang to take care of her. She had never wanted any part of the military. One of the reasons she worked in Germany was to avoid compulsory service in the Swiss army, and it had come to her anyway. He shook his head in sorrow.
Wolfgang hadn’t known any of this. Her father spoke to him in German, the first time he had done so, which also surprised him. Although it shouldn’t have. Many Swiss were polyglots.
Wolfgang and Leah said goodbye to her parents. Leah’s mother sobbed into her husband’s chest and Leah finally said, “Let’s go.” They each carried one suitcase with the things they were allowed to bring.
Some tried to escape. Shots were fired and Wolfgang tried to not think about it. If he were assigned such duty, he wouldn’t be able to fire. It didn’t appear anyone had been hit. Perhaps some escaped. Perhaps the soldiers left the bodies to lie where they fell until the other conscripts were gone.
Perhaps it was all staged.
Whatever the truth, it had the desired effect. Wolfgang, Leah, and the others with them sat subdued as the trucks pulled out of Ludiano.
Leah stared wistfully out the back at her home.
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