‘That’s the sea.’
‘Oh.’
She came and sat beside him, her hip brushing against his leg.
He reached across and pulled off her headscarf, evading her obstructing hand. ‘You’re beautiful. You know that? The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.’
‘Even with no hair? And a broken nose?’ She was hovering between tears and humour, her eyes anxiously watching him – trying to detect nuances.
‘Even with no hair. And because of your broken nose.’ He ran his hands across the newly grown down on her scalp. ‘This way I get the best of every world. First, as you are now, the Iroquois squaw. Then, when it grows a little, I can pretend you are a pretty boy, and indulge in Greek vices. A little more growth, and you will be a Berlin lesbian, with all that that entails. Then a shingled Jazz girl, from Harlem. Then a debutante. Then an artist’s model. Then Lucienne Boyer. Then you.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I’ll be anything you want.’ She was looking at him, her eyes glistening with happiness. Then her expression shifted. ‘Max. What if the crew of this boat won’t take us to Spain?’
‘Then we must hope someone, somewhere, throws us some fish heads.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Fish heads? Whatever do you mean?’
Max smiled. ‘It’s a story Father Bauer, our village priest, used to tell us when we were altar boys. As part of a doomed effort to teach us moral values, I suppose.’ A shadow lurked behind his laugh.
‘You miss Germany, don’t you?’
He nodded. ‘The smell of it. I miss the smell of it mostly. Ground coffee and spices. Fresh baked rye bread and cured meats. Nutmeg. Caraway seeds. Salami. Bierwurst. Westphalian ham. That sort of thing. It’s stupid, isn’t it? But I get the feeling I’m never going to go back there.’
She moved closer to him. She took his hand and placed it around her shoulders. ‘Tell me, then. Tell me the story about the fish heads. I love it when you tell me stories.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Of course I’m serious.’
‘All right, then. I will.’ He smiled and sat up straighter on the bench, drawing her onto his chest, pleased that she was placating him – pleased at his own response. ‘It concerns Johann Sebastian Bach. Germany’s greatest composer. If you don’t count Beethoven, that is, who was part Flemish anyway.’ Max blew out his cheeks self-consciously, aware that he was straying from the point. ‘Anyway, when Bach was a very young man, no more than fifteen years old, he would often trek fifty kilometres by foot, all the way from Ohrdorf to Hamburg – all the way across the sinister Lüneburger Heide – just to hear the greatest organist of the age, Johann Adam Reinken, playing at the Katharinen-Kirche.’
‘Fifty kilometres by foot! Just to hear organ music?’
‘Shhh, Lucie. Control yourself. I’m telling this story.’ Max cleared his throat with mock importance. He was pleased that the story was taking her out of herself and that she was no longer frightened. He continued, with one eye fixed on the companionway. ‘On one occasion, hungry and penniless, Bach almost lost heart. In fact he was sorely tempted to turn back and head for home. Stopping to rest outside a roadside inn, however, he was assailed by the tantalising smells emanating from the kitchen – he knew, you see, that it would be a day, perhaps more, before he himself could eat, and he was exhausted from his winter trek. So he sat on a tree stump outside the inn and rested, close to despair, watching the festivities inside, and dreaming, like me, of food. At this exact moment the innkeeper’s wife threw two putrid fish heads out into the street from an upstairs window.’
‘Aiee, Max. He didn’t eat them, did he?’
‘No. Of course he didn’t eat them. In fact, at first, he was tempted just to ignore them and return home, his mission uncompleted. However, something, some benign power perhaps, forced him to reconsider.’ Max made a pensive moue with his mouth. ‘Father Bauer would probably have called it the Force of Grace. With some justification, I should add.’ He shook his head, the memories so close that he could almost touch them. ‘So, anyway, Bach picked up the fish heads – which God appeared to have provided, in a rare fit of humour, for his modest sustenance – and in them, to his astonishment, he found two coins.’
‘Gold coins?’
‘Groschen, I suspect. Simply Groschen. The equivalent nowadays of a few centimes. But these coins, these miraculous coins, allowed Bach to continue on his journey to Hamburg with a full stomach and with his spirits entirely restored. The rest, as they say, is history.’
Lucie craned her neck to look up at him. ‘And you think we need some fish heads of our very own? Is that what you are telling me?’
‘How come God made you so wise?’ Max reached down and kissed her on the brow. ‘Yes. Everybody needs fish heads from time to time.’
Pasajes De San Juan
8 am: Saturday 17th June 1944
Lucie had dozed a little in his arms, and he had passed the time in watching her face, the movement of her breast, the occasional twitching of her hand in his. Privately he had decided that he would force the crew – kill them if necessary – to get Lucie safely to Spain. He possessed the pistol. The motivation. The will. The experience to bring it off.
At last Lucie stirred and he eased her gently upright, watching the recognition flare in her eyes as she remembered where they were.
‘Are you feeling better?’
‘Less sleepy. My head still feels muddy, though.’ She reached up and touched the scar on his temple. ‘That’s not going to go away, you know. I think you’ve got it forever.’
‘Do you mind?’
‘No. It makes you look dashing. As if you’ve been involved in a duel.’
‘I have, in a manner of speaking.’ He frowned, as if he did not quite understand the content of his own words. ‘I’m sorry. But it’s time for us to go up on deck.’
‘I’m scared, Max.’
‘We must be well beyond French waters, now. We can’t leave it any longer. Do you feel up to it?’
She nodded, swallowing. ‘All right.’
He took her by the hand, the Luger held lightly by his side, and they slowly ascended the galley stairs.
Once beyond the protection of the hatch, the weather struck them with its full fury. Max held Lucie close to him as they made their way towards the wheelhouse. Two of the fishermen had seen them by now and were watching their progress, frozen in the act of sorting nets and stacking baskets.
The skipper had seen them too. He hesitated for a moment, then lashed the wheel in place and stepped out of the cockpit, turning up the collar of his jacket as he did so, a quizzical expression on his face. He stared down at the pistol in Max’s hand, his countenance darkening. Then he shrugged.
Max raised the pistol, almost as if he were looking at it for the first time. He glanced down at Lucie.
Then, meeting the skipper’s eyes with his, he hurled the pistol over the railings and far out into the sea.
Glossary
Ach, du liebe Zeit!: German expletive implying ‘Good grief!’, ‘Christ!’, or ‘I don’t believe it!’
Agriculteur: French word for farmer.
À la hauteur de sa fille: (Fr.) ‘Of her daughter’s quality’. ‘Cut from the same cloth as her daughter’.
À la persillade: (Fr.) An accompaniment to meat, fish or soup, made with chopped parsley, mixed with varying quantities of chopped garlic.
Albions: Semi-affectionate French wartime slang word for the British.
Alte Hasen: Literally ‘old hares’, and referring to the ability of veteran front-liners to keep their heads down when necessary (as a hare in its form), and to live off the land.
Angélus: (Fr.) A thrice daily tolling of church bells to remind the people of the locality to turn their thoughts towards God.
Apache: French for a ‘tough’, a hooligan, or a bandit. Usually from a large town, or city.
Apfelstrudel: German/Austrian variety of apple cake, made with vanilla, rai
sins and spices.
Au Chic Parisien: Literally, the ‘home of Parisian chic’.
Avalez ça, Connard!: (Fr.) ‘Eat that, you bastard!’
Bain-Marie: (Fr.) A double-boiling pan, in which to heat sauces.
Basse-Cour: The area of a French farm in which domestic animals are reared, most notably poultry and rabbits.
Bayerwald: (Ger.) The ‘Bavarian wood’ or ‘forest’.
Bergerie: (Fr.) Sheepfold.
Boche: French wartime slang for the Germans. Equivalent to the English expression ‘Jerries’, or ‘Krauts’.
Boudin: (Fr.) Black pudding or blood sausage.
Bourgeoise: (Fr.) A middle-class woman, with the implication that she lives a conventional form of life.
Bouziller les gars: Literally to ‘shoot the guys’ or kill people, but usually taken in a French wartime context to refer specifically to Vichy agents.
Briefadel: The lesser level of the German nobility, made up of those houses that were ennobled only after the beginning of the 15th Century through to the end of the German or Austrian Empires in 1918.
Bund Deutscher Mädel: A member of the equivalent female group to the Hitler Jugend q.v. (Hitler Youth) for boys. Schooled to follow and foment the Nazi worldview, the girls were trained to become ideal mothers, embodying all the female virtues considered necessary by the Nazi party. Traditional dress comprised navy blue skirts, white blouses, brown jackets and pigtails.
Bürgermeister: (Ger.) Mayor.
Buron: An isolated stone hut used by shepherds in south-western France.
Bursche: Colloquial German word for young man, lad, or guy.
Camisado: Literally, an ‘attack in one’s shirt’, from the habit of Spanish knights, during a night attack, to wear their shirts over their armour for easier recognition.
Causses: Extensive limestone plateaux covering large areas of south-western France.
Causse Bleu: Regional French name for a chalk white butterfly.
Cervelat Wurst: (Ger.) A pork-based salami sausage originally from Switzerland.
Chabrol: The French peasant’s habit of mixing a little red wine with the dregs of his soup, then drinking it directly from the bowl.
Champ de Foire: (Fr.) Literally ‘fairground’. But generally taken to mean, in this context, the market place or main village square.
Chasse-spleen: (Fr.) Literally means ‘to chase away the blues’. Chasse-Spleen is also the name of a famous Bordeaux vineyard located in Moulis en Médoc.
Châtaignes: (Fr.) Sweet chestnuts.
Châtelain: French term for a squire or lord of the manor. Alternately, any large landowner.
Cinq à Sept: French euphemism for an afternoon siesta invariably incorporating sex.
Citron: Maquis slang for a ‘hand grenade’.
Clope: French slang for a cigarette.
Collabos: French wartime slang for those who collaborated with the German authorities.
Costaud: (Fr.) A strapping, strongly built man.
Couleuvre de Montpellier: A large semi-poisonous grass snake native to the Causse region.
Coup de théâtre: (Fr.) A dramatic turn of events – an enjoyment of drama.
Crème de Noix: (Fr.) An alcoholic drink made with the husks of walnuts, eau-de-vie, and a honey and sugar syrup.
Crise de foie: Ubiquitous French term for indigestion; the pure translation is ‘liver crisis’.
Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm: (Ger.) The apple does not fall far from the tree.
Des Boches, Dieu, protégez nous: (Fr.) ‘Protect us, Oh Lord, from the Germans.’
Deutscher Blick: German wartime expression meaning ‘German glance’, describing the furtive look a person gave over their shoulder to make sure no one was listening or watching before indulging in anti-Nazi discussion or jokes.
Dienst: German word for service, as in ‘service binoculars’.
Dreck: German word for filth or garbage.
Einsatzgruppe: The group charged with fulfilling the ‘Final Solution’ directive and other forms of mass killing in German occupied countries.
Einsatzkommando: Wartime German word for the individual killer units taken from within the Einsatzgruppen (q.v.), selected to liquidate so-called undesirable individuals or groups (partisans, Jews, Communists, saboteurs) on the Eastern Front.
Eintopf: German word for a stew or casserole. On the Eastern Front, this usually consisted primarily of boiled cabbage.
Éleveur: French word for a stockbreeder or animal rearer.
Embrasse-moi: (Fr.) Kiss me.
En flagrant deli: (Fr.) Caught red-handed
En friche: (Fr.) Uncultivated. Neglected.
Er ist Aus: He’s had it. He’s dead.
Erste Licht: German for the ‘first light’ of dawn.
Eschalats: (Fr.) Coppice wood.
Etappenschwein: Literally ‘rear pig’, implying a soldier who succeeded in keeping himself rigorously away from the frontline.
Évier: A communal tap in a French farm, normally in the form of a double sink.
Executions-Tourismus: The taking of pictures of piles of the dead, or of particularly grotesque examples of death, rictus, freezing or rigor mortis. Also, the enjoyment, profit from, or misuse of a dead enemy.
Faiseuses d’Anges: The makers of angels – a nickname given to the back-street abortionists of wartime France.
Farfelu: (Fr.) Crazy. A lunatic. A compulsive activist.
Feldengendarmes: German military policemen. See Kettenhünde
Feuillardier: (Fr.) Forester.
Fiston: (Fr.) ‘Sonny’, or ‘lad’. Generally used by a considerably older man or woman to a younger man.
Flan de l’Aubrac: (Fr.) A quiche, made with local, often Cantal, cheese.
Foyer: (Fr.) A complicated concept, incorporating ‘home’, ‘family’ and ‘belonging’.
Freikorps: Bands of German volunteers, largely taken from ex-servicemen, initially formed to assist the Social Democratic Provisional government (pre-Weimar) to diffuse the danger of a Communist revolution in the direct aftermath of the ending of hostilities in 1918-23, and who later became, under their often charismatic leaders, the seed-corn for Ernst Röhm’s SA and, much later, Heinrich Himmler’s SS.
FTP: (Fr.) The Franc-Tireurs et Partisans were one of the most active groups within the Communist Front National resistance grouping. Literally means ‘irregular’ or ‘maverick’ gunmen, and partisans.
Galoches: (Fr.) Clogs, or wooden soled shoes.
Garbure: Classic French peasant soup made with vegetables, preserved meats and pieces of duck or goose confit (preserve) if available – a meal in itself, and often the only meal obtainable. Originally from Southern Gascony.
Gazogène: A car run on green wood or charcoal gas fed directly from a 20-gallon metal boiler into the carburettor. Local French were not allowed, by order of the German authorities, to use petrol driven vehicles.
Gemütlich: Untranslatable German word implying everything that is comforting, secure, cosy and normative, often in reference to a household.
Geste: French wartime slang for the Gestapo.
Gnädige: Respectful German expression for a married woman – literally ‘gracious’.
Gott in Himmel: German expression meaning ‘God in Heaven’, equating to the British expression ‘Heaven’s above!’
Graf: German for Count, as in the nobility, but equating to the British title of Earl.
Gräfin: German for Countess, as in the nobility, equating to the similar British title used by the wife of an Earl.
Grande Toilette de Dimanche: French peasant tradition of dressing up on a Sunday.
Gras: (Fr.) Implying, when used as a noun, an overweight man with a beer-belly.
Groschen: (Ger.) Old-fashioned ten Pfennig q.v. (penny) piece.
Guignes: (Fr.) A particularly sweet-tasting variety of cherry.
GVH: German military abbreviation for Garnisonsverwendungsfähig Heimat meaning ‘fit only for garrison duty’.
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Hauptscharführer: The SS rank equivalent of a Master Sergeant.
Herboristerie: (Fr.) Herbalist’s shop.
Himbeergeist: A raspberry flavoured aquavit.
Hirschberger Wiese: (Ger.) Literally the ‘deer mountain meadow’.
Hitlerjugend: The Hitler Youth organization founded in 1933 at the same time as the Bund Deutscher Mädel (q.v.) and intended as the fuel for Hitler’s envisioned one-thousand-year Reich. The failure of any boy above the age of ten years old to join the Hitler Youth was considered a derogation of civic responsibility.
Ich freue mich auf meinem Tod: From Bach’s Christmas cantatas, literally meaning, ‘I welcome my coming death.’
In loco parentis: Latin phrase literally meaning ‘in the parent’s place’.
Ivans: Collective German army name for Russians. See Popovs
Jawohl: German for ‘certainly’, or ‘very well’.
Jeun’homme: Colloquial French for ‘young man’.
Kachelofen: A tiled stove, much used in Bavaria for heating the interiors of large houses in winter.
Kaiserschmarren: Bavarian separated pancake mix made with powdered sugar and raisins.
Kamerad: German for ‘Comrade’.
Kettenhünde: Nickname for the Feldengendarmes (German military police), given on account of the metal neck shields they wore. The literal translation is ‘chained dog’.
Klipspringer: A small South-African rock-dwelling antelope renowned for its acrobatic prowess.
Komissbrot: Official issue German Army bread.
Kubelwagen: Wartime German military vehicle.
KV: German military abbreviation for Kriegsverwendungsfähig, meaning ‘fit for active service’.
La Bonne Auberge: French for ‘The Good Inn’.
Laissez-passer: (Fr.) A special permit giving its possessor access to no-go areas.
Ländler: German or Austrian country dance, usually in waltz time.
Latrinenparole: Latrine rumour – a German euphemism for the army grapevine of gossip and hearsay.
The Occupation Secret Page 38