by Homer Hickam
The lookouts and the machine gun crew went first over the side, then the others came racing up from below. Krebs manned the machine gun, cracking out rounds toward Vogel’s crew to keep their heads down.
Max made certain each boy had on his life jacket as he went past to take the leap into the sea. Finally, it was just Krebs and Max on the bridge. “Well, Max,” Krebs said, “at least we didn’t scuttle her. Over the side with you.”
“What about you, Kaleu?”
“I’ll keep their heads down over there until our boys get away.”
“Don’t stay too long.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
Max went down to the deck, then slipped over and allowed the current to grip him, then carry him off.
All was quiet aboard Vogel’s boat. It appeared the deck-gun crew had given up. Krebs looked toward Killakeet. The lighthouse was blinking its message of a safe harbor even in the light of the day. It made him think of the lighthouse at Nebelsee and the last time he’d seen Miriam. He remembered her cross and his hand went to it just as Leutnant Sizner came lunging from the hatch, sticking Krebs in the stomach to the hilt with a knife taken from the galley. Then Vogel’s torpedo arrived. Krebs never felt any pain. One moment he was thinking of Miriam and how much he loved her, and then he was gone.
The Maudie Jane’s bow was still afloat, though barely. Josh had Dosie beside him. He and Phimble checked each of the crew to make sure they had their life preservers on. Marvin was also outfitted in his own preserver. Jimmy was taking care of Bobby, whose legs were torn up and bleeding from shrapnel. “All right. Into the water, boys,” Josh said. He held Dosie back. “Stay with me.”
She gave him a brave grin, and hand in hand, they went overboard.
It wasn’t long before the current shoved the Maudie Janes and the crew of the U-560 together. They started to link arms, Germans and Americans, just trying to survive.
Vogel ordered his U-boat toward the men in the water. He brought up a detail of men with rifles. “Finish them,” he ordered. But then a lookout started to babble and Vogel heard the whooping shriek of a cutter making a run on them. “Dive and quickly!” he ordered, and disappeared below, ahead of his men.
• • •
The cutter ignored the rapidly submerging black U-boat and slid alongside the drifting Americans and Germans. Josh recognized the crewman on the cutter’s bow. “Well, here I am, Skipper,” Again said. “I finally managed to hitch a ride home on the old Diana.”
“Again!” Once called up from the water. “There you are, Brother! I was beginning to think you’d joined the navy.”
“Naw. I had my fill of them dit-dots. But why are you swimming?”
“Well, it seemed the thing,” Once replied.
The cutter boys threw over mats and some of them even dived into the water to help the Maudie Janes and the Germans up the side. Josh waited until everyone else was out of the water, including Marvin, then climbed up on deck where a crewman immediately wrapped him in a blanket. A familiar face also loomed. “Sorry it took the Diana so long to come, but we’ve been a bit busy,” Captain Allison said.
A mug of hot coffee was shoved into Josh’s hand. “Never saw better timing, Jim,” he replied. “Some of my men are wounded . . .”
“They’re with our doctor now.”
“Good. Why didn’t you attack that U-boat?”
“Depth charges and men in the water, we’ve learned, are not compatible,” Allison replied.
Josh nodded gratefully.
Dosie found Harro among a soaked, dispirited knot of U-boat men gathered on the cutter’s bow. “Take off that life vest,” she ordered. “And put this one on.”
“Why?”
“Because yours is German and this one is American.”
“But I am German.”
“Shut up and do what I tell you.”
“No! I will stay with my crewmates!”
Once and Again came over. “Problems, Dosie?”
“Yes. Grab hold of this stupid son of a bitch, strip off his life vest, and make him put this one on. Then keep him with you. If he opens his trap, knock the ever-loving hell out of him.”
The brothers looked at each other. What Dosie wanted them to do didn’t make sense but it sure sounded like fun. “All right, boy,” Once said to the German. “You heard the little lady.”
Harro shook his head. “I am German,” he said weakly, which was the last thing he said before Once grabbed his arms and Again wrapped a hand around his mouth.
PART FOUR
NOT DEATH, BUT LOVE
53
Killakeet had never seen anything like it. It seemed as if the entire Marine Corps had landed on its beaches and spread across it from end to end. At the military dock on Doakes, the Diana pushed out her gangway and sent the German prisoners down it to be taken into custody by Naval Intelligence agents. A seaplane, of all things, landed just offshore and taxied in, the officers on board looking goggle-eyed at the still smoking evidence of a German invasion.
Captain Potts was one of the officers aboard the seaplane. He sought out Josh. “This way,” he said, waving him over beside the charred remains of one of the warehouses. “The first thing I have to tell you is that everything that’s happened here is to be kept secret, do you understand?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “The second thing is that you’re being put in for a promotion. From what I’ve heard, you ought to get the Navy Cross, but considering we can’t let any of this get out, we’ll bump you up a grade, instead. Congratulations. You’re a full lieutenant.”
“Thank you, sir,” Josh said. “I think.”
Captain Potts shook his head. “Bad business, Josh. If the newspapers find out the Germans did this, a lot of crap will come down on all our heads.”
“It’ll get out, sir,” Josh replied. “It always does.”
“Maybe, but by the time it does, the war will have ground on. You saw our convoy system out there. Finally in place. I’ve been up in Norfolk to help organize them. We’ll have these U-boats on the run in no time and then we’ll be heading across the Atlantic to take the war to them. That’s the headlines the people will pay attention to, not some rumor that a few Germans landed on a scrap of sand.”
Josh got angry. “Killakeet is American soil, sir.”
“I know that, Josh. Don’t get your hackles up. We’ll do what we can here to take care of things. Doakes will be built back, better than ever, you can count on that. I don’t doubt President Roosevelt himself is going to pay a bit of attention to Killakeet now. Wouldn’t be surprised if they built a road here or something.”
Josh didn’t want to hear any more about what the politicians and the admirals were going to do. He saw his father waiting for him by the Surfmen’s House and excused himself. Captain Potts charged off to talk to every Killakeeter he could find and swear them to secrecy for the good of the country.
“He’s your brother” was the first thing Keeper Jack said. “Doc compared the fingerprints. A perfect match! Isn’t it wonderful?”
Josh opened his mouth to reply, then had another thought. “Wonderful,” he said.
The Keeper’s smile broadened. “I knew it all along. You see, Josh? You may have lost your brother, but in the end you brought him back home.”
“Tell you what, Daddy,” Josh said heavily. “Let’s you and me go see Doc. Where’s he holed up?”
“Why, I suppose at the Hammerhead. He’s staying there, now that his place was burned.”
Doc was indeed at the Hammerhead, sitting in a rocker, his black bag at his feet. He was looking pleased with himself, even more so than usual. Josh sat down on the edge of the pizer while Keeper Jack stood down in the sand. Purdy, who’d been asleep in the corner, woke up and waddled over to sit beside Josh.
“Well, I wouldn’t have believed it, Doc,” Josh said, stroking Purdy’s head. “But I guess I was wrong. Thank you for saving Jacob’s file for all these years.”
“It was lucky I co
mpared those fingerprints before the Germans burned down my place,” Doc replied loftily. “But you know, Josh, I have a tendency to look forward and think about all the possibilities and probabilities. I didn’t know my place was going to get burned down, of course, but I thought I’d better find that file and do the comparing right away. Never know what might happen.”
“You’re a smart man, Doc. Real smart.”
Keeper Jack said, “How do you think we ought to break it to Jacob?”
“Why don’t you let me do that, Daddy?” Josh said. “I lost him. I guess I should find him, you know, in a way.”
Keeper Jack beamed. “I’m so happy, Josh.”
“Yes, sir. Who’s minding the light, by the way?”
“I guess I better go do that. Been burning all day, kerosene’s probably running pretty low.”
Josh waited until his father disappeared into the gathering shadows of evening and then gave Doc a long withering look. “So why this lie, Doc?”
Doc rocked placidly. “This lie? Whatever do you mean?”
“You didn’t compare any fingerprints because you never had any files. Your study was all a big hoax from the beginning. I broke into your shed, Doc, just as soon as I heard you told that cock-and-bull story about the fingerprints to Daddy. There was nothing in there except trash, mildew, and silverfish.”
“I wondered who left those footprints in the dust. The files were under the floorboards. You didn’t look there, did you?”
Josh couldn’t help but smile. “Down on the beach yesterday, you told me they were on a high shelf. But never-mind. Odd, ain’t it, that those old Germans went after your place? Why, you’d think they would burn down the hotel first. What happened, Doc? Did your shed catch your infirmary on fire by mistake? I guess Mr. Shakespeare was right about mice and men and how things oft go awry.”
Doc kept rocking back and forth, drumming his fingers on the armrest of the rocker. Then he stopped and leaned forward. “You’re wrong. It was Robert Burns who wrote that.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Doc. But I ain’t wrong about you. You’re the biggest liar that ever existed.”
“Maybe I am and maybe I’m not,” Doc replied with a shrug. “But there ain’t no maybe that Keeper Jack needs a son.”
“He’s got a son.”
Doc curled up his lip. “You? You’re probably not even going to survive this war. I’m talking about a son who’ll take the Keeper’s place, maybe provide him with some grandkids, give him some joy in his old age. That’s not you by any stretch.”
Josh knew Doc had mentally skinned him and nailed his pelt to the wall. He hung his head and let a wave of guilt and shame wash over him. When it subsided, he raised his head and said, in a weary voice, “Doc, tell me something I’ve wondered about for a long time. When I was in college, down at the library and tired of studying, I figured to look you up in the list of physicians in North Carolina, just for the fun of it. But you weren’t on that list. Nor in Virginia, either, nor anywhere else I could find. I looked all over. Who are you, anyway?”
Doc shrugged and went back to rocking. “I might lack a few credentials that would get me listed in any of those books. You see, I was a medic with the navy in Norfolk. Got myself into trouble, one thing or another, gambling debts, mostly. So I ran out here where nobody would think to look for me. Next thing I knew, I was bandaging up folks, giving them pills, and just hung out my shingle. Folsom ain’t my name, of course, not that it matters. Nobody ever questioned my credentials, not even the pharmacy in Morehead City. I just took care of the people all these years as best I could. Never heard any complaints, either.”
“My mother died with you tending her.”
“Queenie was with me. She’ll tell you I did all there was to do.”
Josh nodded agreement. “I don’t have to. I talked to her a long time ago. That’s why you’re still alive.”
Doc raised his eyebrows, then tipped his hat. “Why, thank you, Josh. I heard you’re pretty handy with a hatchet. But now the German boy. What’s it to be?”
“Daddy can have his second son. I won’t stand in his way.”
“Well, aren’t we the noble one?” Doc replied, sarcastically.
“At least, I didn’t start this lie.”
“Who says it’s a lie?” Doc snapped. “Willow says he’s Jacob. He looks like Jacob should look. And you have no proof that he isn’t Jacob. Think about that, Lieutenant Josh Thurlow of the Coast Guard, who don’t know Billy Shakespeare from Bobby Burns.”
All of a sudden, more than anything in the world, Josh didn’t want to talk to Doc anymore. The man was just too sharp for him. Josh stood, brushed the sand off his pants, and said, “Well, we’re in it together, Doc, whatever you might call it.”
“So we are,” Doc said. “Just you and me and that there pelican. Ain’t that right, Purdy?”
Purdy cocked his head at Doc, then stamped his webbed feet and waddled back to his corner for a nap.
Josh went looking for Dosie and found her on the beach with Willow and the German. The Jackson twins were trailing behind. Josh said to the boy, “You’re my brother and your name is Jacob.”
“My name is Harro Stollenberg,” he replied defiantly.
“No, it isn’t.” Josh balled his big fists. “Your name is Jacob Thurlow and if you ever say a word to the contrary, I’ll find you and hit you so hard, your head will ring for all eternity.”
“I should join my fellows in prison. It is the only honorable thing to do.”
“Listen,” Josh said. “Here’s the honorable thing to do. From this day forward, you are my brother and Keeper Jack’s son. People along this coast have lost a lot because of your damned U-boats, yet they’ve opened their arms to you. You’re a Killakeeter now because of their goodness. Do you understand?”
“No,” Harro replied. Then he asked, “Am I really your brother?”
“Yes, you are. Your fingerprints proved it.”
“You are telling me the truth?”
“Ask the doctor. He’ll tell you.”
Willow laughed and said, “Jacob, you are so silly. Won’t you ever believe who you really are?”
Harro offered his hand to Josh. “Take it and tell me I’m your brother. Then perhaps I will believe you.”
Josh took his hand and drew him into a clumsy embrace. “You’re my brother and I’m proud of it. Your father is at the lighthouse. I imagine there’s a lot of work to be done there. There always is. You’d best get on and start learning the ropes.”
Willow took the boy’s hand and pulled him toward the lighthouse. Still, he hesitated, looking toward Doakes, where the crew of the U-560 were being interrogated. The Jackson twins moved in. “Get going,” Once threatened.
“Jacob, please,” Willow cried.
“Stop being such a hardhead,” Again advised the German boy. “You’ve been handed a miracle. You’ll take it and run with it if you’ve got an ounce of brains.”
Harro looked from twin to twin, then at Willow. Something seemed to melt inside him. Willow sensed it and laughed. Soon, they were running toward the lighthouse.
Dosie and Josh watched them go. “Is he really Jacob?” she asked.
Josh told Dosie the truth, as far as he knew it. “But you know what, Dosie?” he said at last. “The thing is, I don’t guess I’ll ever know if he’s Jacob or not and that’s probably a good thing.”
“What do you mean?” Dosie demanded. “Surely, you must want to know.”
Josh shook his head. “Even if he was Jacob, he still wouldn’t be the person he could have been. No matter what happens to him now, he’ll forever be a boy from Germany.” Josh tried to smile but it came out sad. “I think it’s better not to know. Let it remain a possibility, at least one good thing that came out of all this bloodletting, which was for nothing.”
“All wars are for something, aren’t they, Josh?”
“No. Most are against things. This one is about the same.”
The
y walked along, being quiet for a while until Dosie asked, “Are you certain you can live with things this way?”
“Yes. I think at heart that German’s a good boy. I told him I was proud to have him as my brother. I think I will be.”
She made him stop so she could look him in the eyes and be certain he was telling the truth. When she was satisfied that he was, she said, “You are something else, Lieutenant Thurlow. I’m right proud to know you, that’s for sartain. So what would you like to do now?”
He took her in his arms. “What I’ve got in mind, Corporal Crossan, we will have to do together.”
“Now, ain’t you fresh?” She laughed.
“I can be,” he said and before too long, they were hurrying down the beach toward the light, which seemed to be brighter than ever before.
54
Every morning, Dosie walked out on her porch, as she carefully remembered to call it instead of a pizer, lest people these days give her odd looks, and studied the vast Atlantic, whether it was placid or stormy or somewhere in between, then went down into the sand to walk the beach to see what she could see. There had been a time when she had preferred to ride her horse, either Genie or Genie II, and then Genie III, but now that she was over eighty years old, she no longer kept a horse, burying the last Genie’s Magic with the others in the sand behind the stable three years before.
Genie III had not only been Dosie’s last horse. She had been the last horse allowed on the island, “grandmothered in” as the federal and state officials had called it, thinking themselves gracious for allowing the old woman to keep a horse at all, considering the terrible damage they did to the ecosystem of a barrier island. That’s why ecologists had removed the last of the wild horses in 1972, to stop the damage caused when they dug their water holes. The federal ecologist who made the initial study had written that “exclusion” would mean not only an end to the destruction the wild horses caused, but would also be a kindness to them, considering how hard they had to struggle just to live on an isolated island. Dosie began a one-woman crusade against the removal. She wrote letters to her congressman, who ignored them. She held candlelight vigils at the corral when the herd was put in it. She laid herself down on the ferry ramp to keep the horses from being herded aboard. It all made for good local television news, but in the end, it was all for nothing. The horses were removed. When Genie III was put down, Dosie supposed the woman ecologist who had written the initial report was finally happy, God damn her soul.