Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ １ - Ｒｅｌｉｅｆ】

Chapter 1 - Relief

 5 Juin

Dearest Claudia,                                                                                                                                                                                                        Mother gets better everyday, her progress would bring you great joy. She is walking again, though still unsteady. And though she has moments of fog, she is herself. However, I fear, with her age and the accident, that the periods of fog will increase and she may not know us. She has taken to calling me Overlord during her moments, though I haven't the faintest idea why. I do hope you get to see her before she forgets her petite chou-fleur.

As to the worries expressed in your previous letter, I am sure the conflicts will be soon over. Relief will come, so breathe easy little sister.

Yours,

Michaёl

It was April 28th, 1944. Not June.

That was her first clue.

Michaёl never spoke much of Mother, therefore she could infer that something was going down over the channel, plans being laid – Overlord to be specific.

Clue number 2.

Petite chou-fleur was new, perhaps they were trying to flesh it out since she let them know she was in danger. Nothing new. She was in danger all the time, but this time, this time they were suspicious, so close to finding her. She'd be shot dead in the streets if they managed to find her.

What brought her most relief was relief will come. They were coming to get her. Good. Glad to know they thought of her as a valuable asset. Well, she had been in France since before the Nazis got there in May 1940.

She kept them well supplied with information on movements, weapon shipments etc in Normandy. It was hard to do, but she'd managed to cultivate a little network, despite having to go into hiding for two years in the middle of her mission. For a while she had her own rat, but he couldn't protect her. Not when he and his fellow soldiers moved on. With him no longer around the other residents had descended. But despite that, and a name change, and a move, Genesis did well.

But where she lived now was pleasant enough. She had a little house, with a light blue front door, and windows that faced the main street on the front, making spying on movements easy enough. There was a tiny front garden that she tended regularly when she was allowed out of her house. She grew tiny flowers that reminded her of her family. They needed almost constant attention, as there was always something going on that the flowers didn't like, not enough water, too much, being trampled, bad air. It kept her busy, made her look busy, inconspicuous.

That morning, when she was slipped the letter, she was stupid enough to read it outside as a patrol walked by.

"What's that?" one asked in his broken French.

Claudia looked up, eyes wide for a moment. Then she stood and shuffled to her gate. She knew their French wasn't good so if she spoke quickly enough they wouldn't quite get what she was saying but she could sell her excitement.

"Oh, it's a letter from my brother, my mother was in an accident you see and he keeps me updated. She was in hospital in Paris for a long long time, and she can finally go home, and is, can you believe it, walking again! She doesn't always remember who my brother is though, and calls him funny names until she remembers, this didn't happen before the accident though, she fell down the stairs and hit her head badly. And she isn't getting any younger. I should like to visit soon but I don't know when I'll be able to. My brother wants me to visit too, because he thinks the fog is getting worse for her. He was going to be a doctor, you know, even got into a good school, but then mother had the fall and he had to give up his place and move back home because I couldn't. I don't remember why I couldn't then, but I just don't feel safe enough to go wandering about the country right now."

They looked sufficiently bewildered, and nodded, bidding her a good day and moved on.

Claudia watched them go, smiling timidly whenever one turned back to look at her. Then she let out an immense sigh. And into her kitchen she went, tucking the letter into the pocket of her faded gardening apron. Shutting the door, she went to sit at her table and crossed one leg over the other. Her knee brushed against the handgun she had secured under the tablecloth covered table. There was one in her room too. And a sharp razor never used for shaving in the bathroom. The knives in her knife block were well weighted, and kept sharp.

It made her feel better, safer.

Though this saddened her, it wasn't always like that. It used to be a Beatrix Potter story, her dad's coat and an armchair.

But that didn't matter now.

What mattered was that June couldn't come soon enough.

There were no more letters from Michaёl and she fidgeted more. Claudia went out less, but her flowers seemed to do ok. She sat at her kitchen table more and more, knees against the gun. She would try to calm herself by reciting Beatrix Potter, but instead she would end up listing where the bullets were.

As May was drawing to a close, there was more and more movement through the village, more soldiers, vehicles, tanks, and anti-aircraft weaponry. After a hurried note to Michaёl, and a dash down the road to one of her network who could get her letter to London, she returned home to pace in her bedroom.

By the 2nd she had bitten her nails right down to the bed and was beginning to pull at her short and wavy hair.

On the 3rd of June, She had taken to wearing a wide floral strip as a hair band to keep it out of the way where she wasn't tempted to rip it from her scalp.

The 4th of June dawned and she found herself unable to eat very much.

_

And that is Chapter 1, all 1000 words of it. It's fairly short but I think it is a nice introduction. I'm sure you know what this chapter leads into, but don't forget the other things mentioned too, they might become important later on xx