Posted As Missing

Chapter Forty

David walked with Maria and Rachel on his arms, following the road which led out of town toward the bridge over the Wutach. As they neared the river, a train slowly passed down the valley. This one was pulled by four locomotives, only two of them with steam up now on the gentle downhill run. The ground quaked noticeably as they turned to walk the road beside the tracks.

"That's a heavy one." David sighed. "I'd love to destroy one of the bridges up the valley and stop these trains for a long while."

"I'm sure the vulnerable spots are all heavily guarded," Rachel said. "This is too important a line for them to ignore."

After the last cars had passed, Rachel turned her head. "Back there where we turned is the bridge across the Wutach. The border angles away from the river here. That road leads to small farms and ends at the top of the ridge near the border. It's better for us in our current garb and roles to continue down the valley another two kilometres or so to the next bridge near Wutöschingen. From there, a small road leads up over the pass and down into Erzingen."

"How high is the rise to the pass?" David asked.

"It goes up rather steeply about a hundred metres, maybe one twenty, and is level for a while before it descends toward town and the border post. That's the way we used early on, before we started taking the short-cut and sneaking across the border. We saved over ten kilometres from home to the rocky rib doing the straight line."

Half an hour later they were across the bridge and well along the narrow road which wound up the shallow valley.

"How's the ankle, Mama?" David asked.

"The boot is supporting it well. The cane helps with steadying and takes a bit of the weight, but much less weight than before. I'm delighted how quickly it has mended."

"Let me know when you need to take a break."

"A pee break would be nice in a while — actually, now because I'm thinking about it. Strange how it often does that." She giggled.

"There's a little grove at the end of this switchback." He pointed up the slope a hundred yards. "Can you last to there?"

"Yes, I can easily do that."

"Good, we can sit in the trees, enjoy the shade, take a break and refresh. We'll pause to take stock of our situation."

They moved in past a few trees and paused at a large fallen trunk. "This is a delightful little spot," Maria said, as she put her handbag on the log and sat.

Rachel turned her back to them as she bent and lifted the front hem of her skirt. She straightened up with the material and held it across her waist, then arching her back and spreading her knees, she let go a big arching stream.

"I've never done it standing, Mama," Maria said. "I've always sat or squatted, but I've seen you do it a few times the past while."

"It's a good alternative." Rachel dropped her skirt and turned. "The secret is to always clear your flaps. You know how they want to stick together, and if you don't separate them, you'll squirt and dribble all over yourself. It's similar to what I taught you to do when you sit or squat. Otherwise, it becomes messy."

Maria unbuttoned her skirt, let it fall, stepped out of it and walked a few steps. She spread her legs, arched her back, ran a finger up between her lips and left it resting against her button to keep the flaps apart as she smiled down at the graceful arc of pale yellow. Moving her finger side to side, and turning her head toward them, she chuckled and said, "Look, Mama, I can steer this. It's the same as the tiller action as on Grandada's sailboats; push it one way and it goes the other."

"I'm fascinated with these demonstrations." David tilted his head. "These are not things usually seen or spoken. Until last week I'd never thought of women standing to pee."

"Edom suggested I try it. He couldn't see any reason it wouldn't work. Now in the wilds, in places such as this or in those awful French WCs, it's my favourite."

Maria stepped back into her skirt, lifted and buttoned it, and they all sat on the log passing one of the water canteens to rinse fingers and then quench thirsts. After a quiet minute or so, David asked, "How was our act back there. Were we convincing? Did you notice any hint of suspicion that something was odd?"

"She was a warm, genuine person, I thought." Rachel shrugged. "I sense she was completely unaware of anything odd. I don't think we gave her any reason to suspect there was anything out of place about us."

Maria added, "My feeling is we came across as a friendly Swiss family. Mama's mix of Unterhallau and Zürich dialect is so convincing because it's so genuine. It's what she grew up with. Mine is more purely Unterhallau, and David, I loved your comparison and your pronunciation of Mama."

"I was choking back a laugh, Mama, when you said I was big when I came out and that it took a long time." He chuckled.

"But it's true, though you were considerably bigger when you went in." She closed her eyes and smiled. "And you did take a long time to come out, such a delightfully long time."

Maria pointed toward the road. "We saw many out walking in town, and several along the road to Wutöschingen. But once we started up this road, we've seen only the farmer with the barrow and that young couple a while ago. Them, and a few automobiles."

"I think we're still a part of the scene. We simply have to remain as such." He glanced at his watch, "It's almost three thirty, and it looks as if we're a little over halfway to the pass. Shall we press on again, my dear ladies?"

"Let's do it," the girls said in harmony, then giggled.

The steepness of the road eased, and they followed a more gradual bending climb. It continued to ease, and shortly after four, they began slowly descending. Ten minutes later they rounded a bend and saw Erzingen emerging from behind the slope's shoulder.

As they continued down the hill, Rachel pointed to the soldiers patrolling the field beside them. "Guards make sense; the border is about two hundred metres away; it's that fence. We used to save three kilometres climbing over it. Our first short-cut." She pointed ahead. "The border post is about a kilometre and a half from here, through Erzingen. Those white buildings on the road to the left of town. One German and one Swiss."

The trio continued along toward town, seeing soldiers ranged out all along the border, but none on the road. As they passed the first houses, they met people walking, and in a field, there was a small group of children playing an unidentifiable game with a ball. Life was happening around them.

They continued into town, meeting increasing numbers of people as they went. Rachel returned greetings, and David, now carrying the crutches, tipped his hat to the ladies, as he had seen being done by some other men. They felt as part of the scene as they arrived in the Hauptstraße and turned left to walk along it.

David looked at his watch. "Twenty past four. That was a lovely day of shopping. Shall we head home?"

"We need a few small parcels to carry with us," Maria said. "Otherwise, we'll look strange returning from shopping with nothing."

"Now who's the careful thinker?" David asked. "That is the kind of detail we need to continue with. What should we get?"

"I'd love a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte." Maria sighed. "I haven't had any since my last day at the gasthaus. The staff always shared the remains of older ones before they became stale."

"What else is typically bought here?" David asked.

"Cuckoo clocks, bland cheese, wood carvings, kirsch, kitsch, things we don't want... Wait!" Rachel blurted, "Tante Bethia's Schinken, we used to come over to buy it. I wonder if Tante Bethia still has the little Metzgerei. We can easily find out — follow me, it was just along and then a few doors in, to the left."