Missing

Chapter Seven

"We should have placed the lorry in the back corner," Maria said as they looked down into the courtyard from their bedroom balcony. "The fresh paint still reeks."

"We can open the east windows, close the ones on this side. I'm delighted with how much more friendly that golden cream is. It's so much more welcoming than the old drab brown."

They closed the balcony doors, adjusted the windows, and then leaving the chimneyed candle flickering, they crawled in under the duvet, cuddling, caressing and quietly reviewing the day as they slowly merged to one.

A few minutes later, after the clock had cuckooed eleven, Maria said softly as she shifted her hips, "This is our last safe tangle for a week, eight days to be safer. Let's tell each other some more stories and enjoy a slow, gentle churn until the next cuckoo, then sing a quiet harmony with it. What a delightful day this has been."

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Breakfast was nearly ready as they walked into the kitchen to hug and kiss their good mornings. "Thank you for announcing your pending arrival, Sweetheart," Rachel said. "I hope you're remembering your cycle."

"Hands, lips and tongues only, as you told me, Mama. Not as intense, but the change is exciting. Everything with David is exciting."

"Your excitement warms us," Bethia said as she laid the two platters on the table. "You seem so alive and vibrant, so beautiful."

They were silent for a while as they started breakfast, then David looked up from his coffee and said, "The paint should have set overnight. Does it make sense for you and Mama to drive to Freiburg this morning? Go to the school and see what's necessary to catch up and complete the year."

"We can stop in Gottenheim first and change into more appropriate clothing," Maria suggested. "I can show you the school."

"I can't go with you, I don't have German papers, and I'm still an enemy soldier."

"Things are so serene, I've forgotten." She looked sadly into David's eyes and continued. "I'll miss you."

"We haven't been separated for as much as an hour in over two weeks." He laid a hand on hers and caressed it as he gazed into her eyes. "We need to begin practising."

"I'll stay at the house in Gottenheim and start packing." Rachel looked at Bethia, "How far is it by road?"

"I've done the trip twice now with Manfred — to the Kaserne to sign new contracts. A little under four hours for a hundred and twenty kilometres. There are many shorter routes through the Schwarzwald, but the roads there are not suited to a heavy lorry."

"That will be a long day," David said. "It might make sense to stay the night in Gottenheim, probably not safe to risk delays and have to drive unfamiliar roads in the dark. Take your time at school. Take your time loading the lorry and drive back tomorrow. Is the route easy to follow?"

"We followed the road beside the Wutach down to the Rhein, then followed the river to Rheinfelden. There are signs leading over the low pass to Lörrach, where we saw our first signs for Freiburg. The roads are good except for the bit from here to the Wutach. Manfred has a map you can borrow. I'm sure he doesn't need it anymore."

"There's a map in the seat box in the lorry," Maria said. "Manfred showed it to us yesterday when we were learning."

"There's little food at home," Rachel said. "We packed everything when we left, except for the wine and the things in the root cellar. We'll need to take bread and cheese and ham for a day."

"There's still some dried cherries and apricots in the cupboard; our packs were too full to take any more." Maria paused and looked at David. "What will you do while we're gone?"

"I'll continue practising my German with Bethia. Grammar and vocabulary only." He chuckled. "Her accent is almost as bad as mine."

"My first twenty-five years were in England..." Bethia paused and smiled. "But even with more than forty years living here, I still haven't mastered the throat clearing sounds. It's such a harsh language compared to English and French. These two sweethearts grew up with it. Their German accents are as correct as their French and English ones."

"That's the thing, isn't it?" David nodded. "I grew up speaking French and English, and I pass unnoticed in either language."

"There's still coffee here." Bethia pointed to the carafe. "And the platters aren't yet cleared."

They were quiet for a while as their breakfast took on a new life. Then David looked at Bethia. "I'd love to go through Aaron's dossier on the Sauschwänzlebahn, the Pigtail Line. It fascinates me."

"It also fascinated him. He had collected many drawings, maps and photographs of it, but also of the Höllentalbahn and the Schwarzwaldbahn. He loved the engineering on all three of them."

"Edom was fascinated by them as well," Rachel said. "I guess railway engineering is a man's thing. He had some papers on them somewhere. I'll search for them while I'm there."

"So the other two, the Hell Valley Railway and the Black Forest Railway?" he asked. "Where are they?"

"One runs from Freiburg to Donaueschingen through Hell Valley, and the other goes from Offenburg to Konstanz. There's something like forty tunnels in one twenty-kilometre stretch," Bethia said.

"You're still thinking of destroying one of the bridges, aren't you?" Maria asked.

"No, not any longer..." He paused and looked at each of them. "It now seems three will need attention."

"But you can't do this on your own," Maria said, a concerned look clouding her face. "I'm sure the bridges and tunnels are all heavily guarded. They're far too important not to be. It's far too dangerous for you to do anything."

"I won't be doing it alone. I'll get the Army to help."

"You certainly don't think small, do you?"

"This war is big. We can't think small."