The Life Of A German Soldier

Charlotte Brandt

There I noticed a gorgeous woman about my age in a white dress and wore a scarf around her neck that matched her fiery red lipstick. Her dirty blond hair was all messed up with dirt tangled into it. Her hands were folded over her eyes while tears strolled down her cheeks, her makeup was smeared all over her face. My eyebrows went up and I frowned. I slowly walked over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She quickly looked up at me and turned away again and cried harder.

I looked down at the end of her dress and saw that there was a small blood stain on it. There was a small gash from a knife that was in her right thigh. I saw her peak through her fingers and cover it up with her hand. I slowly put my hand on hers and rubbed my thumb on it. She removed her hand and put it back to her eyes. I wanted to say something to her but I was not sure if she spoke German or not. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth but no words came out. She did look up at me and say words in German I could understand, perfectly. She seemed to know what I was going to say so she answered it.

"I escaped from Germany to come here to be safe from the Nazi Regime. My......... family did not make it this evening.   We tried to escape from our town that was being occupied by the Germans. My family was then killed by an SS patrol while we were in a forest, just outside of this town. I was the only one to get away in time."

I felt my heart sink to my stomach while I looked at her face. She stood up and asked us to stay with her for the night, even a couple of days if needed. All of this made me forget what me and Ernst were running from and that's when I heard the voices of the Russians outside of the cellar. Their dogs barked but no one attempted to at least break into the cellar which surprised me. We tried to get back to our conversation. My heart continued to thump against my rib cage harder and harder, still wondering if they would find us.

I looked back at the young woman and she was no longer crying anymore, she still rubbed her eyes and nose. I grabbed my handkerchief out of my pocket and cleaned the makeup from her face. She thanked me. I looked up at her after she stood up and my eyes looked at her head to toe. She looked at me, she formed a small smile and giggled. I smiled back at her which gave me a warm feeling inside. I opened my mouth and words came out.

"What's your name?"

"Charlotte Brandt, and yours, sir?"

"Albert Schroeder, it's wonderful to meet you, darling." I said back with a small smile.

I saw that Charlotte had blushed when I called her a "Darling". I was but amazed how the emotions in her changed from being horribly sad to almost loving. I looked back at Ernst and he rolled his eyes and turned around. Charlotte looked at him and asked what his name was. Ernst turned back around with an unpleasant smile that I could tell was fake.

"Ernst, Ernst Schwarz and you are Charlotte which is what I've heard." Ernst said holding that smile and looking quickly back to me.

"Stop it!" I snapped.

Ernst laughed and crossed his arms and turned around again. He went to the old chair, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, keeping the suspicious smile on his lips. I looked back at Charlotte as she led me over to a small table and offered me a seat. There were two bottles of wine sitting on the table with four glasses, one of the bottles I could tell was empty. Charlotte was nice enough to offer me some.

"Yes, that would be lovely." I replied with a smile.

She popped the cork off the top and gently poured some, only for me. She looked back at me when she was done. She rested her chin on her hand and smiled when I took a drink.

"It's my fathers wine, he grew the grapes in the vineyard out back in our field," she said.

I was delighted by the taste! I have not had wine since back home in 1937, before the war started. I quickly finished the glass and asked her for a bit more. She poured more.

"Try to save it. It's the last one I have."

I nodded my head as I drank my second sip of the wine. I took off my helmet and placed it on the table. Charlotte watched me as I tried to push my hair to one side of my head but it did not stay. In the corner of my eye, I saw her watch me try to fix my hair.  I looked back at her in slight embarrassment. I could feel my cheeks turning red. Then that's when I thought;

"She seems to have feelings for me, and I guess it's been awhile since I've seen a beautiful woman too. It was nice to feel almost alive again."

"What's wrong?" she asked

"Oh....nothing." I now said in complete embarrassment.

"I think you need some rest. You can lay on my cot in the right corner in the other room."

"Thank you but I think you should sleep there instead. I've gotten used to sleeping on hard cots. I will just sleep on the old sofa on the other side."

"Are you sure?" Charlotte said, twiddling her fingers through one another.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine with it."

"Well, good night Charlotte." I said with a smile.

"You too Albert dear. If you need anything, just wake me up."

"Dear" I repeated in my mind as I walked slowly to the old sofa. I only had small feelings for her but Charlotte's seemed over the top just talking to her for about an hour. I saw Charlotte coming over to hand me some of the blankets on her cot. They smelled exactly like her, that lavender smell from her perfume. It relaxed me and I sighed a little. I cuddled up in them and quickly feel asleep with some of Ernst's snores coming from the opposite side of the cellar.