Winfred

105

Official Report

British Intelligence

Code: 3986                                                                                                                                    

Kathleen Winfred

Christmas arrived.

It was a cold winter, and it snowed quite a bit Christmas day. No one left the compound or entered it, avoiding the weather outside.

None of us exchanged gifts, at least not ones bought at a shop. The German military needed more money for the war effort, and the salaries of all military personnel, from officers, to soldiers, to women’s guards, to secretaries, had felt the cut.

Pirot had knitted us all hats and mittens (something which I wondered where she had found the time to do).

Albert, apparently quite good at cooking (I learned that he had made the chocolate cake I had for my birthday), was able to make us a small private dinner.

Freidrich was gone half the day, doing what we believed to be duties that could not wait for another day to be performed. It turned out that he had spent the whole day orchestrating the preparation of a large conference room on the top floor of the building into a room where we could have a private Christmas party, and then had invited Jessica and Matthew.

Christof, Freidrich’s friend who had brought Virginia’s letter, also attended, bringing Andre, whom he had picked up in town, along with him.

As all of us in the room shared the same views on the allies and the Nazi party, we were able to celebrate the fact that the allies were making progress. We were happy that the Germans might be liberated from Hitler’s tyranny after all, and perhaps soon.

The night was an overall happy one.

Albert was toting his portable radio, as he liked to do, and played music, which he and Pirot danced to. Even Freidrich, to the surprise of all of us, joined me for a dance.

Andre stuffed himself with as much of the desserts Albert had made as he possibly could.

To my surprise, I caught Jessica and Matthew casting glances at one another from across the room. I had not realized before, with all of the other things I had been occupying my mind with, but now that I did, I smiled.

Going over to Jessica, I encouraged her to stand up and go dance with Matthew. At my prompting, she did and the two of them were inseparable for the remainder of the night.

The snow had only intensified by the time night fell, and Andre and Christof were unable to depart.

Pirot enthusiastically suggested the idea of everyone staying here, and having a sort of campout in the top floor room. Freidrich was hesitant, and I, at first, was not thrilled with the idea. Jessica and Matthew were happy to do it. Albert, even, wasn’t sure he wanted to.

However, when we saw Andre’s excitement at being able to camp out on the top floor, Freidrich and I both capitulated, and Albert gave in soon afterwards.

It was chilly on the top floor, and Pirot and Albert left to bring back all the blankets they could find, including several that they had stolen off of each of our beds.

Andre assisted Pirot and Jessica in making beds along one wall.

When the lights were turned out, and we were all in our makeshift beds, I lay awake, looking at the ceiling. It was pitch dark, but the darkness and silence didn’t feel terrible. Instead, in a strange way, it felt comforting to be here, now, surrounded by the people I cared about.