In 1917, Berdine Sheimer gave birth to a son named Hans. He was born in a small barn in a small town in a small country. His family was poor, as were most Germans after the First World War. He was homeschooled by his mother and a neighbor taught him to tend horses. Hans’ father was killed in the First World War, fighting the doughboys. He had been smiling the moment a bullet had been shot across a frozen field and popped right into his head.

Hans was twenty years old when he first met Alaina. Her name meant precious, and she was very much so. Her hair was dark, the color of chocolate, and her eyes a subtle green. She was slender with the slightest hint of womanly curves. Their courtship lasted a year, and they were wed in the spring of 1938.

It was a changing time, not only for Hans, but for the country as well. In November of that same year, Alaina became pregnant with her first and only son. In the winter of 1938, he was born and raised on the very same farm that Hans had been.

That winter, Hans’ mother, Berdine, passed away. The flu claimed her life. She joined with her husband and was happy once again. Like most impressionable youth at the time, Hans took an interest in the Nazi party. Or maybe the Party had found an interest in him. They had all the answers; or rather, Hans believed they did. And Hans was looking for answers.

Alaina wasn’t looking for answers, and she was very opposed to Hans’ involvement with the Party. She pleaded that Hans stay in Kassel, stay with her son, to protect them. But Hans didn’t listen. He wanted answers and she didn’t have them.

Luck, as Alaina saw it, had stationed Hans in Kassel, allowing him to be with his wife and child. He had become a proud member of the S.S., and for a few years, their lives would be perfect. Or rather, as perfect as they could be, considering Alaina’s opposition.

1942; not a good year for the Germans. The British Air Force flew over the small city, as they did many others, and dropped hundreds of small containers. These containers changed thousands of lives in seconds. All three Sheimers survived the bombing of Kassel. Their survival, though joyous as it was, began a fight between the lovers, and ultimately ended their marriage.

Alaina begged her husband to abandon the army, to flee the country with his wife and son. She screamed until hoarse, not for their survival, but for their son’s. He was now four years old with chocolate brown hair, like his mother’s, and diamond blue eyes, like his father’s.

“Why have we not left this town? They’re going to come again, and they’re going to kill us because we were foolish enough to stay!” Alaina cried.

“I can’t give up!” Hans had shouted back. For him, pride had taken precedent. Many of the Nazis felt this way, felt that self preservation merely amounted to surrender. Hans refused. “I will not abandon the Führer.”

“And what of your family? Will you protect us as you do the Führer if we decide to leave?”

Hans, angry with her defiance, slapped her across the face. She fell to her knees as her cheek swelled. She averted her eyes as Hans stood over her.

“You will stay here with me, and you will defend our home,” he said with finality. He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. For the rest of the night, he walked the streets of Kassel thinking about what he’d just done.

Hans’ child, who had witnessed the whole thing, remained on the floor by his mother, playing with a model plane. Alaina sat next to him for an hour, watching her son as the swelling in her cheek rose. Her hair hung down, covering her tear-soaked face. She smiled at her son, and he smiled back.

The next day, when Hans returned from duty, he found his home to be empty. His little boy and precious Alaina was gone, both on a train to somewhere safe. The note he discovered was short and written in haste. They were leaving, and wouldn’t be back. Hans threw a chair across the room, and screamed. A moment passed before he grabbed his rifle, and returned to duty. It was his only answer.

That was the evening of November 22nd, 1943. Alaina and her son rode comfortably on a train heading north out of the city, unaware that above them, 569 of Britain’s finest pilots had returned to Kassel, humming in the sky like a swarm of bees. They’d followed the railway south, and spotted a train leaving the city. Believing it to be a military transport, the planes began their decent.

The shells began to fall from the bellies of the planes, landed left and right of the track. One such container fell spinning like a dead bird, and landed next to the third compartment. For a moment, it was brighter than day. So bright that Alaina and her dear child could see nothing at all. She had been smiling.

Words: Brian Maurer

Tags: short story
Posted in Plus