My Friend the Enemy (5 page)

SHAPES IN THE MOONLIGHT

L
ater, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about what Kim had said. I thought about looking for souvenirs, and what Mam would do if she caught me sneaking out in the night. I told myself I shouldn't go, but when I was sure Mam was asleep, I dressed and stood at my bedroom window. I opened the blackout curtains enough to put my nose to the glass and look out at the fields and the moon. There were no lights anywhere because it wasn't allowed. Mr Chapman and his Air Raid Precautions men patrolled the village every night, even as far out as our cottage, shouting at anyone with even a
chink in their curtains. So much darkness made the sky brilliant with stars on a cloudless night. Some of the people in the village said they couldn't ever remember seeing so many stars, but they'd always been there; the lights on the ground just stopped us from seeing them so well.

Condensation misted the glass and I wiped it away, staring over in the direction of the hill. I wondered if Kim would be there; if she'd really meet me like she'd said. And even then, I wasn't sure if I was going to go. Somehow, I couldn't picture myself doing it.

I pulled back into my room and closed the curtains before checking my watch with the torch Dad gave me a couple of years ago. It was an old one of his that hadn't worked for a long time, but Dad had managed to get it going again and had given it to me for my tenth birthday. It meant I could go out with him when he was doing his rounds in the dark, but when he left he told me never to point it up in case it let the Germans know where we were. When he told me that, he clicked the shotgun shut and pointed it at the clouds saying, ‘We'll blow the buggers out of the sky, eh?' and it made me laugh because Mam would never use a word like that.

At quarter to ten, I made up my mind and crept from my bedroom. I avoided all the stairs which squeaked, and tiptoed along the hall and across the kitchen floor. I slipped on my boots and let myself out into the night.

I stood on the front step and, for a last moment, I thought about going back inside. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be doing this. But there was a brilliant excitement
about it that seemed to make my whole body tingle and push the doubt away, so I jumped down and started to run. Through the garden, past the gate, over the path and on to the field. The cool wind rushed around me. The air smelt so fresh and I felt so free. It was like I was running wild, the only person in the world. Nothing could stop me.

I ran through the bare furrows, kicking the soil, jumping and hopping over the plants, careful not to damage the potatoes. There was a near-full moon and enough stars for me to see where I was going, so I ran until I could hardly breathe. When I eventually had to slow to a walk, I enjoyed the feeling of the cold air when I drew it into me and I took deep breaths over and over again as I trudged through the soft soil. I leant forward and put my head down as I climbed the hill, arriving at the top to find Kim already waiting.

She was sitting on the grass behind a scrubby bush that was half eaten by sheep. She had a satchel beside her on the ground, and I realised I should have brought mine too. I'd need something to carry all my souvenirs in.

‘What kept you?' she whispered.

‘It's only just ten. You said ten o'clock.'

‘Shh. Not so loud.' She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me low. ‘Someone's down there.'

I strained to look down at the crashed plane. There were a few places where pieces glowed hot in the wreckage, and while the air had been fresh closer to home, the smell that now drifted up the hill was still thick with the stink of the fire.

‘I can't see anyone,' I whispered.

‘There's soldiers guarding it.'

‘You sure?'

‘Well, of course I'm sure,' she said. ‘You think they'd just leave this plane out here with no one watching it?'

I nodded to myself and couldn't help feeling disappointed. I'd been looking forward to finding something. ‘Then how are we—'

‘Shh.' She nudged me hard. ‘Look.'

Two dark figures came around the broken nose of the aircraft, walking side by side. I could hear the low tones of their voices. For a second, they stopped and then a match flared as one of them lit a cigarette.

‘Shouldn't be doing that,' Kim said. ‘Germans might spot it.'

‘That looks like Mr Shaw,' I said, recognising the big frame of one of the men. ‘The Butcher.'

‘
The Butcher
?' she said. ‘Why do they call him that?'

‘'Cause it's his job.'

‘Oh. I thought it was a nickname or something.'

‘He's in the Home Guard,' I said, trying not to laugh. ‘Most of the men are.'

‘Home Guard? Shouldn't the real soldiers be guarding it?'

‘Maybe they're all out lookin' for that other one. The parachute, remember? There's a German wanderin' around some—'

‘Who's that?' Kim's voice was quiet but urgent. I felt her whole body tense beside me.

‘Where?' Even before I saw the figure, I began to feel
afraid. It was something about the way Kim had said it.

‘There.' She hardly moved at all as she pointed to the base of the hill and over to the right.

Settled low among the potato plants, I could see a dark shape that made me feel very cold. It looked as if something was hiding down there and my head was flooded with the poster images of evil Nazi soldiers peering from underneath their dark helmets, eyes glowing red.

I stared at it for a long time without speaking.

‘Is that a person?' I said eventually.

She didn't reply. She just shook her head.

We waited a while longer, both of us lying on our stomachs and looking down at the shadow, watching for movement, but we saw nothing. By the plane, the two men from the Home Guard finished their cigarettes and continued their patrol. The wreckage was spread all over the field, but they walked the length of the main crash site, coming within just a few yards of the lurking shadow. They rounded the tail end of the plane, and disappeared from sight.

And then it moved.

The dark shape shrank and then lengthened. It was like some kind of ghost, shape-shifting in the moonlight. Twisting and growing until it was the outline of a person. And then two more shapes rose from the furrows. They had been too well hidden for us to notice them before, but now we could see them clearly. All three began to slink forwards.

‘Who
is
that?' I said. ‘Germans?'

‘More souvenir hunters, probably.'

We watched as the three figures came together, creeping towards the wreck, but they'd only taken a few steps when there was a groaning of metal and a long creaking sound, followed by a sharp bang.

The noise came so suddenly, and was so loud and strange in the darkness, that it made me jump and sent my heart racing faster than it had been when I ran across the field. I could feel it thumping in my chest and, when I opened my mouth, I thought I could actually hear it. Beside me, Kim was breathing hard, too, and I was sure that if I dared put my hand on her chest, I'd feel her heart beating just as hard as mine was.

Below, on the field, the three figures froze. They stayed as they were for a fraction of a second, then dropped low to the ground, no more than a few feet away from the left wing. They were well disguised by the shadow it cast.

‘What was
that
?' I managed to whisper, even though my mouth was dry and my throat was tight.

‘The plane settling.'

‘I thought it was goin' to blow up again.'

‘Look,' she said, as the two Home Guard came around the nose of the plane once more. I could hear them chuckling, a kind of nervous laughter, as if they were pretending not to have been frightened by the noise. I watched them coming closer, continuing their patrol, and I looked over at the place where the three figures had dropped into the shadows.

‘They're going to bump straight into them,' Kim whispered. ‘That's right in the place where they went round.'

I glanced back at the two men, walking slowly, then I
flicked my eyes across to those shadows, back and forth, watching them come closer.

Closer.

I wondered if the figures would try to run, like the rabbits that hid in the long grass and bolted for their burrows just at the last minute, when you were about to stand right on top of them.

Closer.

Then the men stopped dead in their tracks. They fumbled their rifles from their shoulders and aimed them down into the shadows.

‘WHO GOES THERE?'

I heard the words as clearly as if they'd been spoken to me across the counter in his shop. That thick Northumberland accent. It was Mr Shaw, all right, just as I'd thought.

‘Stand up.' His voice was loud and firm. I hoped he wasn't in any danger. He was one of Dad's friends, and I'd always liked him. It would be awful if something bad happened to him.

‘Stand up,' he said again.

Then, very slowly, the three figures rose from the darkness of the scattered debris.

‘Identify yourselves.'

The voice that spoke next was too quiet for me to hear, but I saw Mr Shaw and the other man step forward, still pointing their rifles.

‘There's a curfew on tonight 'cause of this plane,' said Mr Shaw. ‘You lads shouldn't be out here.'

They approached the three figures, seeming to relax.
The two men from the Home Guard slung their rifles over their shoulders and spoke to the three figures, their voices quieter now so we couldn't make out what they were saying. They talked for a while, and then three of them were coming in our direction, straight up the hill.

‘Stay quiet,' Kim whispered as we shuffled right in among the shrubs. ‘Don't move.'

We couldn't see them any more, but we heard their footsteps approaching. The heavy footfall of three people climbing the hill, coming straight at us.

I tightened my lips, biting them together, terrified I'd let out a sound. I stopped breathing as the footsteps came closer.

‘Me da's gonna kill me for this if he finds out,' said a voice I recognised immediately. ‘You think he'll tell on us?' It was Trevor Ridley. The boy who'd given me a hard time this afternoon, right here on the hill. The other two were probably his friends Bob Cummings and Adam Thornhill. Wherever there was one of them, the others were sure to be close behind.

‘What about me mam?' said Cummings, his breath coming heavy from the effort of climbing the hill. I could tell he was frightened, and I didn't blame him. I knew who his mam was – a big woman with a loud voice. If Mrs Cummings was in the greengrocer's, my own mam would hesitate at the door and go to the butcher's instead.

Kim and I stayed as still as we could, keeping our faces hidden in our folded arms as we waited for the boys to go past. Even when they were long gone, the sound of their
boots just an echoing memory in our ears, we stayed perfectly still.

I was the first to speak.

‘Well, that's it, then,' I said. ‘We should go home.'

Kim didn't reply.

‘I mean, there's no chance of gettin' any souvenirs now, is there?'

‘I suppose not.' She sounded annoyed.

I was lying on my tummy with my arms crossed in front of me, so I put my chin on my forearms and turned to look at her. ‘So what's a canny good souvenir?' I asked, trying to brighten her mood. I didn't want her to be disappointed.

Kim did the same, our noses just a few inches away from each other. She sighed. ‘Anything, really. But it's best if it's got something written on it. Or a swastika would be even better.'

I thought about the tail piece I'd seen with the symbol painted on it, and that made me remember the way the plane had rattled over me that afternoon, the gunner waiting to be smashed into the ground.

‘Do you think they're still in there?' I asked. ‘In the plane?'

‘I don't know. Probably too hot to get them out. And then too dark. They can't use lights, can they?'

‘No.'

‘So yeah, they're probably still in there.'

I looked at Kim, seeing the way her eyes sparkled in the moonlight.

‘That would be something, wouldn't it?' she said.
‘Seeing inside the plane.'

‘Aye.'

Kim stared at me and grinned. ‘We should go in. Have a look.'

‘What?'

‘Right now.'

‘But they're guardin' it.' I looked down at the dark shapes of the Home Guardsmen beginning another patrol around the plane.

‘It takes them a few minutes to go round each time,' she said. ‘If we time it just right, we can get in while they're on the other side. They won't see us.'

‘They caught Trevor Ridley.'

The Home Guardsmen had reached the place where they first saw the three boys hiding behind the wing.

‘We're smaller,' she said. ‘Quicker. And we're better.'

‘I don't know.'