Opposite Sides (75 page)

“
There will
be two,” repeated the general into the mouth piece.

After some extra
formalities down the phone line, the general finally replaced the
receiver and addressed Jan once more.

“
How to you
intend getting over there, may I ask?”

“
Haven’t
figured it out, yet, sir. First, I thought it was important to
obtain permission and the necessary documentation.”

“
Well, you’re
in luck. We’ve got an army vehicle going that way this afternoon.”
He began stamping the documents which would allow the two women to
cross from one zone to the other. Within the hour both Jan and
Rosie were being escorted into the American sector.

“
We were so
lucky to have been driven here,” she told the American behind the
counter. “I think it would have taken us days to find our way here.
Everything’s been so destroyed. It’s almost impossible to get
around.”

“
Yep.
Shouldn’t have started it. Do you speak any German, ma’am?” asked
the sergeant in a slow, low southern drawl.

“
No, I don’t.
Only a word or two. Why, does it matter?”

“
How do you
two . . . ” He beamed at Rosie who was much younger than Jan,
raising his bushy eyebrows with interest. “think you’re goin’ to
get around? No one in this God-damn city speaks much
English.”

Jan thought for a while,
before answering.

“
Oh. I’m not
sure. I . . . we . . . ” Jan indicated Rosie. “really never gave it
much thought. We came because I haven’t heard from Mr Resmel since
. . .”

“
Just before
Christmas, wasn’t it?”" Rosie had found her voice and had decided
to be included in this conversation.

“
Well, ain’t
that bad,” the American said shaking his head. He turned slightly
to his his right and called to someone in the rear room. “Hey,
Donut, come out here a sec. Maybe you could give these two gals a
hand.”

A slightly older man,
closer to Jan in age, poked his shaved head around the doorway. the
sergeant spoke again.

“
You gotta
day or two free?” The other nodded. “Great! How’d ya like to help
these two English ladies? They’ve come here to find a
Kraut.”

“Shucks, there’s tons of
them around!”

“
They only
want one! Missin’, or gone west.”

The soldier came through
the door and joined his sergeant at the desk.

“
Hi. My
name’s Private Alan Mannings but my mates call me Donut.” He
grinned and pointed to the top of his head. “ ‘Cos of the shaved
part. See? Bit like a hole in the donut.”

Jan warmed towards
Private Donut. He came over as out-going and friendly.

“
Would you
really help us, Private . . . er, Donut?” She took a step closer
towards the bench.

“
Yea, sure.
Cripes, why not? Glad to take you around. Now, where do you think
this guy of yours was last?” He pulled out a drawer and extracted a
large folded piece of paper. “City map.” Donut indicated to Jan and
her friend to go with him into the adjacent room where there was a
flat surface large enough to accommodate the opened map. “It’s a
bit hard gettin’ through all the road blockages and rubbish,
Ma’am,” the soldier commented as he slid his hand across the map
surface and smoothed out the deep folds.

“
We’ve
already discovered that much, haven’t we Janine?”

Rosie came closer to
where the map lay. She nodded as she tried to sort out the areas
she had been but on the map everything looked a jumble of
strange-looking streets that criss-crossed a cityscape which was no
longer recognisable. The street names, she could not read. They
were in a script she had never seen before, similar to old writings
but somehow different. The man must have noticed the puzzlement on
her face, for he said,

“
Don’t worry
about trying to read those names. It’s the old way of writing. It’s
the only map we’ve got at present. Found it in one of the
government buildings.” He looked up and grinned. “Aw, gosh. Didn’t
catch your names.” He grinned again, so widely that Jan noticed he
had a gold crown on one of his top molars. He stared at Rosie who
was nearest to him.

“
I’m Nurse
Rosie Dawson.” She waited for a second or so. “That’s Staff-Sister
Janine Turner.”

“
Hi!” He
smoothed the map out flatter with his arm. “Now, who’s this ya
lookin’ for?”

“
Janine’s
fiancé,” said Rosie in a matter-of-fact tone.

Donut was confused. He
looked at Jan and then back at Rosie.

“
Her guy?
Don’t get it. Your both English, aren’t you?”

“
Yes.” It was
Rosie who answered.

Donut shook his
head.

“
Sorry.
Thought he was a Kraut. Didn’t get that he’s English. Is he with
the British forces in their zone, then?”

“
No. He is a
Kraut as you say but he’s
my
Kraut!
” Jan was brusk and to the
point.

“
An’ he’s
here in Berlin?”

“
That’s
right. Any problem with that?” Jan was showing her
annoyance.

Donut’s eyebrows raised
so high they almost met his hairline.

“
OK. OK.
Well, is he living here?”

Jan’s lips tightened to a
firm red line. She adjusted her glasses before she spoke to him
again.

“
No. He came
here to find his son. A young child. He’s missing.”

Donut thought this was
becoming very involved and confusing. He turned to
Rosie.

“
Is this for
real? She really wants to find this guy? And he’s not one of
us?”

“
No. He was
in the German army and yes, she does want to find him.”Rosie was
pleased with herself for backing up her friend but Jan was becoming
rather impatient.

“
Look,
Private Donut, can we get on with it? I do not have that much
time.”

“
He was
really in the German forces?”

Donut ran his fingers
over the top of his short-cropped hair and stared intently at both
Rosie and Jan.

“
Yes.” Jan
answered firmly and curtly. She was itching to get out of here and
to begin her search.

“
What, during
the war?”

“
Look if it’s
going to make it easier for you. Yes, he was in the Afrika Korps. A
major. Major Resmel. That’s who I’m looking for.”

“
Jeez!”
exclaimed Donut with a slight whistle between his teeth. “But
you’re English. You’re a nurse. Did you treat him in one of your
hospitals? Is that where you met this guy?”

“
No. I knew
him before the war.” Jan was becoming rather fed up with all this
questioning. This was worse than the questioning when she had found
herself a prisoner near Tobruk. “It’s complicated. He’s got a
daughter in England who’d love to get to know her father now the
war’s over and now he’s somewhere in Berlin.” She instinctively
reached up and adjusted her glasses. “I haven’t heard from him for
over a month. And he always writes.”

“
Jeez,”
whistled Donut. “An’ he’s got an English daughter?”

“
Yes, he has.
It’s all very complicated.” She drew in a deep, slow breath that
allowed herself just enough time to re-focus. “I’ve come here to
find him. And that’ll be with, or without your help.”

Donut stroked his the top
of his dark brown hair and shook his head.

Some
woman
, he thought.
She’s taken on quite a task.

“
I suggest I
drive you over to the French sector. You’ve checked with the
British, I fathom?” Jan nodded. Donut relaxed. “If there’s nothin’
there, then it’s the Soviet sector. Could be awkward.”

“
Why?”

“
We’re not
exactly on buddy terms with them Reds now. Things have gone sour
over the last few months. Commies. Can’t be trusted.”

Never mind
all that
, Jan thought as she turned her
head in Rosie’s direction and threw her eyes in the direction of
the ceiling. Rosie understood.

“
Staff-sister
will have to trust them, sir. Her options are that
limited.”

Rosie emphasised her
point by bringing her hands close together before Donut’s nose. Jan
shot an acknowledging nod in her friend’s direction before she
addressed Donut again.

“
Will I be
able to get into that sector?”

“
Not sure.
You’ll have to apply through your own authorities. As you’re not an
American citizen, there’s little I do. Sorry.” Donut folded up the
map and popped it into a briefcase. He took note of the great
disappointment that had fallen over Jan’s face. “But I can help.
Not as an American soldier but as an individual. I know a few
things, or two.” He picked up the briefcase and shoved it under his
arm. “Coming? Let’s go!”

They searched throughout
the French sector, but in vain. There was a long list of missing
people but Hans’ name was not among them. Jan felt dispirited and
frustrated. It was good that she had Rosie for support. She was
going to have to find something soon or she would have to return to
England empty-handed. Before Hans had come to the divided city,
life for he and Jan had been filled with hope and love. Now there
were only memories of the happiest days of her life, together with
a burning ache within her body for the man she had fallen deeply in
love with. He had promised not to do anything stupid and to return
to her by the end of the year but it was now 1946, almost twenty
years to the month when Erwin Hans Resmel had walked into her life.
Surely, this couldn’t be the end? Jan had to push her feelings to
the back of her mind, for Andrea’s sake she had to remain strong
but the pretence was beginning to tear her apart. She could not
sleep, tossing throughout most of the night, waking fitfully and
shedding silent tears into her pillow. Her frustration, together
with the destruction of the surroundings, weighed heavily on her,
affecting her far worse than her wartime experiences in the desert
campaign. There, she’d been able to cope even with the dreadful
wounds, death and destruction but at least she’d been occupied and
had the knowledge that she could make a difference between life and
death. In her present situation, she felt trapped and helpless. If
only there had been a clue, even a trivial clue,
anything.

Donut was as true to his
word as anyone she had known. When Jan told him of her continuing
plight, he threw everything he could into helping her and three
days later he arrived at the hospital with a pass for her into the
Russian sector.

“
It’s better
that you go alone,” he told her as he handed it over. “Only got it
by the skin of my teeth. I know it’s forbidden to fraternise with
any of the locals but I did manage to find you a
contact.”

Jan glanced down at the
pass card that could be her lifeline.

“
Thanks.”

“
Sorry, but I
could only get it for four days.”

“
Doesn’t give
me much time.”

He could feel her
desperation.

“
He must be
quite a guy, this Kraut of yours.”

“He is. Very special.
You’d never understand.”

Her eyes were moist and
Donut noticed she was beginning to tremble. He decided not to press
the subject further.

“
Look, I’ll
take you to the crossing point in the morning. It’ll take near on
twenty minutes to get there. Then, I’m afraid, you’ll be on your
own.”

“
I’ve
prepared myself for that. And thank you so much, Donut.”

Jan offered him her hand.
Her handshake was warm and sincere. He felt sorry for the lady and
wished he could have helped her more.

“
Good luck.
See you at ten hundred hours.”

Crossing through the
barrier in Friedrichstrasse with a large package of brown paper
wrapping which she had been told to take with her was
nerve-racking. There was a narrow stretch where Jan was neither in
one sector, nor quite in the other and for those footsteps she felt
vulnerable and alone. She reached the Russian guard house and stood
in silence as the Red Army soldier closely examined her passport
and authority pass and then stamped them both in stony silence. She
walked on through.

This central part of
Berlin had been hit far harder than the west where she had just
come from. Almost all of the buildings had been burnt out and they
stood blackened, like gasping goldfish, gasping their last breath,
their wide, gaping mouths turned silently upwards towards the sky.
The enormity of it made her shudder as she turned a full circle
unable to find a complete building for as far as her eyes could
see.

She had been
given instructions to wear her nurse’s uniform and follow the marks
on her map that would lead her across Leipzigerstrasse and over to
where the cathedral, D
er deutsche
Dom
, had once stood as a symbol to the
city. Today it looked like a sandcastle that had been stamped on by
some giant foot. Jan had been told to stand exactly at its eastern
corner and wait until she was approached by a young woman wearing a
small brown felt hat which would be tilted just off centre to the
left. It all felt like the meeting between spies she had read about
and she felt uneasy. What if her contact refused to come? How would
she get the large food parcel back across the border? She would
have no option but to abandon the whole lot, leave it for others to
find, and return to the American sector in the west. The few people
who passed near by glanced only briefly at the solitary figure
wrapped up against the cold. She continued to wait.