The Hesitant Hero (16 page)

“Yes.”

“Well, I can’t read it, of course. Will you read some of it to us?”

“But you won’t understand it.”

“I know, but I would love to hear what Hebrew sounds like. I’ve always wished that I could read Hebrew.”

Rochelle took the Bible and began to read. Tyler sat there listening, entranced by the unusual sounds. He understood not one word of it, but as the firelight flickered on the face of the young girl, he saw the beauty of womanhood that lay ahead for her and wondered what her future would be.

“Why don’t you translate it for us,” Jolie said.

“You mean tell you what it means?”

“Yes. Could you do that?”

“Oh yes. This is the story of the prophet Elijah. . . .” She went on to tell the story of Elijah, who had challenged the prophets of Baal and in the end had been victorious.

“That’s a strong story,” Tyler said. “That Elijah was some man, wasn’t he?”

“He sure was!” Damien said, his face beaming. “I want to
be just like him when I grow up. I’d like to call fire down on the Germans and burn ’em up!”

Tyler had to smile at this bombastic statement, but he was more interested in watching Jolie as she cuddled the baby. It made a pretty scene, and he pondered again Jolie’s rare combination of beauty and strength. The firelight brought out her fine eyes, and her lips were broad and maternal as she leaned over and kissed Marie. Glancing around the small circle, he thought of how strange it was that he was at this place at this time. His life had taken a turn he would never have expected, and he suddenly realized that he could never again be the man he’d once been.

The full moon rose, and there was much chatter and laughter around the fire. Marie was getting restless in Jolie’s arms, and before long her occasional pouts turned to outright cries. No amount of cuddling or cooing or jiggling would help.

“I guess we’ll just have to let her cry,” Jolie told Tyler. “That seems to be what she wants to do.”

“Do you think it’s serious?”

“No, I don’t think so. She may just have some gas, something simple like that. She doesn’t seem to have a fever. Hard to know about babies. You can’t know how they’re hurting, and there’s no way they can tell you.”

“Do you want me to hold her so you can go to bed?”

“No, you go ahead and sleep, Tyler. I’ll walk with her a bit and see if that helps.”

Tyler got the children settled in the wagon and then curled up on the ground with a blanket. He was more fatigued than he had realized and quickly dropped off to sleep. When he woke once some time later, he saw that Jolie and Marie were both asleep on the ground near the fire.
She’s some woman,
he thought.
I’ve never known anyone like her.

****

They traveled steadily the next day, and Tyler estimated they had covered about fifteen kilometers. Crazy set the pace,
and there was no hurrying him, but on the other hand, he never seemed to slow down.

In the middle of the afternoon, Tyler looked at the map and then peered up ahead. “It looks like a town up there. It must be Orléans.”

“Do you think we should go in?” Jolie asked. “We’re going to need some more milk for Marie pretty soon.”

“I think it’s too risky, don’t you?”

“Maybe I should just go in alone. You and the kids find a good place to camp off the road. I can go in and be back in a couple of hours at the most.” She gave him a bright smile, adding, “I’ll be all right, Tyler.”

Tyler did not like it, but he didn’t see that they had much choice, so he nodded. “But don’t be too long.”

****

Orléans was a medium-sized town, larger than many they had passed through, and Jolie easily found what she needed: fresh milk for Marie, and some fresh cheese, bread, and fruit for the rest of them. Then she spotted a drugstore and thought to stock up on some medical supplies, such as aspirin, ointment, and bandages, in case they might not be available later on.

The druggist smiled at her. He was a tall man with a full head of silver hair and kind eyes. “Are you getting ready to start a hospital, mademoiselle?”

“Oh no, just making sure I have plenty of supplies. You know how difficult it is when you run out of supplies.”

“That’s a good thing,” he said as he nodded. “These are hard times—very difficult. We don’t know what will happen next.”

“What’s the latest news?”

“It’s always the same. The Germans are coming on faster than I could have believed. They will be here any day now.” He shook his head sadly. “It’s a sad day for France, indeed it is.”

Jolie left the drugstore, and even as she stepped out the
door, she heard the rumble of trucks. A convoy of trucks open to the sky and filled with German soldiers was coming down the street. She stepped back and stared at them.

The column stopped and a handsome officer leaped to the ground from the lead truck. He barked out some commands, and the soldiers began to disembark. From the little German she knew, she understood that he had said they would have a break. She started to walk away, but she was not quick enough. The officer came directly to her and stood before her smiling.

“Bonjour, mademoiselle,” he said in excellent French. “You are out shopping, I see.”

“Why, yes, Officer, I am.”

“My name is Lieutenant Fritz Kaltenbach. May I ask your name?”

Jolie quickly glanced at the name of the store across the street and blurted out “Marie Thibeau” before she could give it a second thought. She didn’t know if giving a false name would prove to be necessary, but it seemed the smart thing to do.

“Mademoiselle Thibeau, would you give me the honor of accompanying me into that café? You must let me buy you a drink.”

“Oh, Lieutenant Kaltenbach, I couldn’t do that.”

“Why, of course you could! I am instructing all my men to behave themselves, and you must give me an opportunity to demonstrate how that is done.”

Jolie noticed that some of the soldiers had gathered not far away and were watching the exchange. One of them called out, “That’s the way, Lieutenant. Establish good relationships with the French.”

Jolie couldn’t understand some of the comments, but she could tell by their tone of voice and gestures that they were ribald.

“We must not pay attention to them,” Kaltenbach said. “Come along. You must permit me to buy you something refreshing.”

Jolie could not think of a way to get out of the situation. She walked with him over to the café, which had tables outside. He pulled a chair out for her before seating himself. When a man came to take their order, the lieutenant asked for two glasses of their best wine.

Kaltenbach turned out to be a charming man. If he had not been wearing a German uniform, Jolie would not have known he wasn’t French.

“You speak French very well, Lieutenant,” she commented.

“Ah, thank you. I went to school in Paris. I was a student at l’École des Beaux-Arts.”

“You are an artist?”

“That is yet to be decided. While I think so and my mother thinks so, some of the critics were not so kind as she. But one day I’ll go back and prove them wrong.”

“Tell me about your painting.”

He looked surprised. “You like painting, mademoiselle?”

“Very much, although I’m not an artist myself.”

Kaltenbach began to tell her about his art, and they drank the wine. He ordered more, but Jolie refused and smiled.

Soon he began to get more personal. He leaned over and took her hand. “I must say I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful woman in this little town, as well as a lover of art. I’m sure we have much in common.”

As he took her hand, Jolie noticed he was wearing a ring. “I see you have a wife.”

“What?”

“Your wedding ring,” she said, pointing at it. “What is her name, Lieutenant?”

He reddened. “I’ve only been married a few months. I’m hardly used to being a husband.” He laughed self-consciously and took a hasty sip of his drink.

“Do you have a picture of her?”

“Why, yes, I do.” He fished his wallet out and handed a photograph to Jolie.

“She’s very pretty, and she looks like a sweet-tempered young woman.”

“She is. I was very lucky to get her.” He gazed at the photograph. “We’re expecting a baby in six months.”

“Congratulations. And I hope that she will be as beautiful as her mother.”

“Or if it’s a boy?”

“Then as noble as his father.”

Lieutenant Kaltenbach put his wallet away, then straightened up. “You are right to rebuke me, and you did it so tastefully. I’m ashamed of flirting.”

“Tell me some more about your painting, Lieutenant, and about your marriage.”

He described some of the paintings he had created while he had been in Paris but didn’t say much about his wife. He drank the last of his wine and then glanced at his watch. “I must be going. It has been such a pleasure.”

“It has been very nice. Thank you for the wine. I wish you well, Lieutenant, and I hope that your wife and the child to come will be in good health.”

“You are very kind. Very kind indeed,” he said as he helped pull her chair out. “Not all have greeted us so well.”

“It’s a difficult time for us here, Lieutenant. I’m sure you understand.”

“I know. But France will be much better under German rule.” He bowed stiffly and turned away. He began shouting commands and the soldiers quickly piled into the waiting trucks. When Lieutenant Kaltenbach got in beside his driver, he turned and looked at Jolie. He saluted her, and then the trucks moved out.

As Jolie watched them go, she was thinking,
He’s so nice, so polite. He doesn’t seem like a monster at all. I don’t understand the German people.
She quickly walked out of town toward the place where she had left the others.

When she got back, she found that Tyler was anxious.

“You took a long time,” he said. “What kept you?”

“I see you’ve started a fire. Let me warm up some of this milk for Marie and you can see what I’ve brought for all of you.”

Tyler looked in the sack to find the fresh bread, cheese, and fruit and pulled out some of it and handed it to Rochelle to start cutting it up for their supper. He watched Jolie as she heated the milk and fixed a bottle for the baby. “You’re very good with children, Jolie, but then you’ve had lots of practice.”

“Yes, I have. It will come in handy when I have my own children, I suppose. Say, speaking of children, where are the others?”

“I told them they could go exploring if they stayed together and didn’t go very far. They’re right over there,” he said, pointing.

She shaded her eyes and looked. “Okay, as long as we can see them.” She handed Marie to Rochelle and then turned back to Tyler. “The news isn’t good. The Germans are overrunning our country faster than anyone could suppose. A convoy of German soldiers arrived when I was in town.”

“Yes, I saw them along the road. They gave me a scare. I’m glad we were well off the road and out of sight.”

“A young officer stopped me. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two, I’d guess.”

“Did he harm you?” Tyler demanded.

“Oh no. He wanted me to have a drink with him, and I couldn’t see any way to get out of it, so we sat down at a table outside a café.”

“What did he say?”

“He was very charming, actually. Spoke French perfectly, and he’s a painter like you.”

“Is that what you talked about?”

“He tried to flirt with me, but when I noticed his wedding ring, he actually blushed. He has a wife and a child on the way and was quite ashamed of himself. He told me so.”

Tyler wanted to hear the whole story. When she told it, he finally said, “He doesn’t sound like a typical Nazi.”

“You know, he really didn’t. He was very nice. If I had met him out of uniform, I would never have suspected what he was.” Her mind went back to the encounter, and her eyes reflected her thoughts. She looked down for a moment, then lifted her eyes to his. “He was a gentleman . . . not what I expected of a Nazi.”

“They say even Hitler loves dogs, so I guess everybody has something good about them.”

“I’ll never understand the Germans, Tyler. Their race has produced some of the greatest artists and scientists and philosophers in the world, yet they brought one terrible war into the world and now they’re beginning another. It’s like they’re two different breeds: the war makers and those men like Lieutenant Kaltenbach.”

The two spoke for a time of the war, then Tyler said, “Someday this war will be over, but I think it’ll last for a long time.” He suddenly grinned and reached out to touch her cheek. “I’m not surprised the man flirted with you.”

Jolie was aware of the warmth of his hand on her cheek. She wondered at her response, then drew back, saying hastily, “I’d better get started on supper. These children are always hungry.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Antoine

Although Jolie had made it her business to see that they stayed on the back roads as much as possible, they still encountered scattered traffic. Most of the refugees fleeing from Paris used the main roads, but those who knew the countryside better took the less traveled ones. Every day they saw German planes, and twice they encountered men who had seen the Germans in force moving southward.

They made little time and were anxious to be off the roads completely and concealed well before dark. Their food supply was adequate, and they stopped at farms occasionally to buy eggs and vegetables. Once Tyler mentioned that it might be possible that one of the farmers would betray them, but Jolie did not think it was likely. “They hate the Germans so much they wouldn’t betray their own people.”

“Most of them would not, but there are Nazi sympathizers in France, and you can’t always know them.”

“I suppose so—but I hate to think of that.”

****

By the time they got to Chartres, their routine was well established. By this time the young people had become more accustomed to the dangers and hardships than the adults. While Jolie and Tyler were scanning the area and even the skies almost constantly, Rochelle, Damien, and Yolande seemed to be totally unaware of the dangers that could lie just around the turn in the road.