Heroes by David Hagberg (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

although he toyed with the idea of going to see her. But that was too dangerous. In the very short time they had known each other, Katrina had developed the uncanny knack of reading what he was thinking. She’d be able to read him very easily today.

“There you are,” a familiar voice boomed behind him. Deland turned around as Rudy Schlechter, all smiles, came up to him and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Hello, Rudy,” Deland said.

“Don’t look so glum,” Schlechter laughed. He ordered a beer for himself and another for Deland.

“It’s the weather.”

“Nonsense, the weather is beautiful. Have you been outside … I mean, outside of town? It’s beautiful, I tell you.” Their beer came and Schlechter took a huge drink. “But listen to me, Edmund. The girls are at church. They’ll be back after late mass.

About two, I think. They sent me to find you. The old bag at your rooming house told me you went out this morning, then came back and went out again. I’m glad I found you. Where’ve you been?”

“I took my bike for a ride,” Deland said. His heart was beginning to accelerate.

“Hell of a day for a bike ride, if you ask me. It’s pretty, but it’s damned cold. Where were you off to?” Bern had warned him that his position was suspect. They wanted him out now. He glanced toward the from doors. Were the Gestapo just outside, waiting for the signal from Schlechter to come in and arrest him? Had he been followed?

“I took the river road out of town.”

Schlechter’s eyes narrowed. “Out toward the Wurzburg Reise?” he asked, referring to the radar station.

“No,” Deland said, hanging his head. “Much closer than that. But …”

“But what?”

“I couldn’t do it. I turned around and came back.”

“You couldn’t do what, my old friend? What were you up to so mysteriously this morning?”

“It was Herr Mueller,” Deland said after a hesitation. His heart was really hammering now.

Schlechter just looked at him, incomprehension on his face.

“Herr Meuller. Katrina’s father. I …”

Suddenly Schlechter’s face was split with a broad grin. “Oh, my God, Edmund! What a surprise! Don’t tell me you were going there to ask … for her hand?”

Color came naturally to Deland’s cheeks. He nodded. “But I just couldn’t.”

Schlechter slapped him on the back. “We are going to be with the girls this afternoon. I thought we’d drive somewhere for dinner. Maybe Greifswald.” He laughed out loud. “But I’ll tell you what. We’ll pick up the girls and go over to Maria’s apartment.

There’ll be no one there. We’ll make some excuse, and Maria and I will go on to dinner. You two can be alone. We won’t return until late.”

“But,” Deland started.

“Nonsense.”

“Katrina … she isn’t that kind of a girl.” He was more than frightened now. He was embarrassed and excited all at the” same time.

Schlechter smiled indulgently. “This is 1944, Edmund. You are a big boy, and Katrina is a big girl. Besides, this is war. You can never tell when one of us will leave for work in the morning and never come back.”

It was like a splash of ice-cold water. But if Schlechter had noticed Deland’s reaction to his comment, he gave no indication of it.

“Come on, drink up. We’ve got just enough time for another, and then we’ll pick up the girls.”

“Katrina was happy to see Deland, but she was a little shy at first. She and Maria sat in the back and Deland looked straight ahead as Schlechter kept up a running commentary on his efforts to find the “wayward boy.” He did not directly mention Deland’s story about trying to see Katrina’s father, but he kept alluding to a big secret. It made Deland very nervous.

Maria’s apartment was above a dentist’s office, so there was no one around at this hour on a Sunday. When Schlechter pulled up and parked, Maria sat forward.

“Why are we stopping here, Rudy? I thought we were going over to Greifswald?”

Schlechter turned around. He was grinning. Deland’s mouth was dry. “Give Katrina your key.”

“What?”

“Give Katrina your apartment key. Edmund has something he wants to ask her. I think they should be left alone for a while. It is something very important.”

It was quiet in the back seat. Deland was afraid to turn around.

Finally, Maria laughed. “I think that’s wonderful, Edmund,” she said. She reached forward and kissed him on the cheek.

The move was unexpected. Deland turned around. Katrina was smiling, her cheeks glowing, a wisp of blonde hair peeking out from beneath her wool cap. There was a large ache inside Deland’s chest. She never looked more beautiful to him.

“Are you two going to Greifswald after all?” Katrina asked, breaking the spell. But her voice sent shivers through Deland.

“Yes, we’ll be late. Very late,” Schlechter said.

“There’s plenty of food to eat, and there’s some wine and beer on the back stoop,” Maria said. “You know where the records are, and I think there might be some schnapps left in the cabinet by the plant stand.” She gave Katrina the key, then kissed her friend on the cheek. “If I had children, they would be like you,” she gushed.

Deland, thoroughly embarrassed now, got out of the car and helped Katrina out. Maria climbed in the front seat. She smiled, and she and Schlechter both waved and then were gone.

“It’s cold out here,” Katrina said. She turned and Deland followed her up the stairs to Maria’s apartment, where she unlocked the door and they went inside.

The apartment was very warm. Before she had gone out, Maria had evidently stoked the small heating stove in the living room. There was a bucket of coal beside the stove. There weren’t many people in Germany with that kind of luxury at the moment.

Coal was almost impossible to find. It had probably come from Rudy.

Katrina took off her hat and coat and laid them over a chair.

She wore a knit dress and heavy woolen stockings that on anyone else would have been totally shapeless. But on her the outfit