My German Lover, Part 26 chapter 1

Paul looked at Herr Koch and answered:

"French... German... I don't give a damn about that... I love them, and that's all that counts to me..."

"(...) I knew".

"Yes", Paul answered, with a sincere smile on his face...

After Herr Koch had left, Paul gave Will a call and told him:

"Hey... Would you ask Lutz and Franz to come tonight... We could have supper all together..."

"Sure...", Will answered...

That night... they all had supper... and after the supper, they went to the drawing-room to have coffee...

"You too Ludwig... come with us", Paul told Ludwig, seeing his young friend was walking to his den... "I have something to say..."

They all sat down, and coffee was served...

Then... Paul rose to his feet and, with tears in his eyes, he looked at his lover and at his other friends...

"I have something to tell you (...) Oh God, help me!", he said...

Then... he told them everything...

"(...) That's not true!", Ludwig cried out... "That's not true. That's a lie..."

Paul simply sat down and looked at Will, his eyes full of tears...

"I wish it wasn't true... I swear to God, I wish it wasn't true", Paul finally said.

Will took his brother into his arms...

Lutz simply sat there... schocked!

"Say something Lutz...", Franz said, looking at his lover...

Lutz slowly turned his head to look at Franz. He opened his mouth... but no sound came out of it.

Franz took Lutz into his arms, and began kissing his hair...

Lutz just didn't move. He had no tear in his eyes... nothing. He was just sitting there... staring... Then, after a while he rose to his feet and shouted:

"I Want to kill him! I'm gonna kill him with my own hands!"

"Huh?", Franz asked...

"(...) Hitler! I'm gonna kill him... that bastard!"

"Now guys... please... sit back, will you... I've got something else to say...", Paul said.

They all went back to sit and looked at Paul.

"(...) This is the worst day in my life... and it's yours too... It took all the courrage I have to tell you that... I... But I know one thing...", he said, looking at Will... "You still have Ludwig and me...". Then, looking at Lutz he added: "And you Lutz, you still have Franz as well as your brother Hans... So, we'll built on that guys... count on me. We may be bleeding tonight... but we are still alive, and we are together."

Will was holding his young brother Ludwig tight against him, kissing him all over his hair...

"(...) I have something here for you Will...", Paul said... "A letter your mother gave to me more than a year ago, making me swear I would give it to you, should something bad happen to your parents..."

Will took the envelope, opened it, and began reading aloud his mother's letter:

"My dear son...
If you're reading this letter,
it's because something happened to your father and to me...
I gave it to Paul, knowing he loves you
as much as we do!
We have trusted you and Paul with Ludwig's life.
Now, your sacred duty is to take good care of him.
We know that, with Paul's help, you will...
Your sacred duty is not to fight for Hitler... Please!
Your sacred duty is to the ones you love! We love you Wilhelm...
Please, please... take good care of you, of Paul and of your baby brother...
And Ludwig: Swear you will obey Will and Paul. They are your
parents now!
(...)
We love you both, Will and Ludwig...
We will always love you.
Be happy sons... and go on with your life.
Make us proud of you!

p.s. Paul... we love you, and count on you!"

After Will had read the letter, they all started crying like babies...

Will was holding Ludwig, his strong arms wrapped around his younger brother...

Will looked up at Paul and said:

"Come here you... We're family..."

Paul walked over to Will and Ludwig and the three of them hugged in a tight embrace...

Paul raised his head to look at Lutz and Franz and said:

"Come here you too... We're all family here..."

Later that night, Paul looked at them and said:

"I called Kurt... and he's ready to fly the four of us to Berlin tomorrow..."

"(...) No", Will said... "Ludwig is staying here... it's too dangerous..."

Ludwig looked at Will...

"Look Will", Ludwig said to his brother... "I'm not a baby anymore... I want to go. I need to be there. Beside, if we die going there... We'll all die together..."

"(...) He's right, Will", Paul said, looking at his lover...

Will looked at his young brother and, after a while he said:

"(...) Okay. You're coming bro..."

"Thanks Will", Ludwig answered, giving his brother a peck on his forehead... "I love you..."

"I love you too bro...", Will answered, caressing his brother's hair... "I love you so much..."

"I know...", Ludwig answered...

Then François walked into the drawing-room, smiling, coming back from the livrary where he had spent his evening. Looking at his friends, he realized something wrong was going on. As he sat, Paul told him everything. François was speechless.

Later that night, Paul took François to his study and told him:

"Look François... As you know, you can't come to Berlin with us. Only three people can travel along with me... And I won't hide from you that our trip will be a dangerous one, since every day and every night the Allies keep bombing Germany..."

"I want to go with you...", François said, looking at Paul with tears in his eyes...

Paul smiled at him and said:

"I know you would like to come... but you can't"

"But you're all I have... if you die..."

"No François... You understand why you can't come, don't you? You must live your own life François... You're going to be eighteen soon... and You're doing well in College. You must go on with your dream of becoming a doctor, if that's what you want to become... Now, you've always be very mature for your age... so look at me... and listen to me well..."

François raised his eyes to look at Paul...

"All was so sudden", Paul started to explain... "I didn't have time to make a lot of planning... so... first, take this..."

"What's that?"

"That document makes you the official tenant of a flat... not too far from here... So if something bad happens to us, you'll have a nice place to stay..."

Then Paul knelt in front of François and said to his young friend:

"Now François... look at me... good... You see François, I love you as if you were my own brother... here...", Paul said, giving François two envelopes. A very thick one... and a very thin one.

"In the thin envelope, you'll find my last will... don't open it unless you hear I have died, you understand?"

"Yes", François answered, his eyes full of tears...

"Now open the second envelope..."

When François opened the thick envelope, he saw it was full with Swiss Francs...

"You have a small fortune in there...", Paul started to say... "And I give it to you. Whatever happens to us, it's yours to keep François. Don't you deposit that money into the bank. Don't change that money into French Francs, you understand?"

"Yes", François answered, sobbing...

"You have enough in there to make it through University... and well beyond that..."

"...That's not what I want Paul... I don't want money... I want to be with you..."

"Hey! I swear... We don't intend to die... Relax pal! It's just in case... And as soon as we're back, I'm going to tell you what to do with that money. Don't worry, okay? We'll be back!"

"You swear?", François asked, his eyes still full of tears...

"(...) I can't François", Paul answered, giving his young friend a peck on the tip of his nose... "But I swear we'll do our best to stay alive and to be back as soon as possible..."

At four o'clock the day after, Paul, Will, Lutz and Franz met their friend and pilot Kurt at the Bourget Airport...

Kurt looked at his friends and said:

"Paul told me about your families... I'm so sorry guys... You don't know how much I'm sorry... (...) Ready to go?"

"Yes", they all answered.

So they left Paris... and as soon as they saw they had crossed over the Rhine river, they got nervous, as they realized Kurt was screening the skies to make sure no enemy planes were flying above them...

"(...) Don't worry guys...", Kurt finally said to his worried friends... "Usually, they come at night..."

As they were nearing Berlin, Paul looked out and said to his friends:

"Look at the beatiful sunset..."

Kurt looked back at Paul and said:

"You're looking at the East, Paul..."

"So what?", Paul answered...

"Have you ever seen the sun set over there? (...) You're not looking at the sunset Paul... You're looking at Berlin burning...", Kurt replied.

And through the portholes, they all looked at the sky... so beatiful... so yellow and red...

A city was dying down there... right before their eyes...

"That can't be", Ludwig said...

"Oh yes pal...", Kurt replied... "That's our city burning..."

Then, Kurt started to listen very carefully into his headphones...

The others in the plane heard him exclaim:

"What?"

Of course, they couldn't hear what Kurt was hearing in his headphones... what the guy at Tempelhof Airport was telling him...

"(...) No", they heard Kurt answer into his microphone... "No... I can't go there... I'm coming from Paris, and my tanks are almost empty (...) Yeah (...) Okay... just send a car over there, to pick us up, will you? (...) Yeah. Thanks", they heard Kurt say to the guy at Tempelhof...

"What's going on...", Will asked Kurt...

"Can't land at Tempelhof... Too much smoke over there, cause of all the fires in Berlin..."

"But... where the hell are you going to take us?", Will asked, worried...

"Well...", Kurt answered, grinning... "The Führer might be crazy... but he knew what he was doing when he ordered highways to be built all over Germany... We will use a highway near Berlin to land our plane... At Tempelhof they said there is no smoke over that highway..."

"(...) Are you crazy or what?", Paul shouted... "A highway? What's that?"

"(...) You'll see soon enough...", Kurt answered, laughing...

And indeed a few minutes later, they were landing on a beatiful highway... At the time, only Germany had highways... Only in the late 50' would highways start to be built in America and elsewere in the world...

After Kurt had landed his plane with it's passengers, they all got off the plane and looked around...

"...Look at the barn over there...", Kurt said... "I'll drive the plane right over there..."

"Why?", Lutz asked...

"You want to fly back to Paris, don't you?", Kurt asked...

"Oh... sure...", Lutz answered, not knowing what else to say...

"Well... we need a plane in good condition to go back... If the RAF pilots see our plane, they will destroy it..."

So Kurt slowly drove the plane to the barn they had stopped, then they all helped him to roll it insite the barn. After that, Kurt closed the big doors and went to talk to the farmer. A bit later, he was back and said to his friends:

"No problem... It's okay. We can leave the plane there..."

Soon after, they saw an army car arrive... The driver stopped his car and looked at Kurt, saying:

"Leutnant Weiner?"

"Yes", Kurt answered, grinning...

"Ah...", the driver answered, smiling at the pilot... "I was ordered to pick you up here... I hope you made a nice trip..."

"Could have been worst...", Kurt answered...

"(...) So... you're going to Berlin, huh?", the driver asked...

"Yes... to the Adlon Hotel...Can you drive us there?", Paul answered...

"Huh?", the driver answered, looking at Paul... "Where?"

"(...) The Adlon Hotel..."

"Well you have a problem Sir... The Adlon doesn't exist anymore! Completely destroyed..."

"Huh?", Paul answered...

"Yes Sir... There's not much left standing over there... Hope you have another place to stay, cause the Adlon... well..."

"No problem pals", Kurt said... "You'll all stay at our home... My parents are not rich or anything... and the house is not very big... but at least, you'll have a place to stay. And I know our house has not been damaged..."

They all agreeded, and thanked Kurt for his kindness...

"It's only natural guys... you would do the same for me...", Kurt answered...

"Let's go...", the car driver said...

So they all went to Berlin... and soon, as they got near the city, they realized the air was thick with smoke over there...

"Do you have handkerchiefs with you?", the driver asked them... "Wrapp them around your head to cover your nose and mouth...", he explained to his passengers... "That will help. (...) Where do you live, Leutnant Weiner?"

Kurt explained to the driver where his home was located... and the driver answered:

"Okay... But I'm afraid we'll have to drive through the centre of the city to go there... all the other avenues and streets are blocked by debris..."