Come the Hour (3 page)

‘Great buildings,’ he said, and Kurt seemed proud.

‘I will show them to you properly,’ he said. ‘They are worth seeing.’

‘Do your parents speak English?’ Charlie asked.

‘My father does, quite well, my mother hardly at all.’

Charlie was greeted by Kurt’s parents with the utmost politeness. ‘Welcome to Berlin,’ his father said.

Kurt took him to his bedroom. ‘I expect you would like a cup of tea,’ Kurt said. Charlie nodded.

Kurt smiled. ‘Very English,’ he said. ‘I will send it. Dinner will be ready very soon.’

Charlie unpacked and put his clothes away. The furniture was dark and heavy, very German, he thought, and then smiled at himself. What did he know about Germany? Almost nothing. That was what he was here for. A maid brought him a pot of tea and sugar and milk on a tray and he drank it, looking out of the window. Across the street was a park with trees and flower-beds and straight paths, meeting at neat right angles. He washed his hands and face, put on a clean shirt and tie and a jacket and joined the family for dinner.

Kurt’s father was quite short and plump, a heavy gold watch chain across his waistcoat. His mother and his little sister were both blond and blue-eyed.

‘I hope you will like our German food,’ Herr Braun said. ‘It will make you strong.’

Charlie smiled at Frau Braun. ‘I’m sure I will.’

‘It was kind of you to entertain Kurt in the half-term holidays,’ Herr Braun said, ‘and show him around London. He will show you our Berlin.’

After dinner the boys went for a walk in the park.

‘I’m looking forward to seeing the city,’ Charlie said. ‘The buildings look magnificent.’

‘And many of them are new,’ Kurt said. ‘London is very interesting, but you do live in the past, don’t you?’

‘We have a lot of past,’ Charlie said. ‘A lot of history.’

‘That is where we are encouraged to be different then,’ Kurt said. ‘We are supposed to look to the future now, to the new Germany.’ He paused. ‘Whatever that may be.’

They walked on. ‘How are your parents?’ Kurt asked.

‘Very well.’

‘And how is Tessa?’

Charlie glanced at him. Kurt’s voice had changed. It had a warmth in it, and a wariness. It hadn’t occurred to him before that Kurt might have been attracted to Tessa. He had never said anything. He wouldn’t, of course. Charlie could see that now. The atmosphere in this country was unmistakable – military and aggressive. Kurt would not, could not, approach an English girl under the circumstances: the hovering of an uncertain and possibly dangerous future.

‘Is she still going to be a doctor?’ Kurt said.

‘Yes,’ Charlie said. ‘She’s very keen. What are you going to do?’

‘Go to university,’ Kurt said. ‘I shall read modern languages. That might be useful in the future.’

Charlie wondered what kind of future Kurt had in mind, whether he envisaged a situation where the knowledge of languages might go beyond the simple advantages of everyday use. He had certainly been keen to learn English. He didn’t ask. ‘I’m going up to Cambridge,’ he said, ‘to read history.’

Kurt gave a little laugh. ‘You are a dreamer, Charlie.’

Charlie felt a sudden rush of feeling. What was it? Pride, patriotism, love of family, of home, some kind of belief? ‘Someone has to be,’ he said.

Charlie went to bed early, tired from the journey. There was an atmosphere here, he thought, an urgency, a kind of aggression. They were on their way somewhere. Where?

The next day they did a tour of the city. Troops were marching at the Brandenburg Gate. Charlie watched them, impressed. Their faces,
implacable under the heavy helmets, looked as if they were carved from stone. ‘They look very fit,’ he said.

‘They are,’ Kurt said. ‘Our Chancellor says that he doesn’t want the army to be intelligent. He wants them brutal.’

Charlie didn’t reply. Kurt’s voice held a faint touch of deeper meaning. He couldn’t decide whether it was amusement or cynicism.

They moved on. They looked at one great new building after another, the burnt and damaged Reichstag, now, seemingly, under reconstruction; then the huge, modern complex of the Air Ministry building. Charlie didn’t know where the British Air Ministry was, but he was sure it didn’t look like this. The Germans obviously attached a good deal of importance to their air force. They found and admired the
Eagle and Swastika
sculpture by Walter Lemke.

‘They are magnificent, these buildings,’ Charlie said. ‘They must have cost a fortune.’

‘It was probably worth it,’ Kurt said. ‘They send a certain message to the citizens, about our great strength.’ Charlie glanced at him, not sure what he meant, but Kurt’s face again seemed to be carefully expressionless.

They passed a small group of men, many of them well dressed in suits and overcoats and carrying a small suitcase. They were being moved on by uniformed guards.

Charlie watched them go by. ‘Who are they?’

‘Just some Jews,’ Kurt said, his voice low. ‘Perhaps they have volunteered to do some work for Germany.’ He paused. ‘Or perhaps they are leaving the country.’ He turned away abruptly. ‘Let’s go to the Potsdamer Platz and have coffee. You will like it there.’

The platz was crammed with cafés and restaurants and plastered with posters advertising reviews and cabarets.

‘It is like a Christmas tree at night,’ Kurt said. ‘We will come.’

They sat at a table outside in the sunshine, watching the crowds, pretty girls, good-looking young men, many uniforms.

‘It’s all very impressive,’ Charlie said. ‘Germany is very modern.’

Karl said nothing, sipping his coffee. ‘What’s all this trouble with the Jews?’ Charlie went on. ‘What are they supposed to have done?’

Kurt lowered his voice. ‘I don’t think we will talk about the Jews.’

He didn’t move, didn’t look round, but Charlie could see the tension in his body, the wariness in his face. Kurt got up. ‘I think we will go now.’

They dined at home again that evening.

‘So, what do you think of our Berlin?’ Herr Braun smiled a broad, complacent smile.

‘The new buildings are magnificent,’ Charlie said.

‘They are the Führer’s doing,’ Herr Braun said. ‘He has saved us from inflation, the communists, the Jews.’ He took a mouthful of wine. ‘We were cheated after the last war,’ he went on, ‘and look at us now – the most powerful country in Europe, if not the world.’

Charlie didn’t know what to say. He just smiled. Herr Braun did not smile back. He seemed to regard Charlie’s smile as some kind of challenge. ‘We did not cause the last war,’ he said angrily, ‘and we were humiliated afterwards. Our land was given away, to the Czechs and the Poles. Our colonies were given away. Millions of Germans are forced to live outside our borders. What do you think of that?’

Charlie was deeply embarrassed. He could feel himself flushing. Kurt spoke to his father in rapid German and Herr Braun said no more, stabbing at his food in silence.

The boys went to the little park again.

‘I am sorry about that,’ Kurt said. ‘My father gets very emotional about it. He was in the last war. He was wounded in the leg.’

Charlie kicked at a little stone. ‘What did you say to him?’

‘I said that you were not born then and it was nothing to do with you.’ They walked on. ‘It has left its mark, though.’

‘It would,’ Charlie said. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know much about it.’

‘Never mind,’ Kurt said. ‘We will go to a lake tomorrow, the Wannsee, and take a picnic.’

Next day they took the subway train to the Lanke station and walked to the lake. They walked past prosperous houses and through a pleasant wood. The shores of the lake were crowded with families, walkers, and children running everywhere. The people looked prosperous, Charlie thought, the women in flowery summer dresses and shady hats.

‘We’ll take a boat out on the lake,’ Kurt said. ‘I need some exercise.’

They hired a rowing boat and Kurt rowed out on to the lake.

‘You must forgive my father,’ Kurt said. ‘He is a great admirer of Herr Hitler.’

‘I don’t blame him,’ Charlie said. ‘The man has pulled the country together. I just don’t understand why he has this hatred of the Jews, and I don’t understand why he’s risking another war.’

Kurt looked around him. ‘We are on the lake,’ he said quietly, ‘so that no one will hear us. Please, Charlie, do not speak about the Jews or criticize the Führer while you are here. It could make a great deal of trouble for my family.’

Charlie looked at Kurt’s troubled face and the darkness in his eyes. He felt a sense of sudden and profound shock. I’m a fool, he thought, an idiot. I know nothing. It simply hadn’t occurred to him that he might be in a country where just his words or his expressed opinion could lead to such danger. The moment was a watershed. He felt as if a door had closed behind him, as if he had stepped into another world where he was naked and unprepared. He wondered what Kurt really thought about what was happening in Germany. He, Charlie, lived in a country that he had never questioned, that had never presented him with any real political conflict. He had never had to make such decisions. In fact, he thought, he had never been presented with any kind of conflict. His life had been smooth and untroubled. Perhaps that time was coming. He watched his childhood skitter away across the water.

He looked at Kurt with new eyes, a new understanding, at a Kurt who seemed so much older, so much more experienced, than himself.

‘Remember, Charlie,’ Kurt said. ‘You are not in England now.’

‘I – I understand,’ Charlie said. ‘I’m sorry.’

Kurt smiled. ‘We’ll go back now and have our picnic. My mother has packed
käsebrotchen
and smoked ham and salami and cheese and fruit.’

‘A feast,’ Charlie said.

On Charlie’s last night they went to a nightclub. Most of the clientele were officers in their glamorous uniforms with their pretty, well-dressed girls. On each table was a telephone.

‘You can ring up the other tables,’ Kurt said, ‘and ask a girl to dance or have a drink with you.’

‘I wouldn’t have the nerve,’ Charlie said.

They drank a few beers before the phone rang.

Kurt answered it and smiled. ‘It is for you. That young lady would like to dance with you.’

Charlie stood up and smiled and the girl walked to him across the dance floor. He wished his German was better. She didn’t seem to understand him, except when he said he was English. At the end of the dance she left him and went back to her table. She said something to her companions, the officers and their girls, and they roared with laughter, holding up their glasses to him in some kind of sarcastic salute. Later, when he and Kurt left, they raised their glasses again. ‘Good luck, Englishman,’ one of them called, and they roared with laughter again. He imagined that the words hung in the air:
You’ll need it
.

Kurt took him to the station the next day. ‘I hope you and I will meet again one day,’ Kurt said. ‘As friends.’

Charlie knew immediately what he meant. It was the first time that either of them had hinted at the thoughts they would not express.

‘It won’t happen,’ Charlie said. ‘It can’t.’

A group of soldiers marched on to the platform. They looked so confident, Charlie thought, as if the world belonged to them.

The guard blew his whistle. ‘Do you remember the story of Croesus and the Delphic Oracle?’ Kurt said.

Charlie shook his head. ‘Not really. Why?’

‘Look it up,’ Kurt said. ‘It is as true as ever.’

Charlie settled in the train. Kurt waved to him, and then was swallowed up in a crowd of uniforms. It was a strange relief when the train started, as if he feared that they would never let him leave. The atmosphere seemed to him to be oppressive, strangling. The people, he thought, had no freedom. Even if they disagreed with the regime they were not able to say so. Even to express such a thought invited retribution, a visit from the police. He had no idea what Kurt really thought. He found that he couldn’t wait to get out of Germany. Crossing the border was a positive relief. There was no more beautiful sight than the English coastline, no better feeling than to find himself back in England.

His mother threw her arms around his neck as he came through the door, laughing with relief. ‘Thank God you’re home,’ she said. ‘I was worried all the time.’

Tessa kissed his cheek. ‘Did you get up to no good? They say Berlin is a bit racy.’

‘Good as gold.’ Charlie grinned. ‘I return unscathed.’

Later he sat with his father in the garden.

‘Well,’ Dan said. ‘Did you see for yourself?’

‘Yes,’ Charlie said shortly.

‘And…?’

Charlie looked around the garden, at the tranquil evening, at the old swing. ‘I think we’re for it, Dad. They’re preparing for war, that’s for sure. I’m not saying they want one, but they’re getting ready. I’ve never seen so many uniforms, such an atmosphere. Their Ministry of Aviation building is as big as a small town.’

‘Don’t say that to your mother,’ Dan said.

‘I won’t, but it isn’t just that.’

Dan sucked on his pipe. ‘What then?’

‘It’s hard to describe,’ Charlie frowned, ’but there’s something dark there, Dad, something very unpleasant. It’s not like it is here.’

Dan was quiet, drawing on his pipe. ‘How was Kurt?’

‘Very well, physically. He didn’t say anything but I get the feeling he isn’t happy about it. His father is very pro Hitler.’

‘He won’t have a choice if war comes,’ Dan said. ‘I don’t suppose they would show much mercy to conscientious objectors.’

‘Dad,’ Charlie said, ’do you remember anything about Croesus and the oracle at Delphi?’

His father was obviously surprised at the change of subject. ‘Why?’

‘Kurt said something about it just as I was leaving.’

‘I believe Croesus asked the Oracle if he should go to war against the Persians and the Oracle said that if he did a great nation would be destroyed. So Croesus went to war and was heavily defeated. The great nation destroyed was his own.’

‘Oh,’ Charlie said, ‘I see.’ He didn’t see. He wondered which nation Kurt had in mind. Perhaps, he thought, it was both.