Opposite Sides (18 page)

“
Thinking
about starting his own business. It is his way of asking Oma for
some money. Uncle did write at Christmas and said that money was
tight and that banks were not lending. He said that many businesses
were struggling to keep on their employees. But I can’t think it
is
that
bad
because he would not have allowed Renard to waste his part of our
grandmother’s inheritance. He will be going in business with a
friend.”

“
What
business?”

“
I don’t
know.” Hans thumped his hands on the sides of his thighs to warm
them up. His warm breath curled outwards and evaporated into the
cold night air. “Uncle hasn’t told me much about it.”

“
He could
lose it. It is not a good time.”

“
That’s up to
Renard. Axel’s still at school so nothing Renard does affects
him.”

“
It may do,
if Renard loses all his share.”

Hans did not want to
think of that possibility so he began walking again, taking the
right hand turn that would take them back in the direction of the
house. They had walked not fast but just enough to keep away the
cold of the night-time air.

“
When you
left Germany and came here everything was in a mess. Were you aware
of that?” Hans nodded dismissively. Heidi continued. “Don’t you
remember those bad days when money meant nothing?”

“
Didn’t
impinge on me much. We were shielded from most of it.”

“
You were
lucky. It was bad for those who lived off the land. One day when
Mama was complaining that we didn’t have enough flour to last the
week, I heard Papa tell her that it took millions of Krone just to
buy one loaf. I believe it was even worse over the
border.”

“
Are you sure
about that?” He was stunned. He wondered whether to believe her.
Maybe Heidi had got her facts wrong. She was still young and as
women were not involved with business it could be that she had only
heard part of the situation. “When I first came here, my uncle
wrote and told me that prices were still increasing. I knew there
were crazy prices before but I didn’t take much notice
then!”

“
Everything
still costs so much!” Heidi exclaimed, “and Papa doesn’t have
anything left. Not even his savings he so carefully put
away.”

“
How come? I
always thought your father was so good at managing his
money.”

Heidi shrugged her
shoulders and at the same time gave a shaky laugh. She dropped her
head and stared in silence at the dark ground in front of them.
Finally, she lifted her head and looked him in the eye.

“
Papa was
good with his finances but it wasn’t enough. Nothing’s as it was.
Everything’s changed. That’s why I’m here. Too many people are
squabbling over things, ordinary things.” He could see that she was
upset. “Did you know that Papa had to leave the farm?”

“
No. No one
told me.”

“
Papa wasn’t
the only one who lost out. You know, Papa had taken over the land
from his father and grandfather so he had come to think of the land
as his. No-one could buy the farms when they were for sale so the
government took them over and we had to leave.”

“
When?”

“
When the
Krone crashed a year, maybe eighteen months ago. That’s when people
started to lose all their savings. Shops were empty because people
had no money to buy things.”

“
Yes, I had
heard about that. Empty shops. I’d seen some in Berlin. A neighbour
of ours had a friend who lost his shop. That was about six years
ago. Had his pistol from the war hidden somewhere and when his wife
returned from the market, there he was in the bathroom. Stone
dead.”

“
How awful
for her! Poor lady!” Heidi was one who could easily feel the pain
of others. “Was it because of the hardship?”

“
I suppose it
was as he was never the same after he had returned from the
war.”

Heidi reflected for a
moment but then her facial expression lightened and her mouth
formed a smile.

“
We don’t
have the old Krone any more. We’ve got new money: the Schilling.
The government tells us it’s much better than the old.”

“
Is
it?”

“
I’ll show
you. I’ve got some with me. In my room.” They walked slowly in
unison together. Heidi gave a sigh. “The new Schilling might be
better but it won’t do Papa much good. It won’t get back Papa’s
farm. It hasn’t helped my brothers get work. No one wants farm
workers.”

“
Could they
not find some other kind of work?”

“
No. My
brothers tried to find work across the border. It was the same
there. Farmers couldn’t or wouldn’t take on anybody. So, they
thought they’d try in a factory. They went north into Germany.
They’d hoped to find work in the factories or even in the coal
mines. But that didn’t work, either. Foreign workers and French
soldiers had taken over all those jobs. Germans and Austrians
weren’t wanted any more. So, the boys came home again. Without a
steady income, Papa can’t find enough food to feed all of
us.”

“
Yes, I do
remember some food shortages. We were lucky. Uncle had
connections.”

“
You were
lucky. Papa made us walk into the town centre where the nuns dished
out plates of soup with a slice of bread. It wasn’t enough but it
helped I hated always being hungry but at least none of my family
starved to death.”

“
Things have
improved since then, haven’t they?” he asked hoping to bring the
subject to a close but Heidi was upset and he had removed the tight
cork from its bottle.

“
A little but
it got worse before it got better. The worst time was when we moved
away from the land.”

She had alarmed him by
what she had just said and he wanted to know more.

“
What do you
mean, worse? How worse? I mean, could it have got much
worse?”

She drew in a long, deep
breath to calm herself. The cold air constricted her throat and she
ended up coughing.

“
I overheard
Papa talking with the boys . . .” Heidi broke off her words and
began coughing again, each expulsion of her breath forming spheres
of warm air before her.

“
Breath into
your hands. It will help,” Hans suggested, showing her what he
meant.

It worked. Heidi pulled
her scarf up to cover her bottom lip.

“
Papa told
the boys that if they got a job, to make sure they were paid twice
in the day. He said that the papers were reporting that people who
were paid only in the evening ended up being out of pocket because
prices had risen that much during the day. Imagine working a whole
day and then only having enough money for the tram fare home! There
were people living on the streets because they couldn’t pay their
rents any more. When they went to the Ruhr, the boys said landlords
were asking up to nineteen billion Marks a week.”

Hans stopped dead in his
tracks as though he had just crashed in to a tree. He turned a full
semi-circle to stand directly in Heidi’s pathway.

“
Impossible!
Are you absolutely sure?”

“
That’s what
Papa said was reported in the headlines: nineteen billion. He
noticed it when the paper boy called it out. Yes, I know it was.
Yes, nineteen billion.”

Hans was speechless for a
while. Nineteen billion Marks! He knew Heidi was probably right for
she had a good head for figures. No wonder nobody had written and
told him about that. How could anyone deal with figures like that?
And what would that pile of worthless paper money even look like?
When he had regained himself, he asked,

“
Things are
better now though, aren’t they?”

“
A little,”
she replied and they began walking again. “The government tells us
that the economy is returning to normal but many families are still
struggling. Our neighbour, Frau Horst has four children. They’re no
different from other families. Her children are so frail and thin
and she’s at her wits’ end to find enough food. Her husband’s not
had work for ages so they’ve not got enough money to buy anything.
She sometimes takes them to queue for food but it takes all
morning. I feel sorry for her little ones. It’s so hard on
them.”

“
That’s
terrible, Heidi.”

“
My brothers
only found odd jobs, like shovelling dung or chopping wood. So,
when your uncle wrote that there was a job here in England for me
if I wanted, it was like a fairy-tale come true. I couldn’t believe
it. I don’t know why me. Why was I the lucky one?”

He shrugged his
shoulders.

“
I don’t
know. Uncle uses his influence. Seems it stretches this
far.”

“
You’ve been
very lucky. Here in England where things are so much
better.

“
I have my
grandmother to thank for that. But not everything’s rosy here,
either. I am told there are soup queues and kitchens here as well.
The poor are the ones who always suffer most during any
crisis.”

“
You sound
like one of the Communists.”

“
Well, I’m
not! I just think those people are unlucky.”

“
Then, I’m
really lucky, aren’t I? And to end up in exactly the same place
where you are. Luck or co-incidence?”

“
I didn’t
know you were coming,” he added quickly as he opened the gate to
let her through but Heidi didn’t hear. She swished through the gate
and swirled herself round on the crunchy frozen grass almost
knocking him with her outstretched arms.

“
Lucky! Lucky
me! I still can’t believe it’s happening!”

Heidi’s still
young enough to pull through without too many
scars
, thought Hans as he watched her
cavort around him, her two loose pigtails swirling around her head
as they tried to keep up with the swing.
She
’
s
experienced more of life with its roughness than ever I
will
.

Heidi laughed. The
moonlight reflected off her face, giving her the appearance of a
porcelain doll. Then, a broad smile appeared as she stopped
directly in the middle of the path.

“
You know
what?” Her eyes were wide with excitement. “I can send money, real
money to Mama and Papa. You know, Hänschen, it may only be a little
. . . I don’t earn much, you know, but I know it’ll help buy food
for them all. They won’t be hungry any more.”

They walked slowly past a
row of large dark rhododendron bushes and then took a narrow path
which wound its way through a small park as they passed by empty
flower beds and low bare-branched shrubs.

“
I know life
looks rosy here but there are many people in the large cities who
are finding it very hard. We read that the rich have it easy while
the poor either work their bodies into the grave or spend many days
lining up at soup kitchens but one really does not know what to
believe. My friends around here are the lucky ones for their
parents have enough money to give them a good start in
life.”

“
I’ve got a
good life, too,” said Heidi emphatically. “I have a job and money
of my own. Not much but a little over each week to help Mama and
Papa. They will be pleased,” she said with conviction in her voice
and determination in her face.

“
What else
has made the news since I’ve been away?” Hans asked. His interest
and concern had been roused and he wanted to hear more. His uncle
had never worried him with information such as that. Although he
had mentioned that things were difficult, there had been nothing
about poverty or starvation. Maybe Uncle Karl did not want to
burden him with further worries or he had no wish for Hans to
return home to a miserable existence. His thoughts of what may be
were stopped by Heidi now telling him about the new groups and
their support by the Trade Unions.

“
. . . and
they’ve been springing up just about everywhere,” she
said.

“
I know all
about Trade Unions. I have studied them in the college.”

Hans was reminded of the
last lesson Mr Moore had given to the class. He had told them about
the struggles between the classes in Britain and how people were
banding together to fight for their common cause. Maybe, the same
was happening the other side of the Channel. He wanted to hear
more.

They had reached the part
on the track where they could climb a style and head across two
narrow pony fields but with high trees blocking the moonlight, he
thought it better to keep to the path.

“
I only
understand a little of what’s been happening,” continued Heidi
without even stopping to take a breath. “Papa said some of them
only wanted to make trouble but now even important people were
giving their support to some of the groups.”

“
What
groups?”

“
Fascists and
such like.”

“
Yes, there
are a few here. Crazy ideas!”

Hans had read about Mr
Mussolini and his Fascist followers in Italy in the daily papers
that were delivered to the college library every day. Some people
were worried about their popularity but many considered Italy too
far from Britain to be much of an immediate threat. More worrying
was the growing unrest in the northern cities where heavy industry
needed a large population. Hans had already seen some indication of
growing unrest in the streets in Berlin where he had seen different
groups marching and shouting their slogans in opposition to each
other. As a child, he had been frightened when those angry mobs had
taken to the streets.