Opposite Sides (72 page)

“
. . . so it
was terrible we had to have another war, wasn’t it?” He nodded
vaguely. Her eyes suddenly seemed to twinkle behind her severe
black-rimmed spectacles. “It’s all over. I’m pleased you and Jan
have found each other. She’s told me all about
everything.”

Hans accepted the fact
that Jan would have informed her aunt about the development between
them but until this point he had no idea how she would have taken
it. It was a relief to know that she approved.

“
Jan is an
excellent nurse,” he said. He had the feeling that Miss Turner had
heard that before. Hans became aware that he was rubbing the side
of his little finger just like he used to do when waiting outside
the Matron’s door. How different things were now that he was grown
up. He pushed the thoughts of his school days into the back of his
mind. “Jan was so good to me when I was in the Field Hospital with
my wound. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her. I am lucky that
love was a far stronger thing than the hate that surrounded us.
Don’t you English have a saying, ‘love conquers all’?”

Miss Turner smiled
slightly, if not a little stiffly.

“
I suppose it
does but Jan’s had a soft spot for you for a long time.”

“
You
knew?”

“
Yes. When
you’ve had dealings with so many young people as I have had, I
think one gets to read them quite accurately.” Her manner towards
him had warmed but he still perceived an air of cool courtesy in
her. Reservation that he had come across in quite a number of well
educated or people known for their class. Before it had keened his
perception of them but now he found he was able to forget that
façade and let it not bother him. “I had many, many years of
experience reading the minds of teenagers and dealing with their
mixed up passions and unpredictable behaviour. I knew what was
going through your minds. I recognised the signs that told me Jan
had a crush on you. She was terribly jealous at times. Did you know
that?” She keenly watched for any reaction on his part but he this
time he controlled himself gave her no hint. “I remember when she
came running home the day you told her you wanted to marry
Caroline. Jan burst into the house. I knew something was wrong.
Then I heard her in her room, crying.” She paused to clarify the
memory. “No weeping. I’d never heard her cry like that
before.”

“
That was
because of me?” His voice rose and he realised he had betrayed his
ignorance.

“
Yes, you.”
She held out her stick and waved it at him to emphasise her
point.

Hans shook his head and
gave a quizzical smile as he remembered the hot-tempered teenager
she was.

“
I had no
idea. I thought she hated me. We were always arguing. I took it as
arguing but now I think those outbursts did always revolve around
others, like Anne and Heidi and Caroline . . . and, Jan has already
told me about Elisabeth.”

“
It was
difficult when you and Caroline became interested in each other,
especially with Caroline being her cousin. Jan was angry with me.
She blamed me. But when Jan went away for her nursing training, she
changed. She grew up. That training taught her so much. She could
now understand why I was so strict with her. I didn’t want her to
get hurt. But she was. Not through what she did but by what I had
stopped her doing. I had put up a fence around her and I held the
key. Then, when the war came, I had to unlock that door and let Jan
go. Strange, really. The time when she was under the most strict
orders, she felt free. She wrote many letters to me, especially
after she’d met you again in North Africa. She was so happy about
that. But, at the same time, she was upset over the circumstances.”
Miss Turner’s voice softened again and the severity in her face
faded, as she relaxed her taut muscles. She leaned back in her
chair and let her head rest on the armchair doily. “Everything’s
working out well for you two, now that . . . ”

Miss Turner’s talking
suddenly broke in mid-sentence as they heard the click of the
back-door latch, followed by the excited voices of Jan and
Andrea.

“
Do you
really think it looked good on me?”

“
Of course I
do, Andrea.”

The footsteps come
closer. The door opened.

“
Aunty, I’d
like to show you . . . Ooh!” shrieked the girl, letting her parcel
fall on the floor. “Father’s here!” She looked accusingly at Miss
Turner. “Aunty, you never told me!”

“
Say hello to
your father, Andrea.” Miss Turner sat upright again.

“
Hello,
father. Jan and I have been shopping! We saved up our coupons for
ages.”

“
Hello,
Andrea. Tell me, what did you find to buy?”

“A two-piece. All the
rage. Shall I show you?”

“
If you like,
poppet.”

Jan had entered, quietly
and with far less enthusiasm. She withdrew her hat pin and
unobtrusively placed her hat on the sideboard near the door. She
waited for the girl’s excited exclamations to subside before moving
further into the room.

“
Hello
Hans.”

He stood, then approached
Jan. There was no need not to show their affections, for hadn’t her
aunt just told him she endorsed their affection for each other? He
gave Jan a hug and kissed her affectionately. Their embrace was
longer than first intended and when it finally ended, Hans took
Jan’s hand and led her to the settee where they could sit. He
placed his arm behind her back and cuddled her close towards
him.

“
I think some
tea is on order,” commented Miss Turner pulling herself upright
with her walking cane. “Come on, Andrea. You can come and help.
Shall we have some of those biscuits you made the other
day?”

Hans and Jan were left to
enjoy each other’s company in private.

“
I wasn’t
expecting you quite so soon.”

“
Surprised,
then?”

“
Yes, and
it’s a lovely surprise.”

Jan readjusted her
glasses first before looking deeply into his eyes and smiling at
him with a mixture of happiness and adoration.

“
I thought
we’ve had so little time together, that every second must count.”
His whispering voice was soft and soothing. He kissed her deeply as
their mouths became as one. “I’ve only got ten days. Then I must
leave England.”

Jan sighed deeply. It was
a groan from deep within her body.

“
Orders,
still orders yet they must be obeyed. I knew the day would come
when you would be told to go. If only they’d let you
stay.”

“
A few men
have asked to remain here. There is nothing in Germany for
them.”

Jan pulled away from him
and sat bolt upright.

“
Why
don’t
you
put in
for it?”

“
I’m not sure
they’d let me. Remain permanently, I mean. Anyway, I have to go. I
must try to find Siege. I must know if my son is still alive. You
understand, don’t you,my sweet?”

Jan’s heartbeat hesitated
as the mention of the lost child. It reminded her that, once again,
she would be lose Hans for some time. The parting would bring back
all the fears she had carried with her since first meeting him
during the war. Yet she convinced herself that, this time, she need
not fear shells, or bombs, or the call to battle as all hostilities
around all the world had finally ended. Even the war with Japan had
finished: the world had been left reeling from the shock of
sixty-one million deaths. Surely, there could be no more killing:
peace had to be welcomed into the hearts of all the people. Lives
had to be rebuilt.

“
I can wait.
For two or three months more. Will it take longer, do you
think?”

“
Maybe a
little longer than that but. I promise it won’t be too long. I want
us to be together just as much as you do.”

Over dinner, Jan and Hans
made a decision to re-visit the old school and see how things had
changed since her aunt had retired. Jan suggested she make a
tentative visit herself as she had heard that the college had been
restaffed by men recently returned from the war and she wanted to
judge the mood of things, first. She knew that some of the old
masters had remained, for the younger ones had received their
call-up papers and had gone off to war. The new staff were men who
and had gone through almost six years of war and after such
experiences, had hoped to return to their teaching jobs.

The newest master to join
the staff was a Mr Grassfield who had been employed to teach
history and classics. Mr Grassfield had spent time fighting in
Greece, then through Italy, and finally in Germany during the last
few gruelling weeks. He returned home, loud to declare his distaste
for both the Nazi and Fascist regimes, or with anyone who had
anything to do with either of them. Jan would have to be vigilant
when she brought Hans. Mr Grassfield was one master to
avoid.

“
Young Miss
Turner, isn’t it?”

Everyone referred to her
like that to distinguish her from her aunt. She heard the voice
before she caught sight of him, a broad northern accent with a
loud, booming voice. He was a well-built man with the build of a
boxer rather than the more usual slighter frame of a man of
learning. Mr Grassfield, a pile of books in his arms, had been
following her for some time before he spoke. Jan stopped, and
turned around.

“
Mr
Grassfield.”

“
Ah, Miss
Turner. The young Miss Turner, isn’t it?” He waited until he had
come up beside her so that their shoulders were in line. He
inclined his bulky body towards her. “If I may say, and I’m sure
there are others who feel the same.” He sniffed loudly. “I do not
think ex-Nazis should be allowed to . . . .”

Jan’s eyes burned with
anger behind those glasses of hers. She clenched her hands so that
the whites of her knuckles glowed like torchlights in the afternoon
greyness.

“
They’re not
all Nazis!” She snapped her words out in indignation. She pushed
back her glasses and stood glaring at him.

“
I beg your
pardon but that’s not how I see it and I have not heard otherwise
.” He stood with his legs a shoe length apart and rocked backwards
and forwards on his heels.

“
I have no
idea what you may have heard, Mr Grassfield but it’s none of your
business.”

Jan moved away from him
and quickened her step, hoping he would drop one of his books and
be forced to pick it up. But he did not. He followed her movement
exactly, flicking his tongue like a hungry snake, sizing her up for
another attack. Jan walked even faster, breathing heavily, trying
to get away from him but her follower kept up the pace, edging
closer and closer, gradually herding her against the solid, brick
wall.

“
It’s common
knowledge round here. You and that Hun. We didn’t fight this war to
have his kind . . . ” His eyes narrowed and a sneer formed on his
face. He held out the books to block her escape as he pressed his
threatening body closer. “enjoying the fruits of our victory, if
you get my drift.”

Jan shuddered but stood
her ground.

“
Come much
closer and you’ll regret it, Mr Grassfield. You are not the only
one to have done basic military training.”

She held up her arms in
defence as she had been shown to do during her own military
training. How dare this man threaten her!

“
Hun lover!”
His eyes narrowed. “There is no place for the likes of
you.”

Jan looked directly at
him with her head to one side. She slowly adjusted her glasses
several times to give herself time to think.

“
I’ve dealt
with men like you before, Mr Grassfield. If you don’t want to end
up on a hospital bed
¨C
and I know exactly where to strike where it hurts
most
¨C
then I
suggest you back off! Broken ribs and pulverised spleen are not the
only things I can offer. So, back away!”

She glared at the man
behind his stack of books.

“
Oops! Oops!”
He took a step back away from her seemingly apologetic. “Quite the
little vixen.” His stiff, menacing posture relaxed a little as he
considered his position. The books in his hands were a handicap and
for a while he did not know how to deal with them. He took a deep
breath and decided to say what was on his mind. “Do you know what
they are doing with little French whores who bedded their Nazi
masters?Well, let me tell you.” He snarled at her like a wild
walrus. “Spies and traitors who fraternised with those Nazi pigs .
. . ” Mr Grassfield jostled with his books, finally managing to
free his right hand so that he could demonstrate the scissors he
would have conjured up if he could “Snip! Snip! Snip!” It made him
bolder and he pushed so close towards her that she could taste the
smell of his last smoked cigarette. “All of their hair! All of it!
Gone! Bald!” His eyes narrowed. “And, that’s what should happen to
you!”

“
You
understand nothing. You shouldn’t judge until you know all the
facts!”

The whites of his eyes
gleamed as he pulled back his moustached top lip to reveal a row of
crooked yellowing top teeth.