Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

Walter Mosca stared out the window from the employee personnel office in civilian clothes.The staff of the base are walking forward against the bitter cold wind of November.Ground crew technicians wore green smocks and fur-trimmed leather jackets; nimble flight lieutenants wore dark green uniforms and violet overcoats, while German laborers wore rags.Eddie Cassin called "Walter" behind him before he turned. Eddie Cassin leaned back in his chair and said, "I want you to do something. I have an idea, and the lieutenant thinks it's brilliant. Here's how it goes: We're going to have a food campaign across the European theater, Trying to tell those rice buckets not to make themselves sick. Eat enough but don't overfill the rice and throw it away. So we wanted to take a photo of a soldier with a full A big plate full of food with the caption 'Don't do this'. Also we wanted to post a photo of two German kids fighting over cigarette butts in the street with the caption 'You don't do this either'. What do you think?"

"I see you're talking nonsense." Eddie smiled at him. "Okay. But I think it's a very clever idea. It's going to appeal to the audience. I think Headquarters will appreciate it. Maybe the Stars and Stripes will get it! Who's to say it won't be, maybe it will be." Popular." "For God's sake. Forget it," Mosca said. "Wow!" Eddie Cassin was a little angry. "Go and get me a picture of German kids scrambling over cigarette butts. The Jeep is outside. You go to the lab and get the photographer, that corporal." "Okay," Mosca agreed.When he went out, he saw that the flight from Wiesbaden in the afternoon was landing from the sky.Planes landed as if by magic rather than air.Then he got in the car.

Mosca did not drive across the bridge to Bremen until late in the evening.The corporal was loitering around the hangar.It took Mosca an hour to find him. Germans bustled through the streets.Whenever they heard the jingle of a tram, they crowded onto the steps to make way.Mosca parked in front of the Glock building.It was already dark, but people hadn't left work yet, and the surroundings seemed very quiet. There are no beggars, pedestrians, or children in front of the Red Cross.There will be another scene after dinner.Two German policewomen patrolled the sidewalk, as if the jingle of the tram was pleasing to their ears, and Mosca and the corporal sat in the car, smoking silently, waiting for the children begging to appear.At last the corporal said: "Unlucky, it's the first time I haven't seen a German kid pestering people on the road."

Mosca stepped out of the jeep. "Let me go and see," he said.It was rather cold.He turned up the collar of his coat.I turned around the corner and didn't see a child.Then go straight to the back of the Glock building. Two children sat quietly on the ruins piled up on a hillock, looking down at the destroyed city below.Their coats reached to the heels, and their ragged caps nearly covered their ears.With their bare hands they picked stones and bricks out of the rubble, and then, not daring to use too much force to avoid falling, they threw them aimlessly into the open, into the ruined ditch below.

"Hey!" Mosca called in German, "do you want to earn some chocolate?" The children looked down at him.Despite Mosca's civilian clothes, they recognized him as an enemy.The two children boldly slid down from the ruins, left their wide, silent, and empty playground, and followed Mosca hand in hand to the lively square in front of the Glock building. The corporal had stepped out of the car and waited.After loading the film and adjusting the focus, I said to Mosca: "Okay, tell them to start. He doesn't speak German himself. "Pick up those cigarette butts," Mosca told the children, "and look up to take pictures of you." The children were very obedient.However, their fat, pointed hats conceal their faces.

"Push back their hats," shouted the corporal.As a result, what was exposed in front of the camera were two Piya grinning faces resembling the earth gods. "Those butts are too small," said the corporal, "to show." Mosca took out some whole cigarettes and threw them into the ditch beside the road. The corporal took a few pictures, but was not very satisfied.He wants to take another picture.At this moment Mosca felt someone touch his arm and then pull him towards him. The two policewomen stood in front of him.The one pulling him was almost as tall as he was.Her hand still hasn't let go.Mosca gave her a push.He pushed harder, like punching her, and touched her breasts under the blue shag uniform.She staggered back a few steps, and said in defense: "You are not allowed to take pictures like this here." Then she warned the child: "You two still go away."

Mosca grabbed the child's clothes and shouted, "Don't go!" and turned to the policewoman.His thin black face was made ugly and fierce by anger.He pointed to the corporal and asked them, "Didn't you see the military uniform?" Then he stretched out his hand, "Give me my ID card." The two women stammered and began to explain that it was their duty not to let the children beg and drive them away. .Just then, a German man passed by and stopped.While they were arguing, the two children moved secretly to leave.The man said something to them angrily again, and the two children ran away in fright.The corporal yelled, and Mosca grabbed them again sharply.The good man walked away immediately, and walked towards the corner in a panic.There were his compatriots waiting for the tram.Mosca followed along the street.Hearing the footsteps behind him getting heavier, the German turned and blinked in horror.

"You told the child to run away?!" Mosca yelled at him. The German was so frightened that he apologized softly: "I don't know what's going on. I thought they were begging!" "Bring the ID card," Mosca said, reaching out for it.The Germans were trembling with tension and fright.He reached into his coat pocket and took out his large wallet, always stuffed with papers.Eyes on Mosca, hands fumbling in the wallet.Mosca grabbed it and found the blue card by himself. Mosca returned the wallet to him. "Go to the police station tomorrow morning to get your ID card." After saying that, he turned and walked towards the car.

Mosca saw the dark masses of Germans on the street on the other side of the square staring at him silently in the November twilight.They were as tall as giants and as gray as a forest.Sudden.He was terrified.As if they could stare right through his heart and scare his spirit away.In turn he was indignant; then he walked slowly and silently towards Kip.The two children remained where they were.The two police officers had also left. "Let's go," he said to the corporal.He drove the car all the way to Metz Street.Get out of the car and say to the corporal: "Please give me the car to drive back to the base."

The corporal nodded in agreement and said, "I think those shots are enough." Only then did Mosca realize that he had forgotten all about the re-photographing, leaving the two children standing there without giving them the promise in advance. chocolate. When he got home, Mosca saw Helian was heating soup on the electric stove.On the table was an opened, empty can with a red label.A plate full of bacon not yet warm. The smell of vegetables in the room is more warm.The furnishings were, of course, comfortable.The bed and bedside table are placed in one corner, on which there are lamps and a small radio; in the corner near the door is a large white wardrobe; China cabinet.This way the room looks spacious and comfortable, with plenty of room to move around.The room was not small, Mosca always thought so.

Hai Lian raised her head and said, "Hey, you came back so early today." Then she stood up and kissed him.At such times Mosca always saw that her face immediately looked extraordinary and radiated with happiness.And Mosca always felt guilty and afraid, because Helene gave him too much.She didn't seem to know that they had an unpredictable future together. "I was in town on errands and didn't go back to base," Mosca explained.Leo raised his head and nodded, and went to read again.Mosca reached into his pocket for a cigarette and just touched the German's ID card. "Is it okay to take your car to the police station after dinner?" he asked Leo.He threw the ID card on the table casually. Leo nodded in agreement and asked, "What are you doing there?" Mosca told the story.He noticed that Leo looked at him curiously and amusedly.Hai Lian poured the hot soup into the cup without making a sound.Then it was time to warm up the smoked pork. They drank carefully as they dipped biscuits in the hot soup.Hai Lian picked up the ID card from the table, held the cup in one hand, and opened it with the other. "He's married," she said. "He's blue-eyed, brown-haired, a printer, good job." She was staring at the picture. "He doesn't look bad. Don't know if there are any kids." "Isn't that written on it?" Mosca asked. "No," replied Helene. "He has a scar on his finger." Then the ID card fell from her hand and onto the table. Leo raised his head and drank the last sip of soup, then fell on the table.His face twitched. "Tell me," said he, "why don't you take that man to the police station at once? Is it not far?" Mosca smiled at him. "I just wanted to frighten him, nothing more. I thought I should frighten the son of a bitch." "He won't sleep well all night," said Helene. "It deserves it," Mosca said angrily, and justified himself, "for making the bastard talkative." Helene looked up at Mosca with dark, lifeless eyes. "He was ashamed," she said. "I think he thinks he's responsible for these kids begging and picking cigarette butts." "Well, let him hurry," said Mosca, "how about we have some bacon that isn't charred?" Helene put the pork and a loaf of German rye bread on the table.Leo and Mosca finished their butter-soaked sandwiches and got up to leave.Leo fumbled for the car keys on his body.Hai Lian picked up her ID card and looked at the address and said enthusiastically, "Hi, his family lives on Lobsum Street, which is much closer than going to the police station." "Don't wait for me, we're going to the club," Mosca said perfunctorily, and when Helene lifted her face for him to kiss, he smiled directly at her.For her light brown hair, which was already thin, was combed tight, as if she had a steel helmet on her head.Mosca also laughed happily at Helene's sentimentality from time to time.He never walked away first when they parted. "Shall I bring you some ice cream?" She nodded.When he walked out, Helian called to him again: "His house is on the way to the club." After getting into the car, Leo asked him, "Where are we going?" "Okay, for God's sake, drive me to that guy's house." Mosca shook his head resignedly. "You and her really annoy me." "It's none of my business," said Leo, "but he lives down the road from the club. And I know what you mean by 'hurry'. It's a good word." He turned His broad cheekbones smiled sadly at Mosca. Mosca shrugged. "I don't even want to see that bastard again. How about you come in his house, Leo?" "No," Leo grinned. "You took it from him, right? You should return it!" They quickly found the man's residence.That building is private.In order to have more rooms for rent, each original apartment is divided into two houses.On the damper door were the names of all the tenants, including every member of the family and their room numbers. Mosca took out the person's ID card to compare the names, and then walked up to the second floor.As soon as he knocked hard on the door, the door opened immediately.It seemed to him that the German had seen him from the window and was waiting for his knock.The desired German stood by the door.He has a round head, and although his face is stern, it is much gentler now that it has been restrained and the bald head is exposed.Mosca was let in immediately. Their dinner was interrupted by the arrival of Mosca.The dining table was set in a larger room, and on it were four plates full of dark broth.Chopped black greens and chunky white potato chips floated in the soup.In one corner of the wall was a bed.On the farther wall was an ugly sink, above which hung a large framed oil painting in dark greens and browns.His woman brushed back her thinning hair and was leading the two children into another room.But when she turned and saw Mosca, she let the child go again.They all looked at Mosca expectantly. He handed over the blue ID card, and the German asked in a trembling voice, "Give it back to me?" Mosca said, "You don't have to go to the police. Forget about it." The German's flattened, stern face paled.The removal of the fear, the rebuttal of the day, Kip's screeching to the brakes at his window, all mixed together like the poison had dispersed in his blood.Seeing him trembling, his wife ran over and helped him sit on an empty wooden chair by the table.Mosca asked the woman in panic: "What's the matter, what's the matter with him?" "Nothing," the woman said.Her voice was very weak, without a trace of emotion or life.Trembling again, she said, "We think you've come to take him away." A child began to cry out of fear, as if he was going to burn all his internal organs and lose all his strength.Mosca wanted to comfort him, took a few steps forward, and took out a bar of chocolate.The little one was startled again and cried hysterically, deafeningly loudly; Mosca stopped and looked at the woman in bewilderment.She brought her husband a small glass of gin.When her man was drinking, she ran over and slapped the child before holding him in her arms.The child stopped crying.The man was still shaking.He said, "Wait, please wait!" He almost ran to the pantry for a bottle of gin and a teacup. He poured a glass of wine and forced it on Mosca. "Misunderstanding, indeed. I think those children are bothering you, and I really don't want to interfere." Mosca remembered that he looked very angry when he scolded the children in front of the Glock building, and that anger could only feel shame and guilt only when.It seemed that the depravity of those children was all because of him. "No," said Mosca.He tried to put the wine on the table, but the German held his arm and wouldn't let him put it down. As if to justify his life, forgetting that his wife and children were still by his side, the German continued excitedly: "I am not a Nazi at all. At that time one had to join the party if one were not to be unemployed. All printing workers joined the organization .But I only pay the party dues. I don't care for anything else. I am definitely not a Nazi. Drink! The wine is good. Drink it! I only drink it when I am not healthy." Mosca opened the door after drinking Walk.But the German grabbed him again, shook his hand and said: "Thank you very much for your kindness, thank you very much. I will never forget your generosity. I have always said that Americans are good. They are kind. We The Germans are lucky!" At last he grabbed Mosca's hand again, and nodded nervously and relieved to Mosca. Mosca felt an uncontrollable urge to knock him to the ground, blood streaming from his bald skull and twitching face.Mosca then turned away to hide the contempt and disgust on his face. Instead he saw the face of the German wife leaning against the brown door of the inner room.Only skin and bones remained on the face.The skin is pale, and the head is slightly lowered.With the baby in his arms, the shoulders bulge upward.Her gray eyes had become almost black, like pools of black water filled with unforgettable hatred.Her hair also seemed to have darkened compared to the child's blond.She did not avoid Mosca's eyes, nor did she move her face. As soon as the door closed behind her, Mosca heard her addressing her husband.The voice was low but sharp.On the road, with the help of the light from the house, he could see her still holding the baby in her arms, looking at him from the window.