North (44 page)

"Hysterisch! . . . hysterisch!''

All he can think of . . . that she's
hysterisch
. . . big deal! . . . ah, he's got something else to say!

"I wish to inform you, ladies and gentlemen, that the entertainment will not take place! . . . by order of the
Landrat!
. . . but what will take place . . . tomorrow morning . . . is a big excursion . . . leaving from here, outside the peristyle, at seven o'clock . . . the entire personnel of the
Dienstelle
, including myself!
Landrat
's order! any objection?"

"Nein! . . . nein! nein!"

Secretaries, bookkeepers, typists . . . and ourselves, the three of us . . .

"No Gypsy festival! . . . maybe later . . . but tomorrow a big excursion! working with the
bibelforschers
and the Gypsies . . . harvesting willow switches! . . .
Landrat
's order!"

"Ja! . . . fol. . . jot

Across the plain we'll go! . . . how jolly! . . . to cut willow switches! . . . light enough at seven . . .

He shows me his order . . . it really exists! . . . signed Simmer . . .
Landrat
. . . Moorsburg . . . with stamp . . .

"What are we going to do out there on the plain?"

The hunchback is right next to me, I ask her in a whisper . . . all these people, the whole
Dienstelle
, crossing the plain, to strip the shoots off the willows . . . around three four water holes? . . .

"Never mind, Doctor! you'll see!"

Maybe we'll be looking for the
Rittmeister 
. . . he's been seen around there . . . a gendarme's coming with us . . .

"Around where?" Le Vig speaking . . .

"Around Tribitz . . ."

Kracht comes over . . . being as we're curious, he pulls a map out of his pocket . . . he unfolds it . . . great open spaces! room to travel in! . . . all North Brandenburg, our whole plain . . . I find Tribitz in the east. . . this map's really interesting . . . I'd never have thought our plain was so full of ponds . . . little lakes . . . and brooks . . . not on the surface . . . in hollows . . . crevasses . . . you'd never have suspected, even from high up . . . from Marie-Thérèse's tower . . . how many brooks and lakes there were in that plain . . . natural hollows or military engineering? . . . camouflage? . . . was the
Rittmeister
in one of them? . . . fallen off his Bleuette into a hollow? . . . or into some trap? . . . sure, there were willow switches to be harvested, but other reasons too! . . . they must have set traps in certain places . . . they'd certainly thought of it . . . they thought of practically everything . . .

The whole of-Flanders is like that . . . all sunken lanes . . .

But where am I taking you now!? that's enough! . . . I won't start in on the war of 1914!

The
Rittmeister
over by Tribitz? . . . take it easy! . . . Tribitz is a long way! . . . we could get lost too! . . . especially in a plain like on the map . . . all crevasses and winding paths and trails . . . going north and then west . . . twisting . . . coming out on other plains . . . on this map there are two three hamlets like ours . . . here's one! . . . here's another! . . . three? . . . ten! . . . maybe cardboard hamlets to fool the Fortresses . . . I knew they'd built some of those . . . especially in the west . . . out of canvas . . . even churches . . . but maybe all those places had evaporated . . . Zornhof was still there . . . but better not say it too loud! . . . half a bomb would fix that! . . . the whole thing would go up in smoke! . . . the manor, the portrait of the
Führer
, the farm, the Kretzers, and us! and now we were showing ourselves! what worried me about this excursion was that when we got back from looking for God knows what, we wouldn't find anything . . . I'm telling you . . . it wouldn't take a bomb! . . . one hand grenade would do it! . . . the thatch! . . . the whole place would catch fire . . . the farm, the manor, the silos, the soup, and the big picture frame . . . we weren't consulted . . . we'd be going out there with a gendarme . . . we can't argue! . . . a supervised excursion . . . but we can think a little . . . all night we think . . .

That, endless plain . . . ending in the clouds . . . he went west, they say . . . nothing of the sort! . . . we saw him . . . he went southeast! . . . not in the direction of Tribitz! . . . certainly not! . . . on his Bleuette . . . maybe he got lost . . . in spite of his maps and his compass . . . maybe he mistook Tribitz for Berlin . . . another possibility . . . we'd see . . . we and our gendarme . . . maybe we'd all be taken prisoner . . . exploring the plain in search of the
Rittmeister
. . . maybe he wouldn't know us . . . maybe he'll fake us for Tartars if he sees us . . . he'll charge us! . . . he was plenty screwy! . . . especially since Iago's demise . . . this idea all of a sudden . . . repulsing the Slavs and retaking Berlin! . . . we'd see . . . Kracht seemed to know . . . if he knew, what did he need us for? . . . he could go out there by himself . . . but nobody asked us . . . the three of us weren't the only ones . . . the
Bibelforschers
were in on this too and the Gypsies, and the whole hamlet and the prisoners . . . there'd be at least three hundred of us . . . what with thinking and turning over in the straw and whispering our thoughts, it got to be daylight . . . or pretty near . . . I say it's time . . . Bébert in his bag, a loaf of bread each in our musettes, and we're ready . . . we don't wash . . . I'd timed it right . . . there were already twenty families waiting for Kracht and the gendarme . . . plus all the Gypsies . . . greetings all around!
guten tag!
. . . and
heil!
. . .
heil!
. . . just the usual stroll with everybody batting the breeze and munching . . . no! . . . we don't often get a chance to go so far and so many . . . who's this gendarme going to be? . . . from Stettin, it seems . . . no more gendarmes around here, they've got to bring them in from Stettin . . . more than a hundred and fifty miles! . . . looks like they're not very trusting . . . once we're out on the plain, around Sterdorf or Thistle Stop, we could all disappear too . . . thin air . . . the gendarme couldn't stop us if we really made up our minds . . . ah, here he is! . . . the
feldgendarme
, and Kracht! . . . they're not alone . . . the villagers and everybody else, the farm girls, the Czech and Polack "volunteer workers," and the
bibels
, all dressed up, their best fatigues, with red and lavender stripes . . . at least a hundred of them . . . this gendarme from Stettin isn't much younger than our
Rittmeister
, he's got the same kind of shakes . . . both hands . . . maybe he's "wanted" too . . . maybe he's escaped from Stettin . . . old people have a thing about escapading! . . . look at Tolstoi! . . . ending his days in a railroad station, any railroad station! or Khrushchev! . . . he'll conk out in the subway, any station! . . . or Eisenhower the way he hops from plane to plane! . . . even Dulles! . . . or the old folks that escape from Nanterre . . . no idea where they're going . . . and get picked up someplace . . .

I'm losing you . . . naturally it's my age . . . de Gaulle has heavily armed motorcycle cops . . . we wouldn't want him to get lost in the Toul or Lunéville railroad station . . . myself now, when it comes, to taking off, give me the Gare d'Orsay . . . not Saint-Lazare or Austerlitz . . . we'll come back to it . . . They call the roll, we line up in front of the
feldgendarme
. . . he's in command . . . by twos! . . . a
bibelforscher
and a housewife! . . . all these couples! . . . the gendarme had his tactic . . . we'd all join hands in a single line . . . and then later on we'd spread out . . . fifteen feet apart! all right with me, except with my canes I'd slow them all down . . . you can imagine, the clay furrows . . . I call his attention . . .
"sicher! sicher!
certainly!" . . . he sees it my way . . . a reasonable gendarme . . . I'll bring up the rear with Lili and Le Vig . . . we'll make sure they haven't missed anything . . . fine! . . . maybe the
Rittmeister
was stretched out in a furrow sawing wood . . . we'll look sharp . . . all right with the gendarme . . . but I couldn't see us getting to Tribitz furrow, by furrow! . . . we look at the map again, at least sixty miles! . . . we won't be there tonight or tomorrow, furrow by furrow! . . . I wasn't going to find fault . . . ours to obey! this gendarme didn't look mean, but maybe he'd lose patience . . . me and my canes! . . . the whole plain furrow by furrow! . . . combing the fields! . . . I can see that nobody's crazy about this beet by beet routine . . . they'd rather go by road, even the macadam!  . . . no dice! the gendarme starts shouting! no backtalk! they say they'll sink in, they won't get ahead! "try!" he says . . . the Gypsies are supposed to take the opportunity to stock up on willow switches . . . for their basket mending . . . no kidding? . . . cut bundles of shoots around the ponds . . . not so sure! . . . hearsay . . . well, the final decision is no more hand in hand . . . extended order right from the start . . . about fifteen feet between us . . . at least we had a plan . . . nothing would escape us, we'd see everything from here to Tribitz, every nook and cranny! . . . we'd take it step by step . . . "step by step" is no fun in that kind of muck! . . . so we fan out and shove off . . . we go about a mile . . . they think we're heading for Tribitz! . . . I ask Kracht to look at his map again . . . this map is heartbreaking! . . . three hundred of us in extended order . . . a drop in the bucket in' these great open spaces . . . lost dots . . . this, gendarme is a sap! . . . the clay wins . . . big heavy clods stick to your feet, you can't move . . . every beet is a struggle . . . every mud hole . . . Gives us time to look around . . . I see that our expedition consists of the riffraff of the estate, Russian prisoners, servant girls, Gypsies, the
bibelforschers
, and us three . . . no sign of Inge, Marie-Thérèse, or Countess Thor von Thorfels! . . . they've stayed home! . . . or Leonard or Joseph! . . . seems to me those people from the farm and castle could have come, they were all sons, daughters, and nephews of the
Rittmeister!
. . . all connected with the old man! . . . more than us! . . . you can get pretty mad about these injustices and special privileges when they've got you in harness . . . they were exempt and that's that! there's got to be one all-around stinker . . . and you're it!

I knew all about this extended order . . . center or flanks! . . . but on horseback! . . . at the Mourmelon gunnery school and a little later in Flanders for real, I'd seen "flying batteries" bogged down to the axles . . . six powerful horses . . . but they couldn't go forward or back! . . . the engineers had to pull them out with levers and winches, gunners, horses and guns . . . the horses heaving and struggling! . . . completely hollow under the guns, the ground just gave way . . . and the outer flank hightailing it! . . .
rum-ti-tum!
the four squadrons and the band! . . .
tarata!
. . .
ti! tata! ti!
. . . horses know the trumpet all right! . . .
tata ti!

We weren't flanking anything . . . our job was finding the old boy . . . I didn't expect to find him in one of these holes! . . . he'd headed straight for Berlin, not westward . . . unless he'd made a detour, what would he be doing around Tribitz? . . . he wanted to repulse the Russians, not the English or the French . . . the Russians were his wrinkle! . . . try and make head or tail! . . . he had his big map too and a compass, he knew the way . . . but these two . . . Kracht and our strategic gendarme . . . seemed dead sure that he'd hidden in Tribitz . . . who'd told them? . . . well, we were on our way . . . not fast . . . very careful not to sink in . . . puhmg out one leg . . . and then the other . . . and not to miss the old man between two beets . . . perfectly possible! . . . he'd left a week ago . . . zigzagging, acting funny . . . wheeling and doing fancy figures . . . maybe for our benefit . . . to mislead us . . . but certainly in the direction of Berlin! . . .

The gendarme barks . . .
"halt!"
. . . seen something? . . . no! . . . one of the women is stuck in the mud! . . . three or four grab hold . . . and pull her out . . . we start off again . . . another
halt!
. . . what is it this time? . . . seems there's a pond at the end of our line . . . on the right . . . with big willow trees on the banks . . . okay, you Gypsies! . . . shake a leg! . . . the willow harvest . . . we'll wait for them . . . my guess is it'll take us at least three days . . . to find out we've harrowed this plain for nothing . . . no more
Rittmeister
than butter up your ass! . . . ah, the gendarme's got an ideal . . . another idea! . . . while the Gypsies are cutting their switches he sends out four
bibelforschers
. . . advance reconnaissance! . . . our strategist says he sees smoke . . . over by that clump of trees on the left . . . got to be investigated! . . . fine! . . . nobody else sees any smoke . . . three hundred of us don't see a thing . . . we close ranks to get a better look . . . no! . . . nothing! . . . this gendarme's been drinking! . . . but let's see what our four
bibelforschers
think . . . we wait till they've gone quite a ways . . . yes! yes! . . . two miles ahead . . . yes! . . . yes! . . . they've seen something too . . . they make signs . . . they see smoke! . . . we're the saps . . . not the gendarme . . . we're blind! . . . and not far from Zornhof, three four miles! . . . he tells us to get on up there . . . to slog through the beets . . . hell! . . . even with my canes I couldn't go on . . . the rest of them,
bibelforschers
, the grocery woman, the whole line sags . . . they're all flat on their ass . . . I can't see them running . . . even the overalls up there with their red and lavendar behinds . . . they don't refuse, they're willing, but how? . . . the gendarme gets mad! . . . "bums!" he calls us . . . "alcoholics, criminals, parachutists! . . . lazy bastards! stinkers!" they pull themselves up . . . me too with my canes! . . . one leg! . . . heave! . . . the other! . . . here we go! . . . maybe there's nothing after all . . . maybe it's smoke from some old bomb . . . or from a poacher's hut . . . we make a fresh start . . . all holding hands, his original idea . . . six Gypsies in the lead . . . tactics for you! . . . all carefully calculated . . . we see them crawling up ahead . . .why don't we crawl too? . . . their red and lavendar behinds, and the six Gypsies . . . all of a sudden they stop! they look down . . . must be a hollow . . . what kind of a hollow? . . . a shell hole? . . . a road? . . . a tunnel? . . . Kracht thinks it's a false alarm . . . but they stay put, bending over the hole . . . looking down . . . they motion us to come up . . . quick! they start shouting . . . "hey, Kracht!" . . . they must see something! . . . Kracht isn't so sure . . . yes! yes! . . . we won't have any knees left by the time we get there . . . what is it? a ravine? . . . say, it's more than smoke . . . somebody's yelling . . . loud! . . . that hole's full of people . . . must be some kind of a gully . . . we'll see in a minute . . . here we are! . . . our knees are shot to hell! . . . and our pants . . . all ripped! . . . and our elbows . . . we've done a "Tom Thumb" . . . we've left a trail of rags in the clay . . . no trouble finding us . . . but we've made it! . . . we look down . . . there's a whole crowd down there . . . it's a gully . . . how many? . . . no men, all women! . . . around a wood fire! . . . they must have brought the wood a long way . . . a regular bonfire! . . . they're cooking something . . . no wonder you couldn't see it from a distance . . . this gully is very deep . . . with a little pool of water at the end . . . they've set up a camp . . . and now they're roasting or rather burning . . . meat. . . strong smell! . . . enormous chunks! . . . say, I know those women . . . I think . . . they must know us too . . . they look up at us . . . and the insults fly! "traitors! spies! cocksuckers! thieves!" . . . rough translation, but that's the gist . . . they're throwing a conniption, maybe on account of our looking at them . . . they're fighting . . . and no love taps! . . . with sticks! . . . they've all ganged up on two of them! and the two start howling! you can't blame them! . . . what a shellacking! ferocious! they're going to kill them! . . . and wham! . . . and
bzing!
. . . sticks, feet, fists, the works! . . . on account of us! . . . the poor things! . . . I think it's on account of us! . . . in the muck at the bottom . . . the two of them are screeching . . . like stuck pigs! . . . yelling up at us! from the muck at the bottom of the ravine! . . . they know us! . . .
hilfe! hilfe!
Kracht! Kracht! . . . I get it . . . I see . . . those two they're murdering aren't women! . . . they're men! . . . let's get down there! . . . quick! . . . the gendarme says no . . . too deep, he says . . . he probably thinks it's a trap! . . . the slope is clay, very slippery . . . and these furies down at the bottom! . . . Kracht is armed, he can risk it! . . .
hilfe! hilfe!
. . . I can't see what they're doing to the victims . . . Kracht slides down . . . skidding and tumbling . . . so do we . . . must be a good fifty feet . . . head over heels in the mud . . . I get mere first with my canes . . . then Lili with her sack and Bébert. . . and then Le Vig and the
feldgendarme 
. . . nobody's broken anything . . . a nice soft slope like the Butte Saint-Vincent used to be, ideal for kids . . . we look at the pool and the bonfire with the meat on it . . . enormous chunks . . . sizzling and smoking! and down in the mud two shapes . . . all in rags . . . that's the victims! . . . I can't see the faces . . . I screw up my eyes . . . ah, I recognize one of them! . . . everybody recognizes him . . . they all come ever to look! . . . it's the
Rittmeister
, our
Rittmeister!
in person! . . . how'd he get here? . . . he didn't start out this way . . . we'd seen him on his Bleuètte! . . . heading for Berlin . . . south! . . . not west! but it's him! no mistake! . . . he can't move but it's him! . . . the other one can't move either . . . we turn his face to look at him . . . nobody knows him . . . it's a man all right. . . graying hair . . . we scrape off the mud . . . plenty of punishment too . . . we got there in the nick of time! . . . bruises all over him . . . bumps, welts . . . fractures, I think . . . he starts blubbering . . . he can't articulate . . . he's frothing and bleeding at the mouth . . . big blobs of blood coming out of his nose . . . the
Rittmeister
hiccups . . . he hiccups some more . . . he's trying to say something . . . he makes motions . . .