Dmitri's Work

The German Allie

As the leaves fall from the trees - the autumn breeze making them float before gently land on the ground, creating a home for a hedgehog or two. The road leading between the alley of trees slowly disappearing as the leaves fall, twirling in the air in front of her.

She keeps walking, following the remainder of the road, trying not to step or slip in mud - not wanting to ruin her expensive, white shoes. Squirrels dart across the road in front of her as she walks, occasionally stopping to look at her before continuing on with their business.

Reaching the end of the road, she arrives in a courtyard - outside a grand Georgian house, making her look out of time in her 1950s yellow, polka dot swing gown and her beehive hairdo. "Sister!" A man says, running out of the house and approaching the woman, his clothing matching hers in the timeline of fashion.

"Brother - nice to see you. So much for picking me up from the station..." She mumbles, anger in her voice as she rolls her eyes. "These shoes aren't actually made for walking, you know. High heels are uncomfortable."

The man throws his hands into the air in surrender. "I'm sorry - I thought you were arriving later, but now that you're here - you can take those darn things off, can't you?" He laughs, gesturing to the shoes.

She shakes her head, walking past the man and heading into the house. "Are you coming?" She asks, raising an eyebrow as she looks back at her brother.

He smiles, still laughing and jogs along, catching up to his sister before the pair enters the house.

"Lili!" A woman bellows, her arms out for a welcoming embrace.

The woman in the yellow, polka dot swing dress takes a deep breath. "Priscilla." She goes forward, the pair in an embrace only for a few seconds. "How are you?"

"Much better," Priscilla says, smiling. She sits back down in her seat. "Howard, can you get my tea for me, please?" She asks.

Lili heads into the kitchen with her brother, Howard. "I'll get it," Lili tells Priscilla. While in the kitchen, she asks, "what happened to her?" Referring to the dramatic weight loss of her sister-in-law.

Howard shrugs. "It's the cancer. It just ruined her. Luckily, from what we know, she's got rid of it now - though."

Lili nods, a sorrowful look on her face. Taking the cup of tea from the side, she heads back into the reception area. "I've got your tea, dear," she says, giving the small teacup to Priscilla. Although she's battled with cancer, she's looking surprisingly well.

"Howard said you were going to take those dreadful things off," she giggles, gesturing to Lili's shoes.

"Oh," Lili chuckles, bending down and unbuckling them, taking them off and putting them in the hallway by the door, leaving her in her dress and tights. "They don't half hurt," she growls, finally being able to stretch her toes.

"I can imagine. I used to wear shoes like them when I had to work as a PA in the War Office. They really hurt," Priscilla laughs.

Lili sits down on the sofa, her brother soon joining her. "I can imagine - being on your feet all the time and having to wear shoes that felt like daggers... I'm happy I got to be a land worker, instead."

Priscilla smiles, resting her head against one of the wings on the back of her armchair. "We wouldn't have made it through the war without you, dear."

Someone knocks on the front door. Howard and Priscilla frown, not expecting anyone. "Do you want me to get it?" Lili questions. Neither of them answer, so Lili gets up and heads to the front door - opening it and finding a tall, young man panting on the doorstep. "Can I help you?"

"Is Master Howard in, Miss?" He questions, not looking up as he stares down at the ground trying to catch his breath.

"He is. What's the problem?" She asks, looking the man over - he's wearing gardening style overalls. Breathing through her nose, she can smell smoke.

"There's another fire," he says, finally looking up at her - her clean white skin, pink blush, and blonde hair throwing him off. He thought he was speaking with Priscilla. "Sorry, Miss," he stutters, an accent seeping out from behind the fake British one he'd been masquerading with.

"Deutschland?" She questions, adding her German accent over the top for authenticity.

The man gulps, stepping back before running away - heading towards the smoke in the garden.

Lili sighs, turning around as she shuts the door and heads into the living room. "Two things, brother - one, there is a fire in your garden again. And two, you have a German gardening for you?"

Howard nods. "He's a pleasant chap. He saved me in the war and wanted to stay here. So, I hired him so he could."

"Germans didn't make it over here; I don't understand what you mean by wanted to stay." Lili frowns, crossing her arms over her chest as she looks down at her brother.

Howard sits back on the sofa, slouching slightly. "I was a guard at the Prisoner of War camp in South Yorkshire. One day there was a riot, and Nazi's started killing guards. That German didn't want to be apart of the Nazis in the first place, he gave himself up. When the Nazis started killing us, he fought with us; and continued to. He even got an Allie Uniform. He worked with the Czechs."

Lili takes a deep breath, thinking of how old the German must have been when he was caught in the war... "When I was enlisted on the Land Army, I was sixteen... He can't be much older than me," she says, stunned at the fact that the Germans had used children.

"He was fourteen when he was captured in 1943; we initially thought he was Italian because he was wearing their uniform and spoke perfect Italian... The riot was in 1945," Howard explains, peering up at his sister.

"He's two years younger than me..." She blurts, a sickening feeling filling her - her stomach churning. "What are we going to do about the fire in the garden?" She questions.

Howard shrugs. "Karl usually deals with it - it's the locals, they don't like him, so they make his life a misery."

"They don't like him because he's German," Lili scoffs, shaking her head. "Bugger it," she says, running upstairs to get a pair of overalls on, still having a set in her wardrobe from when she worked in the Land Army, before setting out - running out the front door and following the smoke.

"Just go home, you stupid Nazi. You don't belong here!" A British man yells, standing away from the smoke - watching as Karl tries to put it out.

"How about you stop being a Blighter and bugger off!" Lili yells at the man, grabbing a bucket of water from the cart Karl had brought to put out the fire.

The man shouts, "I'm not a Blighter, he is!"

Lili finishes her bucket before slamming it down and walking over to the man - a small crowd of people behind him. "He is my gardener, and this is his home; he fought in the war for us. And don't make me remind you that this tree is on private property. Therefore, you are breaking the law. Do you want me to call the pandas for them to bring the paddy wagon down, or are you going to bugger off like a nice little Yorkshire Terrier?" Lili roars, crossing her arms over her chest.

The man turns around and leaves, the crowd following him.

"Thank you," Karl says, pouring another bucket of water onto the small fern tree. "You didn't have to do that." He walks over to Lili, stood next to her - not hiding his accent around her.

"You're more than welcome. You saved my brother, after all; I can't let the locals scare you away," she tells him, turning around and heading back to the tree - dowsing it with another gallon of water to stop it from relighting.

"You're nicer than your brother. And you know German?" He questions, his brows pulling together as he peers down at her.

"I was Land Army," she says, gesturing to her overalls. "We had German Jewish women working with us, and a few kids. They'd arrived in 1938 before the Nazis started rounding them up. I learnt a lot of German from them - though it was done in secret. We weren't allowed to speak German, for obvious reasons..."

Karl nods. "That's why I spoke Slovakian a lot after I was offered a place in the Allied Army. I still remember my Mother Language, though. Whether that's good or bad, I'm not sure anymore."

A look of sorrow appears on Lili's face. She reaches out, putting her hand on his arm. "Your language and your birth country does not make you a Nazi. There is nothing wrong with being German. Nazis weren't German or Italian. If they were, they wouldn't have killed Germans or Italians."

Bobbing his head, Karl smiles. "Thank you, Fräulein."

Lili beams up at him, showing the dimples in her cheeks. "Bitte."