Maria, Pull the Trigger and Kill (a World War II adventure)

Loving the Enemy

On Saturday afternoon, Wilhelm picked me up to take me to his mother. She lived in Polheim about 30min. away.

It was another typical German farmhouse.

The mother greeted me warmly, smiling from ear to ear: "Buenas tardes. Tu eres Maria?" She truly looked Spanish, but with grey hair. She was probably beyond her 60th already. She wore a dress, which had seen much better days, and she looked tiered, worked up.

"Si, Senora. Buenas tardes."

"Ven a mi casa y toma aseinto", she warmheartedly invited me.

Once I had entered the kitchen, she made me sit down at the table. There was almost no decoration on the walls. The furniture was even more simple, crude and worn than what Johanna had. The plaster on the walls had come off in large chunks. In some parts, the bricks looked upon you. The flies had shitted all over the walls and left tiny black spots, but thousands. A big reddish metal stove and fireplace dominated the kitchen. I don't know, how many decades this stove had seen already, but the reddish color peeled off and made ever more space for rust. The tablecloth had turned from white to grey over the years and it had many brownish spots, which washing did not remove anymore. The porcelain and the silverware were clean though. She had probably put her dowry on the table, because gold rimmed porcelain and silverware was not used every day. I must have been an important guest. Soon after, Wilhelm's mother brought coffee and a self-made cake. We ate cake and had small talk in Spanish, until she said: "Vienes di Barcelona?"

"Si, Barcelona."

"Usted acento no es catalan? No lo se --- ."

There we were. My accent was not Catalan. Now, what should I say? "Mi madra e Mexicana." It was the best I could come up with in a split second and it wasn't even a lie.

"Por eso son tan hermosos."

"Muchas gracias senora." I was flattered about the compliment and blushed.

The small talk continued and it was quite nice. Now the question was, if my lie did fly or not. At least, the topic was off the table for the time being. I learned, what was different and similar between Spanish and Mexican culture. However, I had to be extremely careful not to give myself away. Therefore I rather listened than talk.

When the moon was about to claim the sky, it was time to say goodbye and go. They had no electricity and the only light came from lanterns, which made people wanna go home anyways. So I grabbed my bag with the FN High Power in it and as I stood up, it slipped my hand, because I did not pay it enough attention and hit the floor with a loud metallic clonk. Wilhelm reacted quicker than I, put a hand on the table, bent down with his stiff leg stretched out sideways and picked the bag up for me. He wanted to be a Gentleman. Holding it in his hand, he said: "Ziemlich schwer. Pesado para un bolso pequeno."

So he had immediately realized, that the bag was heavy for its size. I did not know what to say that very second and he added: "Que tu ahi que es tan pesado?"

Off course, he wanted to know what was in it. I had a stupid idea: "Monedas." Well, coins were heavy and did make a metallic sound.

"Lotes Pfennige?"

"Cambio para mi pequeno negocio." The bag was loaded with Pfennige, small change for my little horse shoeing business, I pretended. In reality, I did have the change for the horse shoeing business in a box at Johanna's place, but it was the next best excuse I could come up with. Surprisingly, it worked well, because Wilhelm and his mother had to laugh.

When I had said goodbye and were standing outside the house already, Wilhelm said goodbye to his mother. She hugged him and I overheard what she said: "Una chica tan amable y bonita. Tu que cuidarlos."