Wow, this is still going? Cool. :up:

Wow, I am glad to see that its still going! Loving it as always just came back to it after a long hiatus

Haha, I did that myself when I found this story a month ago. I read the entire thing over a few days staying up late on my computer and PSP reading this thing and enjoying every minute of it!

Finally got to the last page after reading 2 hrs a day for 2 weeks, now I find myself randomly surfing the net waiting for the next installment.

Laughing Swordfish this is truly an awesome story

We were all standing in the corridor outside Josie's room.

Well I was standing, Hans was shifting nervously from one foot to another, and Heidi was fairly hopping with excitement.

I knocked on the door.

"Josie, are you ready? We're starving out here"

"Coming, Rollie", she sounded much braver now.

At that Heidi and I darted around the wood panelled corner and peeked out, it was all I could do to stop Heidi whispering in delight, as Hans stood there with flowers, just as he had at the hospital after the raid.

The door opened.

LS

Don't leave us hanging.......

Sorry Bookworm

England are playing here, back later when we've lost again.

RdB

There was a sharp intake of breath from inside the room.

Heidi was peering more and more around the corridor.

Hans to his credit kept it very simple.

"Hello Josie, I'm back from the front, I brought you these....."

"Hansi! You came!"

You wouldn't think that a tall strong panzer grenadier, that had bludgeoned an enemy to death not so long ago, could be reeled backwards by the force of a lame senior naval clerk. Her running hug sent him back against the opposite wall

"Hansi! What....?"

Heidi was beside herself....and had to be shushed

Feldwebel Auer gulped. Took Josie's hands in his own.

"Fate brought me back here Josie", he cast a glance at the corridor corner, where I was straining to keep Heidi from running in.

LS

Without a doubt, Sailor Steve

... and RdB has delivered in SPADES!

Little does he know that something a bit similar is playing out here at home...

(RdB... please don't kill off any of those four, mate. They've had it rough enough already.)

That was it.

With a squeal of pure delight, Heidi was gone, I could hold her back no longer.

She rushed to hug the happy couple. "Josie! Hans!"

Girls can normally be quite good at subterfuge, but Heidi was an open book..

"Heidi! You knew!"

"Only from a few moments ago..."

Both of their looks turned to the corner of the corridor where I was trying to slink away.

"Get here Rollie!"

And before I knew it I had Josie's lipstick on my cheek and scolding slaps on my chest in equal measure.

But Hans was the main attraction.

"Look at you Hansi, You've brought half the Ukraine back with you!"

Hans looked bashful. Until Josie said "Let's get you in the bath!"

She didn't once mention his face.

I nudged Heidi. Cue for us to make ourselves scarce.

"Still got some shopping to do, see you in the cafe across the road, later."

And Heidi and I walked hand in hand down the stairs together.

LS

Loves first dream http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...headbanger.gif

Could be a long wait in the cafe!:03:

Well it was a while before Josie and Hans emerged from the hotel, but it wasn't as if we weren't busy.

Heidi and I did the shopping for the day out. Some earrings, some perfume of course, and some samples for dress design, shoes, let's take all three pairs and go; hat, two hats, some silk gloves, and a new handbag that I had to endure pretending to care about the choice. All essential picnic ingredients naturally.

The ham, cheese, croissants, fresh bread, tomatoes, lettuce, a nice cloth rug to sit on, various other goodies that caught our eye and a good french wine came last, and we picked them up all from a shop including a wicker hamper to put it all in, from a magasin not one minute back from where we started at the hotel.

"It's too late for a picnic now, Rollie"

Heidi came back from putting her boxes and bags back in the room.

"You've been listening in at Josie's door, haven't you?"

"No!" she blushed.

"Well they're probably resting. They've been through a lot, lots to catch up on."

Heidi is a Bavarian girl by birth, used to the country ways and the mountainside. She confessed it always made her giggle to hear about my nickname from rolling helplessly down the ski slopes. And she promises to show me how to stay on two feet next time.

Her father is strict and of Prussian descent. He hates France and the French, (and I'm sure the feeling tends to be mutual), but will come to the wedding either here or, service permitting, back in Germany.

She has two sisters, one older, and one younger; and an older brother who is a member of the Nazi party, and they haven't seen eye to eye for quite a while. I hope we are all good Aryan stock according to his rules.

She was in the whole 'Strength Through Joy' thing as a girl, encouraged by her father, which is why Heidi ended up in the navy. Having been on the front at Verdun, and the Somme as a young man himself, no child of his was going back into the infantry, girl or not. Much safer in the Navy

Her older sister sings (and I'm guessing strips on the side, although Heidi won't say it) in clubs in Berlin wearing a top hat and stockings and suspenders. Heidi has seen her rehearse and apparently it's quite a show, I shall have to get tickets for my U-46 gang, or on second thoughts, maybe definitely not..

Her younger sister is a nurse already. People are being called in to the War so much earlier it seems these days.

"She writes to me about the injuries she has to deal with, and the general suffering out there in Russia. Look, here's her last letter. She's somewhere behind the front in the Crimea. But they are always hopelessly out of date"
............................

'Hello Sis, little Gertie here,

I'm very well considering everything. I miss good home food and a warm bed, and listening to the jazz on the radio like we used to back home.

The 6th Army are on the march again. There's nothing they can't do, so hopefully we can make Stalin see sense this year.

Heidi, I have seen some terrible things. Most of the soldiers we try to treat are about my age, (or yours, you oldie!), and there are more of them each day. I'm sure it's because they are in shock, or just exhausted, but I haven't heard one of them talk about victory.

How is Hannah getting on in Berlin? The last time she wrote, she had a major acting job on the stage. I hope that's going well?

So tell me more about that cute-sounding U-boat Captain you keep writing about....."

-----------------------------------------------

Heidi snatched the letter out of my hand, but was careful to fold it neatly and put it back in her purse.

"You're not allowed to read that bit. And I hardly ever mentioned you at all. Maybe once or twice..."

"Heidi, my love, I don't have that many people to write to about you, but if I did, I would give that postman a bad back.....what's wrong..?

There was a tear running down from her right eye.

"Oh Rollie, this is the last letter I've had from her. They're normally so frequent. I think things might be going badly"

A U-boat man is probably the last person to ask about current affairs. His whole world tends to be much, much smaller.

"I really don't know Heidi, it's probably just an army postal thing, maybe it's lying in a sack in Poland or somewhere. If she's anything like her older sister, she'll be ok, looking after people, just like you and Josie do, in a way, with people like us.."

She reached for my hand across the table.

"It'll be all right won't it?"

"Yes Heidi, it will be all right. That's what I say to the U-46 crew all the time, and it never fails!"

The smile was back on her face as Josie and Hans walked beaming through the door.

LS

I'm surprised that Hans has the energy to walk!:03:

I'm guessing that when Rollie looks at him again he'll notice he has three legs :DL