My German Lover, Part 26 chapter 1

As they were driving through Berlin, all they could see was destruction. A few buildings were still burning...

"No more water to put out the fires... the water mains are busted", the driver explained... "So they just let them burn..."

They finally made it to a large Avenue they all recognized... or at least... tried to recognize: Unter den Linden...

Not much was left standing on what used to be the Champs Elysées of Berlin...

"...I can't believe my eyes...", Ludwig said, stunned, as they were driving near the Brandenburg Tor (Brandenbourg Gate...), or what was left of it...

"What about the New Chancellery?", Will asked, secretly hoping it had been reduced to rubbles...

"Unscratched...", their driver answered... "But don't worry guys... the Allies will be back...", he said, grinning... knowing from what his passengers had already said that they were not Nazis...

As they reached Kurt's home, Kurt said:

"Welcome to my parent's house..."

Their driver left them there, and they all went inside where they were introduced to Kurt's parents:

"...We are truly sorry to hear about your parents...", Kurt's father said... "It's terrible... but you are most welcome to stay here with us... for as long as you need to... or for as long as this house is standing, I should say..."

The day after, Kurt borrowed his father's car and drove his friends to the morgue...

"Ah yes...", the man at the morgue said to them... "We were expecting you...(...) Herr Lutz Reinberger?", the man asked...

"Yes, that's me...", Lutz answered...

"You're first... Please Sir, follow me..."

Lutz followed the man to another room, and about twenty minutes later, he came back... looking sick and crying...

Franz went to him and took him into his arms...

"Herr Von Rundstedt?", the man asked.

Will and Ludwig rose to their feet and both of them answered "Yes"

"you're next..."

"No Will... Don't go there...", Lutz shouted to his best friend... "Don't go... it's a nightmare over there..."

Paul rose to his feet, looked at Will and Ludwig and said to them:

"Let me go, please. I knew them well, and I'll be able to identify them... Don't worry. I don't want you two to see them like that..."

"...But we have to...", Will started to say...

"No ... you don't. I'm here. I'll go.", Paul answered...

"Let him go...", Lutz said to Will and Ludwig... "I wish I had not gone there... I'm telling you, don't go!"

Will looked at Ludwig and asked his brother:

"...What do you think bro?"

After a moment of silence, Ludwig answered to his brother with tears in his eyes: "Let Paul go...".

"Okay", Will answered, looking at Paul... "Will you do that for us?"

Paul looked back at Will and Ludwig and with a very sad smile on his face and answered:

"I will...".

Then, looking at the man in charge of the morgue, Paul said:

"I'm ready Sir..."

Indeed, Paul was able to identify Will and Ludwig's parents and their young sister Karen...

Their bodies were atrociously mutilated, and some parts were missing...

"...That's all they found...", the man in charge of the morgue said to Paul... "I'm sorry..."

"Thanks", Paul answered with tears in his eyes, feeling sick... "Do you have a lavatory around here?"

"Yes... to your right...", the man from the morgue answered...

"Just give me a few minutes, will you?"

"Sure"

Paul went to the lavatory to throw up...

After a few minutes... he came out ot the lavatory, looked at the man still standing there, waiting for him... and said:

"Thank you Sir... I needed that..."

"I understand...", the man answered.

"Let's go back to the others, shall we?", Paul said...

They walked back to the room where his friends were waiting... Paul then looked at Will and Ludwig and said:

"(...) It's them. I have no doubt whatsoever. It's them... All three of them..."

"(...) Thanks Paul, for what you just did...", Will answered, crying...

"Ummm...", the man in charge of the morgue said... "May I ask you what you intend to do with their remains? It's impossible to find a coffin nowadays in Berlin, you know..."

Paul walked over to the man and took him apart, and the two of them started talking.

Paul gave the man a very generous tip and, looking down at all the Reichsmarks Paul was giving him, the man finally said:

"...It will be done tonight Sir... and you can come by tomorrow morning. The funeral urns will be ready..."

"Thank you Sir", Paul answered...

As they were all leaving the morgue, Paul explained to his friends the remains would be cremated during the night... and that the urns would be ready for pick up the day after...

"That's the only solution...", Paul stated...

"Yes", they all answered...

After that, they all went back to Kurt's house.

Of course, no one of them was hungry... and all them went to sleep on empty stomachs...

It took them a long time... but finally, they all felt asleep...

Then, the sirens went on...

"What's that", Paul asked, his heart pounding...

"Quick", they heard Kurt's father shout... "No time to get dress... we have to run to the shelter as fast as we can..."

All they had time to grab was their coats and their shoes...

"Come... quick...", Kurt's father said... "Follow us..."

They all ran outside of the house... then down the street to a bomb shelter...

As they were running down the stairs, Paul almost fell... but Ludwig took hold of his friend's arm and helped him...

"(...) Thanks dude!", Paul said to Ludwig, with a grin on his face...

"Sure...", Ludwig answered, grinning... "What are friends for, huh?"

"Yeah..."

They all went deep under the ground and walked into the bomb shelter, where they all sat down on the floor.

It didn't take long before the shelter got crowded...

They all sat one next to the other. Then, they heard Kurts's mother say:

"Our Father, Who art in Heaven,
Hollowed be Thy Name (...)"

Then, they heard voices all around them, saying:

"(...) Thy kindom come,
Thy will be done..."

Paul looked at Will... took his lover's hand into his and softly said:

"(...) On earth as it is in heaven..."

And they all started to recite the prayer which Jesus Christ had tought to His disciples...

After the last "Amen" had been said... a total silence fell ...

They were all waiting... and waiting... 

Then... They heard the first bombs fell...

The pounding went on... and on... and on... and dust started to fall onto them from the ceiling...

"Do you think it will hold?", Will asked Paul, looking up at the ceiling...

"It will... I'm sure it will! I didn't come all the way to Berlin to die in this bomb shelter! No way!" Paul answered, smiling at his lover...

Then, the bomb shelter lost power and all the lights went off...

Seconds later, they saw people all around them light up candles... some even had with them old oil lamps...

Obiviously for most of them, it wasn't their first time in there, and they were getting used to it...

As the kept hearing the deafening sound of bombs falling above them, Paul turned to Kurt's father and asked him:

"... Do you think the bombs are falling right above us?"

Kurt's father grinned and answered:

"...No... From the sound we hear... I'd say they are falling West of here... If they start falling right above us, you'll see and hear the difference... that's if we are still here to hear them fall..."

Paul grinned and answered:

"Don't worry Sir... I'm sure we'll be okay! We're going to make it through..."

"I sure hope you're right son...", Kurt's father replied... "I sure hope you're right..."

Fortunately for them, the air raid on Berlin in the night of the 24th to the 25th of November, 1943 was a small one... and after what seemed to be an eternity... silence came back... along with the electricity...

Then they heard the sirens again... telling them the raid was over...

"That's it for the night, folks! Welcome to Berlin...", Kurt's father said... "Let's go upstairs, to see if we still have a house, shall we?"

With the rest of the crowd, they slowly made their way out of the bomb shelter. When they finally reached the street level, they went out and looked around them...

The air was hard to breathe... with all the smoke...

Instinctively, they all put handkerchiefs over their nose and mouth...

"You're getting use to it, huh?", Kurt's father asked them...

"Shit!", Ludwig answered...

"Yeah...", Lutz and Franz said...

"Let's go, shall we?", Kurt's father said... "Let's go see if our house is still there..."

They started walking, holding to their handkerchiefs...

As they were walking, they all looked at the buildings burning not too far from where they were...

Even with their handkerchiefs, it was hard to breathe...

"Put it back over your nose...", Paul said to Will, seeing his lover was suffocating...

"Yeah...", Will answered, coughing.

"... Never come to Berlin without a handkerchief...", they heard Kurt's father say... "It's rather handy around here nowadays..."

They all laughed...

As they were walking towards Kurt's house, Kurt turned to his mum and dad and said:

"...I hope it's still there..."

With all that smoke around them, they couldn't tell...

"Do you see it?", Kurt's mum asked him...

"I can't mum... the smoke is too thick to see...", Kurt answered.

But they all knew perfectly well that if the smoke was so thick all around them... it was because buildings and houses were burning not too far...

"Do you see it now?", Kurt's mum anked her son for the second time...

"Not yet mum... not yet..."