A Fallen Fawn (Dieter Rentz)

[lisawieserman1941]

Country: Occupied France, Vichy

Area: Town road near open fields and woods

Time: 1230 hrs.

Weather: Sunny and hot


As the German patrol and Lisa finally got to town, she pointed the way to her Uncle Paul's portrait shop. She checked behind her and they were all sweating from the midday heat. Every time she tried to start up a conversation she was pushed ahead with the Lieutenant's sub-machine gun and told to be quiet. Lisa had her Uncle's clothes on, sewn to fit her better, along with her riding boots her mother had sent with her. Not that it mattered, the German's confiscated her Uncle's horse leaving him and his wife with only bicycles for transportation, and Lisa with nothing. She took off her beret and let her long blond tresses cascade down her white shirt, rolled up to the elbows.

"Dort Oberleutnant," she waved, saying his rank in German with respect. Shaking her head, Lisa expected her fat Uncle's eyes to bulge out when he found out she was shooting his hunting rifle and caught by a German platoon.

They all walked into the shop as Lisa stood by a corner folding her arms, letting loose a sigh. The Lieutenant explained his niece was using a hunting rifle and was a partisan suspect. Then all vocal hell congested the air. Her Uncle knew little German like she, but the Lieutenant conversed with him in French. Paul explained he forgot all about the rifle and that he was supposed to give it to the Germans. He added he never used it and was shocked his niece not only found it, but knew how to work it.

He then went on to say she was a free spirited American girl from New York who never obeyed him, and that her divorced parents dumped her on him because they didn't have the time to discipline her. He complained they should have sent her to her Grandmother's in Essen so he could be at peace. He nodded when the officer asked if she was German and told him she was half German from her father's side.

The Lieutenant glanced at Lisa as she turned away, embarrassed about the whole situation. He noted the brilliant work Paul had done for German officers and complimented him on his talent. The fact he just finished with a Colonel's portrait sealed the misunderstanding. He would not press the Uncle any further now knowing she was innocent but a wild card. He demanded Paul make her understand all the orders Germany levied on occupied France, including curfews and all that was verbotten, and to tame the girl's free spirited nonsense. He then walked over to her.

"Miss, you could had been shot and killed when you were using that rifle for target practice. I suggest you adhere to the rules or you will find yourself facing a Gestapo jail. Now go home!" He served the order as if he was talking to a Private.

"Ja, Herr Oberleutnant," she replied, snapping to attention while sketching him a sharp military salute, clicking her heels. Her Uncle shook his head finding her American humor shocking. He gave her a dirty look as she granted him a salute, but with a disrespectful mocked style. Venturing out the door she smiled at the Privates who searched her as she then pretended to walk home.

2 miles past the store Lisa was cussing about all the rules she had to contend with in France as well as the biting bugs on the trek home where boredom bloomed. Then a motorcycle with a side car happened into view operated by a German soldier. He had some kind of courier bag, climbing a few stairs into a building.

Lisa examined the bike, reminding her of the Indian Scout 640 she rode back home. She looked around and no one was in sight, not even French civilians. She pulled her hair into the beret. Climbing aboard the BMW she grinned widely thinking stealing the bike would be a lot of fun. She figured they would blame a French Resistance man, not a girl. Kick starting it, she stood up for more power as the engine rattled to life. She then pushed it into 1st, closing the clutch lever then slowly releasing it, easing the throttle so as not to make much noise. Sure she was in the clear she gunned it to second, then third, quick shifting to get away. At 35 mph she looked behind and the soldier was aiming his rifle at her.

"Shit! I hope he's a bad shot. Oh crap! There goes my beret! Now he knows I'm a girl! If that Lieutenant gets wind of this I'm in big trouble." Finding the forth gear she veered right into a field at 50 mph, giving more throttle to climb a hill. She noticed the tires weren't gripping well and looked down and caught a glimpse of the off road gear ratios behind the shifter.

"I have to stop the bike to work that. I remember reading about these R75s. I better do some fancy riding to get me out of his sights!" she said to herself, a habit she got into as there was nobody to talk to.

Leaning towards the sidecar with every turn on the grass she kept it on flat ground. She was not going to make an easy target. Jumping some small hills pumped her adrenaline as she continued down the field expecting she lost him.

Translation:

verbotten
forbidden

"Ja, Herr Oberleutnant!"
"Yes, sir Lieutenant."

"Dort Oberleutnant."
"There Lieutenant."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

It was, as always, a bad day for Dieter Rentz. He had woken up from the floor of a tavern in Thiers with a terrible hangover and memories of drinking, singing, laughing and getting slapped in the face by a French girl. It sounded like a rather normal way for Dieter to spend a free evening, but he had not expected to find himself in France. He had befriended with a young corporal in Africa and the man had suggested that Dieter should come with him to Thiers once they left for their leave. Apparently his friend knew some people, who then knew some other people (Dieter had gotten confused who "the people" exactly were) that knew the owner of a fine tavern in the town and since Dieter had no desire to go home, he had agreed to accompany him.

At least according to Dieter's friend, the girls in France were free-spirited, the wine flowed freely and the countryside was beautiful. Of course he forgot to mention the awful food that matched the wine, the partisans that hid in the forests and the fact that the French girls actually were not as free-spirited as he had first described them as being. Maybe it would have helped if Dieter had actually known some French, but his skills in the language were limited to saying thank you, hello, goodbye and I love you. None of these things had made any of the French girls any more amiable towards him, so Dieter had decided to leave his friend and go to Italy on his own before his short leave was over.

To get out of Thiers he had made a deal with one of the local soldiers to drive a motorcycle back to Vichy and deliver a message while he was at it. From Thiers he could get a ride to Lyons and finally away from France, at least that was the plan. This had seemed like a good deal at the time, but now Dieter was not so sure about it anymore. He had a pounding headache and there was a continuous haunting feeling that he would have to go and throw up on the side of the road at any given moment.

The rumble of the motorcycle seemed to amplify the pain inside his head and he was happy when he finally arrived at the house where the letter was to be delivered to. Apparently the house belonged to some big-shot Wehrmacht Hauptmann who had "borrowed" it from some locals for administrative duties.

Dieter brought the bike to a halt near the house and hoped he didn't look too hung-over. In Africa he had gotten a nice, prominent tan but he felt like he must have looked awfully pale right now. Dieter was wearing the standard Wehrmacht uniform while in France, although he kind of missed his Afrika Korps uniform. He didn't particularly miss the dust and the heat, but it seemed as if certain things about Africa had kind of stuck with him. For the sake of being on official duties, Dieter had also placed his field cap on his head, although he usually just kept it stuffed under his belt. He didn't want to get scolded by any higher-ups for not being presentable enough, he just wanted to avoid any further troubles and get out of France as soon as possible.

With very careful steps Dieter made his way up the stairs to the house, already searching for the message he was supposed to deliver. As he was doing so, he could hear the rumble of a familiar engine starting up and for a good few seconds he didn't think anything of it. Once the engine's low sound started moving away from him, Dieter glanced back towards the road. He saw his precious borrowed R75 rolling along the road, a slim figure driving it. Dieter blinked and stared at the scene for a while before the realization struck him. Someone was stealing his bike.

"Halt!" It wasn't the most intelligent thing to yell, but it was the only thing that he could think of. He hurried down the stairs, his hands already grabbing the rifle he had slung over his shoulder. Was this one of those partisans? Dieter couldn't be sure, he had no real knowledge or experience with any of them, in Africa there were no partisans. He raised the Gewehr and tried to get the driver into his sights, but then the bike had already vanished behind a small hill. "Verdammt!"

Dieter took off running and each step made his head hurt horribly. The sudden movements made it feel like as if his brain was bouncing around inside his skull and Dieter winced at the pain. He ran the short length of the road to get on top of a small hill where he could see the BMW again. It was bouncing along a field at a reckless speed and the driver had obviously lost his hat as strands of long, blonde hair were now billowing wildly in the wind. A girl?

Dieter stood on the hill for a moment, his heart pounding wildly as he thought about the repercussions of losing a military vehicle while on his leave. He forced himself to assess the situation rationally and from what he could see, the driver was trying to make sure that he... or she, as it appeared on this case, would get to the safety of some trees and off the sights of his rifle. There was a slightly bigger grassy hill to the right of him and Dieter figured that if he hurried, he might still have time to take a shot or two at this thief. Dieter stumbled up the hill and tried to ignore the pain in his head. His boots kicked down tufts of grass and small rocks and at one point he nearly stumbled down the hill, which would have surely meant losing the bike for good.

When he finally staggered to the top of the hill, he could see the driver and the precious stolen BMW better. Dieter was sure that the driver wasn't aware of him yet and it seemed as the thief was actually having a rather good time driving the Wehrmacht motorcycle. Dieter raised the rifle up again and flipped off the safety, trying to calm down his breathing the best he could to make his aim more accurate. He let the muzzle of the Gewehr follow the driver's form very carefully and he calculated his shot for a few seconds before squeezing the trigger.

Two shots rang in the air and Dieter wasn't quite sure if he had actually hit anything, this girl.. or whoever it was that had stolen his bike, was driving at irrational speed and making the BMW bounce and jump as it stormed along the field, making it hard for him to aim very well. Dieter lowered his rifle slightly and could now see the bike almost toppling over. It was hard to say from this distance, but it seemed as if the side car had fallen into a ditch in the middle of the field. Dieter flipped the safety back on with a triumphant smirk, starting his sliding descent down along the hill to get to the thief and the precious bike.

After some stumbling and cursing, Dieter finally stopped near the vehicle and it's obviously insane driver. Taking out his rifle again, just in case this was one of those crazy partisans he had heard about, Dieter finally got a better look at this would-be thief. The Wehrmacht corporal blinked a few times at the sight of this thief, who as Dieter had already suspected, was certainly a female.

[lisawieserman1941]

A couple of rifle shots was the last thing Lisa heard as one of the bullets pierced her left calf muscle going all the way through and out ricocheting off the metal of the side car. The pain made her cry out as the momentum of the impact sent her flying off the motorcycle, tumbling like a rag doll a dozen times from the speed she had gathered on the open field. The bike came to rest in a trench, unscathed.

Lisa was lying on her side unconscious, probably having sustained a concussion from her head being tossed and battered on the turf. Blood was seeping out of her leg where she was wounded. As she came to, a German soldier was brandishing a rifle leveled at her chest.

"Ich gebe auf! Es tut mir leid ich stahl dem Motorrad. Ich bin ein Amerikanischer," Lisa said to the Corporal, her face pale from the ordeal.

"You are a good marksman," she shed with a smile. "I miss my motorcycle back home, and my Uncle gave me no transportation to get around. I just could not resist trying out your BMW. I should have been sent to Germany to be with my grandmother in Essen. I am not a partisan. I like the Germans," she rambled on with her American accent, forgetting if she asked the soldier if he spoke English or not. Her German was getting better as she was learning it from a book her mother sent her.

Grabbing her calf, Lisa pinched where the bullet holes were to stem the flow of blood. Gritting her teeth in obvious pain from being shot, she shed no tears as life in New York City made her tough. Covered in grass stains and bruises she looked like a mess, her blond hair all tangled. Lisa felt lightheaded, then lapsed into an unconscious state once again, falling on her back. The vista of the German soldier was fading out of view as darkness took over.

Translation:

"Ich gebe auf!"
"I give up!"

"Es tut mir leid ich stahl dem Motorrad.
"I am sorry I stole your motorcycle."

"Ich bin bin ein Amerikanisher."
"I am an American."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The blonde girl had obviously lost consciousness for a moment and she seemed to just come to when Dieter pointed his rifle at her. "Ich gebe auf! Es tut mir leid ich stahl dem Motorrad. Ich bin ein Amerikanischer," the girl said and Dieter just stared at her, mostly just out of pure surprise.

The girl was a pretty one and she looked unlike any girl Dieter had ever seen. Not that Dieter would have been too used to meeting an American girl speaking German in France (which in itself was quite confusing when he thought of it), but he had never seen one who would steal a motorbike, drive it over the fields at such a reckless speed and then proceed to babble at him in German after being shot. Dieter was still standing with his rifle poised at the girl when she spoke again, this time in English. She went on to tell him something about her uncle, motorcycle, grandmother and possibly some other things Dieter just could not understand in his current dazed condition.

All the words that poured out of the girl's mouth might have been indication of her going into a shock and Dieter could see that she was about to loose consciousness again. Dieter finally snapped into action and he slung the rifle back on his shoulder, crouching next to the girl. He had shot a girl! Sure, she had stolen his bike, but Dieter had never shot a girl before and he was already feeling bad about it.

"Hey, hey! Stay awake!" Dieter ordered and slapped the girl on her cheek. The slap might have been a bit too rough, but he had to make sure that the girl stayed awake. He placed a few fingers on the girl's neck to try and determine her heart rate while at the same time his mind furiously worked over things to say to keep the girl awake. "Uhm.. I'm sorry that I... I shot you. But you must stay awake," Dieter blurted out, he pronounced the English words with a heavy German accent. "We need to get you to a doctor, all right? Can you hear me? I will get a... uh, Verbandskasten, just stay awake!"

Dieter stumbled up and hurried to the motorcycle, searching for the gear he had stuffed into the side car of the bike. It seemed to take forever, but finally Dieter found the small medical kit he had been searching for and the man rushed back to the poor girl. Dieter wasn't any good at this medical stuff, he had never quite figured how the real combat medics did all the things he had seen them do. To Dieter these people seemed to posses an amazing skill of doing three different things at once, including talking to the patient and coming up with all kinds of comforting things to say to keep them calm. All of this usually happened under enemy fire, which made all the work the medics did even more impressing.

"I'm back. Bist du wach? Don't worry, I'm going to... fix this," he was going to add 'I hope' but decided against it and contemplated on what to do. The girl was wearing a pair of riding boots and Dieter set his rifle down with a sigh. "Sorry about this," he said sheepishly as he grabbed the boot and, in what must have been a painful move to the girl, tugged the boot off her foot. Throwing the boot on the ground, Dieter took his sharp combat knife from it's sheath and used it to rip open the canvas on the leg of her pants.

Now he finally could get a better look at the wound. Dieter tried to be careful about moving the leg, but then again he was just a common soldier and not a medic. From what he could see, the wound was clean and the bullet had gone straight through, but Dieter knew there wasn't much he could do about the wound by himself. "It's not bad. But we need to get you to Vichy. You need to stay awake. What's your name?" Dieter asked, talking mostly just to keep the girl awake.

Dieter used his teeth to rip open the paper around a roll of bandages and pondered how to best stop the bleeding. It needed some pressure applied to it and if the bleeding was bad, a tourniquet, but using that might have also been risky. It wasn't such a long way to Vichy, so Dieter figured it was best just to get there fast. He rolled the bandage a few times around the girl's leg and used a small medical paperboard box on both of the bullet holes to create at least some amount of pressure to stop the flow of the blood.

He finished his rather shabby creation with a better and stronger application of the bandage and sat down on the ground to catch his breath for a while. He took the field cap off and rubbed his forehead with his arm, trying not to stain himself with blood. "You will be just fine, don't worry," he tried to say in the most assuring tone of voice he could come up with in the situation. "I will get you to Vichy on the motorcycle, ja?"

Translations:

Verbandskasten
medical kit

"Bist du wach?"
"Are you awake?"

[lisawieserman1941]

The pain was almost unbearable, feeling like a hot poker stabbed through her leg. Coming in and out of consciousness, the Corporal thought the American girl was out the whole time, but Lisa tried to put herself in a hypnotic trance, focusing out the nerve endings her pierced calf muscle was driving unmercifully into her brain.

I can't stand it any longer! I am going to cry like a baby, but I must not show any weakness. I will prove I am a strong American gal, and can take a bullet to my limb like a soldier, she thought to herself.

When the German soldier pulled off her boot she wanted to scream. Riding boots were often hard to get off by ones self, and with a wound settled underneath it tested her endurance. By reflex she almost grabbed his arm to stop what he was doing, but her will power proved to be sturdy under the pressure and she accepted his makeshift bandaging without interfering or complaining. He was speaking of Vichy and Doctors, as he apologized in accented German/English for shooting her. He asked her name.

A German Soldat saying he was sorry for shooting a thief? I don't believe it. He is nothing like that hard headed Lieutenant who threatened me with the Gestapo should I get in more trouble. Oh no! Should he find out about this, I will be their prisoner! Lisa's mind shook her to her senses as she decided to tell him her sensitive predicament.

"Hold it...Hold it! Nein bitte Soldat! I can't go back to Vichy! A German patrol caught me with my Uncle's hunting rifle and marched me to town just an hour ago. I was trying to improve my marksmanship. The cottage is about five miles from here. I don't understand kilometers. If you take me to a Doctor he will report it, and that damn Oberleutnant will arrest me for not only pilfering a soldier's motorcycle, but for getting myself shot which could alert the Resistance meaning even more trouble falling on my shoulders. They might still be at the portrait shop of my Uncle! Please no Doctor!" Lisa blurted out, her adrenaline pumping harder as her eyes widened in fear if he would force her to go to the hospital.

"I will get to my Uncle's house and care for my wound myself. You are a very nice guy, and I appreciate your help. But if the Gestapo finds out, I will be tortured or worse! They might send me to a brothel! I will kill myself before anyone dares to take me, or give them a reason to shoot me! I know some hand to hand fighting I learned from street guys in New York. I will give any would be rapist that sole reason to take me out!" She pleaded with him, her pool blue eyes almost speaking for her to let her go.

But how will I walk if he releases me? I will crawl through the woods if I have to! I can find a tree branch for a crutch. Yeah, that will work. But if he refuses, thinking I will be safe, then what will I do? He does not know the serious state I am in, she pondered the outcome.

Lisa then prepared herself. If she had to wrestle the young man down and knock him out with his rifle, she may be able to catch him by surprise. She then thought of wounding him, but by the time she brought the rifle up to bear he would slam her to the ground with his weight making her relinquish the rifle, thinking she was not telling the truth the whole time and was indeed a bona fide French Resistance fighter. He would then certainly turn her in to the Gestapo.

"Oh, and my name is Lisa. Nice to meet you." she answered him politely, buying time to see what he would do with her.

Translation:

Nein bitte Soldat!"
"No please soldier!"

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

Dieter slung the rifle back on his shoulder and regarded the blonde girl with a skeptical look when she burst into a long explanation of what had happened to her. All of this included the girl being caught by a German patrol while she was holding a rifle and obviously, if they would find out what the girl had gotten involved with now, she would be in some very serious trouble. Dieter frowned visibly when the girl implored that there should be "no doctor" and the young corporal glanced first at the girl's leg and then at her face, as if to see if she had completely lost her mind. She couldn't be serious, now could she?

He didn't have time to say anything as the girl continued her story, saying that she would get to her uncle's house by herself, which Dieter had a hard time believing. Her next words were lost by Dieter just because he was contemplating already on what to do, but he could hear the girl mentioning something about being sent to a brothel and then something about rapists. After that the girl seemed to contemplate something, before sweetly introducing herself as Lisa.

"Lisa, right.. Just hold on a minute. They would send you to a brothel?", Dieter asked and then scoffed at her words. "I doubt that. They might shoot you, though," he added, as if these words would be of any comfort to the poor girl.
With a sigh Dieter propped himself up and walked to the motorcycle, taking a good hold of the handlebars to straighten the vehicle out. "Well, Lisa. I'm Dieter. And I'm pretty sure you can't walk all that way, so I guess I will have to take you there. But now you must behave. Absolutely no stealing anything," Dieter said in a grave voice, but then smirked to himself as he brought the bike next to Lisa. The girl was insane for all Dieter had seen, but then again she reminded Dieter much of what he had been like while still living in Meissen and doing all kind of mischief. He had been the talk of the town those days, always up to no good. He was a different person now, but he had to hand it out to the girl, she was either truly insane or just really daring.

The young corporal stuffed the field cap under his belt and leaned in to pick up his backpack and helmet from the side car of the bike. Putting on his helmet and hoisting the slightly worn backpack on his other shoulder, the man moved in to offer his hand to Lisa. "How far did you think you would have gotten with that motorcycle, anyway?" he asked while helping Lisa up. "They would have shot you dead if they had seen you. But we at the Afrika Korps don't kill girls... well, unless they steal something from us," there was a hint of amusement in the German soldier's words. "

"You will have to tell me where to take you, you can sit here," Dieter pointed towards the sidecar and tried to see to it that Lisa got up from the ground without too much trouble, although the man seemed to feel slightly awkward helping the young woman. He felt like he was being awfully intrusive and stupid for helping the girl, but he felt guilty for shooting her. In Africa the fighting was very different from what he had experienced in Europe and he did not have that much experience dealing with civilians. In Africa there were really no civilians, as they usually moved away when they saw the soldiers approach and all the fighting took place in vast deserts where there were no buildings to destroy. There were no partisans either and Dieter could not really find any hatred or suspicion towards a young, spirited woman like this.

The German eyed the girl from under his helmet and let out a heavy sigh. He always got mixed up with all kinds of stupid things like this. He hoped that he would get rid of the girl without any further trouble and leave France as soon as possible. To the girl he flashed a small and maybe a slightly tired smile, waiting to see if she would really accept his offer for help. Now that Dieter had been still for a moment, he again felt the unpleasant after effects of the heavy drinking from last night.

[lisawieserman1941]

Trying to stand up was a new experience in pain. Lisa caught the Corporal's hand as she successfully got in the side car on his right, but that meant she would have to swing her injured left leg in first. With great difficulty she managed the painstaking obstacle as if she had sustained a second degree sunburn off Cony Island's beaches. Stiffly she slid in, pulling in her right leg with ease. Tears welled up in her eyes as the pain bore down on her. She held her wound with both hands leaning forward and looking off her shoulder so he couldn't see her cry. The bandages were stained red as Lisa contemplated seeing a Doctor, worrying gangrene might set in but put on a brave face.

"My damn Uncle is to blame for all this! He listened to that wench French woman who ratted me out when she saw me talking with the Soldaten! So what! I had nobody else to talk with! She no doubt pictured me as making my Uncle look like a collaborator. My Uncle told me she said it was bad enough he painted German officers, so he should send me back home with my roaming eye for handsome Germans and a self magnetism I subconsciously give off with my supposed good looks which attracted them. He agreed, and sent me home to revel in my ordered isolation. Rat is New York slang for betrayal by the way. Like those American gangsters in the movies. You ever see them Dieter? I will become one if I have to be by myself any longer without men my age," she alleged with acrimony lacing her words, cursing about her second screw up of the day because of the French woman and her Uncle making her desperate to unleash any liberty she could extract. She raised her hands in a mock surrender as an excuse for her actions.

"So you wonder how far I thought in my insane mind I could get without being shot and killed?" Lisa let loose a laugh at his question.

"I didn't think or care. All I knew was I had transportation to get me the hell out of Vichy!" she breathed, then glared up at Dieter with his helmet about to point him out as breaking her escape, but gave off a coy glimpse and ushered a rich smile, too captivated with the alluring soldier near her to make him feel guilty.

She wrestled with her determination the hospital was a better idea. Lisa then pounded the metal outside the car as frustration took over. Finally she had the company she yearned for but harbored a nasty wound. Giving into her fantasy of sharing an afternoon with Dieter alone at the cottage made up her mind.

"The cottage is right up that pass where the trees separate. You need only follow it. I will behave, just for you, Dieter," Lisa jested as they shared smiles.

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The young woman hauled herself into the sidecar with Dieter's help and the German corporal had to admire the girl's guts. It was obvious that the wounds in her leg must have been quite painful, but Lisa didn't let out even the smallest cry of pain. Seeing to it that the girl was sitting comfortably in the sidecar, Dieter fastened his backpack better upon his back while listening to the girl talk.

She used some complicated words which Dieter did not quite understand, he had never been much of a student in school anyway. Most of it he could still make out and some words certainly did stand out. "Handsome Germans, eh?" the soldier smirked. Who was this crazy girl, anyway? He had never certainly met anyone like her. All the girls... well, most of the girls in Germany were well-mannered and taught to become respectable household mothers starting from a very young age. Were all American girls like this? If they were, the United States of America was certainly a place Dieter would like to see one day.

"So you wonder how far I thought in my insane mind I could get without being shot and killed?" Lisa said and laughed at her words, Dieter just grinned back at her. "Well, I guess I can understand. Still, you were lucky this time. No reason for a young woman like yourself to get in such a danger. Many others would have aimed for your head. And about gangster movies... Well, I come from a small town. Never saw too many movies, I guess we had other things to do," the man shrugged sheepishly, he felt like he was making himself appear as an uneducated buffoon in front of a pretty girl. He was just a German, he had not seen any of those big cities with huge buildings that Lisa must have seen. Well, obviously he had seen pictures of those places, but seeing the real thing must have been nothing short of amazing.

"The cottage is right up that pass where the trees separate. You need only follow it. I will behave, just for you, Dieter," the girl continued and Dieter glanced to the direction which the girl had referred to.
"You just say that because I have a rifle, don't you?" Dieter asked, but then laughed heartily to assure Lisa that he was only joking and wasn't intending to harm the young woman. "Cottage it is, then. Los geht's!"

Sitting on the bike and kicking the vehicle alive, Dieter had to raise his voice so it could be heard over the rumble of the engine. "Might be a bumpy ride, try to... uh.. Hab Nachsicht!" Dieter said, hoping that the journey to the cottage would not be too long. He really did not want to be responsible for shooting a nice girl like this and he was worried that the wounds were bleeding too much. The ride over the field would not really make her situation any better and Dieter was worried, but to the girl he just smiled as the motorcycle started off towards the direction that Lisa had just pointed out.

Glancing at his passenger every now and then, Dieter tried to drive as carefully as the terrain permitted him to. The journey seemed to last forever, at least for Dieter, who in his mind was already visualizing how the girl would bleed to death and he would be the one responsible for taking a young woman's life. Well, if it was up to Dieter, he would not let this young woman die. It was different to kill another soldier in combat, it was what they had to do and what they had been trained for. Shooting and killing civilians was an entirely foreign concept to Dieter. Just the mere thought of it made him feel slightly sick.

What only must have been the cabin Lisa had mentioned, soon loomed ahead and Dieter let out a secret sigh of relief. Finally!

"This is it, I guess?" Dieter yelled over the roar of the engine and brought the bike to a slow stop in front of the building. Shutting down the engine, Dieter pushed his helmet slightly backwards with his finger and glanced at Lisa. "How are you feeling? Here, let me help you out," the man offered, climbing off the bike and moving next to the sidecar to help Lisa up as carefully as possible to avoid any further injury to her leg.

Translations:

"Los geht's!"
"Here we go!"

"Hab Nachsicht!"
"Bear with me!"

[lisawieserman1941]

"You better keep that rifle away from me. I enjoy shooting those things off, and a German soldier's rifle would prove a challenge to my marksmanship." A toothy grin was all Dieter received from that statement which could be construed as a joke or a serious offense.

The ride already proved punishing. Her friends in Manhattan told her a bullet wound was of the most painful thing that could happen to someone. In a turf war, a guy was shot in a ride by in a black sedan as a young man fired off his Tommy gun. His target was hit twice...once in the upper arm breaking bone, and second in his thigh which skipped off his hip bone, fragmenting the bones there. But pure adrenaline kicked in as he was quick to react and dove out of the way of the rest of the raining lead. He screamed in agony as his friends rushed him to the hospital. Lucky for him the shooter was a bad aim. Lisa was then worried if she might be on a hit list. She often pretended to flirt with their enemies then blew them off. Her friends got a kick out of it.

"Oh I know what you mean, Bill. It hurts like bloody hell! she regressed to that time only a year ago as her mind wandered in and out of consciousness.

An elevated mound in the pass Dieter could not avoid made her yell out over the engine.

"Take it easy dammit! Mein Gott! I don't think I will be awake much in this trip!" Between the excruciating pain and loss of blood, Lisa was barely aware where she was. She began to speak in German, as for some reason this state of mind made her recall her German better.

"Meine Geduld verlangsamt. Mein Bein ist so rot wie die Streifen auf der amerikanischen Flagge. Wenn ich nicht etwas Wein habe, zum der Schmerz zu erleichtern, gehe ich unbewusst!" she mumbled in German with a New York accent she acquired from her street gang. Her mother brought her up to speak proper English, but she renounced her teaching and went with the common accent her friends shared. This drove her mother crazy. It seemed craziness ran in the family for Lisa.

"Der Keller ist vom Wein voll. Sie finden Wein Gefallen?" Lisa asked Dieter as he probably looked surprised she knew so much German.

Her head then dropped to the side from weakness as the wine and medical attention came too late. Her leg was saturated with old and new blood. Her face was more white from blood loss. As he inquired how she felt, Lisa just mentioned, "Like a Tiger tank ejected its 88s by my fox hole." She imagined talking like a soldier would amuse him as she weakly smiled.

"Sie sind auf urlaub von der Afrika-Korps?" she interjected, finally noting Dieter's tan. She forgot if he told her or not, but the tan gave him away. The other Germans had no tan.

Lisa read up on the war at her Uncle's to kill time, and hated the killing and maiming of so many young men, their futures cut short as a bullet or dislodged metal concluded it. Girlfriends and wives were shying away from disfigured men from both sides of the war they once loved, either from burning, loss of limbs, blindness, and other horrible wounds the ill fated ones had to endure, repulsing their beloveds, or just made life too difficult for them to live with a disabled man.

"Don't get hurt or worse, out in the field, comrade." Lisa warned Dieter while she knew about the dangers of being sniped by the enemy. Little did she know they would eventually be enemies when America entered the war.

"If I don't make it, tell my Uncle I am sorry for all the trouble I caused. Tell him I was brave. Don't despair. You were doing your duty." After saying that her heart skipped faster to keep up with the lack of blood. There was a good medical kit in her Uncle's house with blood transfusion kits, antibiotics, and directions. But Lisa could not tell Dieter in time as she tried to get out of the car, never making it to the ground, with her body hanging limply off the side, her blond hair touching the sweet grass.

Translation:

"Meine Geduld verlangsamt. Mein Bein ist so rot wie die Streifen auf der amerikanishen Flagge."

"My patience is lagging. My leg is as red as the stripes on the American flag."

"Wenn ich nicht etwas Wein habe, zum der Schmerz zu erleichtern, gehe ich unbuwasst!"

"If I do not have some wine to ease the pain, I will go unconscious!"

"Der Keller ist vom Wein voll. Sie finden Wein Gefallen?"

"The cellar is full of wine. You relish wine?"

"Sie sind auf Urlaub von der Afrika-Korps?"

"You are on leave from the Africa corps?"

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The journey to the cabin could have been better and the blonde girl cursed at Dieter's driving, making the corporal wince. It was pointless to tell her he was sorry, there was just no way he could have been driving any more carefully on a terrain such as this. She was now talking in German, using a strange accent Dieter could not really pinpoint. She was still surprisingly adept in the language and Dieter felt slightly more comfortable when he heard the familiar language being spoken.

"Sie finden Wein Gefallen?" the girl asked and Dieter glanced at her. Wine, why did she have to go and remind him of that... He was still feeling slightly sick from all the drinking last night and the thought of wine did not really make him feel any better right now. Actually, just thinking about it made him feel like his stomach was turning. "Normalerweise, ja," he answered after some hesitation, he really did not want to go into any details and quickly tried to occupy his mind with something else.

The girl proceeded to ask him if he was in the Afrika-Korps and Dieter nodded, a hint of pride appearing in his voice. "Ja, Deutsches Afrikakorps. Ich werde nach Afrika sehr bald zurückgehen. Oder mindestens ist es der Plan..." Dieter added, mostly to himself.

"If I don't make it, tell my Uncle I am sorry for all the trouble I caused. Tell him I was brave. Don't despair. You were doing your duty," the girl said and Dieter frowned at her words. What did she mean, "if I don't make it"? Of course she would make it, Dieter refused to be responsible for the young woman's death. He was just going to answer Lisa in a sharp manner, when the girl seemed to lose her consciousness and her body went limp very suddenly.

"Oh, Herrschaft nochmal!" Dieter said with a slight desperation to his voice. He placed a few finger's on the girl's neck to see that she still had a pulse. Why did he always get himself into these stupid situations, anyway? Glancing at the cabin, Dieter moved in to try the door. It was unlocked, maybe the owner had just forgotten to lock the door or then he was sure that nobody would feel compelled to rob a cabin in the middle of the woods.

The young corporal pushed the door open first and then returned back to Lisa. The German soldier let out a heavy sigh before he proceeded to lift the girl up from the sidecar. He tried to be careful, but the task proved to be quite difficult. He had not ever realized how hard it was to move an unconscious person somewhere and getting Lisa out of the sidecar was a feat in itself.

With some difficulty, Dieter finally managed to pick up the woman and settle her in his arms. She did not seem weigh much now that Dieter could properly carry her and he proceeded to take her inside the cabin. Looking around for a while, he spotted a bed and set the unconscious woman down on it. Dieter turned around to set his rifle and backpack down on the floor next to the wall and after that he regarded the woman again. "Lisa? Can you hear me? You need to stay awake!" he yelled, he really did not know what to do and he already regretted not taking the girl to a doctor. Dieter was not sure if he would have time to do it now, so he had to think of something else. The corporal looked desperately around the cottage to see if he could find any means of helping the woman. Then again, if he did find something, would it be of any use?

Translations:

"Normalerweise, ja."
"Usually, yes."

"Ja, Deutsches Afrikakorps. Ich werde nach Afrika sehr bald zurückgehen. Oder mindestens ist es der Plan..."
"Yes, Deutsches Afrikakorps. I will be going back to Africa very soon. Or at least that's the plan..."

"Oh, Herrschaft nochmal!"
"Oh, for heaven's sake!"

[lisawieserman1941]

Opening her eyes, Lisa blinked. She had been awake while he carried her feeling his arms under her legs cradling her upper back. His breathing, while slightly labored from holding her, sent her heart on fire. She wanted Dieter so badly for him to shatter her dome of silence her Uncle locked her into. She did not wish to make him nervous so remained quiet. As he let her down on the bed, his voice, now militaristic as if issuing an order, made her speak out.

"Not so loud, Dieter. I need to rest. I am sure that will be the best medicine. Oh, and speaking of medicine, there is a med kit in my Uncle's room down the hall to your right. I remember he said he had penicillin, feeling uneasy about the war in Poland. So he purchased it before the invasion when the supply of drugs would be, for the most part, given to the German army, leaving the French civilians with the barest of necessities," she spoke in but a whisper yet managed to give the Corporal a sincere smile.

As he left the room to seek out the life saving medicine, she nodded off to sleep. The sleep was well earned and needed by her body, yet her dream was graphic as her inner most feelings were released. Lisa saw herself with Dieter living in the cottage together, her Uncle and Aunt non-existent. She yearned for his embrace in reality, and it manifested itself in her subconscious. His blue/green uniform pressed against her as he held her against his chest. Dieter whispered softly to her in German like she was his lover. He said he would be back when the war was over.

Lisa pushed him away saying, "Are you out of your mind?! Do you know America will enter the war in time?! You must transfer from your present duty as a courier, or every sniper quick on the trigger will take you out! You are an easy target on that BMW. I lost a friend back home when he tried to make good his escape from a gang war on his motorcycle. He was plugged in the back! Don't make me worry! I could not live like that," she begged. Lisa then jumped into his arms wrapping her legs around him holding him tightly as she kissed him, as if it would be their last.

The impact of the dream shocked Lisa awake, as she looked for the young man who carried her to safety.

Oh no! I think I am falling for this guy. Dammit! I must stop him some how from returning to that death trap in Africa. My life is in his hands, and now I feel I owe him. Why am I in love with a German I just met? He shot me yet I thirst for his affection I may never receive. I can't let him know how I feel. But then I can't let him leave,, Lisa pondered on and on as her mind raced like a vortex of wind, her heart pumping in sync.

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The girl seemed to be awake once more and Dieter felt as relieved as he could under these circumstances. The young woman was still bleeding and Dieter doubted if he had enough medical skills to take care of the wounds. Lisa told him where the medical kit could be found and Dieter nodded slightly. "All right, I will get it. Don't go anywhere," he added jestingly and smirked, before turning around and going off to search for the medical kit.

Dieter felt out of place in the cottage, looking through other people's things. He spent some time looking for the medical kit from Lisa's uncle's room and he stuffed it under his arm. Wondering for a moment about the wine Lisa had mentioned, he spent another few good minutes searching for the entrance to the cellar. It was dark in the cellar and Dieter just felt his way around until his fingers touched the cool side of a glass bottle. Grabbing the bottle with him, he left the cellar and returned to the room where Lisa was resting.

"Here, I brought you some painkiller," Dieter said and placed the things on the table, including the bottle of wine. He removed his helmet and set it down on the table also, directing his attention on the contents of the medical kit next. Bullet wounds could be tricky things, but from what Dieter had seen, the wounds seemed cleanly cut and if he could stop the flow of blood and made sure there were no infections, the girl should recover after getting some rest.

He found the penicillin Lisa had mentioned and also something he could sterilize his hands with first. He also found some morphine which might prove useful and a set of surgical plaster he could use to prevent the bleeding. Glancing at Lisa over his shoulder, Dieter set to work and pulled his sleeves up. He carried all the things he figured he would need, set them on the bed, pulled a chair next to the bed and then went to clean his hands over the sink. Once he was done, he returned back to Lisa and started to unravel the quick makeshift bandaging, the bandages were already covered with blood and the sight made Dieter worried.

Dieter was completely engrossed in his task of trying to patch up the poor girl and his gaze was fixed on the wounds. Cleaning the blood from the girl's leg the best he could first, he proceeded to use a swab around the edges of the wounds to sterilize the skin. He was sure that the girl was in quite some nasty bit of pain, so he broke off the seal of the morphine syringe and glancing at Lisa first, jabbed the pain medication into her as quickly and efficiently as possible. The medical kit had also some sulfa powder, which Dieter had never seen himself, but he knew what it was for. He used the powder on the wounds, grabbed the surgical plaster and used it to close up the wounds the best he could. After he was happy with the result, he grabbed some plain dressings and wrapped them around the girl's calf, to keep some extra pressure on the wounds and to make sure that the plaster would not come off.

The final thing that was left to do was to give her the dose of penicillin. Dieter was not really too good with needles and he smiled sheepishly when he rolled up the sleeve of the girl's shirt to give her the injection. Making a face, Dieter tried his best to be as accurate as possible and for being just a Wehrmacht soldier, he thought he did a pretty good job with the injection.

Dieter finally sat back on the chair with a sigh, he was happy that this part was over. "Well, that's the best I can do," he said to the girl and flashed a small smile at her to reassure the girl that everything had gone smoothly. He pushed himself up from the chair, went to wash the blood off his hands and then wandered near the table again. Taking out his combat knife, he used it to open the bottle of wine. He had not felt like drinking any wine for the whole day, but right now it seemed as if he really needed a drink. He took a good healthy swig out of the bottle and then walked next to the bed, offering the bottle to Lisa. "Here, guess it can't do any harm."

Dieter sat down the chair again and sighed, his insides were only know beginning to settle after all the worrying and fearing that the girl would end up dead. He seemed to have succeeded in stopping the bleeding and the morphine should have been more than enough to stop the brunt of the pain. He felt that he could for the first time regard the girl properly and Dieter let his eyes settle on the young woman. Her blonde hair did remind him of German girls, although she certainly acted a lot wilder than any German girl he had ever met. She had delicate features, certainly pleasing to his eye. Dieter felt his lips curling into a small smile and then he realized he had been left staring at her.

"Oh, if you feel like you need to sleep, just go ahead. I will stay here for a while to see that you are allright. And don't worry, I will behave like a gentleman," he added after realizing how awkward it is to be stuck in a forgotten little cabin in the middle of the woods with a pretty young girl who was now slightly drugged and soon maybe intoxicated.

[lisawieserman1941]

Lisa peered up at Dieter with a relieved smile on her face. The pain had subsided, and the wine was a welcome addition to her nerves.

"Why Dieter...You have done well. Maybe you should be a medic instead of a target on that bike," she mentioned as a safer course of action.

"Wine is fine...a good sign...when one is stuck behind the enemy line....who could say nein," she said in a poetic manner, taking a long swig from the bottle, licking her crimson lips as she dug into another.

The New Yorker's head was swimming from the affects of both the morphine and the alcohol beverage. She patted the bed and offered Dieter a wink.

"Come, lay down next to me. It is not what you think. A purely innocent request. I just want to be near you, that's all," Lisa asked him holding up the wine as if it was time to party.

I want to get out of France, Dieter. I just need to get to Essen where my Oma lives. Maybe you can take me there. Is there any chance?"

If he does not find a good enough reason to provide me transportation to Germany, maybe I can trick him somehow. I will hate to do it, and he may get in big trouble, but it's him against me. When he leaves for duty or to his destination on leave, I will again be forced to deal with my isolation. This shall not happen again. I must be cunning to make this work, Lisa let her mind travel forward as she was preparing her escape, pretending to be an intoxicated American.

Dieter had no idea she had been drinking a bottle a night roaming the countryside when her Aunt and Uncle were asleep. She often spied on German patrols, camouflaged in black clothes, rubbing charcoal on her face to conceal herself. She wanted to learn how the ranks worked. There was so much she could experience from them. If America joined the war, she would help her fellow countrymen. But Lisa would not help to ambush Germans. She would find a way around any killing.

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

Dieter felt finally slightly more relaxed, feeling pretty good about himself for fixing up the wound in such a good manner. He was lucky, though, that it was something he did not have to do every day, it would have made him crazy.
"Why Dieter...You have done well. Maybe you should be a medic instead of a target on that bike," Lisa said and Dieter scoffed at her words at first, flashing her a smile soon after.

"I prefer to be just a target, but thank you. Being a medic would be much too..." Dieter glanced up as he tried to come up with the right word for a while. "Stressful. Yes, stressful. Being a soldier is easier, at least for me."

It wasn't hard to see that the medication was affecting the blonde girl and she recited a spontaneous poem, making Dieter wonder if she would soon just pass out without any warning. Lisa's next words nearly dropped Dieter off his chair as the girl patted the bed and asked for Dieter to join her, apparently just to be near him.

Dieter stared at the young woman for a while, looking dumbfounded. The fact that his blonde hair was now slightly messed up and he had just spent the last hour or so worrying like crazy only underlined his baffled expression. She could not have really meant it, she was only saying such things because of the medication. It would have been a whole different thing if Lisa had actually been more clear-headed, but Dieter felt oddly chivalrous and did not want to take advantage of the young woman's clearly weakened condition.

"Ohkayy... Lisa, I think maybe I should take this away from you now," Dieter smiled sheepishly and nervously, getting up from his chair and taking the bottle away from the girl. "Maybe you had a little bit too much, you should sleep. Here, let me help you." Dieter put the bottle down on the floor and took hold of Lisa's remaining boot, yanking it off the girl's foot. For some reason he remembered that the other boot was still lying somewhere on the field, which could make Lisa's life slightly inconvenient.

Dieter dropped the boot on the floor with a reassuring smile. "You really need some sleep now. I will be right here," the young corporal said, dragging the chair next to a wall near the bed. Dieter picked up the bottle and took a few swigs out of it, letting out a sigh. "I won't be going anywhere just now, so just relax and rest for a while, ok?"

The German glanced at Lisa, as if to make sure that she had finally calmed down and at least trying to get some sleep. Dieter leaned back into a comfortable position on the wooden chair, letting his head rest against the wall. He did not know if the girl could survive alone in the cabin with the wound that she had, it was too early to say. He had a hard time coming up with the right decision, as he felt responsible for the girl now. Maybe if he waited just a few hours, he would see how Lisa was doing and then he could make his decision. He needed to see if it was safe to leave her alone in the cottage or if he would be forced to take her to this uncle she had talked about earlier.

It seemed like a sound enough plan and Dieter felt much more calmer again. The lack of sleep, the quiet of the cabin and the effects of the wine were getting to him and he placed the bottle down on the floor, feeling that it would be safe to rest his eyes, just for a moment. In less than a minute the young corporal had fallen asleep, although he was sitting in a chair and using the hard wooden wall as his headrest. Apparently the man had learned to just take advantage of any situation to get some sleep and being uncomfortable did not really seem to bother him.

[lisawieserman1941]

Taking a half hour nap, Lisa still felt above the clouds. She turned to see Dieter sleeping on the chair. With a sly smile many options were ushered into her mischievousness mind. The Amie got off the bed and limped to her Uncle's den where she confiscated his cane to help her walk and ease the pressure off her wounded leg. She then found his dagger and sheathed it connecting it to her belt. Walking back to the German Corporal, she expected he trusted her enough to allow sleep to invade his tired body and nurse his hangover.

Well I can not ride a motorcycle now, and Dieter will no doubt go on his way after he wakes up. He must take me with him. I will force him, she said to herself, plotting a dangerous plan. She found the wine and drank the rest of the bottle which was half full. This was what Lisa needed to give her the nerve and adrenaline rush to take on a German soldier, obviously well trained in both weaponry and hand to hand combat. He was well built as she suspected the army put him up against grueling drills.

Following a well expanded sigh, the American decided now was the time to commence with the delicate action she would perform. Guilt would be ejected by the desperation to not be abandoned, her past ripe with that form of mental torture. First she made her way to her Aunt's closet and found a pair of shoes with no heels, as it would support her better. They were tight fitting, but she would adapt. Then taking a swallow to suspend any fear, she took notice of the Mauser Karbine.

No wonder he nailed me. These rifles are more accurate than bolt action rifles and have automatic loading. Well, meet your new owner, Lisa muttered in a whisper as if the weapon was a pet.

Getting ready to shock Dieter, she put on his helmet he left at the table so he wouldn't use it against her by throwing it at her like a steel projectile. Lisa then moved to the wall and picked up the rifle that was surprisingly light compared to bolt actions. Taking a deep breath she aimed it at Dieter, flipping off the safety, the butt of the Mauser resting against her right shoulder, one hand cradling the rail, adding an itchy trigger finger with her other hand. She allowed her right eye to travel to the scope to get him in her sights, her left eye closed as her right eye was dominant. Now it was time to act on her street smarts.

"Auf Wachen Deutsche Soldat! I am sorry to do this, as you are a good soldier, but I will not be left here alone any longer. You will take me to Germany. Make up a story you saw me running in the woods and took a shot at me suspecting I was a partisan. You need not say you captured me in France, otherwise they will wonder why you didn't turn me over to the local Gestapo. I will then meet my grandmother in Essen. We can part ways. Get up and walk slowly to your motorcycle. Don't even try to disarm me. I am very capable with weapons and will be at your back. Now move it!" Lisa ordered the Corporal, her soothing voice now altered to that of a militaristic tone.

And don't think you can push me out of the sidecar or anything to rid yourself of me. As you see at my belt is a sheathed dagger, she warned Dieter expecting he was constructing ideas of how to disarm her.