27 May 2011
5 kilometres West of Mt. Balinhard
Eastern Jasper Park
05:10 hrs
The first rays of sunlight greeted the dilapidated shanties of Herrliechkeit, meaning 'glory' in German. The occasional sounds of birds chirping as they flew overhead and the heavy smell of morning grass added to the warmth of the sun. It was pure sarcasm to have named the shanty town 'glory' due to the reality of what was happening not only in Herrliechkeit, but the whole of Jasper, which I will tell you later.
Friedrich awoke to the sound of plates and cutlery clattering outside his half-opened door. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to his left to look outside through a small gap in the wood of his shanty house. There stood Mt. Balinhard in the distance with its enormous magnificence- the majestic, orange-yellow sun appeared halfway on its peak, its rays gloriously pouring in from the many crags on the mountaintop. He would have smiled, but the situation he and his friends were in disallowed that.
He yawned loudly and slowly got up from his bed, which was no more than three layers of rags spread out in a corner of his room.
A voice called from outside his door "Oi! I think Friedrich's gotten up. Hey, pour him some soup and put out the fire already!"
"Soup." he thought "I wonder if it's the one from two days ago. It's gonna stink." Although he knew he was not in the position to argue with rations, he was a man of particularly good hygiene standards.
He walked into the small dining area wearing a white sweatshirt, khaki army trousers and dusty black army boots. His clothes and face were covered with a thin layer of dust and dirt, but so were his four friends seated at the table.
"Guten morgen, let's eat." said Kromer with his rough voice. In fact, they hadn't waited for him this time, and Kromer already had half his soup in his belly.
Friedrich nodded and proceeded to an empty chair. They were all good men, although now they had grown thin, tired and weak. He could see it in their eyes. First of all there was Kromer, whom they nicknamed Kraftnahrung or 'bodybuilder'. As his name suggested, he was a man of about 6 feet in height, with a rough voice and terrible table manners. He was bald but well-shaved. Then came the brothers Karl and Fritz Oppenheimer. They were always protective of one another, and had a very slight age difference of about a week. Both were short in height and had blonde hair- the German ideal.
He sat down beside Luderitz, or Weise (wise), as they called him. He was the man the small group always relied on for news, advice and emotional support. Quiet but firm, he always stared at people with a calm but piercing gaze. He was of average height, and always had his old, German M35 combat helmet on.
Friedrich wasn't bad looking himself, with dark-brown eyes and black, neatly combed hair. Although his face had sustained several scars from forced labour, they still retained excellent chin and cheek definition. He picked up a spoon and stirred his soup.
Kromer let out a loud burp and looked across the table at Friedrich. "Come on, we don't want to keep those wolf assholes waiting." he said with contempt. Friedrich put down his spoon, picked up the bowl with both hands and started gulping the hot soup down. It burned his throat, but anything was better than suffering the consequences if they were late for the day's work.
By now I'm sure you're wondering what was going on in Jasper. Let me try and make this as simple as I can. The first Germans to set foot on Canada's western provinces were auxiliary soldiers employed by the British to help fight France in 1817. In later years, many German settlements were set up in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1874, a massive influx of Germans immigrated into Canada with the promise of good, cheap land and a new life. However, when World War 1 broke out in 1914, Germans were barred from entering or exiting Canada, and they were portrayed worldwide as villains and criminals. Hundreds were arrested and put in prison or executed.
Those living in the eastern Jasper Park region, however, were treated well by the wolves who also lived there, under the leadership of Ted- Tony's father. Ted, the leader of the eastern wolves, had made a peace treaty with Marx von Trotha, the appointed leader of the small German settlements in Jasper. Years passed and the Germans living there became known as Jasperians. However, when Ted heard the news of World War 1, he started seeing the Germans as pests and saw an opportunity to use them as slaves. He saw no problem in doing so, since they were obviously outnumbered and had very little means of defending themselves, except for the few soldiers guarding the settlements.
With the German Empire crumbling in 1918, the Germans losing the war and its colonies confiscated, Ted ordered his wolves to attack and hold all Germans inside eastern Jasper as captives. The Germans offered little resistance, some were too terrified to act, completely demoralized by the loss of their great empire. The same happened with Wesley (Winston's father) and western Jasper. All opposition was crushed in a matter of weeks and Marx von Trotha was ripped apart by the wolves.
As the years passed, leadership of the wolves passed on from father to son, with the enslaved Germans still working for the wolves. However, the Germans secretly hoped that the civil unrest between the eastern and western wolves would weaken their tormentors, and that they could strike back one day. One day…
There was a sudden noise and the door flung open, throwing bits of dust and dead leaves into the living room. Everyone at the table immediately stood up and turned to the door. Luderitz removed his helmet and put it on the table. They had been told to do all that as a sign of respect for the wolves and to show their inferiority.
The wolf had black fur with a white underbelly and fierce eyes. It stood in front of them and dropped off a roll of tied up newspaper from its mouth, gave a disgusted look at them and trotted out of the door without bothering to close it. "It's stupid." Friedrich thought "We could all just pounce on him and he'd have no chance." He looked at Kromer and could tell that he was thinking the same.
Luderitz breathed a sigh of relief and went to close the door. The rest sat down, continuing with their breakfast. Luderitz sat back down with the newspaper and began untying it. Of all the many restrictions that the wolves imposed on the Germans, news was one of the few luxuries that they were spared. It was always good to know what was going on in the whole of Jasper. They could use it to plan their rebellion once the situation between the eastern and western packs became too unstable.
"Dummkopf... This cannot be." Luderitz said in a tone of disbelief.
There was a brief silence at the table as everyone stopped to look at Luderitz. His eyes were hurriedly scanning the paper.
Karl broke the silence. "Well?" he demanded "What is it?"
Luderitz shook his head and threw the newspaper on the table. "Read it yourself. It's just unbelievable." he said.
Friedrich leaned forward to get a better look at the headline. The rest did the same, and soon enough, their facial expressions did not look very different from that of Luderitz's.
"Oh shit." Friedrich said.
"Oh shit's right." Luderitz replied.
There, written in a dark, bold font, were the words that no German in Jasper ever hoped to see:
PACKS UNITED AT LAST
SOCIAL CLASS LAW ABOLISHED
Pack marriages prove crucial in preventing civil war