Transition Plan Chapter 78: In His Majesty's Service - Hopes and Dreams
The young pair had guessed correctly. They heard the very weakest echo of Jane's call behind them, and virtually undecipherable from the great distance between them and treehouse. Icheoku flew on without hesitation. If he had heard and understood, he ignored Jane's request, and was a true and loyal friend to Korak. They were now well out of the land of Mangani when his mother's call came, and if any animal here heard it at all, they had no obligation to obey the mate of Tarzan.
"That was your mom?" inquired Jeanne, talking softly in his ear.
"Yes. She was calling on the animals to stop us by whatever means necessary and force us to come home.
"Will they?" she asked fretfully.
Jack tried to assure her, "Not likely. We are outside the land of the Mangani now. The animals here don't know our family. They owe my mother no favors. We're just animals in the deep jungle passing through."
It was clear they had accomplished their rapid escape perfectly.
"Did I ever tell you that you are the smartest jungle boy I ever met?" Jeanne smiled broadly.
Jack got a big goofy grin on his face. She knew she left him the perfect retort as he quipped, "Well not nearly often enough, and unless you're holding back, I'm the only jungle boy you've ever met."
They had a healthy chuckle for the first time in a couple of days, breaking if only for a moment the seriousness of what was happening.
"One's quite enough, thankyouverymuch, Jonathan Robert Clayton IV," she teased, kissed his cheek, and increased her grip on his shoulders as they flashed through the trees chasing his avian friend. That welcome thrill that came from Jeanne's hugs and kisses coursed through Jack while they swung. With Jeanne close to him, he knew he was the luckiest boy alive.
While the children were determined to get to Kamina as fast as possible, they also knew they would be ineffective if they arrived exhausted, so there were times they needed a little more than a simple rest break. Before gathering a hasty dinner one early evening, they made a special treat of swimming then bathing together in a beautiful cool spring-fed pond, helping each other wash off the stink and sweat and grit from several long days on the trail. They needed this brief, very personal time together and their tender smiles said it all. The cool, soothing waters renewed and refocused them on their purpose.
They always ended their day in a simple hug and a kiss, trying to mind their mothers' wishes about too much affection. And now was not the time carried away by affection anyway. After their getaway, they never again traveled into the dark in the strange lands they now traversed. Each night, Jack made a nest for them to sleep curled up together where it was safe to be on the ground like those precious special times in his grandfather's nest together and those couple of times when they were permitted in the longhouse.
Many times it seemed safer sleeping in the trees. They were in completely foreign territory, and although most of the jungle creatures could instantly tell they were 'of the jungle' even though they were human, and would not challenge or attack them, the pair wanted to take no chances at being vulnerable to attack, even being on the top of the food chain. Jack would find a hollow or indentation in the trees for her to sleep securely in his lap so she would not fall out of the tree. It would be hard to go back to sleeping alone in their beds in the treehouse even being in the same room. But they would obey because they knew these special circumstances would end and minding their mothers would be paramount when they returned to earn their forgiveness for this bold adventure.
…In the Jungle of Togoland approaching Kamina…
Jack and Jeanne put yet another day of travel behind them. The closer they got to Kamina, the more apprehensive they became, despite their resolve and determination, "Just hold me, jungle boy."
"All right," Jack answered simply and didn't ask any questions.
In the many days and hours they had been traveling together, she had finally been brave enough to describe in detail the awful experiences of the bombardment in Morocco, the submarine attack, and the shipwreck. The experience with the Flammenwerfer had rekindled her bad memories, compounded by the fact that each day brought them closer to new danger.
He simply steadied her and encouraged her bravery in the face of all that. That is all she wanted and needed. Talking and getting all her feelings out about the horror of those experiences made her stronger and more resolved.
Finishing dinner one night, and after having fed the parrot, they looked forward to snuggling to sleep. Jeanne asked, "Jack?"
Jack poked a stick in the fire they had made to roast a jungle hare, one of their favorite meals together, "Yes Jeanne?"
Jack could hear anxiety in Jeanne's voice as she said, "I know we've talked about this a lot. But it's really happening now. I'm a little scared again. This time we're fighting the Germans and not running away. Even though they have guns against our bow and slingshot."
Jack supported her, "I'm right here with you. We'll get through this. We'll be with our dads and the other soldiers. They will be well-armed against the Germans. There's only one thing we have to do. Destroy the tower. And then we can go back to normal."
Another fear built within her. Not the fear of dying or even killing, but the fear of returning to a 'normal' life Jack just described. Normal to him wasn't normal for her until they met by accident. It had to be discussed.
She held his hands and smiled, "I know that. I am so glad you are here to talk about this. You're so easy to talk to. Jack, we've been together every day for months. I love learning and playing and being with you in the jungle. I… I can't imagine being apart from you now. What happens to us next?"
He didn't hear the depth of her question, and just shrugged, "We win this battle, the French and British and Russians beat the Germans, Austria-Hungary, and the others and we go home."
She giggled and tried to remain positive, "Leave it to you to make it all sound so easy. We will win this, especially with our dads. But I mean after we go home. After the war. What about us then? You live here and in Scotland. My home is in Marseilles. That's so far away."
"Oh!" he finally understood, "You mean us as in 'us'?" he clarified.
They both snickered. This very smart boy could be so dumb, "Of course, silly!"
She snuggled closer to him like she wanted to melt into him. The arm around her held her tighter, and Jack smiled like he always did when they were embraced.
He smiled warmly, "That's even easier. We'll write letters to each other. I can send telegraph messages to you. When you go back to France with your parents, I'll visit you in our family yacht 'Destiny' and we can play together at your home. You can cruise with us on our yacht. My dad has a business partnership with a wine maker there for French wines. I'll come with Dad."
"You'd do that for me? It's so expensive to travel," Jeanne said hopefully, not really understanding what having a personal sailing vessel meant.
"You forget who my father is. The 'Destiny' is our family's boat. It's really big. It can go anywhere in the whole world."
"Oh. Yes. I suppose so, but then she hesitated again, "But Jack. That's just it. We're so different. Outside of the jungle, I'm a French commoner. You're an English nobleman."
"You can't tell any difference right now except you're a girl and I'm a boy," Jack joked about their obvious gender differences, but she clearly understood Jack's point that being naked together made being nobility or commoner irrelevant.
"And quite a handsome boy at that," she mused and he blushed. It was no secret between them she loved living naturally with him.
He grinned, and admired her too, "That's not what I meant. You know the answer to that question. Those differences never stopped my Mom and Dad. Why would it ever stop 'us'? You know they like you a lot. They accept you already as family. On our first day, Lily called you 'big sister'.
His confident answer made her feel much better. She looked at him with her huge round hazel eyes and asked earnestly, "Jack… after this is all done… when your family comes here to Africa every year for spring and summer, may I come with you? There is nothing in France for me. It would be like boarding school. In fall and winter I'd be back with my parents or wherever they wanted me to. But most of my days would be with you. Jack, is it wrong to want to be with you?
Jack's heart soared with that thought, "That would be great, Jeanne. It's not wrong at all, but I don't know what our parents would say. We can ask."
Jeanne added, "Besides… Mama really won't miss me; she will have her new baby soon."
Jack scolded her mildly, "Don't say that, Jeanne. She will miss you a lot. She loves you. You're her first kid. Mom didn't love me any less when Lily was born. Your mother's love will grow for you and the new baby too. That's the way parents are."
"I guess so. Well, whether or not Mama has a boy or girl, I hope I can be a good big sister. You're such a great big brother."
He blushed a little with her compliment, "I won't ever say this to her, but Lily makes it easy. She's so cute. Even when she's a pest."
They laughed and she knew that first hand. He kissed Jeanne on the forehead, and he admitted, "Besides, girlfriend, you're the best friend I ever had. Girl or boy. Or gorilla. Not even Jana or Ndidi and I can talk about. Well… everything. Even when we're back in England and France, you and your parents can come and stay in our castle on holiday, and your folks can be with my Mom and Dad."
"That would be nice Jack," she sighed and put her head on his shoulder.
They just cuddled silently for awhile. Jeanne broke the silence again, "I'm really happy being your best friend and girlfriend, too. Without all the awful things that happened we'd never have met. I'd just be frustrated wanting to play outside like the boys not ever being able to and being forced by society and my parents to become the 'proper French girl'. Now look at me. I'm a real 'Mangani girl'!"
Despite being excited about sharing their happy dreams and expectations of the life ahead of them, she couldn't stifle a sleepy yawn.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry about that."
He snickered, "Even proper and tomboy French girls need their sleep, Jeanne. See you in the morning."
"I'll be right here for you," she noted with a twinkle in her eyes for him, and she scrunched deeper into his lap and embrace, and they closed their eyes after a sweet little kiss.
"Yes, yes you will," he sighed, feeling both her emotional and physical warmth against him.
… 22 August. The Kamina Radiotelegraph…
Gunter and Karl Heinz rushed from their transmitter room, clutching the latest transcribed note, yelling fearfully at the guards, "The British and French have destroyed our machine gun nest and fortifications at the Chra River and the German forces are retreating to Kamina. Even though our soldiers blew up the railroad bridge. Captain Bryant and Major Maroix and reinforcements from Senegal, with more Englishmen led by Captain Redfern, killed Hauptmann Pfhaler. Now there's no real German leadership left for those units. That's the last line of defense beyond Kamina. The enemy will be here in less than two days!"
Major von Roebern, the leader of the main German defenses defending the southern edge of Kamina that had fallen back from Chra to defend Kamina stated, "We are better than the others. Pfhaler was incompetent. We will hold them here. Lieutenant, you must hold this radio station. Berlin and the Kaiser have decreed it themselves. You read the message."
"Yes sir!" said the Lieutenant emphatically, but the head guard of the radiotelegraph squad swallowed hard.
…
High above them in the canopy Tarzan and Armand gave each other a very serious look overhearing the latest update, and headed stealthily away to the rest of the squad. The day of battle was nearly upon them. The French and British assault wresting Togoland from the Germans was relentless.
On their way back to the men with the news, Tarzan said, barely above a whisper, "Armand, do you ever worry that you're never going to see your family again, and wonder if you loved them enough?"
"Every time I go on an Op, Tarzan, every time," responded the Colonel like a man seeing his own gravestone.
…23 August. Vicinity of Kamina…
After two weeks of virtually non-stop travel, Icheoku had led Jack and Jeanne directly to the area near the Wireless. The spire loomed large amidst a clearing the dense jungle in the trees. It was huge – far bigger than the family's and Nigerian garrison's Wireless stations. It was designed for communications over transcontinental distances in all directions: to the German Navy far to the west in the Atlantic as well as ground forces in the east toward Kamerun, south toward Southwest Africa, and of course all of Togoland. It looked well defended, but after thanking and praising his parrot friend and dismissing the Icheoku to go back home, Jack got them silently through the trees to within a hundred yards of the station. It looked just like the pictures and the bamboo practice target.
Jeanne looked in trepidation of the tower and spoke only in Mangani so any human would only hear animal noises, "Omigosh Jack. It's enormous."
Jack scoffed, "It's no bigger than the bamboo tower."
He mentally assessed the enormous metal frame with its multitude of crossbars and struts for hand and footholds.
"If you say so," she answered doubtfully.
The sleek metal tower was formidable, especially since there were German guards patrolling the jungle around them and the transmitter grounds with big guns. A lone boy climbing the tower was an unprotected target.
Jack said with assurance, holding Jeanne's nervous hand, "Now we wait for our fathers."
They hid in the upper branches of very large trees, and gathered what food they could, knowing both needed energy. They weren't all that hungry anyway, anticipating the fight ahead. They cut succulent bamboo and vines for their precious water, being careful to leave no trace or be detected. Their dark skin color was its own camouflage against the tree bark. The German defenders, a combination of police, militia, and a few regular Army, would never think to look up into the trees for human infiltrators.
Later that day it was a close call. They heard an unusual noise and hid among some very dense foliage. It was not the Germans, who made substantial noise that could be avoided in plenty of time. It was his dad and Colonel Jacot and some of the other French soldiers. His dad seemed to hear something above, stopped, and stared up into the trees right past them, but didn't see them hidden. Jack and Jeanne wanted so badly to contact their fathers now, but couldn't. They knew they would be sent home immediately. The children knew they had to appear at the peak of the crisis when the only choice for their fathers was to let Jack climb the tower and Jeanne guide his climb and help the Special Forces defend him.
Later in the evening they were preparing to sleep in a mossy tree limb tree, but were restless. They knew it was nearly the eve of battle. They could hear too many German movements and there were campfires in the area. Being almost discovered by their fathers by letting their guard down for a moment made them much more anxious.
To help her self-confidence, Jeanne asked an obvious question, "Jack, tomorrow everything changes, doesn't it?"
"Yes it does," Jack said seriously.
"Jack. Are you afraid?" she asked, more for helping her own confidence than his.
He answered her with a weak smile and ran his fingers through her hair, "Yes, but less because of you."
That made her feel a little better but asked the next hard question, "Me too, Jack, me too. Can you…um… kill a man?"
They both realized they'd never really talked about this sensitive subject and were facing death right in the face. Again.
Jack swallowed hard, "I think so. I had to kill a snake to protect my sister. He was every bit as intelligent as a man. And a lot more dangerous. What about you, Jeanne? Your slingshot can kill. I certainly know about that."
They snickered nervously.
She answered more seriously, "I pray so much that I don't have to but to protect you, yes I think I can. I couldn't bear to lose you. Your mother never killed a human before but would have killed those soldiers if she and your grandpa hadn't figured a way to spare them. I have to be brave like her."
Holding each other in silence, they were all talked out, and had finally addressed the 'hard' subjects, so Jack suggested, "Jeanne, we better get some sleep, chere copine. It will be hot tomorrow, in more ways than one."
"Yes, Jack. I understand, goodnight cher copain." she answered and with a little kiss, they fell asleep once again in the trees.
Their sleep was restless and light and the only comfort they had was because of holding on to each other.
...
Dawn came far too early as the pair was nearly rocked out of the tree from their fitful sleep by a huge explosion down the valley with the sound of an exploding train locomotive and the staccato of gunfire.
The French and British had arrived on the southern outskirts of Kamina, and were fully engaged with the Germans defending the town.