Chapter 8: Help From the Little, Old Lady

Carter and his group ducked behind some nearby bushes. The patrol was getting close. It would likely be only a matter of time before they were discovered.

After a couple minutes, Travis mumbled, "Great. We've got the patrol coming from one way. Now, little, old ladies from the other."

Carter followed Travis' gaze, then smiled. He recognized that little, old lady. "Newkirk," he stated.

Travis seemed surprised. "The Newkirk that left with the others?" he wondered.

"I hope so. I don't know if we could cope with two of them," said Carter. Then, more seriously, he added, "I guess this means they made it back to camp."

With the patrol so close, Carter couldn't announce their presence without being seen. Therefore, Newkirk walked on past their hiding spot, failing to see them. Soon, he came across the patrol.

"Oh, good. I've found some help," he declared, in his lady's voice.

"What are you babbling about?" snapped one of the men, obviously the leader.

"I'm looking for my Adolph," Newkirk replied. "I've been so worried about him. He's such a wee lad. I'm afraid he might have gotten lost."

At the mention of Hitler's first name, the patrol leader softened a little. "So, you named the boy after the Führer? How old is he?"

"Not over two months."

"Impossible. Lady, are you daft? He wouldn't even be crawling at that age?"

Newkirk looked perturbed. "I'll have you know, Sonny, my little Adolph moves pretty fast for one so young. Has a lot of energy, that one does. You boys will be nice gentlemen, won't you, and help a poor woman find her kitty?"

The leader glared at Newkirk. "Kitty! You're talking about a kitten? You named him Adolph?"

Undaunted, Newkirk smiled sweetly in return. "He's such a cute, little thing, Sonny. Black and white, long hair. Has this charming, black mark under his nose. Looks just like the Führer's mustache, it does."

"We don't have time to look for kittens. And you shouldn't stay out too long either," the leader insisted. "By the look of the sky, a nasty storm's coming in. You should be heading for home. You don't want to be caught out in it."

Newkirk glanced at the sky. "Maybe you're right. I'd hate to take a chill." Then, looking back at the leader, he continued, "If you see Adolph, you'll send him home, won't you? Tell him Mama will have some warm milk waiting for him."

"I will," promised the leader, hoping to get rid of the woman.

"Thanks a lot, Sonny," said Newkirk, starting to shuffle off back the way he had come. "I just hope those big birds I saw in the sky last night don't get him. Wouldn't even make a bite for them."

This caught the patrol leader's interest. He hurried to catch up with Newkirk.

"Just a minute, gnädige Frau. What birds?" the leader asked.

Newkirk turned and faced the man. "The ones I saw swooping down from the sky last night. Must have been after something."

"What did they look like?"

"Huge. Very huge," explained Newkirk, with a touch of awe in his voice. "And round. And white. That's why they were so easy to see."

"Where did you see them?"

Newkirk pointed in the direction opposite from camp. "Way off that way, they were. I just hope my Adolph stays clear of them."

The patrol leader tried to sound reassuring. "You just go on home, gnädige Frau, and don't worry about a thing. We'll take care of those birds. And if we see little Adolph, we'll send him home."

"Thanks, Sonny," acknowledged Newkirk. "You're so kind."

Newkirk turned and continued on his way. He grinned, as he heard the patrol leader behind him order, "Come on, men. She saw them over this way. We must have missed them in the dark."

After a moment, Newkirk took a quick glance backward. His grin grew even broader, as he noticed the patrol quickly backtracking their steps, heading away from where Carter and the others should be. The way to the tunnel entrance should be clear.

- - -

With the patrol out of the way, Carter and his group continued on towards camp. Newkirk soon joined them. It was still slow going, but they finally arrived at a hiding spot near the tree stump entrance.

"It's going to be hard to get in without being spotted," Carter observed.

"Leave that to the little, old lady," observed Newkirk. "I'll slip in from the other direction and distract the guards. Get to the tunnel as quickly as you can. I don't know how long I can divert them."

"Will do," agreed Carter.

Newkirk left, and using the brush for cover, crept to the side of the gate opposite the tunnel entrance. Then, he stood and approached the gate.

"Young men!" Newkirk called. "You men in the towers!"

The guards looked Newkirk's way. "You're a civilian. This area is off limits," loudly declared one of the guards. "Now, move along."

Newkirk was not intimidated. "Sorry, Sonny. That's the problem. I'm not sure which way to move. I was out looking for Adolph and must have taken a wrong turn somewhere."

"You mean you're lost?" guessed the other guard.

Newkirk nodded. "I believe so. If you gentlemen would be so kind as to point me in the direction of Hammelburg."

"Just follow the road," stated one guard.

The other pointed in a direction away from the tunnel entrance. "Or that way, if you want to go cross-country."

"Thank you, gentlemen," Newkirk acknowledged, with a sweet smile. "By the way, you haven't seen a black and white kitten, have you?"

"We're not watching for kittens," snapped one of the guards. "We're watching the prisoners. Now, we told you the way to Hammelburg. Get moving."

"All right, I'm going," grumbled Newkirk, loud enough for the guards to hear. Then, after glaring coldly at them, he moved onward, and complained, "People just don't know how to be polite anymore."

As Newkirk walked away, the guards turned their attention back to monitoring all the nearby area, both inside and outside the fence. By this time, however, Carter and the others had made their way into the tunnel.

- - -

Carter left Baker with the fliers and went upstairs to let Hogan and Kinch know they were back. He entered Hogan's quarters and was surprised to find Schultz there.

"Carter, you're back," Schultz happily announced. "And Newkirk and Baker? They are back, too?"

"Yeah…Umm…they will be. Soon," Carter stumbled over the words a little. "Look, Schultz. Don't you have something you should be doing, right now? Colonel Klink's not going to be too happy if he catches you loafing."

"I am here at the Kommandant's orders," declared Schultz.

Hogan explained, "The barracks is under quarantine. Supposed flu epidemic. We had to come up with something to keep Klink from knowing you were missing. Since Schultz had been inside, Klink quarantined him, too."

"Can I speak with you out front for a moment then, Sir?" Carter asked.

"All right," Hogan agreed. "Kinch, you stay here and keep Schultz company."

"Okay, Sir," Kinch acknowledged.

Hogan and Carter entered the common room and Hogan closed the door to his quarters. They walked over to a spot near the table.

"The others are in the tunnel?" Hogan guessed.

"Baker and the fliers," answered Carter. "Newkirk's still outside. He'll be in as soon as he gets a chance."

"Good. We were a little worried. You having two injured men to slow you down. And that Kraut patrol combing the woods."

Carter smiled. "The dear little, old lady took care of them. And she helped us get into camp, too, Sir."

"Then, I guess it's a good thing Newkirk went back out."

"Yeah, boy, Sir. That Kraut patrol was getting pretty close. A few more minutes, and we'd have been their prisoners. I'll need to tell Newkirk he did a good job."

Hogan grinned, patronizingly. "I think that would be a good idea."

"Right now, I got to go get Wilson. He needs to treat Sullivan's ankle and take a look at Travis' hip."

With a shake of his head, Hogan vetoed that idea. "They won't let you outside. We're quarantined. Remember."

"But the guys need medical treatment," insisted Carter. "We use the tunnel to his barracks?"

"I'd prefer you didn't. His barracks has just been assigned some new prisoners. Better they didn't know about the tunnels just yet."

Carter was getting frustrated. "Then, how are we supposed to get him here?"

Hogan thought about it a moment. "Do you mind if I make a suggestion?" he asked. "You're in charge."

"I asked, didn't I?" Carter responded.

"All right. Here's what you need to do." Hogan then explained his plan to Carter.

Author's Note: Years ago, my sister had a black and white kitten, which had a black mark under it's nose that resembled Hitler's mustache. The only thing was that one side of the mark was shorter than the other. We all found that quite humerous. Unlike the nonexistent kitten in the story, my sister's kitten was a female. My sister named her kitten Bandit Marie because, at the same time, I had a grey kitten that I called Smokey.