Hogan and Kinch came striding out of the barracks with a big grin on their faces - that froze the moment they stepped outside.
"What the heck...?" Hogan started. And Kinch just stared.
Everyone in the compound was staring up in the sky. Even Colonel Klink and major Hochstetter had come out of the office at the eerie silence and stood now on the porch, looking up at the sky. A darkened sky, for the sunlight was entirely blocked by... a giant zeppelin?!
The thing was ginormous, and it seemed to be... landing...
Hogan was the first to find his voice again. "Everyone - get to the fringes of the camp. Now!"
Prisoners and guards and everyone scattered immediately - not in the least because the monstrosity seemed to be coming down right in the compound. Bigger and bigger the ominous shadow got as it slowly manoeuvered itself into the open space in the center of the camp. Until at last, it touched the ground, skidded a little, and came to a halt with its nose pointing in the direction of the gate.
Everyone stood and gaped at it, until a door opened and an all too familiar figure appeared at the top of a short flight of steps. "Hello, chaps!"
Putting on his cap at a slight angle and throwing his white scarf over his shoulder with flourish, Crittendon descended the steps ramrod straight and stepped into the compound in a deadly silence.
The silence didn't seem to bother him though. He quickly picked out Hogan in the crowd and marched forward to greet him. "Hogan, old boy, how are you doing? How do you like my new mode of transport? Jolly good show, eh?"
Hogan just gave him a stoic stare. "What are you doing here?"
The question was immediately echoed in two variations. "Hogan, what is this man doing here?" And, "Hogan, what is this zeppelin doing here?"
Hogan faced his jailor and the Gestapoman squarely. "I have no idea, sir. Why don't you ask our beloved Colonel Crittendon?"
"Group Captain actually," Crittendon corrected him, but no one paid any attention to his remark.
"Well?" Klink insisted.
Crittendon faced him and threw off one of his overperfect vibrating salutes. "Kommandant Klink, if I'm not mistaken? And who might this fellow be? Care to introduce me, Hogan?"
"With pleasure," Hogan grunted. "Colonel Crittendon - this is major Hochstetter from the Gestapo. Major Hochstetter - Colonel Crittendon."
"Group Captain actually," Crittendon repeated, but then he flicked his own riding crop against his cheek. "The Gestapo, eh? Nasty lot, aren't you."
Hochstetter was already approaching boiling point again, but Klink forestalled him. "Colonel Crittendon, what are you doing here? I thought we sent you off to some other Stalag."
"So you did! But I escaped!" Crittendon puffed out his chest. "As you know, it is the duty of every officer to escape. And after many failed attempts, I finally made it back to jolly old England. But when I heard about the time travellers in your Stalag, I couldn't help but wanting to check them out! So I volunteered to deliver the watch."
"In a zeppelin." The sarcasm dripped from Hogan's words.
"Yes. Jolly good show, eh? They couldn't spare a plane for me, with all the scheduled bombing raids and all, so I thought, why not take the good old zeppelin?"
"And did you bring the watch?"
"What watch?" Klink interrupted, and Hochstetter leaned closer, too.
"Yes, the Gestapo would be very interested in any watch of Colonel Crittendon's," he sneered.
At a nod from Hogan, Kinch had sneaked off to find Katie and Meghan, and now he returned with them both.
"Ah, there are your time travellers, Hogan. My, they are certainly pretty, aren't they!"
Hochstetter reacted immediately. "Time travellers?!" He took a step forward, but Hogan blocked the way.
"Yes, and they're going home straight away."
"But we don't know yet which stories were chosen as the best of the year!" Katie protested.
"Okay, quick then. Kinch?"
Kinch fished the blue note out of his pocket and announced,
BEST STORY OF 2014!
.
Gold:
UNSUNG MAN, UNSUNG HERO
by Book'em Again
.
Silver:
The King's Speech
by Belphegor
.
Bronze:
There's No Place Like Stalag 13
by Goldleaf83
There was a solid round of applause, and in the mayhem, Hogan quickly pushed Katie and Meghan towards the zeppelin. "Crittendon!" he called for the British officer to follow.
"Yes, Hogan. What are we going to do?"
Hogan pushed the girls into the zeppelin. "You are going to take this zeppelin out of here, and let the girls use the watch once you're up in the air. And no detours - you two are going to go straight home, understood?"
"Yes sir," the girls said quietly.
"And thanks for everything," Meghan added.
For once, Crittendon was quick on the uptake. He jumped into the zeppelin, closed the door, and within seconds, the motors started, causing everyone in the compound to back away again.
That is, everyone except Hochstetter. He had taken out his gun, and aimed it at the slowly rising superstructure.
"No, don't!" Klink yelped as he grabbed Hochstetter's arm.
"Klink, get out of my way! You're obstructing the war effort again!"
"But major, do you really want to capture Colonel Crittendon? The man is a walking disaster!"
Slowly, Hochstetter lowered his gun. An evil smile crept over his face. "You know, Klink, for once I believe you are right. If we already have to deal with you on our side, why should we take Crittendon off their hands?"
Author's note:
.
Well, that's all for now, folks!
Congratulations to all the winners, as well as to all the nominees who put up such a good fight.
If you didn't win anything, but would like to know how your nominated work did,
feel free to drop a line to me (konarciq) via PM or mail, and I'll give you your personal results.
.
But first a solid round of applause for Steffiundaxel,
who did a great job on the double checking!
Thank you for a terrific job, Steffi!
.
A great thank you, too, to everyone who sent in their nominations and their votes – without you guys, there wouldn't be a PBA!
And it's great to see so much enthusiasm, year after year after year,
and every time with new people joining in!
Another great thank you to Sgt. Moffitt, Belphegor, Snooky-9093 and EveningInHornersCorners,
and reserve crew Fortune Maiden,
who made this fun competition possible this year with their invaluable assistance.
And also a round of applause already for the members of the PBA committee:
Book'em Again, Sgt. Moffitt and Snooky-9093
It's been fairly quiet on the PBA front this year,
but you were there whenever I needed a soundboard!
.
Then an important request:
Can all the winners please report by email to papabearawards at yahoo dotcom
in order to get their award(s) sent out?
They will be designed this year by Belphegor,
and we all know how creative she is in her story avatars!
.
The winning stories (gold, silver and bronze!) will shortly be included in the ffnet community with the PBA winners from the past years.
They will some time in the foreseeable future be listed on the PBA website as well, but I can't promise you when I'll get around to do that ;-)
(I still need to do that for last year's winners as well...)
.
So now we're back to happily reading. And writing.
Thank you all for your infectious enthusiasm, and I hope to see your new stories, nominations and votes again next time around!
.
Your librarian,
konarciq
(who would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who voted for her work!)