June 1940, Paris France
"Please don't talk about me when I'm gone. Oh honey, though our friendship ceases from now on and listen, if you can't say anything real nice it's better not to talk at all is my advice"
The record blared from the simple gramophone in the left corner of the bar, it had been 10 days since the government had left for Vichy. Paris had become a free city, people were still trying to flee. Somewhere still trying to go through daily life without taking any notice of the soldiers goose stepping on every corner and terrorising local Parisians.
Hans Mayer.
Our favourite Stabsscharfuhrer.
Paris, France.
Death.
"Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not and will not be extinguished!" Hans repeated while signalling Eric for another drink at the bar.
As he looked at his shot of whiskey, the doors of the dusty small bar burst open. The young man took the shot and clinked his whiskey glass on the bar, and shoved his hands in the air. He had been caught. He watched as the poor barman shove his entire body underneath the bar to reach the gun that was safely placed where people couldn't see.
Bullets flew through the air.
The gramophone started scratching with no music coming out.
Hans Mayer laid on the floor, choking on his own blood as the pistol raised towards his head was fired.
"Do you here, in the countryside, the roar of those ferocious soldiers? They're coming right into your arms to cut the throats of your sons, your comrades!"
It had been 14 days since Aleida heard nothing from her husband.
She presumed he was dead and she was correct.
She knew what he did was risky business but at the end she knew he died a honourable death.
August 1940, Paris France
"But mama, I don't want to go to school," a 9 year old Maxi wailed at his mother. It had been 2 months since Paris became infested by goose stepping Nazi's. While it had been 2 months since her husband Hans Mayer had died, Aleida was trying to play pretend and make sure that both their lives went on as normal.
"My liebe," Aleida soothed her child by squatting down to his height and placing her hands on his hair, "I understand it's hard, but we must carry on."
She sighed as she pulled at her son's jacket to make sure that he was comfortable in the jacket that Jean had bought him a few weeks ago.
Jean.
No last name necessary, not really important.
Neighbour, lover, colleague.
Oh how Aleida messed this up.
"Field Marshall Maxi," Aleida cried as she stood up and pretended to looked through the window that was close enough to the front door, she watched as she men in greeny grey uniform goose step and laugh as she looked over her shoulder and produced a large but plain biscuit towards her 9 year old son.
"Now, listen closely Maxi. Many good men died to bring you this. It is a special potato-flour biscuit for emergencies. Not only is it a biscuit, but it also doubles as an eye patch in case you are invited to a pirate party. It can also pass for a shield, an earring, a spare wheel, and even a believable discus should you find yourself participating in biscuit Olympics and in a pinch, Maxi, it can act as a type of food to sustain yourself until dinner!"
Aleida cried out towards her son, while he watched her bring the biscuit up to her eye to use as an eye patch, then to her ear as an earring and all through the time, they both looked at each other, smiled and laughed. Maxi realised he was lucky to have such a mama who would make him laugh in the times of war.
Aleida opened the door and quickly peeked out and shut the door as she saw a group of soldiers goose stepping past the apartment hall they were in. "Right, Field Marshall Maxi" she saluted towards her son, "You are our top man, prepare to leave the house".
Maxi smiled at his mama while pulling at his jacket to make sure he was comfortable in the jacket. He put the biscuit in his left pocket and asked his mama, "is it dangerous?" Aleida looked down at her son, smiled and winked as she replied, "Extremely" as she opened the door wide for both her and son to start their day.
This was something kind and reassuring both mother and son had been playing ever since the Germans invaded 2 months ago. It was only fair and brought a huge amount of joy to her son acting like they were both international spies, part of the war themselves, making out they went undetected for months. But Aleida had been hiding a secret, the game she played with her son wasn't just a game to her, it was her real life.
"Come on, Maxi" Aleida yelled at her son who was now dawdling behind her. She held out her hand for her son to reach, as much as she knew he was able to walk on the cobblestone road by himself, she just didn't trust those who were driving cars, driving the trucks and driving the motorcycles.
As soon as they walked past Hotel de la Marine, which was now adored with banners of the Third Reich. Maxi let go of Aleida's hand, both their walks had quickened to try and get past and that's when it happened.
"Maxi", Aleida yelled at the little boy who had now become limp on the road in front of her. Her motherly instincts kicked in as she grabbed her son's shoulders and pulled his face towards her chest, the little boy croaked in a reply, "I'm okay mama," as tears started to stream down Aleida's face, the driver rushed out, she let go off her son and walked towards the driver, and slapped him across the face.
The goose stepping soldiers on this particular street stopped what they were doing and rushed over to the accident that had just occurred. One grabbed Aleida's hands behind her back and the other rushed forward to see if her son was still alive, her accent had changed back to Austrian as she shouted "get off meine liebe."
Maxi was then slowly grabbed by another older man and they were both separated. Aleida was slowly being pushed into Hotel de la Marine while screaming for her son as she thought he had died. "I want to see my son" she screamed.
Three weeks later
It had been three weeks since Maxi's funeral.
Aleida was in pieces.
She never turned up to the little Cafe that she worked at with Jean.
She stopped speaking to Jean and the rest of them.
She still couldn't believe it.
The nurse that had dealt with her son had tried everything to keep him alive but atlast they just didn't have enough resources to keep him alive. She was devastated. Instead of throwing herself into her work, like she did when her husband died, she threw herself into her apartment.
Maxi's room hadn't changed. She couldn't bear changing something that brought so much grief to her. While she sat in the dark dingy cell that was lit by a small light that would swing over her while she was being interrogated, all she could think of was what was happening to her son.
Three weeks ago, Hotel de la Marine
"Tell me whore, who sent you?" the old man spat in her face, her right hand had been handcuffed to the table to the side of her. All she could muster and keep repeating, "I want to see my son" to the man in front of her. His right fist came up towards her again and collided with the right side of her cheek, blood splattered out of her mouth as the pain seared through her face.
That was until she heard a Berlin accent outside the cell that she was in, the old man turned towards the cell door as it opened, and in came a man dressed in black, Aleida couldn't make out what they were saying as she was too focused on the light above her, she watched it as it kept swinging left to right, right to left, over and over again.
"Your son's dead, you whore" the old man laughed as he left the room, her head lolled as the chair in front of the table scraped across the floor, the young man that had entered the room with the Berlin accent sat down in front of her. She tried to focus on him, but before he could speak, she laughed and blood started to spew out of her mouth. "Oh boy, oh boy" she could hear the young man chuckle as he grabbed his handkerchief from his suit pocket and wiped along her mouth to clean up the blood.
"A beautiful face like yours, shouldn't be beaten" her head lolled to the right, as she stared at the man who had just cleared up her bottom lip, she smirked and spat as much as she could on him, but instead quite embarrassing really, most of it went on her. The young officer chuckled towards himself as he brought out his silver cigarette case, he pulled one out for himself and before lighting it, he placed it into Aleida's mouth and lit it.
"I would like to apologise, we tried to save your son Maximillian but atlast he passed away," tears welled up in her blue eyes, as she looked towards the door. Her left hand that was free, came up towards her face as she grabbed the cigarette that was in her mouth and pulled it out so she could exhale the smoke.