The Narrow Door at Colditz by Robert Wise

Author:Robert Wise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2004-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Snow continued to fall throughout the day, and the Allied soldiers stayed inside the castle’s dormitory. The woodstove in the corner of the large room put out some warmth, but hardly enough to combat the freezing temperature creeping in from outside. It didn’t appear that the weather would change throughout the evening.

“They say Eggers came back this morning,” Tony Irving said to the other two listening to him. “I heard Schadlich joking with some men, and he told them they’d better shape up since the boss was back.”

“Boss?” Bill Fowler grimaced. “I thought this Glaesche character ran the place.” He pulled his coat more closely around his body.

“Ever see him?” Irving asked.

“In any case, Eggers is the guy we have to deal with,” Fowler said. “We need to figure out how to keep him and the front office distracted while we work on a way out of here.”

“I think you’ve got the right idea,” Lawton said. “We need to get something new going around this place. The winter’s going to be long as it is.”

“Isn’t today the twentieth of November?” Irving asked.

“Yeah,” Fowler said.

“In the United States we have a big holiday in a few days. We call it Thanksgiving.”

“Thanksgiving?” Lawton rubbed his chin. “Any possibilities in using a holiday as a ruse to set up an escape?”

“Well,” Fowler thought out loud, “Christmas is only a month away. That’s a better day to work on. Thanksgiving is an American thing, but everyone celebrates Christmas.”

The men kept talking, but Tony was thinking about Rikki Beck and what she would be doing this Thanksgiving. Would she be staying at home with her family? Going over to the Irvings’ house? The entire family would feel the strain of his “missing in action” status. Hopefully one of his letters had gotten through, but probably not. He didn’t have to think about it long to know what would happen.

Rikki would sit down at the table. Everyone would be jolly, laughing about the holiday, talking, maybe making plans for later in the afternoon. She’d try to be casual, a good guest at an abundantly filled Thanksgiving dinner table.

Then it would come time to say the blessing. Someone would be selected. The prayer of Thanksgiving for the country, the day, God’s blessing would start and then the intercessor would ask God’s hand to be on Tony, to keep him safe and out of harm’s way. Rikki would start to cry. Other people would weep. His mother, for sure. Finally, Rikki would jump up and run from the table. Everyone would be crying by then but his father. Rikki would go into a bedroom, but it would be too late. The joy and frivolity would have gone down the drain.

“Tony,” Lawton asked, “what about planning a break around Christmas? Tony! ”

“Huh?” Tony jumped slightly.

“You listening to us or not?” Fowler groused.

“Sure. Sure. I just got distracted.”

“Look,” Fowler said. “There are three of us. We came in together, and by God we’re going to get out of this place together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.