High Noon

Ch17

I looked at Mama not believing that she would possibly work for the Nazis, my fists clenched tightly with fury at her and the pamphlet crumpled slightly at the edges.

"Honey, you have to understand I don't want to do this, but with the way things are, I have to." She told me.

I shacked my head furiously at her.

"You don't have to work with the Nazis, you're choosing to work with them!" 

Mama had tears running down her face and she shook her head.

"We need the money, and yes I am choosing to do this, I'm not proud of it, but I'm doing what I can to provide for us and make sure we still have a roof over our heads."

I stood up roughly.

"Do you know where Papa is? He's in a POW camp because of the Nazis, this whole war started because of them and you want to work with them?" 

She hanged her head and I stormed out of there, slamming the door shut.

I rushed downstairs and burst through the front door and began to walk.

I didn't know where I was going, but I wanted to be as far away from Mama as possible. How could she think that it was okay to betray her country and work with the Nazis? No matter how much money we didn't have she shouldn't have chosen to work with them. There had to have been another way to get money.

I stormed across Greenwood Bridge, knowing that it was time to meet up with Doc Martin.

I leaned my arms over the side of the bridge and looked down into the water, thinking angrily about what Mama had done.

I saw pedestrians walk pass through the reflection of the water and then I noticed a familiar man appear by my side and I recognized him as Doc Martin.

I looked at him and he took out a cigarette and causally lite it with a match.

"Bonjour, Sophie." He greeted me.

I composed myself, trying to conceal my anger, and smiled.

"Bonjour." 

Doc studied me for a moment and then walked away and I assumed that I was supposed to follow.

We walked down the bridge and when he got to the other side he turned to me, as if to check that I was following then continued to walk.

"Do you mind telling me what is wrong?" He asked me.

"Nothing's wrong," I told him.

Martin blew smoke into the air and chuckled.

"That's an understatement, everything is wrong, so I ask again do you mind telling me what is wrong?" 

I realized that he wasn't talking about what was wrong with me personally, but what was wrong that was happening.

"The war," I said, which summed up all of the wrongs and bad things that were happening in one word.

He nodded as we arrived at a door.

Doc Martin knocked three times and the door opened, revealing Charles, the boy who had given me the letter from Antoine. 

He glanced at Martin then at me and opened the door wide enough for us to walk in, then closed it shut.

"Yes, the war is exactly what is wrong, but what caused it?" Doc Martin asked me as he sat down, motioning for me to sit across from him.

I took a seat and said, "The Nazis, they caused all of this."

He blew a line of smoke and then shook his head.

"No, evil caused the war, not just the Nazis, you see Sophie, we aren't just fighting the Nazis we are fighting the very evil that has so corrupted the world causing war and death," 

He snuffed out his cigarette. 

"We are fighting for the end of the war, which could be months, weeks, or years, do you understand?"

I nodded seeing what he was getting at.

"Yes, I understand."

"Do you still want to risk going behind the enemy's back for years or whenever this war ends, no matter what may happen?" 

Martin looked at me with intensity in his eyes, making sure that I wouldn't look away from them when I responded.

I took a breath and nodded.

"Yes, I'm sick of doing nothing."

He nodded and then stood up and walked over to Charles.

"This is Charles Cleaver, you will be working with him for most of the time delivering pamphlets to people's mailboxes and doorsteps, you'll do this pass curfew so you have to be stealthy and quiet, and don't draw attention to yourselves, got it?" 

We nodded.

"Good, you will start tonight, as soon as curfew starts Charles you'll meet Sophie here," 

Charles nodded, and then Martin looked at me. 

"And Sophie you will be here no later then 9:00 pm otherwise he won't wait for you."

I nodded and could feel the nerves twisting in my stomach as I thought about what I was going to do.

He walked over to a table bringing over a basket that had apples in it and smiled.

"Freshly picked from my orchard."  

I took it and smiled.

"They look like the best apples I've ever seen." 

"What's even better than the apples is what's underneath." 

I looked through the apples and saw the pamphlets. I immediately concealed them back up and looked back at him.

"Charles, do you mind walking Sophie home?" Doc Martin asked him.

"No, it'll get us a chance to get to know each other." He said with a smile.

Martin turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Good luck tonight."

When we left the basket suddenly felt heavier as if I was carrying a hundred-pound weight. My hands were sweating as I was walking and I felt as if everyone was watching us.

"So, how long have you known Antoine?" Charles asked me as if we were just on a casual walk through town.

I thought about when I had first met Antoine, it had been during the first bombing raids before the Nazis invaded. That seemed so long ago.

How long has it been? Years? Months? 

I wasn't sure the days seemed to be the same.

"When the bombings started," I told him.

"The good old days I would say then," Charles said with a sigh.

I noticed that he had a bit of an English accent showing me that he didn't come from France and I nodded in agreement before asking, "Do you come from Britain?"

"Oui, I do or did, I had come here with my family awhile back before the war started, but when the war began my parents thought that it would be better for us to stay here, and then well, France lost the war and we were stuck here." He told me.

"That's horrible, you could've been safe in Britain and not here," I said.

Charles shrugged and smiled.

"Eh, Britain wasn't all that great, besides what's life without a bit of adventure?" 

When we arrived at my house I saw Captain Josef's motorcycle parked in front of the house, letting me know that he was here.

I turned to Charles.

"Well, I'll see you tonight."

"Oui, now remember don't be late." He told me.

I nodded my head.

"I won't."

With that, Charles left and I turned towards the house.