Hello There, Soldier

France: June 6th, 1944 (Midday)

France: June 6th, 1944 (Midday)

An hour later they were both dressed and ready to go. Josie had hidden Joe's uniform and equipment in the same compartment she had hidden him in hours earlier before they left. Standing just outside her door, Josie looked him over with worried eyes as she searched for any sign that would give him away. Joe felt himself get nervous under her stare and started to pull on the cap on his head.

"Alright, wait a minute before following me out. Don't make eye contact or do anything to draw attention to you. Keep your head down and follow behind me but not too close. It shouldn't seem like your actually following me." She gave him instructions all the while praying in her head that everything would go alright.

"And what if I'm stopped?" Joe asked already knowing the answer.

"Pray like hell that you're not." Josie met his eyes making sure he understood the consequences of their little outing. "You still want to do this?" She asked just wanting to make sure.

"Lead the way." He told her as he held his hand out gesturing for her to go first.

They took an old side path rarely used in order to get through town. Joe stayed back while walking on the opposite side of the road from Josie. He kept his head down with his cap pulled down only stealing glances in Josie's direction when necessary. They had to cut through a section of town in order to get to the road that would take them to the farmhouse. It was the most direct route but it also meant more people and most likely a few Germans patrolling the area.

Sure enough as they got to the busy street two Germans were walking about surveying the area. Immediately, Josie recognized one soldier as Gus. On several occasions Christoph had used Gus to relay messages to her and he had always seemed like a nice enough man.

He was young and Josie always imagined that he should be laughing with his friends at school instead of being swept up in this war. But he was just doing his duty for his country like countless others on both sides. Gus was actually trying to learn French and asked Josie for help on several occasions. He had quite the crush on the beautiful blonde daughter of the local seamstress. It was pretty obvious to see given the fact that he seemed to "accidentally" tear his uniform on a weekly basis.

Exchanging smiles and quick pleasantries, Josie kept walking taking notice of the other German in the area. The older angry looking man seemed to be staring intently at each individual that walked by as if looking for a reason to cause problems. His eyes met hers and he narrowed them but as he started to move towards her Gus quickly stopped him. Whispering something in his ear, probably about her relationship with Christoph, the other man grunted in frustration before turning and leaving the area. Josie gave a quick nod to Gus and headed on her way noticing that Joe was sticking to the shadows as he waited to follow.