Willi looked up at his friend, who was hanging off his bed, grinning and received the warmest reciprocal smile in return. “I’d love to. I’ll spend the Christmas Eve with my mother but right after I’ll take a train and come down to see you. I don’t care for you personally but how can I say no to a plane ride?”
Johann play-swatted him, recognizing the unspoken gratitude in the warm, golden eyes.
“Is it a one-person invitation or are others invited as well? You know, I happen to love planes too,” Rudolf chimed in, forgetting the book that he was reading, at once.
“Everyone is invited!” Johann cried out in a sudden surge of generosity, sending the boys in the room clapping and cheering.
The door to their room flew open, revealing an enraged Fahnenjunker, who was on duty that evening. “What in the hell is going on here?! And why did I hear your shouts from the other end of the corridor when it’s supposed to be your ‘quiet time,’ you damned crap-heads?”
Johann and Rudolf jumped down from their top bunks and dutifully froze at attention, hands at the seams, eyes looking straight ahead, toes four inches apart. After a short wrestle with the bed covers, Walter scrambled to attention as well. Willi was the last one to rise from his bed, with visible annoyance.
“Isn’t it called ‘free time,’ and not ‘quiet time’?” he inquired, with a sardonically arched brow, much to Johann’s horror.
The cadet, who showed Johann his room on his very first day at school, warned him about Fahnenjunker Meinzer, who was a bit on a head-trip due to his father being someone high-ranking from the local Austrian SS. Tough luck to all Luftwaffe cadets, Meinzer Junior didn’t get accepted to the said SS solely because of his height◦– a shameful five inches missing from the coveted six-feet◦– the elite standard of the Great German Reich; a failure, for which he had apparently decided to make the future pilots’ lives a living hell. Rumor had it that Meinzer had a short fuse as it was, but Willi’s mocking remark infuriated him even more so. His eyes shining with ire, he burst into the room and stopped within inches of Willi’s face.
“Did I just hear you talk back to me?”
“I merely asked,” followed his most unfazed response, in tandem with a dismissive shoulder shrug.
Meinzer pulled his fist back, ready to strike. Johann held his breath next to Willi, who stood and patiently waited for the blow to follow, the same crooked grin sitting on his face as he stared the Fahnenjunker down. His face was suddenly pale and noble; only the eyes stared daringly, two pools full of liquid gold and contempt. Well? Go ahead. Hit me.
Meinzer weighed his options, it seemed. No one in the room dared to breathe. One of the cadets had been sent home packing just a few days ago for having dirty fingernails; openly ridiculing someone of a superior rank would surely earn anyone a one-way ticket home. Unless that “anyone” was a Wehrmacht General’s son.
“I’m warning you, von Sielaff.” Meinzer finally lowered his fist and pointed his index finger at Willi’s face instead. “You’re on thin ice here. Your father won’t always be able to help you.”
“I’m very well aware of that but thank you for your concern nevertheless.”
Johann bit his tongue inside his mouth. He’d smack Willi himself if he could. Why was he making it all worse for himself?
As if sensing his thoughts, Meinzer suddenly turned to him. “Who’s on duty in this room this week?”
“I am, Herr Fahnenjunker.”
“Name?”
“Cadet Johannes Brandt, Herr Fahnenjunker.”
Meinzer smirked, stepping away. “Very well, Cadet Brandt. Let’s see how well you mind your duty.”
He yanked the door to the closet open and inspected the contents of all four shelves. Neatly folded undershirts, textbooks, sports suits, and shaving sets went flying after he pulled every single item out of its place.
“A mess you have here, Cadet Brandt.” He pointed at the floor, littered with the boys’ personal belongings which he had thrown there mere seconds ago. “That will be duly recorded in your personal file.”
“Jawohl, Herr Fahnenjunker.” Johann clicked his bare heels and straightened even more, despite anger flaring up on his cheeks at such unfair treatment.
He always made sure that their room was spotless for the morning inspection and the evening one and personally helped Willi make his bed in the proper way◦– on days when he’d actually slept in it, that is. Whether he was on duty or not, Johann always refolded his roommates’ tunics or sports suits if they weren’t folded correctly and double checked so that everything inside the closets was arranged according to the instructions. And now, he’ll have this record in his file simply because some Fahnenjunker decided to take his anger out on someone, without any consequences? Surely enough, he didn’t hit Willi as hitting Willi would send him flying out of the school.
Meinzer looked him up and down and turned around to take his leave. After the door closed after him, Willi scrambled to pick up everything from the floor before Johann could. As Johann crouched next to him, he saw tears in Willi’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Johann! I’m so sorry,” Willi kept muttering, his voice thick with emotion. “It’s all my fault. Please, forgive me! I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble, I swear!”
“It’s not your fault,” Johann replied in a soft voice, folding an undershirt on his lap. “Meinzer is a piece of work; that’s all there is to it.”
“But he picked on you because of me!” Willi looked around as though searching for something all the while the boys were busy rearranging their items on their respective shelves, quiet and subdued; then grabbed a lighter that lay forgotten on top of his covers and thrust it into the unsuspecting Johann’s hands. “Here, take it, please. I know it’s a trifle but it’s all I have to offer you. Please, don’t be mad at me!”
Johann burst out laughing despite his previous sour mood. “I’m not mad at you, Willi. I really am not. And I would never take your lighter from you; that’s your father’s gift◦– are you mad throwing it around like that?”
Willi shifted from one foot to another, uncertainty still visible in his eyes as he accepted the lighter back with reluctance.
“If you really want to make it up to me, don’t sneak out tonight at least, will you?”
Willi nodded readily.
When he heard shuffling under his bed after the lights-out, Johann half-expected to hear the familiar clinking of the lock on the window. Instead, two hands appeared on the edge of his bed; a smiling face lit up by the moonlight and Willi’s wiry frame as he pulled himself on top of Johann’s bed.
“Did I wake you up?”
“No, I wasn’t sleeping yet.”
“Minding me?”
Johann only snorted softly and moved closer to the wall, letting Willi lie next to him on top of the covers.
“I’m sorry,” Willi started again, remorse evident in his eyes.
“I told you, I don’t hold it against you. It’s not your fault, so don’t apologize.”
“You’re a grand fellow, Johann.”
“So my little brother says.” Johann smiled.
“I wish I were your brother,” Willi blurted out suddenly. “I’m really grateful to you for everything, Johann. You always look after me even though I don’t deserve looking after. But you do anyway. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it.”