Chapter 5

Sunday 16th September 1962

We’re at our ‘safe’ house in Herne Bay – finally.

It’s strange being out of the ‘gaol’ we were in for nearly a week as MI6 processed us. After we arrived here, I was feeling uneasy and had to stop and work out why; in the MI6 house we were protected from my father but here we have only Jennifer and she will be leaving in a day or so (I think). Then we will be truly on our own. MI6 tell us we are safe here, but it seems my subconscious doesn’t quite believe them – at least, not yet.

I wrote this in bed the evening of our second day here. I know I don’t have the conversations word for word – but they are about right, I think.

I was woken at six o’clock and, for the first time since arriving in England, Mutti and I had breakfast together; it was rapid, but we were together. By seven o’clock we were seated in the back of a large black car and on the road, with Jennifer in the front passenger seat.

I looked out of the window. “Where are we going?”

Jennifer half-turned in her seat. “We’re going to stop off and pick up my car in Ashford – we don’t want to arrive in this one, it would attract too much attention.” She looked through the windscreen in front of her. “Then we’re going to drive for about an hour to a town on the coast called Herne Bay where we have a small house for you.”

The names meant nothing to me, so I passed the journey looking out of the window. This was the first time I’d been able to see England. The most noticeable thing was the cars – so many of them and so many different types and colours, very different from Leipzig. Between the towns were orchards, fields and wooded areas all separated by mostly well-cared for hedges. The countryside seemed very ... neat, almost groomed. I saw nothing like the forests we have in Germany. When I remarked on this, Jennifer laughed and told me that the county of Kent was known as the ‘Garden of England’. In spring the apple, pear and cherry orchards blossomed and the woods would be carpeted with wildflowers. We continued for a while with my gaze firmly fixed out of the window before we pulled up in a suburban street.

Jennifer turned to us. “I’m going to walk from here to my house and collect my car. I’ll meet up with you soon and we’ll transfer you and your luggage to that.”

Our car drove off, winding out of the town into country lanes before parking in a farm gate. Jennifer arrived a few minutes later in her dark green car and we loaded ourselves and our luggage into it. Jennifer told Mutti to sit in the front as apparently it would look odd if both Mutti and I sat in the back. After a while, we skirted a town with a large cathedral towering above it. For about half a kilometre, the road ran alongside the mediaeval city wall. Jennifer told me this was the city of Canterbury – a very old and worth a visit. From what I could see, it was a strange mix of old buildings with areas of very new ones.

When I asked Jennifer about it, I saw her hands tighten on the steering wheel. “It was bombed – several times.” I could see her lips working and then she added in a dark voice. “As were a number of cathedral cities.”

I slumped back into my seat, realising that being a German in England was going to be difficult. The car was silent for some time. About half an hour later we drove into a town and Jennifer took us along the sea front where a clocktower marked the start of a long pier spiking far out into the sea. The car climbed a steep hill and shortly after that we pulled up outside a small house.

“This is it.” Jennifer opened the boot and picked up her small case. “Grab your cases and come inside.”

Mutti and I gathered our cases and followed her inside. There was a small hallway with several doors leading off. I dropped my case in the hall and explored – a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom/toilet and a loungeroom. It was about the same size as our apartment back in Leipzig.

Mutti viewed the two bedrooms and turned to Jennifer. “Where are you going to sleep?”

“Perhaps ... the sofa?” Jennifer sounded dubious.

I laughed, looking up at her. “You’d have to fold yourself double to fit on that. I’ll sleep there until you leave.”

Jennifer looked embarrassed.

“Are you sure, Liebling?”

“I’ll be fine, Mutti.” I arched my eyebrows at Jennifer. “It’ll only be for a day or two, won’t it?”

“Er ... I think so,” she said.

Mutti took her bag into the larger of the two bedrooms and I put mine beside the sofa.

“Let’s see what there is to eat,” suggested Jennifer.

A bit of exploration in the larder and fridge turned up a packet of sausages, potatoes and some green beans. Mutti and Jennifer were soon occupied in the kitchen and I opened the back door to have an explore.

Mutti turned from the stove. “Stay in the garden, please Liebling.”

It was a small garden, mostly grass with dense shrubs on the side fences. At the back was a rickety fence with a tree stump in one corner. I climbed onto the stump and looked over the fence. There was an empty block with what looked like an overgrown garden on the far side, where the top of a large cedar tree towered above smaller trees and shrubs. That would be good to climb.

I wanted to look over the fences to either side but the bushes were too thick to get to them. After a while, the back door opened and Mutti beckoned me back inside. Once the door was closed, she put a hand on my shoulder. “Liebling, I didn’t call out to you as it’s very important that we do not talk in German outside the house.”

I gave her a confused look.

“People must not know we are German. You will have to learn English – we will start lessons after lunch.”

The sausages were a bit of a disappointment. “These are not as good as German sausages, are they Mutti.”

Mutti gave Jennifer a slightly embarrassed look.

Jennifer gave her sausages a suspicious look, prodding at one. “I think these are cheap sausages – they’re not very tasty.” She gave Mutti an apologetic look. “I’ll go and do some shopping after lunch while you have your English lesson.” She smiled at me. “Perhaps I can find something better.”

“As well as food, see if you can find some exercise books and pens. Col will need them for his English lessons.”

Jennifer nodded.

Once we’d washed up the dishes, Jennifer found a shopping bag in the pantry, tied a scarf round her head and left Mutti and me alone.

Mutti produced a notepad and a pencil she’d found somewhere. “Come and sit down, Liebling.” She moved a chair round the table next to her. “You’ve been learning Russian so you know how to learn a language.” She pointed at the notepad. “For now, we’re going to concentrate on vocabulary and simple phrases.”

By the time Jennifer returned, I had filled several sheets of notepaper with German words and their English equivalent – mostly for things around the house, along with a few phrases like “Are you hungry?” and “That tastes good.”

Jennifer produced six thin exercise books and Mutti set me copying the vocabulary and phrases into them, folding the page in half so I could test myself.

Once I did that, Mutti tested me by pointing to objects around the kitchen, with Mutti correcting my pronunciation. There are some strange sounds in English.

Once we’d gone through the list, Mutti nodded in approval. “I think that’s enough for the moment.” Then she frowned. “Надо продолжать работать и над русским языком.” (We need to keep working on Russian as well.)

”Да, мама”

Jennifer gave us a querying look. “Russian?”

I nodded. Jennifer doesn’t speak Russian – that could be useful.