Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(173)

But when Tatiana finally realized that Alexander could not be where there was no trace of him, she quickly lost interest in this part of Europe and suggested they go elsewhere.

"What, you don't think the DPs need our help, Nurse Barrington?" said Martin. They were in Antwerp, Belgium.

"No, they do, they do. But there are so many others who need our help. Let's go to U.S. military base here and talk to base commander, Charles Moss." They had received from the International Red Cross the names and the maps of all U.S. installations and known DP camps in Europe.

"Where do you think they need us most, Colonel Moss?" she asked the commander of the base.

"I'd say Berlin, but I wouldn't recommend going there."

"Why not?"

"We'renot going to Berlin," confirmed Martin.

"The Soviets have rounded up the German soldiers and imprisoned them," said Moss. "I hear the conditions there make the DP camps here seem like resorts on the Riviera. The Soviets have not allowed the Red Cross to distribute parcels in the camps, which is too bad. They could use the aid."

"Where are these Germans held?" Tatiana wanted to know.

"Ah, in a fitting irony, they're being held in the very concentration camps they themselves built."

"Why wouldn't you recommend going there?" Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Because Berlin is a ticking war bomb. There are three million people in the city that cannot be fed."

Tatiana knew something about that.

Moss continued. "The city needs three and a half million kilos of food--a day--and Berlin produces two per cent of that."

Tatiana knew even more aboutthat .

"You figure it out. The sewers are out, the drinking pumps are out, there are no hospitals beds and almost no doctors. Dysentery, typhus, not our little eye infections. They need water, medical attention, grain, meat, fat, sugar, potatoes."

"Even in western zones?" asked Tatiana.

"A little better there. But you have to go to the Soviet zone to get to the concentration camps in eastern Germany. I wouldn't recommend it."

"Are the Soviets amenable?" she asked Moss.

"Yes," he replied. "Like the Huns."

After they left Antwerp, Tatiana said, "Dr. Flanagan, what you think? Should we head for Berlin?" The Soviets were in Berlin.

He shook his head. "Absolutely not. That wasn't on our agenda. Our mission is clear: the Low Countries and northern Germany."

"Yes, but Berlin needs us most. You heard the colonel. There is plenty for these parts."

"Not plenty. Not nearly enough," said Martin.

"Yes, but in eastern Germany, there isn'tany ."

Penny stepped in. "Tania is right, Martin. Let's go to Berlin."

Martin sniffed.

"Hey, how come you allow her to call you Martin?" asked Tatiana.

"I don't allow her," he said. "She just does it."

"Martin and I have traveled together through Europe since 1943," said Penny. "He was just an intern then. If he's going to make me call him Dr. Flanagan, I'm going to make him call me Miss Davenport."

Tatiana laughed. "But Penny, Davenport isn't your last name. It's Woester."

"I always liked Davenport."

All three of them were sitting in the front, squished together in the cabin of the jeep. Tatiana was squeezed between the stiff Martin, who was driving, and the soft Penny. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Come on, let's see these work camps, Dr. Flanagan," said Tatiana. "Don't you feel needed? Berlin doesn't have enough doctors. You're a doctor. Go where you are needed."

"Doctor are needed everywhere," said Martin. "Why should we go into the quicksand that is Berlin? We're going to be sunk there."

But they went, first stopping off at Hamburg to replenish the supplies. Martin balked at filling the jeep with too many kits and food parcels, pointing out that regulations clearly stated that the trucks were not to be filled more than four feet high, but both Tatiana and Penny insisted, and their jeep was packed from floor to ceiling. Tatiana couldn't get to her stash under the floor. She figured if and when she needed it, the jeep would be less fully packed.

Tatiana could have firebombed the city of Berlin herself, so well armed and well stocked was she. She even brought a case of twenty liter-and-a-half bottles of vodka from Hamburg, buying it with her own money.

"Why do we need that? We don't need vodka!"

"You will see, Martin, without it, we will get nowhere."

"I don't want to allow that in my jeep."

"Believe me, you won't regret it."

"Well, I think drinking is a filthy habit. As a doctor I don't want to condone that sort of behavior."

"You're so right. Please don't condone." Tatiana slammed the doors of the jeep as if the matter had been closed.

Penny stifled a laugh.

"Nurse Woester, you are not helping. Nurse Barrington, did you not hear me? I don't think we should bring that alcohol."

"Dr. Flanagan, have you ever been in Soviet territory before?"