Tatiana and Alexander: A Novel(179)

"Did you know," Brestov said, "and translate for your friends here, that this camp used to be a model camp? This is where SS guards were trained." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Yes," said Tatiana. "The Germans really knew how to build camps."

"A lot of f*cking good it did them, excuse my language," said Brestov. "Now they're all rotting in their model camps."

Tatiana pulled herself up to stare gravely at the commandant, who coughed in embarrassment. "Where is your superintendent?"

Brestov introduced Lieutenant Karolich, and left the four of them to get oriented. Karolich was a tall, neat man who enjoyed his food. Though he was fairly young, he had the jowly look of someone who'd been eating lard too long. His hands were meticulously clean, Tatiana noticed, as she gave him her hand to shake. How someone with such sanitized hands managed a disease-ridden camp full of unwashed men, Tatiana had no idea. She asked for a walk-through of the camp grounds.

The camp was large and though poorly maintained, the original pie-shaped design of being widest at the front and narrowest at the back made it easy to shoot at prisoners from the gatehouse all the way to the back apex four hundred yards away. The barracks, laid out in three concentric smaller and smaller semi-circles in front of the gatehouse, housed most of the German civilians and soldiers.

The hangings used to take place prominently in the middle of the first semi-circle, perhaps after morning roll call. "Where are your officers housed?" asked Tatiana as they came up to the infirmary.

"Oh, they..." Karolich trailed off. "They're in the former Allied barracks."

"Where is that?"

"Just beyond the perimeter, at the back of the camp."

"Well, Lieutenant Karolich, are the German officers so well taken care of that they don't need our help?"

"No, I don't think that's true."

"So? Let's see them."

Karolich coughed. "I think there might be some Russians there, too."

"All right."

"Well, it's a problem to let you into those barracks."

"Why? We will help them, too. Lieutenant, perhaps you misunderstand me. We are here to feed your prisoners. We are here to administer alms. The doctor is here to heal your sick and ailing. So why don't we start? Why don't you escort Dr. Flanagan and Nurse Davenport to the infirmary and leave them to do their work, and then you and I will walk through the barracks to help your men. Let's start at the officers' camp, shall we?"

Dumbfounded, Karolich stared at her. "The commandant told me you would like to have--um--some lunch." He stumbled on his words. "I'm having the kitchen prepare something special. Perhaps have a rest in the afternoon? The commandant has made nice rooms available to you and your staff." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Thank you so much. We will eat and rest when the work is done, Lieutenant. Let's begin."

"What can you do without the doctor?"

"Why, nearly everything. Unless you need brain surgery performed, but I don't know if even our doctor can help there."

"No, no."

Tatiana was too tense to smile. She continued. "Everything pertaining to the sick and wounded, I can do. I can stitch, and wash and bandage, I can administer blood and morphine, treat any kind of infectious disease, prepare medications, make diagnoses, treat lice, reduce fever, shave heads to prevent further problems." She patted her nurse's bag. "Most everything I need is in here. When I run out, my jeep is full of additional supplies."

Karolich muttered something unintelligible, mumbled that the camps didn't need blood, or morphine, they were just internment camps.

"Nobody has died in your camps?"

"People die, Nurse," Karolich said haughtily. "Of course they die. But you can't do much for those, can you?"

Blinking, Tatiana didn't reply, flying fleetingly back to all the people in her life she had tried to save and could not.

"Tania," Martin whispered, "the commandant had mentioned lunch, no?"

"Oh, yes," she said, taking her nurse's bag. "But I told them we just ate." She leveled Martin with a look. "Dr. Flanagan, we did just eat, didn't we?"

He stammered.

"I thought so. You and Penny head right to the infirmary barracks. I will start with the officers' barracks and see what I can do there."

Since Tatiana was the only bridge between the cultures and the nations and the languages, she was the only one in charge. Martin and Penny went to the infirmary.

She and Karolich came back to the jeep and opened the back doors. Tatiana stared at the medical kits, at the food parcels, at the apples, trying to get her bearings. She turned away from Karolich for just a few moments because she was afraid. She didn't want him to see her fear. Without looking at him, she said, to stall for time, to give herself another moment, "Do you have an adjutant? I think we need an extra person. Also maybe a handtruck." She paused. "To carry the medical kits and the apples."

"I'll carry them," Karolich said.

Now she turned to him. She was calmer, more in control. "Then who will carry the machine gun, Lieutenant?" They stood silent in front of each other for a few moments, until Tatiana was sure he had absorbed the meaning of what she was getting across to him. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html