War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 94

Chapter 6

T

wo days later Sabine’s supervisor, Herr Meier, called for a meeting during lunch hour. Such meetings were never a source of good news, and the women entered the assembly place with long faces.

“Twenty-seven employees called in sick with the flu,” Herr Meier said. Sabine groaned inwardly because she already knew what he would say next. “Our production is directly linked to the war effort and only with enough rifles can our soldiers succeed. Even though we are short-handed we must meet our daily quota. To remedy this situation, everyone will stay two hours longer today and come in one hour early tomorrow.”

Nobody cheered. But nobody objected, or groaned either.

“Total War!

Sieg heil

!” he shouted, shooting his right arm up in the Hitler salute.

“

Sieg heil!

” the women shouted back.

Sabine drudged back to her workstation grumbling beneath her breath, when Frau Klausen fell in pace beside her.

“There’s no use frowning, now is there? It won’t change a thing and we’ll all get a little extra in our paychecks come the end of the week,” Frau Klausen said, glancing at Sabine’s frown-lined forehead.

“A ten-hour shift is grueling enough, now they make us work twelve? When will this ever stop?” Sabine said with a vigorous shake of her head, only to raise her hand to check up on her

Sabine rolls

.

“You look lovely,” Frau Klausen complimented her, but even the friendly words couldn’t cheer up Sabine. She kept growling about the awful work in the awful factory.

“Frau Mahler, would you like to talk about something that makes you happy?” Frau Klausen suggested with a bright smile, apparently fed up with hearing Sabine’s complaints.

“Why don’t you stay out of my life?” Sabine snapped back at her. Moments later, guilt swamped her for speaking such harsh words to the woman who’d only tried to be friendly. It wasn’t Frau Klausen’s fault that Lily wanted Sabine to spy on her. Or maybe it was? Why did the older woman have to get on the bad side of the government? And when she insisted on sticking out her neck, why did she have to come and work next to Sabine?

She gritted her teeth, counting the minutes until her shift would be over and she could go home and tell Lily that she wasn’t the right person for this job. She just couldn’t do it.

Her feet ached, and she rubbed her back every so often to alleviate the pain located just above her tailbone. Would this horrendous shift ever end? Working as fast as humanely possible without injuring herself, she finally reached her increased quota and slipped out of one shoe to wriggle her toes, before walking over to the supervisor’s station to hand in her tracking sheet.

“Well done, Frau Mahler,” he said, giving her an appreciative glance. “You’re not only fast but accurate. Help your neighbor finish her batch and then everyone should be ready to go.”

Sabine trudged back to her workstation, when Frau Klausen met her halfway with a tired smile saying, “All done. I believe Elise has two more to assemble and then we’ll finally be done.”

She nodded and sighed. If Elise would work more instead of talking a mile a minute, she’d have finished a long time ago. Minutes later, the gong sounded to announce they had reached their quota and could all go home.

Thank God!

Sabine rushed from the factory, her mood foul and her temper on a hair-trigger. To make things worse, a gusty wind whipped snowflakes into her face, making her hunch her shoulders and wrap her headscarf tighter around her neck and shoulders.

How she wished to be somewhere else. In Spain, for example. That country hadn’t joined the war and according to newspaper articles, it never snowed over there. Nor did the people have to endure rations,

Ersatzkaffee

, and constant air raids.

Despite the ugly weather she made it home in record time, only to find Lily coming out of the door at the very moment Sabine passed by her house. Ducking her head, she made for her own front door, pretending not to notice the other woman. But Lily stepped out onto the street and blocked Sabine’s path.

“Hello, Sabine. How was your day?”

Sabine stopped and looked up at Lily, clad in a flashy evening gown glittering in golden tones beneath a dark brown sable coat. The ensemble probably cost more than Werner earned in a year. The conceited woman brandished the long cigarette holder as if she were some famous actress right off the silver screen. “I’ve had a very long, very tiring day.”

Lily shrugged her shoulders, taking a drag off the cigarette before blowing the smoke out and giving Sabine a look devoid of any sympathy. “You haven’t given me an answer to what we discussed…”

“I just told you I’m tired. It’s cold and I want to go inside.” Sabine gestured toward the front door of her home for emphasis. “I don’t want to stand outside in the dark talking to you.”

“Which is the very reason why you need to come onboard with me. Don’t you see it? You wouldn’t be so tired. You wouldn’t have to work such long hours at the factory. You might not have to work at the factory at all.”

Sabine gave a harsh laugh. “But you want me to work at the factory so that I can spy on my unsuspecting coworkers. If I worked fewer hours or quit, that would be defeating the purpose. Wouldn’t it?” Sabine couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“Well, you’d have to get the information on Frau Klausen before they’d let you quit. But then…well, there are plenty of other places you could be useful for the Reich.”

“Like you?” Sabine felt the frustration snake up her spine. She’d rather stop working at the damned factory sooner than later, but not when it involved shady work for Lily’s secret employer.

“Yes. There are always—”

Sabine cut her off with a cutting motion of her hand. “Lily, I’m not a tart like you. I won’t sell my body to get information for the Nazis so that they can twist it all around and ruin someone else’s life.”

The high-pitched gasp and the indignant expression on Lily’s face promised retribution, but Sabine’s empathy had long since evaporated. The entire dammed-up discontent of her grueling day burst out of her. “And, since you’re so eager to hear my answer, here it is: No. I will not work as a spy. Never.” She pushed her way past Lily, heated spots burning on her cheeks, and stormed into her home.

She slammed the door shut, threw the bolt, and leaned against the door, her breath coming in ragged spurts. Unshed tears stung her eyes and threatened to overflow. Werner found her like this a few minutes later.

“Sabine? What’s happened?” he asked in the soft voice that would usually calm her down and give her reassurance. Not today.

She pushed off the door and shook her head, shedding her coat, headscarf, and gloves. Without speaking a further word, she headed for the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove.

Only then did she dare to look at him, a queasy feeling snaking into her soul. “I really blew it with Lily,” she said and recounted her exact words to him.

Werner’s face remained set in stone, a clear indication he was more than a bit worried. When she finished her story, he said solemnly, “I agree. Calling the woman a tart was probably not your wisest course of action. Maybe you should go over and apologize to her? Blame it on the vile day you had at work?”

“No. No. She is a slut – or worse. I shouldn’t have called her out on her immoral behavior, but I’m not apologizing to that woman.”

He was quiet for a moment and then held out his hand to her. “I have an idea. Why don’t you change into your housedress and I’ll make tea for us? After dinner I’ll rub your back until you forget all about the hard day? How does that sound?”

Sabine pulled the whistling kettle from the burner and gave Werner a soft smile. “You are so good to me, even when I don’t deserve it. I’ll think about apologizing.”

Werner kissed her on the forehead and then shooed her toward the bedroom. “Go.”

Sabine hugged him before she walked upstairs to change into her robe. A hot tea and an early night sounded like the perfect remedy for the awful day she’d had.