"The Deserters" ( Excerpt 3)

Before the rains came in the fall and after the long dry summer, the water level of the Salzach receded every year and you could walk along the sandbank on the east side of the river.

Before the rains came in the fall and before the heavy-fisted clouds obscured the sun, they walked on Sunday afternoon along the sandbank on the east side of the river.

The children carried their wooden sandals and felt the warm sand with their toes. Their mothers walked beside them and behind them and in front, and stored the warmth of Indian Summer days. That was before the rains came in the fall.

This was a Sunday afternoon and although the morning had been brisk, the wind had died at noon and they walked in small groups of three or four or five under the sun which valiantly fought off autumn chills. The women wore light knitted sweaters over gingham dresses and most were barefoot in their shoes. The children raced like spinning tops between them in a never ending game of tag.

The children stood by the water’s edge and skipped flat stones against the river’s current. One, two, three, four, five…look here, watch this one:

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…yesterday I had one skipped sixteen times….I did… who saw it?…no-one…doesn’t count…show us now….go on….show us now…skip one sixteen times…ha….sixteen times…show off…prove it.

“Okay, here goes, stand back,. Gimme room…skip …one, two, three, four, and five…”

“Ha, sixteen times…lucky you made five…sixteen times, my foot!”

“I don’t care if you believe it or not, I don’t care. It was real flat and just the size and weight…there were no waves…and I had one, skipped sixteen times. I counted it. Lemme try it again…gimme some room…lemme try again…” Skip. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine…

“Pretty good, pretty good”

Before the rains came in the fall.

Before the rains came in the fall this was a great place for a picnic. Whole families, mothers and their children, would find a rock, smoothed by the waves all year, and spread their bread and cheese and thermos-bottled tea.

Out there by the sand bank they would eat. A little sand between the teeth had never harmed a soul.

“I guess you’ll have to go,” she said. “It’s one of those things….you can’t avoid.”

The boy had rolled up his trousers’ legs. He carried his shoes, on knotted laces, slung over his shoulder. He walked with a loping gait. His shoulders were drawn up. He bent down low and picked two pebbles from the sand.

“It’s so stupid,” he said and shook the stones in his cupped hands. His solemn eyes were nearly black and specks of silvery sand glistened in his black curls.

“I don’t know if it’s stupid. You know, your father, God rest his soul, he served his Country in the Great War. He was even decorated.”

The children’s laughter from the water’s edge…

“Stand back…watch this one…this is going to be a good one! Skip, skip, skip. Before the rains came in the fall. The children are still playing tag, racing between their elders, kicking up sand.

“You’re it! I touched you! You’re it!”

“You never did, you liar, you never did.”

“I did too, you’re it. I touched your shirt. I felt it. You’re it. I touched you, I did! Didn’t I Mom! Mom! Didn’t I?”

Before the rains came in the fall.

“Okay, so Dad served”

“Served bravely,” his mother interrupted.

“Okay, so he served bravely, and was even decorated. That was in his time and in his place, with his body and his...Ah...his mind. He fought his war.”

The stones rattled in his fist. He kicked his naked toes into the sand.

“It’s no different now,” his mother said.

“But it is!” he said, ‘I know nothing of his fight.”

“You know nothing of this one either.” Her voice was tired. “Anyway, what are we arguing about? Erich, you have to go. You’ve got no choice. It’s your duty. It’s the law.” For a second or two she closed her eyes. “My God, Erich, you’re 16, you’ve been drafted.”

Before the rains came on the sandbanks of the Salzach.