See you soon Caroline! Chapter 5 An Embarrassing Encounter

Chapter Five:

An embarrassing encounter

 

On the way home from school, Caroline heard footsteps behind her, and turning round, she saw John Bond hurrying to catch her up.

“This is a bit out of your way isn’t it?” she said curiously.

John was embarrassed. Seeing her set off for home, on an impulse he had followed her, but hadn’t had time to make up a good excuse for doing so. So, for want of any better reason he began to tell her what he had discovered last night about ‘ilot k’.

“It seems that it refers to a special area in the camp reserved for children” he explained.

“So it’s a sort of address I suppose? You know that there were other things on that bit of paper, don’t you? Well, me and Mr Shaw have worked out that it was a name of someone, probably a German.”

John resisted the temptation to correct Caroline by telling her that she should say ‘Mr Shaw and I’. He was particular about his speech, but felt that this wasn’t the time or the place.

“What was the name?”

“We’re not certain, but it could have been ‘Erick Rauch’ or ‘Eric Krauch’. You remember, those letters at the beginning of the line?” She showed him the piece of paper again.

“Well, there you are then. You’ve got a name and an address. What are you going to do now?”

“Tell my Mum and Dad I suppose. And then, if they agree, Grandad.”

There was a toot, and looking up, Caroline saw her mother’s car draw alongside. The window opened.

“Jump in! I got away a bit early today!” Then, realising that there was a boy with her daughter, she added “Does your friend want a lift too?”

Caroline was embarrassed. She wanted to say “No, he’s not my friend!” or even “No, he’s not with me!” but that seemed a bit rude. So she just mumbled “He doesn’t go our way!” and got in the open door without even saying “Goodbye!”

“Who was that then?” asked her mother. “You were a bit short with him!”

“Well, I didn’t ask him to follow me! He’s just someone from our class at school.”

“Did he want something from you?”

“No – he was just….” – she didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t the time to start telling her mother about the camp. “I’ll tell you later”

Mrs Weaver glanced at her daughter and wondered what was going on. So far, Caroline hadn’t seem to have been particularly interested in boys, but she supposed it would have to start sooner or later!

Caroline was furious with John for being there at that moment and causing her such embarrassment. She began to regret that she had allowed him to become involved in her family’s affairs. It wasn’t as if she even liked him! The journey home continued in silence.

Caroline helped her mother get the meal, and neither spoke of the incident again. When Dad came home, the atmosphere changed and it was clear that he was in a much better mood.

“How do you two fancy a camping holiday?” he asked, putting down a bunch of leaflets on the table which his wife was trying to lay ready for the meal.

“In a tent?” she asked anxiously. “I don’t fancy that!”

“Not the sort of tent you have in mind” he replied. “Take a look at this!” He opened out one of the leaflets which showed what appeared to be the interior of a very luxurious tent indeed. It was headed ‘Paradise in Provence, Aquitaine or the Languedoc’. “It’s our best bet after losing the hotel in Greece. We haven’t time to be choosy. It’s France!” he explained. “I fancy Provence myself. Good climate – the next best thing to Greece!”

Caroline put down the plates she had got from the oven where they had been warming, and looked at the brochure. On a map of France, there were three stars marking the three locations of the tented villages. They were all down near the bottom of France, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the centre.

Her father pointed to the star on the right. “Just outside Nice, Provence. We need to book quickly if you fancy it.”

Caroline looked at the one in the centre. It looked as if it was near to where she knew Rivesaltes to be. “What about this one?” she asked.

“Argeles-sur-Mer” her father read. “In the Languedoc, whatever that is! Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s about Grandad!” And she told her parents all about the concentration camp, and how it might – just might – be the answer to the mystery of who her grandfather really was.

 

That night Mr and Mrs Weaver were lying in bed discussing the day’s events.

“I’d no idea that she was doing all this digging around in Dad’s affairs” complained Caroline’s father.

“It’s not just her! It’s that Mr Shaw the history teacher, and that boy she’s got mixed up with as well!” said his wife.

“And Simon too apparently” said Mr Weaver. And then, as what his wife had just said sank in “What boy she’s mixed up with?”

“Some lad in her class. She says that there’s nothing in it. But you don’t know what to believe, do you?”

“This is a real mess! We’re going to have to tell her Grandad the whole story. I just hope he doesn’t get too upset!”

But in fact, when Caroline’s Grandad was told what she had been up to, he was surprisingly reasonable about it.

It was the following evening. Simon was still away on his course, and his parents had left Caroline at home and had driven over to Grandad’s flat to break the news. Philip Weaver thought it best if the children were not there when his father was told about the concentration camp.

“I thought you would be furious!” said Mr Weaver. “You always told me that is was something you didn’t want discussing.”

“Yes, but as it turns out, I needn’t have worried. You see, I didn’t want some unsuspecting family to find that their grandmother had had an illegitimate child all those years ago. And that perhaps this child, now grown up would be knocking on the door demanding money in exchange for keeping quiet about it.”

“But aren’t you upset by the thought that your parents might have died in one of the death camps. If it’s true, that is!”

“Of course – of course that’s dreadful. I don’t think I want to know those details. Let them rest in peace, whoever they were. But I would like to know who I owe my life to. And who you owe your life to, come to that. And Caroline. And Simon!”

Mrs Weaver spoke up. “So you wouldn’t mind if the children found out the circumstances of your escape?”

“This is crazy!” interposed her husband. “We’re just going along with this story as if it’s proved beyond all doubt. There’s probably nothing in it at all!”

“Let Caroline see what she can find out” said his father. “And why don’t you take your holiday at that place you mentioned. The camping site near the place where I might have been born? There’s no harm in that!”