Hi again,
First, I want to say, thanks for the comments about my story, 'The New Neighbor'. I'm sending another story to you in hopes that you will like it. I write a lot about Germany, since I live here. So, this story is also set in Germany.
It's another FE (For everyone) and I attach a 'Thatcher warning'. :-)
This story is of course amateur stuff and is written only for the enjoyment of DUE SOUTH fans. It is not intended to infringe on any previously held copyrights. Please don't distribute without my permission, ok? Ok...
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By Yvette Jessen
Benton Fraser sat by the window of the small train compartment. His eyes watched as the German countryside drifted by. He was tired, but didn't say anything. His superier, Inspector Margaret Thatcher, sat next to him with a laptop computer on her lap. Her hands worked briskly attempting to organize their two week itenerary. As the train pulled into Hannover, she looked over at him.
'I can't believe you booked the flight to Hamburg, Fraser,' she tapped impatiently on the keyboard. 'We're due to give a presentation on Canadian culture to a children's retreat in Frankfurt in only five hours.'
'I'm sorry, Sir,' Ben looked over at his superier, 'Someone had left a message on my desk saying to book the flight to Hamburg, so I did.' He looked over towards the door of the compartment to see a young woman carrying a large backpack and a duffel bag. Her long blond hair fell over her eyes, and she stopped at the compartment.
When she tried to open the door which led into the compartment, some of the people standing behind her began to push her from either side, and she was left pressed up against the door. Finally, she threw open the door and poked her head inside.
'Is there a seat free in here?' she asked in German looking from Ben to Thatcher. When Thatcher shook her head not understanding the girl's question, she pointed to the seat. This, Thatcher understood and she nodded at the girl.
The teenager laid her bags on the seat next to the window and sighed deeply. Finally, she attempted to pick up the backpack and put it on the rack that was over the seat. Unfortunately, the bag was too heavy, and the girl fell backwards sending the bag to the rack situated directly over Ben's seat.
The young girl had landed on Ben's lap and her face flushed. 'Excuse me, please,' she mumbled looking at him for the first time. She managed to stand up and sit down in her own seat. When she looked over at him and saw him sitting there in his formal uniform, she blushed and looked
down at her lap.
Thatcher looked up at her after she had fallen. She couldn't have been more than 18 years old, tall and slim. Her pale green eyes met Thatcher's cold gaze, and finally, she turned her attention back to the window as the train moved away from the platform. The young woman reached into her duffel bag, and pulled out a small book and began to draw sketches.
When Thatcher stood up, Ben followed suit. 'Sit down, Constable,' Thatcher said with an edge in her voice. 'I'm going to speak to the conductor about getting us another compartment.' She glanced over towards the girl who was still making sketches in her book. She glanced up as Thatcher opened the door, but immediately looked back down at her drawing. Once Thatcher was gone, Ben looked over at the girl, 'You speak English, don't you?' he asked with certainty in his voice.
The girl looked up at him, and finally nodded weakly. She was still embarassed to look him in the eyes. Especially after she had landed in his lap some moments before. Finally, she spoke, 'yes, I learned English in school. But, how did you know?'
He smiled reassuringly at her. 'You understood what my superier said. I noticed that you looked up when she spoke.'
'I've never been so embarassed in my life,' the girl admitted. 'I cannot believe that I fell into the lap of a stranger, and one who looks like he's in the Queen's Guard.'
'I'm not in the Queen's Guard, I'm from Canada, my name is Benton Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I'm here to give talks about Canadian culture to school children.' Ben offered.
The girl nodded, but looked away again. This was like a nightmare. 'You mean, you can't arrest me for what I did?' Her voice was small, but she began to show signs of relaxing.
'You mean, falling?' Ben looked at the wide eyed teenager. When he received a nod, he smiled, 'No, I can't do that, I have no jurisdiction here. Besides, even if I did, I couldn't arrest you for falling, it was an accident.' He paused before asking. 'What's your name?'
'Sabine Keller,' she answered finally managing to make eye contact with
him. 'Are all Canadians as understanding as you are?'
Before Ben could offer her an answer Thatcher burst inside the compartment 'The conductor said this entire train is full. We should have reserved tickets in the first class section.'
Ben looked over at his superviser, but said nothing. Sabine glanced over towards Thatcher, she had gotten her answer. She grabbed her book and began to sketch his face. If she was going to be on a train with him, she wanted to have a pictoral memory of him since he was so nice.
Seconds passed, and Ben stood up. Once he left the compartment, Sabine looked towards the door, hoping he'd return soon. Inspector Thatcher returned her attention to the computer. Sabine watched as the snack cart came down the isle on the outside of the compartment. Once she bought a cola, she pulled out a headset tape player from her duffel bag and put the earphones over her ears and closed her eyes.
Some minutes later, the compartment door was suddenly thrown open.
Sabine removed the earphones from her ears, and looked up. The small book fell to the floor when she saw Ben rush in, 'Sabine, they need someone who can speak both English and German!'
'What's happened, Fraser?' Thatcher looked up completely ignoring that Ben had adressed the other person in the compartment.
'There's a boy missing on this train,' Ben answered as Sabine stood up. 'The conductors don't speak much English, and the parents don't speak German.'
Sabine nodded and followed Ben out of the compartment. When they reached Monica and John Stevens, the woman was crying and her husband was trying to comfort her. 'Please, tell me your son's name.' Sabine said softly. 'I can translate for you.'
Monica looked at Sabine standing beside Ben, and back at the girl. 'You did promise to find someone to help.' She adressed him with a sad look in her eyes.
'Yes, Ma'am,' he answered. 'Everything will be ok. Now, tell Sabine, she can make the conductor understand.'
'Our son Joshua went to the toilet twenty minutes ago, and he's never returned.' John said still patting his wife's shoulder.
Sabine translated for the conductor. After he spoke to her, she turned back to Monica, 'Is there anything they need to know about Joshua? Does he get sick or lost often?'
'No, he usually has really good sense of direction,' Monica said with pride in her voice. 'He can't eat chocolate though, he's allergic to it. It makes him terribly sick.'
Sabine translated the information and the conductor spoke once more. 'He said that you should not worry, they will announce this over the intercom before the train stops in Kassel, and if anyone sees him, they will bring him to this train car. You must remain here, and try to stay calm.'
Ben spoke again, 'Is there anything else I can do?'
'Please help find our son,' John said.
'I'll go look for him as well,' Sabine offered.
Monica turned to the young woman, 'Thank you.'
She and Ben left the distraught parents and walked in the direction which Joshua had gone in. When they reached the door of the toilet, Sabine knocked and a man's voice was heard through the door.
'I'm sorry, Sir,' she said, 'but we're trying to find a little boy.'
'I haven't seen him,' came the gruff answer. Ben and Sabine made their way back through the hall looking in each compartment as they passed. Once
they reached the end of the train car, they saw a little boy about six years old. He was sitting on the floor near the automatic doors and crying.
The two of them approached him. 'Are you Joshua?' Fraser asked. The little boy looked up and nodded. His features looked sunken in, and his cheeks were wet from his tears.
'Joshua, what have you eaten?' Sabine asked kindly.
'I don't know,' he whined, 'But I feel sick.'
Benton and Sabine looked at one another and back at the boy. The wrapper to a chocolate bar was sitting on the floor by the boy and Ben knew at this moment that there was no time to loose. 'Sabine, you must find a doctor, quickly.'
She nodded, 'Take care of him, I'll do my best.' She took off through the door and began to ask all the people she could find if there was a doctor on the train.
Ben sat with the child in his lap. 'It's ok Joshua, Sabine went to get a doctor.'
'I want my mommyyyy...' The small boy wailed.
Ben looked down at the young boy. He didn't know how to take care of allergy attacks, and realized that when he got home, that he'd read as much
about it as he could find. 'Joshua, where did you get the chocolate?'
'A man gave it to me,' Joshua answered sniffing. 'I couldn't find my mommy
and daddy, and sat down here. A man with a large cart came by, and gave it to me.'
'Let me guess, he didn't understand you when you told him that chocolate makes you sick.' Ben smiled at the little boy.
He nodded, 'I didn't know it'd make me sick. It was white, and I only
remember getting sick from the brown chocolate.' The small boy looked up at the kind blue eyes of the man sitting with him. 'My mommy said I shouldn't talk to strangers.'
'I know, your mommy's right. What did your mommy say about policemen?' Ben asked deciding that it wouldn't be prudent to mention him accepting the bar of chocolate from another stranger.
'That they will help me if I can't find my mommy,' Joshua said softly.
Ben nodded, 'I'm a policeman, from Canada, do you know anything about Canada?'
The boy shook his head emphatically, and Ben stifled a smile.
At that moment, Sabine and a young man approached them. 'Dr Janson, this is Joshua,' she spoke in German to the doctor.
The doctor nodded, and sat down beside Ben and Joshua. Sabine rushed to relate the news to the boy's parents that he'd been found.
Within moments, the Stevens were there and the small boy was reunited with his parents. Ben and Sabine stood off to the side of the group as the doctor treated the small boy.
Once the doctor had finished, Joshua was asking for something to eat. Ben and Sabine began to walk back in the direction of their compartment when Monica's voice called out to them. 'Wait please,' They stopped as Monica reached them. 'Thank you, you saved my son's life.
I don't know what to say.'
Sabine blushed as Ben spoke,'You're welcome,' They continued walking back to their compartment. 'Sabine, you're a hero,' he said as they walked.
'No, I think you are,' she blushed. They continued to 'argue' about which of them was more heroic, until finally they reached the door of the compartment and Ben opened the door. The events seemed to have embarassed them both equally.
Thatcher was still sitting at her computer and still planning the itenerary for their trip when they came inside. 'Fraser, where have you been?'
'Nowhere specific,' he mumbled. 'Is that our itenerary?' he asked knowing full well that it was but only wishing to change the subject so he wouldn't have to indure her anger.
'Let me guess, you're now saving Germany from it's problems, Constable?' Thatcher began to type some more information into the computer.
'Well, uh not exactly, Sabine helped,' he said making eye contact with the young woman who sat across from him. Sabine began to laugh.
'Not exactly?' Thatcher parrotted.
At this moment, Sabine began to laugh out loud and closed her book. 'I don't know about that, you just saved the life of a six year old boy having an allergic reaction.'
'You went and got the doctor, Sabine, and translated for the parents.' Ben said smiling. 'You did more than I did.'
'You speak English?' Thatcher looked up at Sabine. 'Why didn't you address us in English?'
'You didn't ask me to,' The young woman's eyes twinkled as she looked over at Ben, 'yes, I speak English and today was the first time I've ever been put in a position to help someone because I could.'
'Then Fraser was right in his assertion, you are a hero as well.' Thatcher said closing her computer.
Sabine shrugged, pulled out her notebook, looked at Ben's completed sketch,
'I don't know if I'm a hero, I just know that I had the chance to do the right thing.' She focused her attention back down on the picture before her and began to sketch how she remembered the small boy Ben had comforted when she had gone to find the doctor. His picture, she managed to pencil onto the lap of the Mountie who sat across from her.
Some hours later, when the train arrived in Frankfurt, Sabine grabbed her belongings, this time with Ben's assistance, and they left the train together.
As they said goodbye and separated on the platform, Sabine stood for some time watching as Ben and Thatcher walked away. This was a day she would remember for the rest of her life.
The end.
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Yvette Jessen * starfrau@compuserve.com * Jena, Germany
August 4, 1997