MORNING SERIAL
THE silver-haired gentleman, while giving every sign of attention to Dahl’s account of his new calling, signalled to the landlady for a beer for Michael, who shook his head.
‘No, really.’
‘Forgive me,’ said Paul. ‘I have not introduced my associates.’ Names, naval affiliations (bogus or otherwise) and present professions were supplied. Here around the table at Eutin, above the blue-green lake, Michael felt enmeshed in a network of ... why did the word come to him, rather than ‘comrades’, marriages? A web of intermarriage. They were corporately married, one to another, for life. But unlike the insecure bondings between man and wife, this grand male marriage consummated and bonded in blood could never be sundered. True to the grave, Paul Dahl had affirmed all those years ago here at Plon, in his drainpipe boots and the black glamour of his uniform, medal at his throat.
Not so many years ago, come to that, Michael reckoned up: thirteen years, yet what an external alteration. And what similarity. He had sloughed his skin, as the times dictated. Behind Himmler’s darling came into focus the altar boy with the white-gold hair. Isolde Dahl — was she really his child? Was that conceivable? He stared, trying to see Isolde in that face. He thought he did. But then again ...
‘If I am right,’ Paul was saying, ‘you are one of us?’ He waited for no answer but ploughed straight on. ‘You may like to come along to the grand reunion. It should be a moving occasion. We are expecting notable guests. I think you would be interested, Mr Neumann. And we mourn, you know, our glorious naval dead. Now, if you will excuse us. This is not merely an occasion for old chums to get together but also an opportunity to do business. We have engagements to keep.’
Michael remained seated in precisely the same position when the group had departed, watched by every drinker out of the corner of his eye.
The door closed behind them.
> The Element of Water by Stevie Davies is published by Parthian in the Library of Wales series www.parthianbooks.com