Beans

It was late summer, and I received the second package, a package from my mother and Grace.  I always got mail when we had mail call, but packages were a different thing.  This was only the third parcel I had received, the second in this camp, and it turned out to be the last one I’d receive before I’d be liberated.  I don’t remember Rudy ever getting parcels so he helped me open mine.  It was in perfect condition with a lot of things.

When opened, the first thing we saw was a bean bag in the shape of a frog with eyes.  I don’t remember all the things, but I know I wished that everything could have been just food and especially cookies, but there were no cookies.  This was a little disappointing, but not much.  I was happy with what I received.

Now our full attention turned to my bean bag.  It occurred to us that perhaps there was a message in the bag.  We very carefully pulled the threads out of the seams careful not to break them because I would sell the thread to the embroidery crowd.  No message was on any bean, and we knew this because we looked at every bean.  We decided we’d cook the beans on the stove in our room as soon as we could get some fuel to light a fire.  As it was getting colder at night, the Germans supplied each room with brickettes for fuel.  So eventually we ate the beans.  They weren’t very good, but they were filling.

It was September, and winter was coming.  I wondered how we would get through winter with only the clothes we had.  I wondered but didn’t let myself think of it too much.  I figured I’d just wear one of my ersatz blankets as a shawl.

Then, wonder of wonders, I received a coat, an army uniform coat from the Red Cross.  It was a little big but a blessing.  Everyone got something, some coats and some heavy jackets, but everyone had something for winter.

In the parcel I received from my mother and Grace was a green knitted warm cap so I was prepared for winter.   At this time we also received through the Red Cross thin light sweaters knitted by volunteers at Red Cross meetings. These sweaters would be nice as summer garments but were too thin and light for any practical use.  They came to be a great source of wool.  We had some guys who spent hours crocheting.  The crochet hook was made on the end of a toothbrush.  I had watched my mother crochet as had other fellows, and we figured out how to make warm heavy sweaters from the wool of those thin sweaters.  I didn’t go in for this, but two or three of the guys did and had a big business making sweaters and hats for customers.  I didn’t waste my cigarettes on this.  With my air force jacket and army coat I had enough and could concentrate on my D bars.

Every day I walked around the perimeter of the camp with my friends, in fact, several times a day.  We talked and exchanged rumors.  We watched the guards and noted any change. The younger guards were disappearing, and we were getting guards who were older men.  We had thought the older men would be easier on us, but they were much more stern.  It was really lucky that our radio group had been able to deal with younger men and get the parts they needed.  It would have been much harder with the guards we had now and maybe impossible.  We still had our news.  I wasn’t a reporter in this camp, but I didn’t mind, I still had my job as secretary.

©Joseph H. Harrison 1999