A Time to Love and a Time to Die Page #5

-I understand.

Do you? Because you don't have to

offer me anything in order...

I know those signs by heart.

That's not why I offered it to you!

Heinrich. Come to Uncle Hellmann,

Thringenstrasse, 4.

I simply wanted you to have it.

But don't you see, I can't accept it...

Irma dead, Mother.

Are you Heinrich?

Don't bother to spell it out!

You just don't want me so...

I'll go back.

Maybe you are Otto?

Otto, we are at

the primary school.

Ernst.

-For God's sake...

-Go away! Let him alone.

I want you so much I ache.

Anything from them?

No. They didn't know

I was coming home.

There must be a better way than this

to find someone.

Not tonight. Tomorrow you can start

making the rounds.

There ought to be a record of them

somewhere. If they're still alive.

Elisabeth.

Well, goodnight.

Ernst!

B?ttcher. Herman B?ttcher.

-Be...

-B?ttcher!

There is no B?ttcher! Next!

What do you mean there is

no B?ttcher? What am l? A cucumber?

Morning!

Good morning, and start talking.

Next!

I'd like to know what my uniform's

been up to all night.

Gr?ber. Paul and Marie. Worked

in the tax office. 1 8 Hakenstrasse.

How about lending it to me a while

longer? I want to take it to a wedding.

Deller, Glassmann...

Nothing but bedlam.

-Whose?

-Mine.

The filing system,

everything that wasn't burned

Schilling...

Leave the bottle where it is, Schilling.

Some other time. Got the...

those blockheads in the Fire Department

ruined with water.

You'd think they would show

some respect for important records.

Gr?ber. Paul and Marie.

-Where are you going?

-I'm leaving.

Yes! Where are they?

You needn't shout.

1 8 Hakenstrasse is all I have.

He's found his beloved, Alma.

What luck, B?ttcher!

Where did you find her?

-Try the missing person section.

-I've been there.

On the street.

Then the food ration office,

if they're alive, they've got to eat!

She was simply standing there.

I've been there too. And the Red Cross

and the hospital.

I'd been running through

twenty villages looking for her.

What did you say when you saw her?

It's closing time.

Come back tomorrow.

I didn't recognise her.

I just passed her by

and suddenly a voice said, "Herman?

Skinny women, skinny women,

"Don't you know me?"

ask them a question

you're in for a strafing.

How could I be expected

to recognise a woman

It's the same every place, Gr?ber.

Nobody knows anything.

who once was a proud 200 pounds

Almost used up my whole furlough

looking for my wife.

and now is a measly 1 1 2?

I'm just starting.

You're the most ungrateful creature

I've ever seen.

Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.

-How about a little strategy?

-Strategy?

Who ever heard of loving

a woman by the ton? You deserve...

Whenever you ask for your parents,

why don't you ask for my wife too?

I deserve after two years at the front,

my wife as she used to be.

-I'll do the same.

-All right.

But she's alive, you dope,

you can fatten her up again.

See, that way we can cover double

territory. Her name is Alma.

You better write this down.

How? With what?

Alma B?ttcher.

With only five days left

of my furlough? How?

Excuse me.

I love my wife, but I needed all of her.

Oh, skinny, skinny!

Now take a look at Alma!

Some woman, eh? Built like

a brewery horse and twice as strong!

Goodbye.

All solid muscle.

Fightin' or lovin', the house shook!

Pictures fell off the wall!

Only reason I joined the Army

was to rest up.

Think of it. A woman like that

waiting for me somewhere,

(Panting)

and I spend my nights

playing cards down at the infirmary

I know I'm late. I'm sorry.

But I wasn't satisfied just getting

a day off

with a bunch of ugly soldiers.

I asked for a week. Of course,

the answer was no! What's wrong?

Hey, you got some place to stay?

They told me down at

the District Military Office

This.

to report to the barracks

for bombed out men on leave.

To save time I got the applications.

They require full information...

That's where I am. Come on,

I'll get you to the barrack's infirmary.

-The food's better down there.

-But there's nothing wrong with me.

There's nothing wrong with me.

I happen to know an orderly.

...about our families.

He can get you in without even seeing

a doctor. Might cost some cigarettes...

Our families? I see.

A doctor! Doctor Kruse,

he's been treating my mother for years.

And because my father's in a camp

you think that...?

He's sure to know where she is.

They may check the Gestapo records.

I'll meet you at the barracks later.

If you're brought to their attention,

someone may get a dangerous notion.

Those things happen.

I know they do.

Ernst, I want to go through with it.

You're not afraid?

No.

Only, don't ask me why

my hands are shaking.

(Doorbell)

Yes?

-ls the Doctor at home?

-Doctor Kruse no longer practises.

Well can I see him anyway please?

I only want to ask him...

Doctor no longer lives here.

But that's his name plate.

Take a seat, please.

Oh, well. That should have been

taken down long ago.

Who is it?

Frau Lieser, is there someone for me?

Elisabeth!

You are Elisabeth Kruse, aren't you?

What is it you want?

Well, I don't want to disturb

anybody, but...

Go out on the corridor

and watch me from there.

Well, your father was...

Oh, it's about my...

Come in.

If you see me lay my cap down,

leave at once.

Don't go home.

(Door slams shut)

Go to the Jahnplatz Art Museum,

Professor Pohlmann lives right behind it.

Wait for me there.

-But Ernst...

-Please, do as I say.

I do know you.

Didn't you go to high school here?

-Gr?ber.

-Yes.

Yes, I'm Ernst Gr?ber.

Your applica... What are you staring at?

Haven't you ever seen a glass eye?

Ernst Gr?ber, of course.

Oh, it's been years.

Yes, but...it's a different colour

from the other. It's blue.

At least seven.

I didn't really recognise you either.

It's not blue, it's brown.

My real eye is blue.

Just guessed. You've changed so much.

I broke the other one this morning

and had none to replace it.

Frauline Kruse! Aren't you ashamed?

I had to borrow this brown one.

Entertaining a man in your room!

Where is Frauline Kruse?

The nerve! The nerve!

She had to step out for a moment.

Everything's all right, isn't it?

Who is that crocodile?

I'll ask the questions.

Is she the daughter

of Doctor Bernhard Kruse?

An official tenant.

Bombed out of her own place

and put here by the authorities.

-Yes, but she...

-But what?

Nothing.

They moved in three more since.

Doctor Kruse doesn't practise anymore.

Talked too much, didn't he?

Don't you have anything to say about it?

I was told I should be happy

I'm allowed to have this room for myself.

Well, he did.

But he saved this eye for me.

She's a member of

the Women's Corps of the Party.

We'll say he's retired.

I suppose that gives her special rights.

According to the official version, he is.

When do you want to get married?

She'll probably come back to listen.

As soon as possible.

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