The Assault Page #3

- How do you mean?

Dodge it or check in? What should we do?

I'm getting another beer.

Are you having a good time?

- I'm doing my best.

Good. Though you're looking

rather shitty, young man.

Yes, I think I'll just go around the

square for a moment. Excuse me.

Hey, damn Steenwijk.

The registration bureau is that way.

Tonny.

Tonny.

Tonny...

- Hello, Mrs. Beumer.

Tonny, boy. I...

Come here.

Just look who we have here.

Anton.

You know:
Tonny.

How are you doing, Kees?

- Fine, Mr. Beumer. Thank you.

You too?

Do you want coffee?

We were just going to have our evening coffee.

Thank you, Madam.

- Please sit down.

Will you be sitting there?

That's not very comfortable.

This used to be my fixed spot when your

husband used to read with me. Remember?

Shall I help you?

- No, it's alright. It's almost done.

And the coffee was already done.

Why have you never dropped by before, Tonny?

It's the first time that I'm visiting

Haarlem again.

Oh, yes?

You're just as tall as your father.

I recognized you immediately.

We've talked about you so many times.

Say, he's very ill lately.

Just act as if you don't notice.

That you never came back before.

Someone was standing and watching at

the opposite side a couple of times.

Who was it?

- I don't know.

A man with an old coat

and a lady's bike.

Biscuit?

- Thanks.

Does Mr. Korteweg still live here?

- Him?

He moved right after the liberation.

Gone.

Nobody knows to where.

He didn't say farewell either.

Karin neither.

That was very strange.

Right, Bert?

Do you remember that the sanitation

department came by to pick up the fish bins?

Aquariums.

Those were terrariums, for his lizards.

- Yes, glass objects.

He was a very unhappy man.

After the death of his wife,

he came by a couple of times.

The Aarts people are still living there though.

And still pretty much to themselves.

They will never just come by and have a chat.

Just recently the Groenevelds asked...

they are living

in Korteweg's house now...

if Mr. Aarts wanted to sign as well

in order to get those weeds removed.

That bare and ugly spot

gives such a mess.

Where our house used to be?

I do understand.

Life goes on.

You are such a smart boy.

And so gentle.

You're just like your brother Peter.

Peter was just as gentle.

I saw that night how he still tried

to help that wounded man.

That bastard, that Ploeg.

And to us he always was just

as sweet.

Always such a good heart.

What are you going to do?

- Put him at Mrs. Beumer.

Better the old woman than us.

- At Mrs. Beumer?

Why was Ploeg shot in front of

your house?

It might just as well have happened

at our place. Or at Korteweg.

My husband always told me

that God saved us.

But then why didn't He save you?

And then your husband said: God didn't

because we are heathens.

Why your father?

I can still see him in front of me,

with his bowler and his umbrella.

And your mother.

They never hurt anyone.

Gherkins are like crocodiles.

What they must have lived through.

Your uncle did tell you that, right?

When your mother attacked

that guy of the SD?

They were killed like animals.

- Mrs. Beumer, I ehm...

Tonny, it's all so terrible.

I surely understand that you...

No, it's not that.

I was just...

Is this really the first time

that you are in Haarlem again?

Then you should visit the monument.

Monument?

Yes, it was unveiled by the

mayor three years ago.

Down the street there.

We really hoped that we would see you again.

My husband was still in good shape back then.

Didn't you get an invitation then?

- Oh yes, I think I have.

Shall I go along with you?

- Well, I'd rather...

Yes. Of course, Tonny.

You want to be there alone.

Bye, Tonny.

When he starts working as a houseman

after his Master's exam...

the distant winter of starvation fades away

more and more into the shrouds of time.

Nikita Khrushchev reveals

the crimes of Joseph Stalin.

During the same year:

Revolt in Budapest...

knocked down by

Russian tanks.

In Amsterdam masses of

people are gathering...

at communist institutes.

Anton's room is around the corner.

Here, I'll screw you up.

Communist. Dirty bastard.

Communist.

Hello, Ton.

Hello, Fake.

Wine? Beer?

Beer.

Student, I presume?

This chair sucks.

- Otherwise, it's highly modern.

Come, sit here.

You haven't changed a bit.

- That's what I hear more.

I knew it was you right away.

I needed some time.

I haven't seen your father that often.

What are you studying?

- Medicines.

I work in a shop of domestic

articles. Repairs and the like.

At Haarlem?

- Haarlem...

Did you think we were still living

in Haarlem? In Den Helder.

Did you come all the way from Den Helder to...

- Yes. Strange, isn't it?

How did you get into plumbing?

You finished grammar school, right?

After the war my mother was

put into an NSB camp.

I was sent to the

Bisschoppelijke Nijverheidsschool.

I'm not even Roman, god damnit.

What did your mother do then?

- She was married to my father.

When she was released, we were

lucky enough to stay in Den Helder.

I went to technical school.

- Why not grammar school again?

You know nothing, do you? You.

What are you really thinking?

My mother became worker.

From five till nine at the morning

and five till nine at the evening.

We got our food that way. My sisters and I

couldn't go to grammar school from that.

Now she's in the hospital.

One leg is already amputated, the right

one is yellow with brown stains.

Water is dripping out and they don't

know what it is, so they say.

There, are you happy now?

Doctor.

That's the difference, isn't it?

Your parents get shot and still

you are studying medicines.

But my father gets killed

and I'm repairing geysers.

But your mother is still alive.

And your sisters too.

Besided, isn't there a difference between

how they both died?

What difference?

My parents were innocent.

- My father was too.

I only know what was told to me.

- Exactly.

But if you see the difference between us

that way, I don't understand that stone.

Then you should just become a communist.

The communism

is the worst of all.

That's what you see now in Boedapest...

where the urge for liberty of an

entire nation is being smothered in blood.

You're just memorizing

headlines.

Sorry, smart doctor. There is a mass

slaughter going on. Better now?

Haven't you read the papers?

About the horrors that are committed

there by Mongolian soldiers.

What do you mean, Fake? Is it

time now to gas the Mongols?

No, bastard.

Look at that scum.

My father was right.

Everything they say about communists

now, he was already saying in the war.

And it's those damn communists

who killed him.

You defend them.

They knew all along of reprisals and still

they shoot him in front of your house.

And has the war ended 1 second earlier by it?

My family wasn't killed by communists,

but by friends of your father.

Are you saying that it's my father's

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