August 2005 The Megaphone Page 7
Be Careful Where You Sit
by Julie (Stout) Crim
Did
you ever think the seat you chose could get you into trouble? Well, it can. I
chose to sit in a chair once that was in the wrong place and at the wrong time.
Well, it did make an unusual and interesting memory.
During my years in England, I did a bit of traveling. I loved going to
Berchtesgaden, Germany, and staying in the General Walker Hotel was a luxury I
could afford no where else. The hotel was a popular American R & R
destination with incredible WWII history. Several unusual adventures seemed to
happen to me there over the years I visited. Today, I'll tell you about just one
of them.
The best way to travel around Europe is by train. At this particular time I
traveled with a group of six girlfriends, We'd taken the Boat Train from
London's Victoria Station, crossing the English Channel into Belgium and on to
Germany. We disembarked in Munich and took a bus to our destination.
Several days later, on a Sunday afternoon, we were on our way home. Back in
Munich, as we exited the bus it was easy to see the streets were dead, not a
store open. We walked and walked, having four hours to kill before our train
left.
Not finding a thing open we returned to the train station, tired and dusty. It
was August and it was hot! There were no benches to sit on, no chairs, nothing.
The train depot was old and dirty.
One of our group sat down on the dirty cement floor. An official came along and
motioned for her to get up. Well, we didn't want to get threatened with the loss
of our passports or arrested for loitering, so we ambled back down the tracks,
dragging our suitcases, to the one and only restaurant that was open inside the
terminal. It was more of a coffee house with snacks.
We knew we couldn't just sit, taking up chairs without buying a thing so we
ordered something to eat by pointing to it and something to drink. With two more
hours to kill before our departure we drug it out as long as we could.
Two German's that spoke a little English noticed we were Americans, six ladies
in our 30s. This was extremely easy to do. They sat down with us and we all
visited for a while before their train was called. Well . . . we guessed it was
called as none of us spoke German.
After they left we ordered refills on our drinks . . . doing so with hand
signals. No English spoken here.
I need to describe the room so you'll understand what happened next. It was a
large rectangle with chairs and tables. The door into it from the station was
very wide, like a store in a mall these days. Immediately to the right of the
door and inside the restaurant were stairs to the second floor balcony. At the
top of the stairs one turned and could walk along an open walkway the length of
the room. There was a railing of course and doors to what I suppose were
different rooms, maybe 3 or 4 in all. At the bottom of the stairs, just a few
feet away from where we were sitting, was a cord across the stairs and a sign,
in German. I imagine it said something like "Employees Only" or
"No Admittance."
We'd been there quite a while when a man came in and shouted something to a
waitress. Saying something to him, she pointed upstairs. He jumped over the no
entry cord and ran up the stairs, two at a time.
Every eye turned to watch as he banged on one door and then another. Finally,
the third door opened and he entered, closing the door behind him. We all could
here muffled shouting.
After a couple of minutes the door burst open and both men came out shouting at
each other. One took a swing at the other and they scuffled around. By now, they
were at the top of the stairs. The man from the office pushed the visitor down a
couple of steps, pulled out a gun and shot him in the face! Slowly, he tumbled
down the stairs, blood spurting everywhere and landing almost at our feet.
His eyes were wide open and he looked surprised in death. His clothes were worn
and old fashioned. We sat there frozen, not knowing what to do. We all wanted to
leave, but would that be against the law? We had just witnessed a murder! Oh,
goodness gracious . . . what should we do? Not a person there spoke English!
All kinds of things raced through my mind. Would they make us stay? What if they
didn't like Americans. This was Germany after all and there still were Hitler
supporters round. We had no rights there!
Eventually the police came. Flashbulbs went off and there was a lot of people
talking all at once. And then a policeman noticed us, sitting right there under
their noses. He said something to us, in German of course. I stood up and handed
him my passport. Funny, I hadn't thought about it at all, I just did it.
He said something to me using a sweeping hand motion to include all of us. I
nodded yes. Next, I showed him my train ticket. He never stopped talking but
using hand motions had us swept right out the door in no time flat! Oh, what a
relief that was!!!
Soon we were on the train and on our way home, back to merry ol' England. Later
we searched the papers but never saw or heard a word about the murder we had
witnessed.
Just another memory. Just another adventure.
JJ -- Julie
(Stout) Crim '57
Yuma, AZ