The sun felt warm, and its warmth did them a power of good, especially down here by the water’s edge. The leaves and grass were still fresh and bright with all the myriad hues of the season’s first growth, and the ground beneath their feet seemed to heave and tremble with urgent fecundity.

As Doll was soaking up the sun outside the house with his wife, his gaze fell upon two long borders planted with shrubs, which lay either side of the narrow cement path that led to his door. There was new growth sprouting in these borders, too, and the first grape hyacinths, primroses, and anemones were starting to come into flower. But welcome as this sight was, it was spoilt by a tangle of wire, some of it hanging free, some of it still attached to ugly wooden stakes, which formed an untidy mess that was an affront to the young growth, while the loose ends of wire, dangling where they could catch you unawares, made it dangerous even to walk along the footpath.

No sooner had Doll’s gaze taken in this untidy mess than he exclaimed: ‘I’ve got my work cut out for me today! That hideous tangle of wire has been annoying me for ages!’ And he fetched his pincers and mattock, and went to work with a will.

While he busied himself in the sun, he was finally able to see into his neighbours’ gardens again. He soon noticed a lot of unusual activity there. Wherever he looked, there were people running back and forth, lugging suitcases and furniture out of their houses and into sheds — or the other way round — and others wandering about aimlessly (or so it appeared) with spades, which they drove into the ground here and there, seemingly at random.

One neighbour ran out along the jetty and then stood still, hands in pockets, as if he suddenly had all the time in the world. Then something plopped into the water, and after the neighbour had looked around in an elaborately oh-so-casual way to see if anyone was watching — Doll carried on swinging his mattock the while — he sauntered back to his house with a rolling gait, as if deep in thought, and then promptly threw himself into another round of frenetic activity.

Then, all of a sudden, everything came to a halt again. Groups of people gathered at the fences dividing their properties and whispered conspiratorially among themselves. Large packages changed hands over the wire, and then everybody scattered again, looking furtively about them, intent on more secret business.

Doll had only been living at this property, which belonged to his second wife, for a few months, and as an ‘outsider’ he remained excluded from all these busy comings and goings, which suited him just fine. The fact was that most of the people engaged in this blatantly surreptitious behaviour were women or very old men, which gave him licence to dismiss it all contemptuously as ‘women’s stuff’.

But he was not able to enjoy his isolation for long, because two women, ostensibly friends of his wife, now turned up at his property. These women, whom he had never been able to stand, hung around next to him and acted all surprised that he had time for that sort of work on a day like this — when the Russians would be arriving any minute!

Dr. Doll had now been joined by his wife, and with a slightly mocking smile he explained that that was just the point: he was clearing the paths for these long-awaited visitors. The ladies inquired with astonishment if he was planning to stay here and wait for the enemy to arrive, because that was surely not advisable, with two children, an aged grandmother, and a young wife? The people living out here on the edge of town, at any rate, had all got together and agreed to cross by boat to the other side of the lake when dusk fell, and to hide deep in the forest and await the next turn of events.

Doll’s wife replied for her husband: ‘Well, we won’t be doing anything like that. We’re not going anywhere, and we’re not hiding anything away; my husband and I are going to welcome the long-awaited liberators at the door of our house!’

The two ladies urged them strongly to reconsider, but the more forcefully they argued, the more they wavered in their own resolve, and the more doubtful they seemed about the safety of the forest retreat they had just been commending so warmly. When they finally left, Doll said to his wife with a smile: ‘They won’t do anything, you’ll see. They’ll poke around aimlessly for a couple of hours, like the hens when there’s a storm brewing, picking things up and putting things down. But in the end they’ll just flop down exhausted and do what we’ve all been doing for weeks: just wait for the liberators to arrive.’

As far as her friends were concerned, Alma was in complete agreement with her husband; but as for herself, she felt neither exhausted nor disposed to wait patiently. After lunch she told Doll, who planned to lie down on the couch for a while after his unaccustomed morning’s labours, that she just wanted to cycle into town quickly to replenish her supply of gallbladder medicine, as there was unlikely to be much opportunity to do so in the coming days.

Doll had some concerns, as the Russians could arrive at any moment, and it would be best if they were there at home together to welcome them. But he knew from past experience that it was a waste of time to try and dissuade his young wife from some course of action by pointing out the possible risks. She had proved to him a dozen times — during the heaviest air raids, battling the firestorms of Berlin, under attack by low-flying enemy aircraft — that she was utterly fearless. So he gave a small sigh and said: ‘If you must. Take care, my dear!’, watched from the window as she cycled off, lay down on the couch with a smile on his face, and fell asleep.

Meanwhile Mrs. Alma Doll was pedalling hard uphill and down, heading for the local small town. Her route took her initially along quiet tracks, where there were hardly any houses, then along an avenue lined on both sides with villas. It struck her here that the streets were completely empty, and that the villas — perhaps because every single window was shut — looked unoccupied and somehow ghostly. Maybe they’re all in the forest already, thought Mrs. Doll, and felt even more excited about her little adventure.

At the junction of the avenue and the first street of the town proper, she finally encountered a sign of life, in the form of a large German army truck. A few SS men were helping some young women and girls to climb on board. ‘Come quickly, young lady!’ one of the SS men shouted to Mrs. Doll, and it sounded almost like an order.