Crystal's Song Read Online Free PDF

consent, to assist the Germans to win the war. The commandant smiled. “No, I am no longer asking you to work in munitions. What I’m offering now is more food, including some meat, if your men will take up work in the sugar-beet factory.”
    Fred hesitated. He had brought his men thus far with the loss of only four. If they could not have more food, then disease, especially dysentery, would soon take hold. He therefore solemnly advised the commandant that, since his men were British, they valued democracy – which meant he could not give a decision on the proposal until he had consulted his men and a vote had been taken.
    Fred spoke first to Andy about the trade-off and both agreed that most of the men were still in their formative years and it was vital they be kept as healthy as possible … even if it did mean working for the Germans. Having explained their reasoning to all concerned, Fred and Andy both hoped for an affirmative response but none was forthcoming. The men were outraged and the majority refused point-blank to have anything to do with the proposal and even likened it to the bribe given to Judas! After a few minutes, however, Billy amused everyone by asking whether there would be any young lassies working in the factory, because if so he personally would be happy to give it a go. Fred shook his head. Undernourished as he was, Billy was still prepared to chase any skirt he could find. Billy’s wishful thinking seemed to give Charlie’s confidence a much-needed boost and he surprised everyone by asking if there might be any way of smuggling some of the sugar beet back to camp. A short silence followed before Tam replied, “Well for a bloke like me, who was trained in Henry Robb’s shipbuilding yard back in Leith, a bit o’ smuggling wouldnae be a problem!”
    Fred began to feel relief seeping into him as he realised the mood was gradually changing but, before he could take a vote, Andy asked why on earth they should risk their lives by stealing some of the sugar beet. And he was astounded when the chorus went up, “Moonshine! Moonshine!”

    They were only into their third week of working at the factory when the moonshining came into full operation and the immature alcohol was being flung over their throats with gay abandon on Saturday nights. As soon as the liquid hit their stomachs it exploded like a fire bomb and gratifying intoxication lit up their bleak world. Their lives were also enriched by the acquisition of a dilapidated wind-up gramophone and a single record of ‘Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree’, by the Inkspots, which had been secured from the guards in exchange for a flagon of the moonshine! The music, although not in strict tempo, was adequate for any dance – whether tango, quick step or waltz. The exhilarating rhythm seemed to capture the inebriated souls of men who were expert in ballroom dancing. They would eagerly ask any comrade who couldn’t dance, “Are you dancing?” and every reply was, “If you’re asking, then I’m dancing.”
    There were no apparent inhibitions in this deviation from normality and each man felt that by the time he was released he’d be expert enough to show Victor Silvester how to do that slow, slow, quick, quick, slow routine with absolute mastery! When those Saturday nights were over, the men would throw themselves down on their bunks and let their yearning thoughts turn to home and their loved ones.
    Tam naturally wondered how Dinah was coping and whether she was looking after his five bairns properly. Eddie thought of Betty and wondered if in the recent letter she had sent she was trying to hint that she too had been called up. All she said was, “I’ve changed my job. No longer in the printers. In my new job I have to wear a smart blue costume!”
    And Billy, for all his philandering, would fall asleep wondering if his sweetheart, bonnie Violet Mackay, would still be keeping herself for him. Of all the women he had wooed she had been the only