War Photographer's Notebook

In the slightly swaying buoy, as the game progressed, Wei Ran also said in German that only Julian could understand after enough preparation, "Julian, if this buoy eventually floats back to France, what will you do?" What to do with us?”

"Do you mean you and Phil, or do you include the absent-minded French lady and the Jew on the deck?" Julian asked without raising his head, as if he had focused all his attention on watching. on the card.

"Everyone, of course everyone." Wei Ran replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Like you, I am a bomber pilot, not a military policeman or a policeman."

Julian replied seriously, "I am not responsible for the trial, Mr. Victor, do you need me to be more direct?"

"Of course" Wei Ran nodded and said as if asking for more information, "if it's convenient."

"Like I just said, I'm not a military policeman or a police officer."

When it was Julian's turn to play his cards, he stopped and said very formally, "If the buoy we boarded returns to the French border, and if there are no gendarmes or policemen on the coastline, you can go wherever you want. None of my business.

If there are military police or policemen on the coastline, don't expect me to help you when you are arrested. Finally, to reiterate, I am a bomber pilot, and a bomber pilot only. "

"Well, why don't we change the subject."

Wei Yan took out a cigarette from his cigarette case, lit it and took a puff, "What if this buoy eventually floats to the British coastline? What will you do?"

As the question was asked, Julian, who still had not played his cards, fell silent, and Heidi, who did not understand German, fell into an inexplicable panic because of the tense atmosphere.

This time, after the cigarette on Wei Ran's fingertips was more than half burned, Julian played a late card and answered Wei Ran's question head-on, "I am already a shameful invader, and I will not allow it." I will become a shameful prisoner again.”

"Since you define yourself as the aggressor, why?"

"Because I am a professional soldier"

Julian's calm tone was filled with real pain, "I am determined to become an excellent soldier and an excellent bomber pilot. For this reason, I would rather wear the identity of an invader to complete my mission." dream.

The price I have paid is enough. Becoming a prisoner of war or betraying the glory of a soldier, or betraying my motherland, are not within the price range I can bear. "

Having said this, Julian also lit a cigarette and asked almost certainly, "So the Jew on the deck is going to attack me?"

"This is just a chat between the cards," Wei Ran denied with a normal expression while playing the cards.

"That means I'm overthinking it."

Julian smiled and asked, "Same question, Victor, what about you? What are you going to do if this buoy eventually returns to the French coast?"

"Run if you can, surrender if you can't."

Wei Ran said simply, "I can speak German and French, and I can speak both fairly well. It's not a big problem to hide in France."

"You lose," Heidi added in French after throwing a card, "Victor, you lose."

"That seems to be the case. Have a good time."

While Wei Ran was talking, he took out another cigarette and threw it into the lunch box in the center of the table. He stood up and walked to the ladder and climbed up.

At this time, Spear was still sitting on the edge of the deck, busy writing and drawing with Weifan's pen, while Phil was standing on the edge of the deck on the other side of the watchtower, holding a telescope to observe everything in the thick fog.

"Did you find anything?" Wei Ran walked to Phil's side and asked.

"No, nothing was found."

Phil put down the telescope and shook his head, "And Mr. Spear hopes to have some private space, so I can only come here."

"Is there any gossip you want to share?" Wei Ran asked in a joking tone, while handing the other person a cigarette.

"This place is so big, how can there be any personal information."

Phil took the cigarette, but he only thought Wei Ran was joking. Even so, he still whispered, "To tell you the truth, Julian and I set up a wife's mailbox."

"What? My wife's mailbox? What is that?" Wei Ran was confused for a moment.

"It's a German lunch box"

Phil said with a puff of smoke, "Although Mr. Julian and I belong to different camps, we have a lot in common."

"Tell me, what do they have in common?" Wei Ran asked absently, but in fact, he focused all his attention on Spear opposite the watchtower.

"We are both married and planning to have children. We have even prepared names for our children."

When talking about this, Phil's face could no longer suppress the joy and happiness, "This buoy means a gamble for those of us who are about to become fathers. The winner goes home to reunite with his wife. , the loser is thrown into a prisoner of war camp. It just depends on where the buoy ends up."

"So you set up a wife's email address?"

"right"

Phil nodded, "We each wrote a letter to our wives and put it in the mailbox. The winner is responsible for finding an opportunity to deliver the letter to the other's wife. How about it? Captain Victor, you want Write a letter to your wife?”

"I don't have a wife yet"

Wei Ran declined the other party's kindness. He couldn't imagine how horrifying Suisui would be after receiving a letter he sent more than half a century ago - if the lunch box mailbox was reliable.

"Speer just rejected my proposal too."

Phil spread his hands and said, "He also has enough reasons. If he wants to say anything, he can tell Ms. Heidi directly. Speaking of this, who were you eliminated by?"

"Ms. Heidi," Wei Ran replied with a smile.

"Your poker skills are so bad"

"My luck is not very good," Wei Ran said, imitating his opponent's behavior at the previous poker table.

"Come on Victor, there is no such thing as luck at the gambling table."

Phil waved the hand holding the cigarette, "Just like when we were in the sky, luck would never help us drop another bomb."

"Yeah" Wei Ran responded absently.

"Actually, that's what my brother often says."

Phil took a puff of his cigarette and said, "He is a firefighter. He often says that luck never matters in fires, and luck never helps him save one more person."

"I see that you admire your brother very much, right Mr. William?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Yes, Mr. William Harrington, fireman of Winchester."

Phil sat down against the outer wall of the watchtower and said sullenly, "He is two years older than me."

"Does he already have a child?" Wei Ran also asked, sitting down against the watchtower.

"Yeah, he's going to have a baby soon too."

Phil looked at the cigarette butt on his fingertips and said happily, "His wife, like Julian's wife, is also pregnant, and her due date is Christmas this year. She was sent to the safer rear more than half a year ago. .

The day after she was sent away, a bomb dropped by the Germans hit the roof of his house. It was a five-story red brick building, and my brother William took out a 20-year loan to buy it. But now it is in ruins. You will not believe it. My brother William put out the fire there himself. "

“So lucky”

Wei Ran spread his hands and said, "Mr. William's wife is not in danger, and I guess he doesn't have to repay his loan."

"yes"

Phil smiled bitterly, "You are indeed very lucky to think so, but our parents live downstairs, they"

"Sorry." Wei Ran realized later that he had made a joke that was not funny.

"It doesn't matter, it's not your fault."

Phil took two strong puffs of cigarette, "It is also because of these that I chose to become a navigator. I only hope that one day in the future, I will have the opportunity to personally drop bombs on the heads of the Germans, so that they can also taste the pain of losing their families." taste."

"It's time to let them have a taste of that." Before Wei Ran could finish his words, the hatch of the watchtower behind him was opened by Heidi from the inside.

"Sorry, I lost."

Heidi said apologetically, "Gentlemen, Mr. Julian, please let me ask you, do you want the card game to continue?"

"Of course, of course, the card game must continue." Phil stood up first, handed the telescope to Heidi, and then got into the observation tower first, climbing the ladder and sliding down.

"Mr. Victor, thank you for lending me the pen."

Spear also stood up with the support of Heidi, handed over the pen borrowed from Wei Ran, and said at the same time, "I also want to participate in the card game, but please wait for a moment, I will say a few words to Heidi talk."

"It doesn't matter." Wei Ran took the pen and put it in his pocket, turned around and got into the watchtower.

"Julian, why are you so good at poker?"

As soon as he entered the buoy, Wei Ran heard Phil, who had just released the water deliberately, ask in Latin, "Are you cheating?"

"It's just that your skills are too poor." Julian glanced at Wei Ran and asked in German, "Can't Spier come down?"

"He'll be down soon"

As Wei Ran spoke, he sat down in his seat, picked up the brandy that Julian had poured for him in advance and drank it in one gulp.

"In that case, let us wait."

Before Julian finished speaking, Spear also climbed down the ladder with one hand and climbed down with a little effort. After he sat down in his seat, the game started again.

"Can I have a taste of this?" Spear asked, pointing to the Coke in the box.

Seeing Phil and Wei Ran looking at him, Julian nodded indifferently, "Of course, you can open a bottle for me by the way."

"I come"

Phil reached out and picked up a bottle of Coke, opened the bottle cap with a gentle tap on the table, and then handed it to Spear. Then, he opened a bottle each for Julian and Wei Ran, who was responsible for shuffling the cards. bottle, and finally opened one for myself and took a big gulp.

"Whoever is eliminated first, how about bringing a bottle to Heidi for me?" Spear asked while Wei Ran was dealing the cards.

"Of course, no problem." Wei Ran and Phil responded in no particular order.

"Actually, Heidi is a tailor," Spear said, leaning on the edge of the bed behind her and taking a sip of Coke. "If it hadn't been for the war, she might have had the opportunity to become a fashion designer."

"My wife is a nurse," Phil said after listening to Wei Ran's translation and also took a sip of Coke. "Before joining the army, we worked in the same clinic."

"My wife is a music teacher"

Julian said in German that only Wei Ran could understand, "She teaches in Rothenburg, and we have an apple orchard."

Still waiting for Wei Ran to finish translating, Phil and Spear asked in unison, "Victor, what does your girlfriend do?"

"She?" Wei Ran smiled, "She is a businessman, a businessman who is keen on making money."

"Businessman? Businesswoman?" Phil confirmed in surprise before translating it into Latin, and while Julian translated it into French that Spear could understand, he praised, "It sounds like She is a special girl.”

"Is your wife Jewish too?"

Just when Wei Ran was about to respond to Phil, Spear also asked curiously. Immediately afterwards, Julian, who had completed the translation work, subconsciously asked, "Her family actually allows women to do business?"

"She's not Jewish, she's a mixed-race girl."

Wei Ran spread his hands, switched from French to German and continued, "She is just an ordinary person, not a noble, so there are no family restrictions."

Finally, he switched to English and said, "She is indeed a special girl."

"My wife is also a commoner"

Julian sighed and said first in German, "Although she is not a Jew, our marriage was opposed by all my family members. Those pedantic and conservative primitive people want me to marry a so-called aristocratic family. How ridiculous!" "

"Your girlfriend must be a very successful businessman, right?" Spear followed closely and asked in French.

"What's her business?" Phil also asked his curious question in English.

When Wei Ran switched three languages ​​again and again to answer the curious questions of these three men who were married or about to get married, he was eliminated from the poker table by them not surprisingly.

"Bring me a bottle of Coke for Heidi," Spear said with a smile.

"You are jealous that my girlfriend is so good"

Wei Ran muttered angrily in Chinese that none of the three could understand, picked up an extra bottle of Coke and used a bottle opener to open the lid, then climbed up the ladder to the deck.

After handing the Coke to Heidi, Wei Ran did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he brought the topic to Vanessa again and asked about the details at that time.

"So Vanessa was behind you at that time?" Wei Ran asked as they touched the Coke bottles.

"right"

Heidi nodded, "The rope between us is almost three meters long. Mr. Victor, can she really survive as you said?"

"Where's Mr. Spear?"

Wei Ran did not answer Heidi's question, but continued to ask, "Spier is between the two of you?"

"Of course not." Heidi shook her head, "He is in front of me, and the rope between us is also only about three meters long."

"I'm very curious about something," Wei Ran said pretending to be confused, while secretly wondering, could it really not be the rope that Spier cut?

"What's going on?" Heidi asked Wei Ran, who was selling things off.

"How do you remember the length of the rope so clearly?"

"Actually, I am a tailor. Even if it is a bunch of ropes, I can know the relatively accurate length at a glance."

Heidi raised her finger and pointed to a piece of rope wrapped around the railing and said, "For example, that piece of rope is about 120 centimeters long after it is unfolded."

Hearing this, Wei Ran walked over and untied the parachute rope that had been used to tie the body, stepped on one end with his shoe to compare, and sure enough, the length of the rope was really only about one meter and two meters. According to his estimation, , I’m afraid the fluctuation is no more than ten centimeters.

"Your sister Vanessa will survive."

Wei Ran tied the rope in his hand to the railing again and said, "According to what you just said, Spear has been pulling you to dive to the bottom of the river, and you had almost touched the mud of the river bank at that time. At such a deep depth, Your sister will definitely survive."

Hearing this, Heidi took a long breath and crossed herself on her chest.

Just at this moment, the hatch of the watchtower was opened from the inside, and Phil walked out of it, saying with a depressed look, "I lost again, Julian's card."

"broken!"

Wei Ran realized something was wrong when he saw Phil come out. With Phil coming out, doesn't it mean that there are only Julian and Spear.

"Oh!"

Almost when his heart was about to sink to the bottom, a dull gunshot came from the buoy behind Phil! It's a flare gun!

"Bang!" followed by a relatively clear gunshot also came from the buoy!

The three people on the deck were stunned for a moment. Phil, who was closest, threw away the Coke bottle in his hand and was the first to slide down the ladder.

Immediately afterwards, Heidi also pushed Wei Ran away who was about to go down, and climbed down second.

When Wei Ran climbed down with the camera hanging on his chest, the inside of the buoy was already filled with thick smoke. Across a card table, Phil was using a pair of medical scissors, still holding it in his hand. A P38 pistol was pulled out from Julian's bloody abdomen, a flare emitting red light, thick smoke and scorching heat.

On the other side of the card table, Spear also held his chest that was stained red with blood. He took out a copy of "My Struggle" that was stained red with blood from his arms, and handed it to Heidi with difficulty, "Hai. Di, stay alive, I will definitely be able to send you to England, I swear."

"Spear! Spear!"

Heidi tried her best to shout, but no sound came out. Then, she looked at Wei Ran for help, who had just put away the camera, and cried incoherently, "Victor, Mr. Victor, help." Help me, help me! Save him!"

"Victor! Help me get rid of that damn flare! Otherwise we will all choke to death!"

Phil shouted at the top of his lungs at the same time.

Looking around, Wei Ran grabbed a German jug and shook it. After hearing the sound of water inside, he immediately opened the lid and sent it over. After Phil stuffed the flare held with scissors into it, he immediately buttoned it up. Tighten the lid.

Throwing the can into a tin bucket, Wei Ran ran to Spear's side. But within such a short time, Spear's entire face had turned red, and the blood overflowing from the corners of his mouth was also mixed with a large number of air bubbles.

"method"

Spear, who was holding Heidi in one hand, looked at Wei Ran and said intermittently in Hebrew with difficulty, "I've written it down. Please hurry. Please send Heidi to England, promise me."

"I promise you"

Wei Ran held the other party's blood-stained hand and said, "I promise you, I will send Heidi to England as quickly as possible according to your method."

"Thanks."

Spear showed a relieved smile on his face, turned to look at Heidi, and silently said the last sentence in French, "I love you, Heidi, marry me."

"I will, I will marry you, Spear, and I love you too."

As the tearful Heidi repeated it over and over again, Spier closed his eyes with satisfaction. The book "Mein Kampf" stained with Jewish blood in his arms also "clanged" and fell heavily. On the floor stained red with blood.

After looking at the sobbing Heidi who was holding Spier's body tightly, Wei Ran, helpless, walked to Julian's side.

"Victor, help me, what should I do? Help me!" Phil shouted in panic.

"us."

After looking at the opponent's stomach that was damaged by the flare, Wei Ran knelt down and looked at Julian, who looked calm, and asked in Latin, "Julian, is there anything you need us to do for you in the end?" "

As soon as these words were spoken, Phil, who had just given Julian a shot of morphine, couldn't help but tremble.

"You really know Latin"

Julian smiled hard and said, "Give me the last bit of dignity. Help me put on my air force uniform, and then push me into the sea."

After saying that, Julian looked at Phil on the other side, "Mr. Phil, the email address is our agreement."

"I remember, I remember!" Phil said reproachfully, "I will help you deliver it, I swear, I swear on my wife!"

Hearing this, Julian handed the P38 pistol to Phil with difficulty, "Friend, help me shoot."

Hearing this, the expression on Phil's face panicked, and the hand that was about to touch the pistol subconsciously retracted.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran reached out and held the pistol, "Goodbye Julian."

"goodbye."

The expression on Julian's face became calmer and calmer, and his eyes no longer showed any disguised arrogance. Instead, there was only relief and relaxation that was incomprehensible.

"boom!"

This buoy, which was filled with cries and grief and was only 4 square meters in size, heard the third gunshot, followed by Heidi's painful screams, followed by crazy curses.

"Heidi."

"Get away! Get away! Don't come here! Don't take away my Spear!"

Heidi, who had completely collapsed, screamed and picked up the flare gun that had no bullets at all. As if guarding a gold mine, she was horrified to guard Phil, whose hands were full of blood, and Wei Ran, whose body was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke.

"You executioners! Devils! Get away! Get away!"

Heidi screamed and pulled the trigger of the flare gun in vain again and again, "Why! Why! Why can't you be killed! Why!"

Looking at Phil with a look of pain, Wei Ran carefully emptied the chamber of the P38 pistol in his hand and removed the magazine, then placed it on the card table and walked over to Heidi's scream. In front of her, he pressed slightly behind her ears for a moment, causing her to fall into a coma due to a brief lack of oxygen in her brain.

He picked up the collapsed woman and put her on the bed. Only then did Wei Ran pick up the book of sin from the pool of blood.

Opening the blood-stained title page, Wei Ran found that the book had written in detail how to sew a huge sail using sheets, blankets and remaining umbrella cloth, and what to tie each corner to the buoy. Location. Spear even carefully drew precise illustrations to illustrate it.

Continuing to flip back, he discovered that two long gaps were dug out in the middle of the book. In these two gaps, there were also rings embedded in each. Under the ring, there is a letter written in Hebrew:

Dear Heidi, If our child is a boy, we will call him Benjamin. If our child is a girl, let's call her Vanessa.

Whether it's a boy or a girl, I hope they can...;

Wei Ran did not continue to pry into Spier's legacy letter to Heidi. Wei Ran gently buttoned it together, wiped off the blood stains that could not be wiped away with his sleeve, and gently placed it on Heidi's pillow. side.

"Phil, stop being dazed."

Wei Ran patted Phil on the shoulder, "It's time for us to end this tragedy, according to Mr. Spear's plan."

Hearing this, Phil shivered involuntarily, took a deep breath and said, "Yes, it's time to end this tragedy. According to the ending that Mr. Julian had already anticipated."