Five Brothers and a War

The Bike-jacking

So when Bertus asked his father to borrow it one evening, he was happy to get his permission, albeit reluctantly. Bertus promised to be home before curfew. Bertus hopped on the bicycle and pedaled as quickly as he could, not wanting to waste a minute that could have been spent with Mary. He rode up the Margrietstraat to the short connector street, the Phloxplein, then over the Hoefbladlaan one block to the major thoroughfare, the Laan van Meerdervoort . From there, he just had to ride short two kilometers to get to Mary’s street, the Vogelkersstraat . He couldn’t wait. Unfortunately for them both, a couple German soldiers had another plan in mind. Before he could go 200 meters on the Laan van Meerdervoort , as he got almost to the Troubadourstraat , he was ordered to stop by a pair of rifle-wielding Germans. They told him to get off of his bike and then park it against the adjacent wall, as they said they needed it. Bertus’ head was spinning. He was replaying his father’s admonition to take good care of his bicycle. He was thinking as fast as he could, but he kept imagining what his punishment would be for losing it. He perspired instantly. But as he was about to walk away, a woman came by, also riding a bike. As there were two Germans, they would need two bicycles. So they ordered her to stop. She spoke German, and she began to argue with them, all the while holding onto her bike with both hands. The verbal argument quickly turned somewhat physical as one of the soldiers attempted to pry it out of her hands while the other was telling her they needed to have it. In the meantime, Bertus was sizing up his options, considering that the Germans were distracted. He weighed the potential consequences courtesy of the business end of a rifle. Death was one option. The other option might have been worse, as a consequences of his father’s certain anger and disappointment. The entire scene took place in front of two stores on the corner and Bertus quickly thought that he could grab his bike, make a running mount and get around the corner onto the Troubadourstraat before the Germans could react. He knew that the little street was only 50 meters long, and then he could round another corner. By taking a circuitous route, he could make his way home in short order. He figured that he had a good chance of making it, because at 16 years old, and as a star football player, he was in very good shape. Without wasting another second through inaction, he executed his plan. The first part worked exactly as he imagined. The second part, not so much. While he correctly worked out that the Germans would not be able to catch him, what he neglected to consider is that they only had to make it to the corner of the Troubadourstraat to be able to raise their weapons and then to commence shooting. Which is exactly what happened. Bertus heard the bullets as they flew by, and then heard as they hit buildings and windows acting as a backstop. In fact, the van Pelt family, only about 400 meters away, also heard the flurry of gunfire and wondered what was going on in their neighborhood.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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