BON COURAGE (GOOD COURAGE) // SHORT STORY BY SANDRA PETRINOVIC
During the Second World War swing and jazz had become the rage, so to help ease the heartache and tension that war brought, musicians obliged the French people with good music. Perhaps also to ease the burden of pain during this time the bars were frequented by the Parisians to enjoy the soulful sounds of jazz or the energetic sway of swing.
Genevieve Laurent a budding saxophone student dreamed to play in France. She felt the more she practiced the better she would become and what better place to do this is, but out on the exotic streets of her beloved city; Paris.
One Saturday afternoon Genevieve stood below the Eiffel Tower with her saxophone in hand and watched the passerby’s, one by one the onlookers stopped, enticing her to play. Genevieve put her instruments mouthpiece to her lips and blew; the smoothest blues ever, sounded out of the rounded bell of her sax. The gathering crowd swayed and toe tapped to the mellow music, the smooth beat hypnotic in the warm weather encouraged Genevieve to carry on playing. The crowd was soon forced to move by the Nazis and Genevieve was asked to show her music permit. “Please sir I do not have a permit, I was not aware. Please let me know how does one obtain a permit?” She begged. The Nazi’s weren’t prepared to listen and Genevieve was subsequently handcuffed and thrown in prison.
After dinner families gathered in the lounge huddled around the radio, so they could listen to their favourite story or music program, and in between these programs a news bulletin would bring you up to speed on the raging war. As the war progressed Germans eventually used the radio as a means of propaganda to enhance and mislead the nation and Radio-Paris was used to their advantage.
“We need to help the Parisians form a new Radio station, and this medium would enable us to send out coded messages to the Resistance in France.” Pointed out Mike Noel a senator on the committee in the UK, and so a new radio station was born, Radio-Londres become the new voice of the Parisians. The station broadcast out of London for 5 hours which was spread throughout the day, they were careful not to give away too much in when the next time slot would be and of course the station broadcast solely in French. All songs and messages that were written were sent straight to London for broadcasting, and recorded in secret on cassettes which the resistance then sent via airplane. Although Radio-Londres was solely a music station the French resistance utilized the station for any coded messages to be broadcast country wide.
‘Before we begin, please listen to some personal messages from our sponsor. Monsieur and Mademoiselle Pirelli sadly passed away in last night’s air raid. The Du Pont family gained another member to their family, a baby boy was born. Congratulations. Perhaps the farmers could be aware of any night watchmen in the area which could cause any inconveniences. Please be vigilant. Before we end tonight’s transmission thank you to all of our brave men and women who work in wonderful and mysterious ways to help us. Now on a high note we play out with a fabulous piece of music from an Englishman Benjamin Clark he is sings ‘Les Amis du Maquis’. The transmission ended with a date and time for the next airing. Radio-Londres become the life line to the people of France and of course the music always brought comfort to the people. In the distance an air raid siren went off. People running for cover to the nearest underground shelter and in a few of these shelters there were radio listeners with head phones on. A resistance member, Louis Dubois heard over the wireless how Genevieve Laurent was treated and thrown into jail. Louis turned to Bernard a close friend of his, “We need to help Genevieve Laurent.” So a plan was forged and set in motion for two days’ time.
Louis and Bernard posed as SS officers coming to collect Genevieve on orders from ‘the Fuhrer’ who requested to hear her play her saxophone. All the necessary documents were in order and signed by the ‘Fuhrer’ himself. freed into the hands of the SS officers and they duly escaped to an underground unused train tunnel. Genevieve Laurent was grateful for the assistance, “Thank you for helping me.” She cried. To Genevieve’s amazement, the tunnel was full of Parisians, there appeared to be at least 20 people, old and young. Louis explained, “We are helping these people escape Paris to England and once the war is over and once the situation gets back to some sort of normality then everyone can come back to Paris if they so wish. This is why we went to rescue you as well to get you out of France and you can come back when this horrible war is over.”
Genevieve tears streaming down her cheeks she smiled with gratitude “Please may I play my saxophone. It’s the least I could do to thank you for your kindness. Hopefully I can bring a little cheer to everyone in this tunnel.” Bernard smiled and said “Of course. Some of the folks down here have not seen daylight for a while and the music will relieve some of the tension.” Another air raid siren went off, the children whimpered and their mothers pulled them closer. Genevieve softly played her Saxophone, the soothing music helped draw attention away from the nightmare above the old tunnel. Bombs landed nearby and blew the entrance closed, but Genevieve continued to play to soothe everyone’s nerves. Once the chaos and dust calmed down, Bernard and Louis decided they could not wait a minute longer. “The time has come, we leave tonight; everyone’s safety depends on it. At the end of this tunnel is a hole that we bricked up. We did this to conceal the tunnel. Gather your children and elderly folk and make your way down. Louis has gone on already.” Bernard said. Louis rounded up 3 strong men, to remove the bricks to form an exit. Everyone climbed through the gaping cavity and the travelers found themselves on a pig farm. The farm owner Philippe
Martin was a trusted member of the resistance and he was there to assist with bicycles and knapsacks. The Knapsacks contained bread and cheese and a few bottles of water each. The French escapees were dressed like farm peasants, some walked with knapsacks and others rode bicycles. All carried some sort of farming implements because the plan was the peasants were looking for farm work.
The travelers traipsed over fields and roads to Anjou with Louis and Bernard. Once the group reached Anjou, Louis left Bernard and the travelers, their next meeting would be in Vichy – in the free zone. Once back in Paris Louis sent a coded message to a group of radical men informing them of a pending escape and to be prepared to ambush the Nazi soldiers in Vichy.
The travelers were apprehended by the Nazis on their trip to Vichy. “Stoppen.” Shouted a Nazi soldier, “Papiere.” He sifted through their papers, nodded his approval and waved the group on. A silent sigh rippled through them. The weary travelers took two days to get to Vichy. The groups reached their designated area in the semi dark, they took a few minutes to rest eat and drink water. A fence partitioned the free zone from the occupied area and half of the peasants hastily shoveled holes under the fence in order for the travelers to slip through undetected into the Free Zone. A troupe of Nazi’s soldiers marched by. The peasants stopped shoveling in case they were heard. So far so good and then someone sneezed. A German soldier heard this, swung his torch over the bushes, and saw movement, the escapees were caught. Louis anticipated something could happen, the radicals were hiding under leaves on the ground and in the trees. They threw stun grenades at the Nazis and once they were out of action the radicals assisted the travelers with ease under the fences and out of the grips of the German soldiers. The free radicals escorted the peasants to Vichy, where they met Louis Dubois. Genevieve Laurent indirectly became the spokesperson for the group. She hugged Louis and Bernard “Thank you both for your help in getting us out of Paris. Yes, we all love Paris dearly and one day I am sure some of us will return. I know I will.” By this time everyone had circled Louis and Bernard all nodding vigorously in agreement. One mom piped up “I will definitely return. My children must know where they come from and their heritage.” Louis smiled at everyone “I am extremely proud of all of you. You have remained calm and followed orders. Well done. But now you all must hurry. Here are you last set of instruction. Besides the documents you have on your person, these next documents are boarding passes for the ship sailing to England. The ‘Morning Star’ docks at Marseille at dawn tomorrow only for refueling and food supplies. The Captain is well aware of your situation and has gladly given us space on his ship. The ‘Morning Star’ sails again at sunset tomorrow, the ship will sail through the Gibraltar strait into the Atlantic Ocean and the ‘Morning Star’ docks at Portsmouth, this is where you disembark and find your own way up to London. I have given you each English money to assist with transportation. Remember no dawdling you still have a fair way to go to get to the harbour. Best of luck.” The group said their goodbyes and sped off towards Marseille.
Genevieve Laurent got to play her saxophone in the Radio-Londres studio. Her aim was to bring harmony and happiness to those that never got out of occupied France. When the war ended Genevieve went to a prestigious music school in London. After completing her studies and playing a final concert in London, she went back to France. She continued to play her Saxophone for her beloved city – Paris.
Author
Sandra Petrinovic is South African and an enthusiastic writer. She is married with two grown children and a beautiful granddaughter.
Sandra started writing children's stories when her kids were small.
She has also self-published two children's books, but soon realized that she would like to try her hand at other genres.