Posted by BDMHistorian

Chapter 9
"Winds blow, Ships sail..."

The camp chronicle in the day room had grown by a picture again, but this one was twice as big as the others to make sure it was known it was especially important. It depicted the departure of the Americans. In a big black car stood Maud, holding Nurmi the giraffe in her arm, which had been festively given to her as a goodbye present; Mr. Pitt waved his plaid travel cap; the Jungmaedel waived with their handkerchiefs, and in the foreground was Kathrin with a huge white envelope on which was written, "For the Heidersdorf Jungmaedel" in red writing.

There was something special about the envelope. Mr. Pitt had given it to Kathrin in the last minute, before climbing into his car. Afterwards, Kathrin had opened it in front of all the Jungmaedel and inside was -- a brand new 100 Mark note!

A hundred Mark did the Heidersdorf Jungmaedel suddenly have at their disposal, and they could use the money in any way they wanted. "We'll go on a trip for that," Kathrin said and after lots of detailed and excited conferences, it was decided that it would be best to take a trip to the Baltic. None of the Jungmaedel had ever been to the see and it wasn't too far, especially not for people who had that much money. The Heidersdorf train made a straight trip to the sea.

And so, one morning, they had gotten on a train -- and now they'd arrived. They stood on the very front dune between the thin grass and looked with awe onto the wide blue water, the smoke from a ship at the horizon, and the surf which rolled with white foam tips onto the beach.

They let the warm sand run through their fingers which was so fine, white, and clean, and listened to the monotone sloshing of the water that followed them everywhere -- to the fishermen's houses, to the nets hung up to dry, to the boats that lay on the beach with rolled up brown sails. You could swim here, too, and Shorty had even found a dead fish. But it looked gross, so they buried it in sand.

But the best was yet to come. With a real fishing boat they were going to head onto the sea, and Inge was already playing all the sea shanties she knew on her harmonica. "The sea's a bit rough today," said the fisherman when Kathrin was talking to him about the price. "The li'l ones are gonna get seasick, Miss."

But he was wrong about the Berlin Jungmaedel! "Us, seasick? No way!" they explained so energetically he had to laugh: "Well, then let's go. But no more than half an hour for the trip!" -- Okay then, half an hour. Good. Twenty Jungmaedel at a time fit into the boat, so five trips had to be made. The first three times, Liese wanted to be on board, the last two Kathrin.

The others had meanwhile come up with a great challenge. They would inspect each boatload that returned carefully. If someone had gotten seasick, she was a no-good coward and would be laughed at. So now it had become a matter of honor to be seaworthy. Shorty was already in line for the first trip. She stood at the bow of the boat, beaming. "To the lords of the see! Long live piracy!" she sang loudly and slightly off key.

Irm was part of the second boatload. The first trip had already turned and was getting closer already. Then she felt someone tug on her skirt. It was Ellie. "I want to go with you," she said.

"You?" Irm wasn't exactly thrilled. Ellie was guaranteed to not be seaworthy. She always did badly no matter what. Irm remembered the sports festival they'd held on a Sunday morning for the Heidersdorf farmers, and the relay around the lake. Irm's group would've won, if it hadn't been for the fact that Ellie had been impossible about the bin that was to be crawled through, so that she took three times as long as anyone else. For the spectators, that had been great fun. For the participants -- no, Ellie should be in another boat!

But as if she had guessed what Irm was thinking, Ellie started, "You don't need to think I'll get seasick -- I won't!" -- "That's what you say!" Irm was upset. Ellie could get really annoying. "But you can't know for sure!" -- "Can too," Ellie said so serious that Irm was surprised. "I know for sure, and you can trust me!" -- "Hmmm," Irm thought. Maybe Ellie did know. "Then hurry up," she said, because the boat was just now anchoring on the pier.

It turned out to be a great trip. The boat danced atop the waves for a bit, then it was so deep down that you could only see the waves. The wind was so strong, it nearly took your breath, the sun glistened on the top of the waves, and white seagulls circled the boat.

Only when the boat turned around for the trip back, Irm thought to turn around and check on Ellie. She was sitting quietly on her spot and looked extremely pale. Irm slid from her seat and sat next to her on the narrow bench. "So now you're sick after all," she said a bit condescending. "No," Ellie said with unusual pep. "Not at all. What makes you think that? -- Let's join in the song, shall we?" Just then, the others had started a song.

"You can't fool me," Irm thought, but she liked that Ellie was able to pull herself together so well. -- But when they got closer to the beach and hit the heavy surf, Ellie suddenly leaned deeply over the side. But when she came back up, she was very pale. After all! "Is it bad?" Irm asked sympathetically. But Ellie grit her teeth: "Is what bad? What do you want? Don't look at me like that!" -- And then she sang like the others, "Winds blow, ships sail far into a foreign land…" and stomped the rhythm to it with her feet.

"She's quite alright, that Ellie," Irm thought. She looked around. None of the others had noticed a thing. And she would make sure nobody else would either. -- Through a row of waiting and nosy Jungmaedel they walked ashore. "Ellie," Shorty squeaked, "I bet she's seasick!" -- "No," said Ellie. -- "No," said everyone else, too.

She was very pale, but everyone only noticed just now. But she'd sang along with them and had been having fun. Honest.

Shorty was still not quite convinced. "Listen," she said to Irm, "that can't be true. Especially since she's looking like that." -- "You heard yourself what everyone said," Irm said shortly. "And besides, I was sitting next to her the entire time -- I'd have noticed." -- "Strange," Shorty shrugged, but she left Ellie alone and that was what was important.

The next two trips, Kathrin went along. "Irm," she said when the Jungmaedel walked into the boat one after the other, "you need to watch Tramp for me. I can't take him on the boat and I think he'd like staying with you best."

Irm was very proud. She even thought it wasn't necessary when Kathrin leashed Tramp. He's stay with her; after all, he was real friendly and even wagged his tail a bit. But as soon as the boat left land, Tramp was no longer interested in any friendship. He made a great jump into the water to swim after Kathrin. Irm had to grab his collar or he'd have knocked her off her feet.

He looked angrily at her from the corner of his eyes and growled quietly. That was meant to mean: "Let me go, can't you see I have to run to Kathrin!" -- "You can't go now," Irm said. "You have to stay here with me, and we both have to wait for her to get back."

Tramp seemed to give in to the unavoidable. But he stood completely still on the beach and waited. Every wave that hit the land sloshed across his paws. Actually, he couldn't stand that at all; he found the sea quite scary because he'd gotten a nose full of salt water at his first attempt at swimming. But now nothing mattered to him. He didn't want anything other than being where Kathrin was.

"Tramp," said Irm, "Don't be so stupid. They'll be right back, really, you can trust me." Tramp usually understood everything he was told, but now he didn't listen at all. Irm pulled him back onto dry land by the collar and sat down in the sand. Then he sat down, stuck his head deep under her blue Jungmaedel skirt, and didn't move again. Inge and Christel came near and talked to him. Shorty petted him. But he didn't even wag his tail. Everyone felt sorry for him but there was nothing they could do.

When the boat turned around out there and started to come closer, Irm stood up. She took the dog by the leash and walked behind the dune with him. He shouldn't be happy when Kathrin came back snow, since she was just about to go off again.

Tramp trotted along, but his ears hung sadly -- both of them, this time -- and he had his tail tucked between his legs. Irm walked between the dunes with him until she thought it was about time the last trip was over. Then they slowly walked back to the beach. When they'd reached the pier, the boat was just docking. Tramp suddenly stood stock still, both ears standing up, then ripped the leash from Irm's hands and ran howling loudly to the beach.

When Irm reached Kathrin, who was talking to the fisherman, Tramp was jumping up on her, around her, turned around himself, and did all sorts of other weird things out of joy. Kathrin petted his smooth head and patted the fur so that he squeaked happily. All the fear of the last hour was forgotten, but he didn't leave Kathrin's side for the rest of the afternoon.