Franfurt

"Annemarie" she said, extending her hand to Jack. He took it and felt a slight shock in her touch. He hesitated, then gave her his name in return, suddenly mesmerized by her eyes, which were some kind of blue he didn't think he had ever seen before. They were also unmistakably feminine eyes, the kind that let you know instantly the sex of their owner without seeing anything else about her.

"You're an American?" she asked, knowing the answer would be yes. Jack acknowledged that he was, and added that he was in the USAF, stationed nearby at Rhein-Main, which he thought she probably also could have guessed, although Jack had been told since arriving in Germany that he looked more German than most Germans. One person even went so far as saying he looked like he stepped out of an Aryan poster.

Jack asked Annemarie about herself, and she said she was originally from a small German village, but no longer felt she fit in there. She said she would be in Frankfurt for a while, but wasn't sure how long her visit would last. During the course of the conversation Jack learned she was staying in a hotel, but not the one in which the bar was located.

Jack wasn't sure how Annemarie managed to divulge so little information about herself without seeming purposefully mysterious, but she did. He guessed she was about twenty-five years old, making her slightly older than he, but she gracefully avoided his efforts to learn more about her, and he soon realized she was almost solely intent on learning more about him, and on revealing very little about herself.

Seeing that her drink was almost gone, Jack offered to buy his new acquaintance another, and she accepted. They continued talking, mostly about him, despite his best efforts to turn the conversation in a direction where he could learn more about her. She was really good at avoiding questions she didn't want to answer.

Eventually Annemarie said she had to go, and declined Jack's offer to see her to her hotel safely. She thanked him for his concern, and for the drink, and said it had been nice meeting him. She then left, leaving him sitting at the bar wondering what had just happened. He left after having one more drink, and headed back to the base, wondering if he would ever see his mystery woman again.

After a short night's sleep, interrupted by vivid dreams involving someone who looked a lot like Annemarie, Jack awoke to the knowledge he had to fly a mission that morning and would be gone a couple of days, with an overnight in Italy. Normally such a mission would be a welcome one, as Jack enjoyed any time he could spend in that country, but not at the moment. Jack's thoughts were on the small basement bar in Frankfurt, and the possibility that Annemarie would return to it soon. He suddenly realized the idea that he wouldn't be there if she did bothered him a lot.

After a long and boring ten hour mission, Jack landed at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy and spent the night in Pordenone, where he walked the narrow streets after dinner, wishing he was already back in Frankfurt. Another fitful night followed, filled with dreams about a mysterious woman he barely knew, which was something highly unusual for Jack. The next morning found him eager to complete his second mission and then head back to Germany, with every intention of urgently returning to the small hotel bar as soon as possible, and possibly another meeting with Annemarie.

On landing at Rhein-Main Jack grabbed a bite to eat, took a shower and changed into civilian clothes and headed downtown. It was getting late in the evening, but he couldn't wait another day to see if Annemarie had returned.

On entering the bar Jack immediately saw there weren't many people there, and Annemarie was not among them. He checked with his friends and learned she had returned earlier that evening and had asked about him, but stayed only a short while before leaving. Jack decided to have a drink and wait a while, on the off chance she would come back, but she didn't. A bit crestfallen, he decided to head back to the base well after midnight to try to get some sleep.

After another troubled night full of tantalizing dreams, Jack decided he would do everything he could to make sure his last meeting with Annemarie wouldn't be his last. He decided he would go to the bar every evening until she returned. Fortunately for him, she would.