Philip and Denise part Two
On Friday I was at my desk at Prettyman's, worrying away at a forecast of growth prospects for light engineering companies in the East Midlands. There were good reasons for optimism in the short term as Britain, Europe and the USA rebuilt after the war, but the prospects for the medium term looked more uncertain, but a lot less reassuring. Some of our old German and Czechoslovak competitors were now behind the Iron Curtain, but there were signs of a coming upsurge of machine-tool production in Japan and Taiwan. On the other hand, there was a marked tendency for amalgamation and vertical integration, in particular among the manufacturers of hosiery machinery, with the Bentley Group looking particularly strong.
When the phone rang I was immersed in the evaluation. Denise's voice made me sit up and look around. Nobody was within earshot, and in any case we all had too much to do to eavesdrop on each other's conversations.
"Philip, you remember that I said that I wanted to do something special tomorrow night?"
I murmured something unintelligible, but she knew very well that I could not talk openly at work.
"Well – have you ever played any role-play games?"
"No," I replied, "I was never one for drama groups – choral singing and ballroom dancing were always my hobbies."
"I want us to play a game tomorrow. You will be a Gestapo officer and I will be a captured resistance fighter. You will interrogate me. We make it up as we go along."
I said something non-committal. My mind was in a whirl.
"Please Philip, do this for me. You'll enjoy it I'm sure when we get going. There is just one thing. If it all starts to get too intense, I shall have what we call a safe word. If I say 'Himmler', you stop whatever you are doing, and we take a break. Do you understand? I may protest and beg you, but you only stop for the word Himmler."
"Yes, I understand", I replied, wondering what on earth I had got myself into. "Good, Darling. Now you think of some exciting ideas for what we can do. I'll be home tomorrow afternoon and I'll get a few things ready. You come around about sevenish."
Denise: I can't see how I could have laid it out more plainly.
As luck would have it, the phone rang as I stared vacantly at my desk. An important call engaged my immediate attention, and I was caught up in unrelenting activity for the rest of the afternoon. It was raining, so I caught the bus home, since I have to saving my petrol ration for longer journeys. Later, over a plate of plaice and chips and a pickled onion, I started to think through what Denise might expect from me.
I thought that intimidation and fear was the key – I had to make her feel totally vulnerable and defenceless. I thought about the police and army patrols I had watched in Hong Kong, screaming unintelligible questions, prodding and poking with rifle butt or truncheon, and above all, slapping faces.
Many a poor sod of a Chinese I had seen after a severe face-slapping, with a mouth full of blood, feeling around for loose teeth. Obviously, I thought, you can have too much of a good thing, and I should have to go careful.
Denise: His instincts were good – face-slapping sets the mood of a game like nothing else – he was just too anxious not to hurt me.
What could I wear? Uniform I had. I hung on to my number 1's, and give them an annual outing on Armistice day as I remember my uncles, the twins Joe and Ted, killed in the Spring offensive in 1918. Could I adapt RAF blues into some semblance of a Gestapo uniform? Maybe not, but maybe the dress trousers, along with a uniform cap and white shirt and black tie might help get us both into the mood.
Even better, Sid Washburn, an old school mate, had done his National Service in Germany and I knew he had picked up some bits and pieces of so-called memorabilia, including a Nazi armband with the Hitler Youth swastika roundel.
What's more he had a pair of motor-cycle gauntlets I could scrounge off him and they would make really good props. I phoned him and arranged to meet him in the
Globe
in Silver Street on Saturday lunchtime. A couple of other props I dreamed up I shall come back to later.
By the end of Saturday afternoon I had a passable Nazi uniform, some props and a couple of promising lines of investigation, and I had been practising my Peter Lorre Teutonic accent. I also had a large bunch of flowers arranged and gift-wrapped by my friendly local florist. How they fitted into the scenario God only knew, but I felt good about taking them.
I arrived at seven-thirty on the dot, and stood in the porch of the house, putting on my uniform and gathering my props. The flowers I hid behind me. Feeling really rather foolish, I went to ring on the doorbell, but found a note saying
Door unlocked - you know where to come.
I slipped off my coat, straightened my borrowed SS officer's cap and Hitler Youth swastika armband and stamped up the stairs. Pushing open the door I walked into the bedroom to find that Denise had started without me.
She was lying naked on the bed, handcuffed to the bedposts. On the table beside the bed was a riding crop, several canes, a leather strap, and some strips of cloth and short lengths of rope. The ball was really in my court. She looked at me in my makeshift regalia and her eyes widened.
I stalked over to her.
"Now Fraulein, you vill answer my questions!" I shouted, and slapped her hard across the face, one side and the other with the gauntlets I held in my hand. Here eyes widened in shock.
I waited in silence for a full minute before slapping her across both cheeks a second time.
"Vy were you out after curfew?" I asked.
"I was visiting my sick mother."
"A lie!" I turned her roughly onto her belly, picked up the riding crop and brought it down with a crack across both buttocks, once, then again. Thin red lines leapt into life on her white flesh. She shrieked.
"If you vere wisiting your mutter, vy did you have three forged identity documents in der lining of your handbag?"