"I'll watch the farthest one on the left. For ease, let's call it Zigzag. Maria, you take the next one — Hedgerow, and Mama, you do Slough," David said. "The best way to spot movement is with your eyes slightly out of focus. Don't look at anything, simply look. Any motion will jump out at you."

The sun was beginning to warm the day as they lay there sharing stories and looking out over the edge. The only movements from the troops were at Hedgerow and at Zigzag. Most of them appeared to be fishing. At Slough, the soldiers were too far from the river, so they did nothing but strip their shirts and lie in the sun.

Among the other movements were occasional waggons and automobiles passing along the road and many people out walking. Mid-morning a long freight train came slowly down the valley, pulled by three locomotives. "That looks to be a heavy load," he said. "Probably full of munitions from factories in the industrial heartland."

"It would save many lives if it could be destroyed," Maria said, "But how would you destroy it?"

"Destroy a bridge or viaduct as the train passes over. That would likely be the easiest way," he replied.

"But how would you do that? With what?"

"With dynamite or other explosives. The Army has engineers trained to do this. They examine the structure of a trestle or bridge and then determine where to place charges which will weaken the structure, not necessarily destroy it, but allow the weight of the train to finish the job and have the train plummet into the void, possibly destroying its entire load. If I were Fritz, I'd be guarding all the bridges, viaducts and tunnels along the vital rail lines. There must be saboteurs with thoughts similar to these."

They remained quiet in their thoughts and watching. Then they continued with their story telling until they heard the noon bell below them, when David said, "They appear to be getting ready for something. They're putting away their fishing poles over here."

"The Slough group is climbing up onto the road," Rachel said, "They're preparing to head back."

"Same over here," Maria said. "There's also activity in the camp, like the replacements are mustarding."

David chuckled loudly, "That's mustering, Maria, mus-ter-ing,"

"I knew it was something like that." She giggled. "Anyway, they're bunching together into little groups. Looks like six groups."

He handed her the telescope. "Here, take a closer look."

"Yes, six groups of eight and a leader, like the ones this morning, but six groups, not nine." She watched for a while longer, then said, "Three of the groups have unmustered, if that's a word. The other three are marching across the field toward the road."

They watched as each of the three pairs of squads met, paused for a minute or so and continued along. "I've been puzzling over this." David stroked his beard. "A German platoon is four sections, each with three squads of nine. They have four barrack tents down there. We've seen only nine squads, three sections. There's a missing section, three missing squads..." He paused to analyse.

"One section is probably on break for a day or two. Otherwise, they'd be working seven days a week. If my thoughts are right, we'll see some of the missing twenty-seven returning along the road later today. There may be some heading into town this afternoon..." He stopped again to reflect. "Did you see the men leaving the camp before the train went by?"

"Two small groups heading out," Maria said.

"One of the groups stopped to talk with the squad at the slough," Rachel added.

"So this explains the fourth tent, the missing section. We've learned some valuable information here this morning. We've done much more observing than Fritz has. Let's keep it this way. Let's continue to observe, try to confirm what we're thinking. Some landjäger will help me see more clearly. And some water, it's become rather warm here in the sun."

They sat and savoured the sausage, each looking down at all four posts two or three times a minute to watch for any change.

"The Platoon Lieutenant down there seems a weak leader," David mused as he nibbled. "He appears to be making it an easy job for his troops to keep them happy, perhaps to keep them from grumbling and complaining or he could be doing it so they'll like him. Whatever the reason, instead of having them perform the task properly and effectively, he's compromising their position, reducing the country's security and denying his troops the satisfaction they'd have from a duty well done."

After a few more bites he paused and mused aloud, "Leadership is an interesting thing. Some think it is bossing people around. But some who are placed in positions of authority are afraid to lead and they do nothing but watch the chaos happen around them as they blame everyone but themselves. Leaders should inspire people to work with them to find ways to best accomplish the task."

"That's you, David. That last one's exactly you." Maria said.

David smiled, then pointed. "Here comes another train, three locomotives again at its head. I'll count the cars as it goes by." They watched the train descend the low grade along the river.

"Forty-three cars, plus the three engines," he said, as the last car hove into view. "That's a lot of war supplies. I can't imagine the cost involved in this stupidity. People are starving, and instead of feeding them, they're spending fortunes throwing metal across a line to kill and maim others."

Maria put her fingers on David's scars and looked at them through his two-week beard. "I hadn't thought of your wounds until now. Guess we've been too busy with Mama's ankle."

"I've also forgotten about them, reminded only by the missing teeth when I eat."

"The jaw? Is it still sore?"

"It's background now. I don't notice the pain unless I think about it, so I choose to push it from my mind."

"That's the thing, isn't it? I've just finished four and a half days of abdominal cramping, pangs and discomfort. I chose to accept it and push it into the background..."

"Cramping? Pangs? Discomfort? What's going on with you? Are you alright?"

"Perfectly normal. Some women are near incapacitated with their monthly bleeding. Fortunately, Mama and I can work through ours. I push the pain and the strange emotions into the background. Now with my new school and book learning, I wonder if some of the pain might be our deeper nature suffering the loss of another egg which didn't make it."

"I hadn't thought of it that way, Maria, but that makes sense. There is a grieving — I often sense a loss when I bleed. I've been through it near three hundred times. Each time is strange."

"I'm a tyro at it." Maria paused to calculate. "Barely sixty times, but each time is so different. Sometimes I gush, sometimes I dribble. Sometimes I feel rather bland, other times I'm very low. I guess it has to do with what else is going on. This time, I was amazed at how high my spirit remained. I've never seen it like that through a bleeding."

"Emotions, feelings of security, feelings of being loved, a sense of being protected," Rachel said. "These all have a big impact on your level of comfort with the dramatic changes which are happening inside you. Inside you both physically and emotionally. There's a lot of change in such a short time. The end of one cycle of life, the start of the possibility of another."

"This is so enlightening for me. I've not before been this close to a woman — to women — to their inner beings. You two are so open, so sharing, such magnificent creatures. I love you both."

"There!" Maria said. "Four more men heading out from the camp, heading across the fields." She lifted the telescope and looked. "All in uniform, same as the ones this morning."

"We had no other clothes with us at the Front. When we fell back from the trenches for a break, we went into town in uniform. I'm sure this is the same with Fritz."

They watched the unarmed soldiers walk the remainder of the way across the field and up onto the road, then along toward Eggingen and disappear around the ridge. There was no other action in the scene below them.

"There is no need for three of us now. One can watch this scene," he said. "We know what is out there. At least we know what they're showing us. Now we need to confirm the incompetent display below us is not merely a ploy to give observers the impression the border is loosely guarded."

"That's another example of your careful thinking," Rachel said. "It hadn't occurred to me this might be a ruse. The incompetent leadership down there seems unbelievable, seems too good to be true."

"I'll keep watch here until the 1600 change, then we can all watch the new action. You girls go take a break, come back with tea when the clock strikes four. It's just about to strike one now."

After they had left, he lay again on his belly and began training the telescope slowly across the valley bottom, starting at his far left. He looked at each detail and identified it, then moved on to the next. There were a few things he couldn't identify, but there seemed to be nothing out of place or unusual.

He finished another sweep from left to right and was just starting back when he heard footsteps behind him, then a quiet voice saying, "I miss you. I've come to keep you company." He collapsed the telescope, rolled over and watched her drop her trousers and shuffle out of her shirt. He quickly telescoped.

As she knelt to begin undoing his trouser front, he caught her hands and squeezed them gently. "We have other things to do at the moment. We need to concentrate on activities below."

"I can sit on you and watch the valley while we play. I've missed you, David."

"I've missed you also, Maria. We've been a bit busy with details. We still need to be."

"I can see the whole valley kneeling here. I'll have the same view sitting up on you. Can we just for a while? I need a long deep massage after those days of cramps and pangs." She giggled.

A few minutes later he felt her tightening on him and then more tightly in a long series of pulses. She threw her head back and roared from deep in her throat, her whole body quaking, her chest heaving. She pressed her mound into him and ground it around, let out a few whoops and collapsed again onto him, kissing his face randomly.

"Need I ask if that was pleasing to you?"

"It keeps getting better," she said, still panting and involuntarily twitching. "I can't imagine anything better, but each time it is."

He rolled over with her and raised to his elbows to take a look below, tilting his hips slowly back and forth as he scanned up and down the valley. He began again to scan the three posts and the tent camp without pausing his slow thrusts.

After a while, he sat up and pulled her up onto his lap facing him and they sat gently churning and caressing each other between looks into the valley. They were the only action around until a train headed past, up the tracks.

"I wonder what they carry on the return trip," he mused. "Can't be much, only one locomotive appears to have steam up."

They continued with occasional churns, soft caresses and talk as they looked out over the valley. "Mama asked me how I could last so long doing this. She told me she used to get so sore from all the friction. I told her there's no friction, that you move within your own skin, and she immediately understood. She cursed the rabbis and the religion for destroying such a marvellous thing."

"I can't imagine how awful it would be to not have this skin. When Mama pulled it all the way back hard to show us how your father's was, it was painful. It was like a broomstick, and I understand how it would soon get sore for both. They must have started the mutilations to keep people from enjoying using them. What a horrible tradition."

"More horrible that it's done in the name of God." She shook her head. "I had heard of circumcision when I was growing up but never understood how horrible it is. We were told it's a simple ceremony, a simple cut to honour God. I don't think many do understand how much is butchered away. They blindly follow the old tradition. They follow the rabbis telling them the Torah says they must make the cut. To remove the foreskin seems to say God's design was wrong."

She tilted her pelvis to stroke his shaft against her button, lightly shuddering as she did. "This certainly feels like an excellent design to me. I could keep on doing this forever with you."