The Bunker

Gretchen was born during WWII in a bunker only her parent knew about. There had been no doctor for the pregnancy or for her birth. Her mother was Jewish but her father had worked for Hitler so the only safe escape was to totally disappear and their bunker was the only option they saw to use. The bunker started out to be a haven for Hitler but plans had changed just as it was completed. Hitler had died before he could use it and everyone involved in creating it had died as well – except for her father. When the Allies started invading Germany,  he became frightened for his family’s safety so they packed up everything they could in his car and escaped to the safety of the bunker.  

Her father had enough tools to continue digging further into the hill. He had made an escape doorway that was planned to be an escape for Hitler but work had ceased before it was complete. When the door was closed it appeared to be a blank wall just like the other three but if you knew where to apply pressure, it opened inward revealing a solid wall of earth. Once he completed the tunnel to the other side of the hill, it would be an escape path just as originally planned. He had the materials to install a button on the other side of the door that would permanently lock it so no one could ever open it again and would ensure a safe escape if it became necessary.

One of the things her parents had brought with them was a small library of books. They used those books to teach her to read and write. They taught her mathematics, history and spelling. They did not teach her about Hitler or the war that drove them to live underground. All they told her about the outside world was it was a very dangerous place and outsiders would surely kill them if they ever left the bunker. 

Hitler’s army had supplied the bunker with food to last for years. They were far enough underground temperatures remained a steady sixty degrees so canned goods could last for a long time and items like flour and rice would last indefinitely. Water came in through a pipe from the top of the hill. A well camouflaged rainwater catch provided more than enough except in the winter when everything froze. That had been thought out by Hitler’s crew as well. There were many huge containers 

that could be filled by attaching a hose to the water pipe and letting water fill them up during times of plenty. There were enough to provide water all through the times of freeze. 

Once a year Gretchen’s father left the bunker and returned with a cow and a pig. The animals he returned with were part of his hunting skills. He knew how to trap them then put the rope on them so they would follow him to the bunker. They would keep the animals in the bunker in a special nook he had created. The animals would adjust to living underground and there were ample grasses he could bring in from the top of the hill for the cow. The pig’s slop was created from the waste of his trapped animals mixed with curdled milk and food that had gone bad. During the winter months they stored the cow’s milk  at the top of the hill then he butchered it and stored the meat with the milk until the meat was cured so it would last until the next one was butchered. Once the pig was fat enough, he butchered it and cured it as well. Occasionally he trapped wild animals that roamed the woods on and around the hill then cured their meat to add variety to their stores. The skins from all the animals were useful to make clothes and shoes. As soon as Gretchen was old enough he began teaching her all the skills so when something happened to her mom and him, she would be able to survive without them. He made her understand it would be death for her to ever leave the bunker.

The years went by and she watched her parents aging. Even when it became difficult for her father to butcher their animals he would not let her out to check the traps. She helped her mother with the chores and cooking. Their canned goods had either been all used up or fed to the annual pig because they had gone bad. She knew how to use the hose to fill the water containers but she had never been allowed to go out and climb to the source.  Her father had been bringing plants from the hill to give them vegetables and he had discovered a nearby field where he could steal a few domestic vegetables making it appear animals had stolen them. . Soon after they entered the bunker he had planted cherry, apple and pear trees in the densest part of the woods. He had carefully cultivated them and now they provided their fruits to the family.  

One day her father left the bunker to gather food but he never returned. The mother and daughter had been conditioned to never leave the bunker so they did not know he had died under the fruit trees from a sudden heart attack. When days turned into weeks the two left in the bunker accepted he was never coming back. Her mother knew the location of the trees and where he had been acquiring vegetables but was too afraid to go outside. When Gretchen saw the store of food was nearly depleted she knew one of them had to face the outside world in order for them to live. 

She begged her mother to tell her the locations of the fruit trees at least. She was familiar with the appearance of the wild vegetables they had eaten for several years and was confident she could recognize them. She could go to the top of the hill to check the traps. She had been butchering them for many years with her father. Her mother was adamant she would not tell Gretchen where the fruit trees were until they had gone hungry for three days and the only solution was to let Gretchen at least bring some fruit. She led her daughter to the bunker door and gave her the directions to their small orchard then handed her the well-worn sack her husband had used to carry food in.

Gretchen was twenty-three years old when she opened the bunker door for the first time. As she stepped out into a new world entirely different from anything she had ever known, she was frightened and excited at the same time. The light hurt her eyes because she had never known anything but lanterns and firelight. She had seen pictures of trees but these were much larger than she had ever imagined. The smell of fresh air was like perfume with all the scents she had never smelled before. She saw a bird fly overhead but had no idea what kind it was. None of the books she read described this brown creature with spotted underside emitting a beautiful combination of sounds she had never heard before. 

She now was too excited to be afraid. She recognized a squirrel sitting under a tree because her father had brought many of them for the table. Everywhere she looked was another unknown but they were exhilarating not frightening.  Finally she remembered what she was out there for and followed the directions her mother had given her. 

She soon arrived in the small grove her father had planted. The pictures of the trees did not do justice to them in real life. Seeing the fruit hanging on the trees was nothing like seeing it dumped from her father’s sack. The cherries were not all the same hue. Some were a lighter color than others but her father only brought home the darker ones so those were the only ones she plucked and placed into the sack. The apples were mostly green so she didn’t pick any. She had never seen green apples before. The pears were difficult to know what were ready to pick because they were all green. Then she thought back to helping to empty the sack. Yes, those pears were green so she started to pick one from the tree. It was hard as the rocks she played with in her special place in the bunker. The ones her father brought home were softer so she left that one and felt others on the tree. The ones that were softer, she placed in the bag. The others she let alone. 

Now she looked around at the vegetation growing as far as she could see. Ah, there was one of the kind her father brought home so she added it to the sack as well. The sack was getting full by the time she returned to the hill where their bunker was but she decided to climb the hill and check the traps her father had not been able to check during his long absence. Carefully laying the sack far away from the door where it would not give away their presence, she began walking up the hillside.

Looking carefully on each side as she ascended, she was mesmerized by all the colors and textures of nature. Inside the bunker colors were drab but out here they were bright. She could hear something rustling in the tall grass but it was not visible so she picked up speed. Arriving at the summit of the hill, she saw nothing except trees and grass. She did not see the rainwater catch or traps her father had told them about. She realized for the first time how well hidden their bunker was. Should anyone happen to stroll by while hunting, they would have absolutely no idea her family was just below them. But now she had to find those traps. 

She walked around the crown of the hill searching for a clue, any clue, that would lead her to the traps. Just as she was ready to give up she heard a sound off to her left. Silently she crept toward the sound. As she came closer to the sound she realized it was a voice like hers except deeper in tone. More like her fathers voice. Softly she walked to the stand of trees where the voice was coming from. Hiding behind the trunk of a huge fallen tree she peeked over the top. A figure similar to her father was pulling a rabbit out of a trap. Once he had freed the rabbit he began to tuck it in a pocket of his hunting jacket.

She did not know what to do. Her father said outside people were very dangerous and would probably kill her if they saw her but that rabbit was theirs and he had no right to it. Rabbit stew would feed her and her mother for two or three days. Hunger overcame her fear. She walked around the felled tree and courageously spoke, “Hey you. That is my rabbit and you have no right to steal it.”

The figure turned toward her and she wanted to run but she knew of no place to hide in this new world so she stood her ground.  “Well, are you going to give me my rabbit or not?”

Her heart was beating faster and faster as he slowly turned to face her. “Your rabbit! This is your trap? Why isn’t it marked then?” I thought it was just an abandoned trap someone forgot to pick up. It has obviously been here for a long time. “

“It is not abandoned. I just came up here to see if it had caught anything but it looks like it not only caught a rabbit for our dinner but a thief stealing my rabbit.”

“Look lady, I am not a thief. I just made a mistake. This trap looks like it has been here for a very long time. It is not marked with any identification so I thought it was abandoned. I saw the rabbit caught in it but still alive so I thought I would end its misery and take it home for dinner. Can you prove this is your trap?”

“No, I have no proof except my word.”

“Then I’ll just take this rabbit home. By the way, I have seen no houses in this area so where do you live? Maybe you are the thief.”

“I don’t live far from here and my family has trapped game here for several years. Now that you have brought up the subject of where I live, I may ask you the same thing. Where do you live since I have seen no house either?”

“I live about a mile from here on a farm my father owned and now I do. This hill is part of our land that you are trespassing on. My house is on the other side of the hill just outside of the woods. It seems to me you are trespassing. That means the rabbit is mine after all. Now I suggest you leave my property and never come back.”

“Oh! Oh dear, I can’t leave. I have no place to go. My family has called this hill home since before I was born and my mother and I have no where to go,” she said between sobs. “There is no safe place for us. Now we both shall die. Please be kind and make our deaths as quick and painless as you can.”

“I have no reason to kill you. Yes, you are trespassing but that is not punishable by death. Why would you think I will kill you?”

“My father told me all my life if I ever came outside, it would mean my death. Now because I have broken my promise to him, my mother will be killed as well.”

“How long have you lived in this hill? I have never seen an entrance to a cave so how did you get out and how were you going to get back in?”

“I have been inside the hill for twenty-three years – since I was born. My parents were inside even longer. Even after Hitler was dead my father was in danger because he worked for Hitler to help build his bunkers. We had no idea how long my Jewish mother would be safe either. He had worked on a bunker here. We heard all the other workers were killed by the Allies. My father feared for his life so he brought my mother here to a bunker that was never known. Later I was born in the bunker and today is the first time I have ever been outside. My father disappeared a few years ago but we do not know what happened to him. My mother and I ran out of food so I chanced coming out of the bunker to feed us. I should have stayed inside and let us both die of hunger rather than to be forced out of our home and killed by either the Allies or those left from Hitler’s forces.”

“There is a bunker in this hill? Wait, you said you father disappeared a few years ago. We found a body under some fruit trees that had been there for awhile. They said he had died of a heart attack so we figured he was stealing fruit when his heart gave out. We thought it was strange there were a few fruit trees in the middle of the woods but figured birds had dropped the seeds and the trees grew from that. Did your father plant those trees?”

“Yes, soon after they entered the bunker. By the time I was born they were already producing a small crop.”

“But how do you get water and what do you do for lights?”

“Since you own the property I will tell you we have a secret rainwater catch at the top of the hill that feeds water to us in the bunker. I do not know the exact location myself. I only know it is somewhere up there. We use lanterns for light. Hitler’s men stocked hundreds of gallons of oil for the lanterns so we still have a lot left. Occasionally we would light a wood fire in a fireplace for celebrations. We did not need the heat but it was nice to look at.”

“I think I would like to see your bunker. Will you show me where it is and how to get in?”

She led him down the hill and to the door of the bunker. She showed him the place to push that opened the door. They entered and he could not believe what he was seeing. A home invisible to the outside world. She told him to go ahead and explore while she went to the kitchen to get her mother. She left him and joined her mother with her finger to her lips for silence. She walked across to the hidden button and opened the escape tunnel motioning her mother to come to her. They silently entered the tunnel and Gretchen reached up to the button permanently closing the door. She took the lantern from its hook and quickly lit it. The two women walked toward the end of the tunnel but there was no end to it. Her father had never finished the tunnel after all. They were trapped with no way out. They would  die because of an outsider after all and their bodies would never be found. The property owner would never know what happened to them but would use the bunker as his hunting lodge.