February 1944: Arthur becomes a Maquis radio operator (chapter draft)

Context: Arthur and a team of men had retrieved an Allied SOE airdrop to their resistance unit.  Because the unit had no radio prior to that, a courier would have hand-delivered a message encrypted with a one-time pad telling them that there would be an airdrop that night, and what their personal message would be alerting them to future airdrops.  The BBC broadcast a string of sequitur messages every day, some of which were garbage, and some of which were meaningful to specific groups.  

Notes: 

Biscuit in both British English and French refers to an American cookie (not the quick-rising bread that Americans slather with sausage gravy. It would also be pronounced "biss-kwee."

The radio was a MCR-1 "Biscuit Tin Radio" designed and produced by the SOE for the French resistance.

The story opens as they open their first air-dropped canister of supplies from the Allies.

***

Arthur Becomes a Maquis Radio Operator

Well, I said that it’s easy to translate kilocycles into wavelengths, because the product of the two is velocity of light, which is ten times ten to the power of ten centimeters per second. --Arthur Lubinski to his granddaughter, May 1988.

The young man took the crowbar, and went to work. In just a few moments, he had worked the lid off the box which had padding on the inside walls.  There was a great deal of burlap, but also a pair of shoes, three packs of cigarettes, and two chocolate bars being used to fill every available space. In the corners of the box were four pistols.  

But in the center was a big cube-shaped metal tin printed with “Biscuits” in big letters, with colorful pictures of cookies surrounding it. Arthur realized that Liliane, at almost three years of age, had never had a biscuit. 

“They are sending us desserts?” Marcel asked in disbelief.  

“Don’t be stupid,” André told his brother.  “Probably no biscuits inside.”

Dr. Planas lifted out the biscuit tin, revealing boxes of ammunition underneath it for the pistol.. There was a very thick pad of burlap beneath those. He placed the tin on the table next to the box, and lifted the lid off.  

Inside was a layer of corrugated paper, which they flipped out of the way. Under it was a dark grey rectangular metal box, about the size of a loaf of bread. One end had leads which attached to a battery or an electrical power supply, and the other end had a series of pins sticking out the end.  Carefully wrapped bundles had been placed next to it.  Three of the bundles contained what Arthur realized were caps or modules that plugged into the pins in the end of the main unit.  There was a big black knob one one side, and a three other smaller knobs, marked “reaction,” and “sensitivity,” and “AE Trimmer.”  

“It’s a radio,” Arthur said.  It was tiny; the smallest radio he’d ever seen — no more than about 20 or 22 centimeters on the long axis, and about 10 centimeters wide and tall.  There were several other bundles in the tin, containing extra batteries, a coil of wire, a power supply (if one had electricity, which they didn’t), and headphones.

There was a sheet with instructions, but it was written in English.  “Anyone speak English?”  Dr. Planas asked.

“I speak some English,” Arthur volunteered.  

Dr. Planas handed him the sheet, and Arthur started reading. It had been made in Glasgow, Scotland. 

“You attach the wire antenna there,” he said, pointing. Michel did so, then hung the wire up on a nail high above them.  “Attach the battery,” he said, indicating the plug at the end.   “The module coils - they allow you to choose which frequency bands.”  

Michel looked up at Arthur, who shrugged and said, “I’d try the range one coil.” Michel grabbed the thickest module and plugged it into the end of the radio.  The module was the same height and depth as the rest of the radio, but extended the length of the unit by perhaps six or seven centimeters.

“Plug in the headphones, turn it on, and tune it to _____.”

Michel did so, and they could hear quiet static come through the headphones, but when he looked at the dial, he stopped. Then he glanced at the others, then looked at the dial again, and fiddled with the settings. They could hear the static change. “I can’t read the dial,” he finally said, confusion plain his voice.

“What?” Dr. Planas, said.

“The numbers are wrong. They aren’t like what I’m used to.”  

Arthur could see a word printed under the dial, but couldn’t read it from where he stood.  “What does it say under the dial?” he asked.

“Kilocycles,” Michel answered.

“Kilocycles?” André and Marcel asked at the same time.

“What are kilocycles?” Dr. Planas asked. He peered at the radio dial.  “Radio dials are normally marked in …” he stopped, searching for the word.

“Wavelengths,” Arthur supplied.

“Yes, right. Wavelengths.   What are these kilocycles?” Dr. Planas asked.  He didn’t sound annoyed, just puzzled.

Arthur spoke up. “Well, the wavelengths times the number of cycles, is the velocity of light.” 

All eyes turned to Arthur. They looked at him as if he weren’t speaking French.

“What?” Dr. Planas finally asked.

“Well—“ Arthur shrugged. “It’s easy to translate kilocycles into wavelengths, because the product of the two is velocity of light, which is ten times ten to the power of ten centimeters per second.”

“Hoh,” Dr. Planas said with his eyebrows up. “You know this?  You are the radio operator.”

Something — surprise? Worry? Excitement? — jolted through Arthur.  “But hell, I don’t know anything about electronics,” he protested. “If something happens, I cannot repair it.”  

“You are the radio operator,” Dr. Planas repeated.

Arthur laughed a little. “All right. I’m the radio operator.”

November 11, 1942: Arthur watches for Nazi Troop movements (chapter draft)

    Context: My grandfather did some work for the Polish Intelligence service during WWII, in November of 1942.  His assignment was to sit in a French café, and watch for German military vehicles traveling through southern France, and write down their tag numbers, which told the intelligence analysts which Nazi divisions were on the move (more specifically, toward the Mediterranean to fight off the Allied invasion of north Africa, AKA "Operation Torch"). 

    Note: Mr. Z. was a known Gestapo collaborator and police informant.

***

Arthur Watches for Nazi Troop Movements

And one time, I knew of a French traitor, who was working for the Germans, for the Gestapo, and I saw him suddenly, in front of my window. And he was, what you say? becking? Beckoning, he was beckoning to city police, policeman.  --Arthur Lubinski to his granddaughter, May 1988.

On November 11^th, Arthur was sitting in a café reading as usual, when something blocked his light. He looked up and standing less than a meter away from Arthur, just on the other side of the window glass, was Mr. Z.  This close, Arthur could see broken capillaries in the man’s nose and cheeks, and the bags under his eyes.

“Helping the Gestapo again, are we?” Arthur muttered under his breath.  

Suddenly Mr. Z started beckoning to someone out of view, and Arthur leaned forward to see who the man was communicating with. 

Mr. Z was gesturing to several uniformed gendarmes, signaling for them to come join him in Arthur’s café.

Arthur’s heart started pounding. They are going to pick me up.  

Okay.

He tried to read, to look as natural as if he were just enjoying a book in a restaurant, but he couldn’t concentrate. He felt the blood rushing from his face, and then sweat broke out all over his body.  He could barely breathe. 

He stared down at a page in his book, not recognizing the letters and words printed there. Arthur couldn’t move or think, and just sat there, frozen. Unable to do anything but wait for arrest. 

He waited and waited and waited.

One minute passed, or perhaps it was five and nothing happened. He finally lifted one shaking hand, and wiped the sweat from his face on his sleeve.  

He slowly looked up, and saw Mr. Z shaking hands with the police officers who had joined him in front of the window.  They followed him into the café.  The three gendarmes sat down at a table on the other side of the room from Arthur. Mr. Z bought them drinks and then sat down with them at their table, talking jovially the whole time. 

It has nothing to do with me. Arthur took a deep, slow breath, and very slowly and silently let it out. After a suitable length of time, he got up and forced himself to saunter out of the café on still-weak legs.  Brown-nosing toady informant traitor.

***

Here is how my grandfather told me the story (what follows is a slightly edited excerpt from the transcript of recordings I made of him in May of 1988):

And one time, I knew of a French traitor, who was working for the Germans, for the Gestapo, and I saw him suddenly, in front of my window. And he was, what you say? becking? Beckoning, he was beckoning to city police, policeman. 

I thought, ‘They are going in to pick me up.’

Okay.

I start already reading my book, but I couldn’t concentrate. I heard--I felt all my blood, draining from my face, from my head; I was perspiring, all over the body. I was waiting for the moment when they will arrest me, and I wait, and wait, and wait. I couldn’t realize how much time passed, I couldn’t, I don’t know if it was a minute, or five minutes. Nothing happened. I lifted my eyes, and I saw that the French traitor was paying policeman drinks to get them friendly I guess, and it had nothing to do with me, and I--[sigh of relief]--relief came.

May, 1940: The Roadblock (chapter draft)

This is one of my favorites of Grandpa's stories, one that I heard many times growing up.  My grandfather didn't speak German (he could read it a little), but my great-grandfather did speak the language. A few names you need to know: 

• Arthur is my grandfather
• Roma is my grandmother
• Liliane is their newborn daughter (my aunt was about 12 days old when this story takes place)
• Herman is my great-grandfather (my grandfather's dad) 
• Masia is my great-grandmother (Herman's wife) 
• Felicie is a family friend
• Marc is the driver of the car (real person, but made up name)
• Violet is Marc's wife (real person, but made up name)
• Robert is their young son (real person, but made up name)

***

The Roadblock

We were surrounded, so we were stopped on the highway, and a German read our identification papers, and told us in German to go straight and then turn to the right. When I heard this, I said to the taxi cab driver, “go straight and then turn to the left.” This was my attitude. And to the right I would have encountered some German officials, I presume. I don’t know, I never went.  --Arthur Lubinski to his granddaughter, May 1988.

    They got on their way, Marc easing through the crowds of refugees, heading back out of Gravelines, and pulled onto a main road, heading west toward Calais, intending to turn south at the first opportunity.  

    For the first time, the road was nearly clear. As they crested a rise, they saw that the road toward Calais had been blockaded by soldiers and military vehicles.  They were too far away to see which military it was, and Marc drove cautiously forward.

    They pulled up to the roadblock and as Marc drifted to a stop (leaving plenty of room between the taxicab and the road block to make a U-turn if needed), they saw a Panzer partially hidden by the other vehicles. The man who walked toward them was tall and young and wore a helmet that was shorter over the forehead and longer in the back, and flared slightly.  German.

    Marc started to put the taxicab in reverse, but more Germans had appeared behind them, holding rifles. Roma and Violet both gasped in fear, cradling their children close.

    “Where’s the pistol?” Arthur whispered.

    “Under the seat,” Marc said quietly. 

    “Good.”

    Everyone sat facing stiffly forward, silent. Arthur was grateful that Liliane still slept.

    The soldier reached the driver’s window and tapped the window frame to get their attention. Marc reluctantly turned and looked into the soldier’s blue eyes. “Identifikation,” the man said, and nodded to Marc, Herman, and Arthur.  Herman and Arthur instantly reached into their pockets to retrieve their papers, but Marc slowly removed his hands from the steering wheel and held them up, making a questioning gesture with his head. The German soldier nodded. It was then that Arthur saw that the German was holding an ugly-looking handgun, and that it was pointed at Marc.

    Marc slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his own papers, then took the ones that Herman and Arthur handed forward.  Marc passed the identity cards to the waiting soldier.

    The man nodded at another soldier who raised his rifle and pointed it at the car. Masia gave a tiny whimper and Arthur wanted to comfort his mother, but he didn’t move.

    The first soldier holstered his pistol and looked over the the identity cards, reading them carefully.  “Geh geradeaus und biege nach rechts ab,” he finally said, and handed the the identity cards back through the window. 

    “He said something about forward,” Arthur said. “I didn’t catch the rest.”

    “He said, ‘Go forward and turn to the right,’” Herman translated.

    Marc took the papers and handed them to Violet, and gave the officer a stiff nod.

    Two soldiers who were standing and blocking the road, stood aside, and Marc slowly drove through the blockade and continued down the road.

    “Go forward, and then turn to the left,” Arthur said.  Everyone but Marc turned to look at him.

    “But, he said…”

    “I said, turn left!” Arthur nearly shouted. He struggled to keep his voice quiet - they might not yet be out of earshot.  His mother and Roma cringed on either side of them. Liliane began to cry, startled from her nap. He managed to calm his voice. “He was directing us into Calais. Who knows who was going to meet us there? Probably some German officials. They might arrest us.”

    “He wants the car,” Marc interjected. He met Arthur’s eyes in the rearview mirror.  “We’re going left,” he said, giving a tiny jerk of his head to the south.

    They crested a hill, and the soldiers were hidden from view.  Marc ignored the right-hand turn he passed, and continued forward.   Violet handed Herman and Arthur’s identity cards back to Arthur. Arthur took them, relaxed into his seat, feeling suddenly weak.  His hand shook as he handed his father’s card to Herman.

    Marc took the first left turn he found, and headed south, toward the interior of France.

Perfect Disdain

Prompt - Stop the Clocks (300 words): An epigraph is a short quotation from literature or history at the beginning of a book or chapter intended to suggest its theme. For example, this line from a W. H. Auden poem: “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.” As an epigraph, it leaves the foundation for a sense of loss, mourning, and a lack of help, which can play out within the story. Search for your own epigraph, whether it be a quote from history or literature, or an existing epigraph from a favorite book. Write a short piece and include the epigraph beneath the title of your story. Epigraphs do not count toward the overall word count and so can be used to great effect. By giving the reader information up front, the meaning can reveal itself as the story progresses.

*** 

“If you sincerely believed in God, how could you form one thought, speak one sentence, without mentioning Him?” ― Neal Stephenson, Anathem

    The summer I was 16, I discovered that Jehovah’s Witnesses didn’t like Catholics and also that I didn’t like riding in convertibles with the top down.  I spent that summer babysitting for the Monroes because Cindy was going back to school to finish her degree, and her husband Fletcher had to work.  I really liked the kids - Jason was an engaging and sweet 7-year-old and toddler Katie was easy-going and usually wanted to do whatever Jason did.  

    Cindy had to leave early for the University, so her mother-in-law picked me up in her candy-apple-red convertible. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, and - unusually for Missouri in June - not too hot, and ... the top was down.  The wind was loud, and my long hair blew all around and got in my eyes. I mostly kept my eyes closed and tried to keep up my end of the shouted conversation. I think the elder Mrs. Monroe, was disappointed that I was unimpressed with her car.

    She dropped me off, and Fletcher left for work. The kids were watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and I plopped down and joined them - the adventures of Prince Adam were a bit of a guilty pleasure.

    The doorbell rang and when I opened the door, I found a very tiny, very wrinkled old lady on the doorstep.  

    “I’m from the local Kingdom Hall. Does your family go to church?” she asked in a friendly rasp.

    Did she mean me personally or the Monroes? I wasn’t really in the mood for this - the mother of another family I regularly sat for was always trying to convert me. My own religious situation was complicated, so I decided to go with the Monroes - maybe that would head her off. “Well, I’m just the babysitter, but I think the family is Catholic.”

    Her friendly expression soured as her wrinkles slid into a frown.  “Oh,” she said with perfect disdain. She turned to go and left without looking back once.  

     Huh, I thought to myself.  That was almost too easy.

--October 29, 2022

***

Note: This one is a true story. I fleshed it out very slightly for context and because I don't remember the woman's exact words when I opened the door. It would have been something like what I wrote, though.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

I originally developed this recipe for my stepkiddo's 15th birthday (so a few years back). I cobbled together this recipe from reading many different recipes and sort of mixing-and-matching until I had a complete recipe. To my surprise, it was wonderful. (Added in 2024: The flavor of this ice cream is great, but I think I can achieve a better texture -- it's a little icy.)

Note: You should be able to substitute Jeni's ice cream base in place of the custard base if you would prefer an egg-free base. The amount of milk/cream, and sugars between the two recipes is very similar, though the ratios are somewhat different. If you elect to do this be sure to add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to Jeni's base. 

Strawberry puree ingredients: 

• 1 pint fresh strawberries hulled, chopped and pureed (about 12 ounces after prep, or 1.75 c of puree) 
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• Juice from 1/2 lemon 
• Zest from 1 lemon 

Custard base ingredients: 

• 3 egg yolks 
• ¾ cup sugar 
• 2 cups heavy cream 
• 1 cup whole milk 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 

Strawberry puree: 

1. Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. 
2. Puree the strawberry mixture (puree even if starting with puree - this helps ensure the sugar is dissolved). 
3. Put back into the fridge to chill thoroughly. 

Custard base (while the strawberries are chilling) 

1. Combine egg yolks and ¾ cup sugar in a bowl 
2. Whisk until thick and pale. 
3. Combine milk, cream, and vanilla in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. 
4. Heat, stirring constantly until it reaches approximately 160 degrees, then remove from heat. 
5. Spoon cream mixture by ¼ cupfuls into egg mixture and beat between each addition until about ½ of cream mixture remains. 
6. Add the eggs/cream mixture back into the saucepan with remaining cream. 
7. Return to medium heat, stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes until mixture coats the back of a spoon, and temperature is 180 degrees. 
8. Remove from heat and chill thoroughly. 

Churning: 

1. Just before churning, add strawberry puree to custard base. 
2. Add to ice cream maker, and follow the manufacturer directions from there. 

Note: I originally reserved some strawberry chunks to stir into the ice cream, but they made hard frozen bits. Now I just puree all of the strawberry - it's much better that way, though I've read that if I soak the chunks in sugar, they might be OK.

Antipodes

Prompt - An Earth Sandwich (400 words). Write a short piece involving two episodes that happen simultaneously but in exact opposite locations on earth. They might be dramatic events, reflections of two characters, dialogue, or something else. The two parts might connect in some way or could just be poles apart.

***

 46° 42' 57.5" N, 92° 32' 20.9" W

Summer, northern Minnesota

It was hot and muggy (how could it not be muggy in the land of 11,842 lakes?) and the knitter sat on her porch trying not to freak out as mosquitoes flew into her face.  In the summer she could only handle knitting hats - they were small enough that they didn’t drape her in warmth. Even so, her hands still got a little moist, and then the yarn wouldn’t pull through her fingers properly. The knitter sighed and adjusted her hold, wrapping the yarn around one less finger to fix the tension.  Her hats had to be perfect.

She slapped another mosquito, and looked down at the bag full of hats at her feet. She could see the pre-printed shipping sticker for Supplies for Scientists.  They distributed hats and other gear to scientists doing field work in cold climates. She almost had enough hats ready to send a box off, which she did every summer, and even had special labels to sew into these hats. She wanted the scientists to know how much she appreciated them.  In her opinion, they were saving the world, and it was a damned shame they didn’t have the money to outfit their efforts properly.

46° 42' 57.5" S, 87° 27' 39.1" E

Winter, southern Indian Ocean

The oceanographer expertly kept her balance on the deck of the science vessel Antipodes as she guided the tiny remote-control submarine back to the surface. She had been taking samples of water at different depths to better understand how zooplankton and phytoplankton interacted.  Food webs were complicated, and if the ocean environment was thrown too far off by rising temperatures and acidification, then the rest of the world would suffer.  

The submarine - she couldn’t help thinking it was rather cute, though its looks belied its sophistication - broke the surface.  She guided it back to the Antipodes until it was over the crane basket just under the surface of the water.  Her intern worked the deck crane controls to bring the the sub onto the deck.

A big wave hit and salty spray pelted them. They both stumbled slightly before regaining their sea legs. The oceanographer shivered and pulled her favorite wool hat down further over her forehead and ears, and helped her intern collect the samples and stow them for further study, and to bolt the sub down so it couldn’t be washed overboard. They couldn’t afford to replace it again, and already depended too much on donations as it was.

--March 11, 2020

***

Los Charros Breakfast

 Developed by Chris and Cathy Weeks with shameless borrowing from many different sources.

This breakfast was inspired by a wonderful meal our friend Paul H. treated us to many years ago at Taqueria Los Charros, in Mountain View, CA (hence the name of the recipe).  A charro is a Mexican rodeo horseman that wears an elaborate traditional garb (ruffled shirt, silver embroidery).

Ingredients (for entire breakfast)

• 1 15-ounce can of pinto beans

• 1 28-ounce can of crushed or chopped tomatoes (we used 2 10-ounce cans and that worked OK too. I like the fire roasted ones, or the ones with chiles)

• Long-grain rice (we used brown basmati)

• 1 onion, medium, chopped

• 1-2 jalapeños, chopped

• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped (we omitted as we used garlic broth)

• 2 limes, juiced (or 4 tbsp lime juice)

• 1 lime, wedged for serving/garnishing/squeezing at the plate

• Fresh cilantro, chopped (1/4c for the rice, more for topping at time of serving)

• Broth (original recipe called for chicken broth; we used garlic broth; any flavorful broth/bullion cubes are fine)

• Cooking oil

• Ground cumin

• Ground coriander

• Cayenne powder

• Garlic powder

• Salt

• Eggs for scrambling (1 or 2 per person)

• Queso fresco, crumbled (shredded cheddar or Monterrey Jack may be substituted)

• Avocado slices for serving

• Tortillas (corn, warmed)

Mexican Rice/Arroz Mexicano

• ⅓ c cooking oil

• 2 cups long-grained rice

• 1 onion, medium, chopped

• 1-2 jalapeños, chopped

• 20-28 ounces of canned tomatoes

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• 1.5 c broth of your choice or bullion concentrate

• 1 ½ tsp salt (omit until the end, and add to taste when it’s done - bullion cubes often make it salty enough)

• 4 tbsp lime juice

• ¼ cup chopped cilantro

1. Put ⅓ of a cup of cooking oil (we used peanut) in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Turn to sauté mode and heat oil until it shimmers. 

2. Add 2 cups dry rice to the oil and sauté for 5 minutes.  The goal is to cook the dry rice until it’s golden/toasty looking. It will smell wonderful.  

3. Add the onion and sauté for 3 more minutes, then add the jalapeño and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn off the Instant Pot.

4. Add the canned tomato, broth and cumin.

5. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure. Cook 4-5 minutes for white rice, 15 or so minutes for brown rice, with a 10 minute NPR.  

6. Release pressure and taste rice for doneness. If too firm, reset the IP to pressure and cook it a little longer.

7. When it’s done, adjust the salt levels if needed, then add cilantro and lime juice and fluff it.

Notes: 

• You can use any kind of long-grained rice - we used brown basmati. Be sure to cook/pressure cook the rice long enough for the type of rice you use.  It doesn’t need to cook quite as long as rice normally does, due to toasting the rice at the beginning.

• The original recipe has you blend the tomato to make a puree. We just dumped it from the can as is, preferring to make it chunky

• We adapted this base recipe, to be both vegetarian, and made in the Instant Pot: https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-mexican-rice-recipes-from-the-kitchn-198867 

• We used this recipe for IP techniques: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-mexican-rice/ 

• We used 2 cups of broth as called for in the original recipe but it was a little too wet. The IP recipe used 1.5 cups of broth, and that amount would be better.

Beans/Frijoles:

• 1 can pinto beans undrained

• Ground cumin ½ tsp

• Ground coriander ½ tsp

• Cayenne powder ½ tsp

• Garlic powder ½ tsp

• Salt to taste 

1. Dump the can of beans, liquid and all into a saucepan, and heat through. 

2. Add the spices and salt to taste (the amounts are approximate, we didn’t measure, so adjust to taste).  

3. Mash with a potato masher (we like our frijoles to not be perfectly homogenous, so we leave it a little chunky).

4. Add salt to taste.  

5. If too thick, add a little Corona or Tecate to thin it, or leftover broth from the rice.

Putting it all together

• During downtimes, heat some tortillas - I’ve had best results by wrapping the stack in damp paper towels, putting them into a ceramic tortilla warmer and microwaving for 30 second or so.  Putting them between two plates also works well.

• Slice the remaining lime and an avocado into wedges.

• Scramble the eggs.

• Sprinkle some cheese over the eggs and frijoles to get a little melty.

• Spoon beans, eggs, and rice onto the plates, and place avocado and lime wedges and some cilantro onto the plate as a garnish and serve with warmed tortillas.