she was interested in remained absent!
7
On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy. No one had expected it, including the Germans, who woke that morning to a sea covered with ships. The fighting was intense, but the British, American, and Canadian troops managed to break the German defenses. As soon as the news was announced by Radio Paris, a wave of excitement fell over the French capital.
âItâs only a start,â Yves said. âNow they have to liberate France. That means things are going to be even more dangerous. Weâre going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.â
Anne sighed. Her father was probably right, but she didnât want to let him stifle her joy. She would deal with all the hardships in good time.
After a brief respite, the Allied bombing raids started again in and around Paris. The Nazi war effort had to be disrupted as much as possible. Factories, train tracks, ammunition depots were blown up constantly, paralyzing the country. Trains didnât run anymore. The postal service was interrupted. People could no longer travel, and food was more and more difficult to get. Endless lines of people formed in front of bakeries that had nothing to sell. In July, Anne no longer had the strength to come and go she was so hungry. And on top of everything, there were constant power outages, which made traveling in the metro particularly treacherous!
In such an environment, going to the Touraine region was out of the question. Once again, she was forced to spend the summer in Montmartre. Agnèsâs company helped her make it through the difficult times. In spite of their different personalities, they got along very well. She shared the same enthusiasm for film and theatre actors, cutting out their photos from magazines. They liked the same songs, and both dreamed of being grown-ups.
âIâll be different from my mother,â Anne said. âIâm going to get an education and a good job. â¦â
âOh yeah?â Agnes said. She saw herself as a housewife.
In spite of their friendship, Anne had never revealed to her that she was in love with Alexis. âItâll be our secret,â heâd said. In order not to weaken the intensity of the promise, she had told no one about it.
By mid-August, daily life was at its worst yet. Members of the militia and the Résistance were fighting to the death in the streets of Paris. Some climbed onto roofs to gun down their enemies.
âYou are not allowed to leave this building!â Monique kept telling her daughter.
On Sunday, August 20, a storm cooled the air after days of stifling heat, strikes, and shootouts. Suddenly, news traveled from one window to the other: the Allies were arriving in Paris! Yves and Monique looked at each other, and then decided to take their children to Avenue de Clichy. Once there, the crowd was so large Anne was under the impression that all the houses had emptied out. She spotted a red-white-and-blue badge that someone had dropped on the pavement, and she decided to pick it up before it got trampled.
Along with the celebrations came a lot of score settling. Collaborators were arrested, and stores and restaurants that had participated in the black market were looted. Some set out to find âthe bitches who had slept with the Boches.â Anne thought about her neighbor. If she hadnât been arrested by the Gestapo, would she have been punished, even though she had secretly worked for the Résistance? The horrible years she had just suffered through had taught her to be suspicious of appearances.
The next day, the Allies still hadnât reached the capital. People reported swastikas still flying over some public buildings in the city. In the streets, there were still gunfights between the patriots, who erected barricades, and their enemies. In the overall mayhem, no one was able to fall asleep. Lying in her bed, Anne wondered what was going to
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