Back To the future

I walked into the portal. My best friend had been working on the time machine for many years. And now that she had finally completed the prototype, I, James Sturrock, as her best friend, was about to test it.

“Be careful James,” said Olivia. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I nodded firmly. “I am ready.”

With a sigh Olivia pressed a red button on the wall. I closed my eyes. The time machine jerked forward, and my heart lurched. My stomach seemed to do back flips in my belly and I could feel vomit in my throat. Suddenly the time machine came to a stop.

Hesitantly, I ventured out of the machine. Right outside was a bakery, its windows filled with freshly baked bread. Some of the pastries were covered by a bright yellow star painted on the glass, along with the word Jude. On the door was written the word Bäckerei. My third language in school was German, so I knew it meant Bakery. So, I was in Germany, but which time period?

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up. It was a tall man wearing jackboots. His jacket glinted with badges and medallions, the swastika shining proudly on the pocket. Oh no! The yellow star and the ‘Jude’ graffiti had already given me an inkling. Now, the soldier’s uniform had confirmed my worst fears. A chill ran down my spine as I realised I had landed up in Nazi Germany!

“Jude?” asked the Nazi. Using the common sense I still had, I shook my head vigorously. I saluted and shouted “Heil Hitler!” I didn’t want to be killed.

The Nazi smiled and nodded. “Are you in the Hitler Youth, boy?” he asked in German.

I shook my head. The soldier’s smile turned into a frown. He grabbed my arm and dragged me along the road. People were staring at me strangely, probably because of my strange 21^st century clothes.

You could tell which ones were Jews, because of their white arm bands and yellow badges with the Star of David on them. I had read a lot about Nazi Germany in books, so I had some idea about what was going to happen to me.

The Nazi pushed me into a line of boys, and whispered into my ear, “Hitler Youth.”

“Name?” The Nazi in charge of the boys asked me.

I couldn’t let them know I was British, or they would shoot me down where I stood. Thankfully, with my blond hair and blue eyes, I was the perfect ‘Aryan’ example in their eyes.

“Umm…  Fritz. Fritz Müller.” I made up my name on the spot. The officer wrote it down in his notebook.

Staying in Nazi Germany would be very dangerous. So, I had to get back to the time-machine, somehow.

“A British pilot has crashed here in Berlin,” said the head Nazi. “He is hiding somewhere. Jungvolk, find him! Heil Hitler!”

The entire group shouted, “Heil Hitler!” enthusiastically, and ran off in different directions to look for the pilot.

This was bad. If the Hitler Youth found the pilot, they would shoot him, or worse put him in a gas chamber. My great-grandfather had been a young pilot during the second World War and had crashed in Berlin. He never returned and no one knew what happened to him.

I wasn’t going to let the same thing happen to this pilot. I had to find him first and get him to safety. I followed a group of boys who were running towards the hills, which is where they were sure the pilot would be hiding.

The boys tore apart the bushes and searched behind the trees. A short boy came up to me.

“Hey, what about the deserted church at the edge of the city?  He might be hiding there,” the boy said.

“You stay here. Don’t bring the rest of the boys,” I told him. “It’ll be easier to find the pilot if there’s only one person. Otherwise he might hear us coming”

The boy nodded.

I ran towards to the church asking for directions on the way. The Hitler Youth uniform, that the Nazis had given me, was so intimidating that people gladly helped. Once inside the church, I searched it to look for the pilot. After I had covered quite a bit of the building I found a trail of blooding leading to the back of the church.

There he was! A tall broad-shouldered man was leaning against the pillar. His head was bandaged and so was his arm. His face was covered in bruises and one eye was red.

He saw me and groaned.

“So, they finally got me. Eh?” he said in English. “I thought they wouldn’t look for me here.”

“No, I am not German. My name is James Sturrock, and I am British,” I said. “Come with me and I will get you to safety.”

“Well! What have I to lose?” said the pilot.

He got up with great difficulty and leaned against me. He was so heavy that I groaned under his weight, but I managed to get him out of the church as fast as I could.

It was already dark as we were about to leave the church gate. My plan was to try and take him, in the cover of darkness, to the bakery where the time-machine had brought me. And, if anyone stopped us, I would have shown my Hitler Youth badge and told them that I had captured the British pilot and was taking him to the Gestapo.

Finally, after walking for almost a mile, we reached the Jewish Bakery. Thankfully, the time-machine was still there, right next to the garbage dump.

We got into it as quickly as we could and shut the door. It was pretty cramped with two of us inside. I pushed the lever that Olivia had showed me, that would take us back to the future.

The pilot and I groaned as the time-machined lurched and jostled and came to a stop with a loud thud.

When I opened the door and stepped out, I saw my entire family had turned up in Olivia’s laboratory. They were looking worried and cross. Olivia looked crestfallen. Clearly, they had blamed her for my sudden disappearance.

“Don’t worry guys!” I shouted as I emerged out of the time-machine. “I am absolutely fine. I had a great adventure, and I think you will agree I did something good too.”

I waved at the time machine with a flourish as the injured British pilot came out of the door. He looked around at everyone and all of Olivia’s high-tech machines with bewilderment.

But, the real surprise was yet to come.

My grandmother stood up from the chair she was sitting on and exclaimed “Papa?!”