Sixth installment

Later that week we rang Peter who told us that we could go and see him later that day as everything had been sorted out, he was waiting for us when we arrived and after he and Paula talked for a while Peter signed a piece of paper and handed it to me, he told me through Paula's translation that I was to be transferred to the 'Red Barracks' which was where I was in jail,it was also the place where they kept some of the political prisoners (cherniks and Serbians) it was ironic after thinking about it that I was to guard a place where my enemies were being held, the enemies that I wanted dead for what they and their compatriots had done to the Croatians throughout the war, I had to learn to hide this feeling if I was to stay in the Croatian army, I was going to be in a position where I would daily have the opportunity to kill but if I did I would end up in jail for murder because I was supposed to guard them not kill them. The only good thing about the situation was that I was still in the army and that I could help pay Paula some kind of board and lodge even if it was only a little. On the way home we bought a newspaper as it was article day and I always wanted to see it and also find out what name the paper had given me this time, out of all the articles to date only two were signed with my name spelt correctly, the one that was appearing today was one of my best and it expressed my feelings completely, everything that I had written I actually felt. My real home was in Wales but Osijek was the next best thing, I had Paula and her family, I had some where to live and a job to do although the importance had been significantly reduced but it was still a worthwhile job. That was the end of another problem, how many more before I could try and settle down to build my life back up and find true happiness in this beautiful war ravaged country. The following Monday I was to report to the Red Barracks what times I was to be on guard duty and who I would be with. The weekend went briskly and it was soon time to see what was what, I walked with Paula as she had once again started work at the local school of language's where she was head of one of the sections, she was happy and so was I for the time being. The commander of the barracks was Joseph who I already knew and the commander of the guards was Damien, he told me that I would be working six hours on and eight off every day, with one day off every sixteen, it didn't seem all that bad at that specific time but I had not actually done it, my partner on guard was the man who was translating and at least I would have someone to talk to. They told me that I could stay at home because it was only five hundred meters away but I had to be at the barracks every day at 0845 as that was the time that the country's flag was raised, it had cost a lot of lives and material damage to get the flag flying in this barracks, had it been worth while? When I came back that night to do my shift Brian was waiting, he filled me in as to how the shifts worked and told me that it was not a very good job because it was boring, he also told me that over the next few days that he had never really wanted to be in the army as he hated the war but because his friends had joined he thought that it was expected of him also so he enlisted, his real job was hairdressing and his hobby was dancing, sitting and talking every day I found from his manner that he was not a soldier and would never make the grade but his english was good and he was good company.

The days passed and it was almost time for Diana to come back home from her exile in Austria, I could see from Paula's behavior that she was excited, it had been over a year since her daughter and ninety-nine other children had been evacuated and the local authorities had now decided that the time was right to bring them back even though the bombing of Osijek had not stopped completely and even if UNPROFOR were trying to stop the enemies continued attacks. It was not really safe so Paula decided to let Diana stay with her sister in Zagreb for the time being but we would go to meet her at the border before the bus continued onto Osijek with the remaining children, I arranged time off and we left for Zagreb on Friday evening. We were to stay with Paula's sister while they went to the border to meet the bus, I would stay with the two sons who both spoke a little english. We arrived in Zagreb and found out where and when the bus was arriving and planned the weekend accordingly, what was I going to think of Diana and more importantly what would she think of me, I would only have a few hours and then I would find out. The following day they left to go to the border and I stayed watching tv as they had Sky and there were english programs on it which made a welcome change from Croatian tv which I didn't understand. After three hours they returned with Diana, she said hello but was more concerned with her mother which was only to be expected as they had not been together for a long time, she was short, chubby and had a thick lip from fighting with a boy the day before, she seemed a normal nine year old but how was I going to get on with her especially as I couldn't speak the language? The next day we left for home with Diana wanting to come too but Paula insisted that she should stay for a few weeks until it was safer in Osijek, Diana didn't like it but that was the way it had to be. We arrived home and the first thing that Paula did was to ring Zagreb and talk to Diana, at least it was costing less to ring her now than when she was in Austria. Over the next couple of weeks I kept wondering how I would get on with Diana when she came home to stay for good and whether she would resent the fact that her mother now had a man living in the flat that they had shared for the past nine years together, I would have to wait and see, I already knew how difficult to take on another man's children as my wife had five and I had plenty of trouble there but here I couldn't communicate with the daughter, it was going to be hard perhaps impossible.