Carefully, he approached her. He'd mastered the Danish language, speaking it with just a slight accent. But he was still in uniform…

"Miss," He said softly, standing over her so that he cast a shadow across her page. "It is a pleasure that we meet again."

Annelise gasped and jumped up, startled that this German had approached her again. "W-Why are you talking to me?"

"Because I think you're beautiful," Fritz breathed. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." He reached out and gently touched her jaw. He could feel her tense.

"You flatter me, sir," Annelise said emotionlessly, trying to back out of his grasp but his fingers tightened around her jaw.

"Sit, little one. Let us talk in a civilized way."

"I'm busy," Annelise said curtly, reaching for her camera.

Fritz was quicker. He snatched up her camera and held it up in front of his face, at least a foot over Annelise's head. "No, I think you are not. Sit, little one and you shall get your camera back."

"Be careful with that," Annelise snapped. "It's fragile! It was my grandfather's."

"Then you're to sit and talk with me if you value it so much."

Annelise's face hardened more but she slowly sat, her eyes not betraying any emotion.

"First, tell me your name," Fritz said genially, sinking down to the grass next to her.

"Annelise."

"Annelise what?"

"Christensen," Annelise said reluctantly.

"Ah, a beautiful name. I am Fritz Meyers. There! Now we are properly introduced. Now, how old are you, lovely one?"

"Eighteen."

Fritz nodded, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. "I have a brother your age. Fine boy, but careless. He is home in Germany. Myself, I am twenty-four. Must seem ancient to you, little one."

Annelise shook her head slightly. "No, I have a friend near that age."

"Who is this friend?"

"His name is David. He is twenty-two."

"The boy you walk with often?"

Annelise froze. "You watch me?"

Fritz shrugged. "Yes, I suppose. You are very beautiful. It's hard not to. Now, tell me about this David."

"We are to be wed," Annelise said tersely. "Within the year."

"And what is his full God-given name?"

"David Rozinbaum," Annelise said slowly, her eyes staring coldly into his.

Fritz could see that she was brave and stubborn. She was to be wed to the Jew? "No, no, that wouldn't do at all."

"Excuse me?" Annelise said angrily.

"Such a fine Aryan girl shouldn't be married to such scum. Strengthen the race, little one. Marry a fine German or a Dane like yourself."

Annelise grabbed her camera from his hands and her tripod from the grass and stalked off without saying good-bye. Fritz let her go. He'd be seeing her again, he was sure of it.

*          *          *

Annelise had been pacing for half an hour after she'd gotten home. She was waiting for David return to his apartment from work.

Watching out the window, she saw him enter the building and took off down the stairs to greet him. Halfway down the stairs, she met him and flung herself into his arms, starting to cry wildly.

"Oh David," She wept, "David, David…"

"Lovey, what is it?" David asked, startled by her tears.

"David, it was that German from last fall! Remember the one that stopped me? Well he came up to me in the park and took me camera and made me sit and talk to him and he knows you're Jewish and he says that I can't marry you and he…" Annelise sobbed, barely able to breath between talking and crying.

David pulled her arms from their tight grasp around his neck and smoothed her hair from her eyes to comfort her. "Annelise, calm down. Come, we mustn't talk of this here. Come to my apartment. My parents are away. I will make you some tea."

Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at the table in the Rozinbaums' apartment drinking steaming hot tea.

"And then he took my camera," Annelise said, the fingers holding the cup of tea to her lips were shaking. "He would have broken it if I hadn't stayed. It was my grandfather's camera. I couldn't let anything happen to it. He made me sit down and talk to him. He knows my whole name now and how old I am and then he began asking about you. He knows you're Jewish and that we're to be married, David. He said that I couldn't marry you. That since I was such a fine Aryan girl, I shouldn't marry scum. He called you scum, David! And he called me Aryan. He thinks I'm Aryan!"

David gently pushed her hand down to the table. She was shaking so violently that tea had started to spill onto the table. "Annelise, have you noticed that the Nazis haven't been doing anything bad to the Danes?" Annelise silently nodded. "They believe that Danes are Aryan like them. Racially superior, you know. Apparently Hitler couldn't imagine violently hurting fellow 'noble Aryans.' But they need our help, you know. We supply them with what they need. In return, they aren't harming the Danish Jews. That's why I'm able to sit with you now, Annelise."

"I-I don't understand," Annelise choked out, covering her face with her hands. "The Danes aren't racially superior to you. You're perfectly fine, David. What do the Nazis have against you?"

David sighed and shook his head, pulling her hands from her face and holding them gently. "I don't know. But I'm so glad that I live here and not in Poland or Germany. The horror stories of what is happening over there has reached the underground and they were hesitant to tell me. My family… Some of them live in Poland. Or lived, I should say. I don't know where they are anymore, whether they escaped or whether they…"

Annelise searched David's face frantically. "Whether they what, David?"

"Whether they were killed," David said bitterly. "People are being slaughtered, Annelise. Be glad that they consider your people their equals. It's saved you and me from much devastation. Think about it. You can live symbiotically. If you don't help them, they won't help you. Use this with this German that fancies you."