Der Meißel der Seele

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Hogan couldn’t sleep. It was late, almost eleven according to his watch, and he felt tired but, no matter what he did, sleep wouldn’t come. Unfortunately, he knew the reason why: it was Klink’s fault, the spineless rat -

Rubbing his eyes, Hogan sat up and sighed. This was stupid. What was he losing sleep for? He’d made the right decision - there was no point in risking the lives of his men to save an enemy some humiliation. The Kommandant wasn’t in danger of being replaced or killed and, besides, the man had already made his choice to agree to Adler’s demand.

As far as he was concerned, Klink had made his bed. Hogan couldn’t even feel sorry for the man because it was obvious that he hadn’t even tried to think of an alternative to letting the General take advantage of him.

So, why was he losing sleep? Klink was not his responsibility. And, even if he had been, well, what was Hogan supposed to do about any of it now? It was too late.

Not that it mattered because he’d made the right choice.

Besides, Hogan was sure that once Adler was gone, things at Stalag 13 would continue in much the same way as they had before. Remembering Kinch’s warning, he allowed that the Kommandant might be out of sorts for a while, but he was confident that Klink would be his same old obnoxious self in no time.

It wasn’t as if Klink was a completely unwilling participant anyway. He didn’t have to make that deal with Adler - if he hadn’t wanted to do it at all, he could have found a way out. It was really that simple.

Simple or not, it was a bit confusing. Before any of this had come up, Hogan wouldn’t have believed that the ‘beloved’ Kommandant had any leanings towards men. Despite a complete lack of success with women (at least, in the time that Hogan had known him), Klink had never failed to appreciate the fairer sex. Whether or not they appreciated him was besides the point, which was that the Kommandant liked women.

But, if that were true, why did he agree to have sex with Adler? Not that he particularly cared about the details of Klink’s private life - picturing Klink with anyone was not anything Hogan wanted to spend much time imagining - but Hogan was the sort of man who didn’t like a mystery. Of course, there really wasn’t a way to figure this one out . . .

In the dim glow of the sweeping search lights outside, Hogan found himself looking at the coffee pot. Almost without his own volition, he got out of bed and sat down in the chair beside the table. The idea of listening in right now in light of what he guessed might be going on was a sickening one but he couldn’t deny that he was more than a little curious as to whether or not Klink was actually going to go through with it.

But was he curious enough to turn the receiver on and listen?

His hand hovered over the on switch and, after a long moment of deliberation, he switched it on -

- and heard nothing. Seemed a bit anti-climatic after all the hemming and hawing he’d done. Not that he was disappointed: he’d rather have triple helpings of the mess hall sawdust bread than hear Klink and Adler . . . In fact, he decided that he was probably better off not thinking about them together at all.

He’d been about to cut the connection when he heard the unmistakable sound of a hand striking flesh. Then he heard Adler’s voice shout with anger. “I asked you a question! When I ask a question, I expect an answer. Do you understand that!”

“Y-yes,” came the faint reply. Klink’s voice, although he didn’t sound much like himself.

“So, what will you do next time I ask you a question?”

A pause, then: “I’ll answer.”

“Very good, Wilhelm!” ‘Wilhelm?’ Hogan frowned. What was Adler’s angle? From what little he’d heard, it didn’t sound like they should be on a first name basis! These thoughts distracted Hogan from hearing what else Adler had said but, hearing Klink’s answer, he decided that he was better off.

“ . . . you were . . . going to . . . kiss me?”

Hogan switched off the coffee pot quickly. He didn’t need to hear any more of this - he was no voyeur and he’d heard more than enough already. Staring off into the shadows, he felt a rush of compassion for Klink. That General Adler was some piece of work. Some nasty piece of work.

His compassion was soon tempered by the feeling that Klink almost deserved to be in that situation for being so stupid. A blind man could have told that making any sort of deal with a man like Adler wouldn’t lead to anything good. Klink should have tried harder to find another way of dealing with the General. There must have been something else he could have done.

‘Like what?’ demanded an inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Kinch. ‘What could he have done?’

For a moment, Hogan froze because he couldn’t think of anything off the top of his head. Then he ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. He’d been up too long to be worrying about things like this - there had been an alternative but he was just too tired to see it right now. Besides, it no longer mattered if there had been an alternative: it sounded as though, fairly soon, the transaction would be made and that would be the end of it.

That would be the end of it.

Hogan yawned and stood to go back to his bunk. Even with the faint doubts ringing in the back of his mind, he knew that everything would make more sense in the morning. Everything always looked better in the morning.

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