I stood in the mossy cobblestone archway of the old church which was built in an elegant Victorian style, watching the rain lash down around me. The water was gushing down the sidewalks and into the sewers. Ever since I moved to London that's all it ever did, rain, rain, and more rain. I didn’t think it was going to rain today so I forgot to bring an umbrella. There was a steady drip, drip, drip of water coming off the archway I was standing under, I considered maybe waiting for it to let up but figured that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Just as I was going to step out into the rainstorm, a young man came to stand next to me. He was tall with gorgeous hazel eyes and light red hair. I looked up and felt butterflies in my stomach.

“What a rainy day.” he said with a German accent. My brain went immediately into high alert. Great I thought to myself, the next thing you need is to fall in love with a Nazi.

“Yes, it always seems to be raining.”

“You're not from around here, are you?” He asked

“Oh no, I moved here from the US. Still not used to all this rain.” I chuckled

“Pardon me, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Walter. And you are…?”

“Kat.”

“So, Kat, what brings you to London?” I noticed a black swastika pinned to his left breast pocket. I took some deep breaths and answered his question,

“I’m a journalist.” I said, trying to keep it short. This is just like your training, I kept saying to myself. Except I was talking to an actual Nazi! Or maybe he was just a supporter?

“Ah, a journalist. It appears London has a lot of those.”

“Yes sir, well I have to go, it's getting late.” I said, trying to wrap up the conversion. 

“Indeed it is, would you like me to walk you home? It looks like you have no umbrella.” I didn’t want to be rude even if he was a Nazi, but I couldn’t let him catch on.

“Oh no it's fine, I’m sure you have places to be as well.”

“I insist. I will not have a fine young lady like you walking in this rain without an umbrella.” He was not going anywhere unless I accepted his offer.

“Well alright then.”

“Then off we go.” He opened his umbrella and started walking. I decided not to take him to my apartment because that would be too risky.

“So where are you headed to?” Walter asked.

“Just the Cafe around the corner.” This is just like your training I kept telling myself, just like your training. We ambled up the hill and turned the corner.

“Here we are ma’am. Lyon’s Corner.” The aroma of coffee filled my nose.“Are you meeting anyone here?”

“Just a friend of mine.” I lied. I really hoped he would leave me alone.

“Oh okay, well it was a pleasure meeting you. Will I catch you around town?”

“Maybe.” I said, trying to sound somewhat mysterious. I rushed into the building leaving him lingering outside. I continued walking till he was out of sight, only then could I let out the breath I’d been holding the entire time. 

I sat down at the nearest empty table, brushed off the crumbs and pulled out my brown leather notebook and pen. I contemplated the events of the day, I had an encounter with a Nazi, which could only mean one thing, the war was moving towards London! The Germans were all around us, so I wasn’t very shocked. But my training wasn’t even complete! I’ve only been part of the resistance for a couple of months! Why now? I wasn’t even sure I was ready to be sent out yet!! Was I? 

“Is there anything I can do for you? You seemed pretty troubled.” Startled, I closed my notebook and looked up at the pretty young waitress,

“Oh, um not right now. I’ll be on my way in a few but thank you.”

“Okay well let me know if you need anything.” She said in a sing-song voice, “Have a nice day!” And with that she turned around and went back to wiping off the tables. It was nice seeing someone so happy in the midst of war. But we had a serious problem on our hands! I still couldn’t get over it. What am I going to do? I kept repeating to myself. What am I going to do?