A Hero Speaks

The first day of the German 101 class finally came to an end. “I’ll uhhh... see you tomorrow.”, Jeff muttered.

“Ja, see you.”, replied Charia.

The two went their separate ways.

The Next Day

It was morning once again. Jeff walked into his German 101 class.

“EHHHHH!”, exclaimed Jeff.

Jeff wickedly pointed his finger, as he saw the man himself—Volker von Thieb, who sat next to Charia (on her left); Volker had the window seat, as if he was a main character.

“Ehhh... Volker... you were born in Germany, right?”, asked Jeff.

“Ja.”

“And you definitely, without a doubt can speak perfect German, right?”

“Ja.”

“... You do know this is German 101, right?”

“Ja. 😃”

Jeff gave up and did not ask anymore questions.

“Howdy, Charia”, Jeff greeted.

“Oh, hallo.”

“So, how long have you and Volker known each other?”

“We were childhood friends.”

“Ja, Charia and I go way back. We would play Crash Bandicoot and stay up late at night during sleep overs. Our families were a little close.”

Charia laughed, as she remembered events that happened in hers and Volker’s more youthful days. She looked into Volker’s eyes while smiling, and Jeff could not help but notice how much more history Volker had with Charia.

Jeff knew her for only a couple of weeks, whereas Volker has known her for years. How could Jeff possibly compete?

“Chari—“

“Guten Morgen. Hallo, Leute. Wie geht es Ihnen Heute?”(Good morning. Hello, people. How are you all doing today?), interrupted Professorin Homolko-Pohen.

Class began.

Charia and Volker mostly talked to each other during class activities, since they wanted to catch up. They had not seen each other for a year or two. Jeff understood this.

Class ended.

The trio exited the classroom. Jeff could not help but feel anxious, as his girlfriend was chatting with a man that she had once loved in a language that he had not fully learned yet. Jeff felt like he needed to get out of the situation before it ate him away emotionally.

 “Charia... I must go to the bookstore. I’ll see you two later.” Jeff waved them goodbye and he prepared to make a left at the corner and walk down the street.

“Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye).”, Charia said, as she waved to Jeff.

A Few Moments Later…

Jeff was in a bookstore called, “Libros for Amigos”. He needed a German dictionary.

As he walked down one aisle, Jeff noticed a young woman in a high school uniform who had silver shoulder-length hair. She wore stylish glasses; the glasses were large with black frames, and they came with a large fake pink nose attached to them. 🥸 

The young lady was reading through manga books... probably without planning to pay for them.

Jeff ignored her and just went on with his business. He found a dictionary for $2.99 and he decided to buy it. It was titled, “German for Dummkopfe”.

As Jeff was walking to the checkout area, a masked man, suddenly, rushed into the store with a plastic bag and immediately demanded that the cashier put all her money into the bag.

The robber was extremely intimidating and dangerous looking, He had tattoos on his arms of various things, from hearts and knives to pictures of cute puppies. He wore black sweatpants and a black sweater, along with K-Swede sneakers with rainbow stripes on the sides. The recalcitrant’s rugged and robust features that would send chilling fear into most able-bodied men.

Surprisingly, the cashier refused to give the robber the money. “No”, declared the cashier, as she crossed her arms in denial in an X shape. Subsequently, the robber ran to the most vulnerable person he could find. He grabbed a young female customer and brought her to the front near the cash register. The woman was very nervous and scared and whimpered, as the robber held her hostage and pulled out a pistol from his waistband.

“Okay now, lady, give me the money and nobody gets hurt. I WANT THE MONEY NOW!”, ordered the robber, as he began to raise the semi-automatic handgun to the young lady’s head.

Not too far away, there was a security guard from another store nearby. He just happened to walk into the bookstore. Perhaps, he would step in to save the day! 

The security guard immediately turned around and tip-toed back out the bookstore.

“That silver haired girl... I need to say something to stop this... I’ve got to do something”, Jeff thought to himself.

The woman’s eyes teared up, as she was frozen in fear. Jeff’s face tensed up, and he was shaking. The adrenaline was pumping throughout his body. He hesitated at first... and then—

“Hey! Take your hands off of her, criminal scum!”, demanded Jeff, after he walked up to about 5 feet away from the robber.

Next, the masked robber maniacally laughed. “And what if I don’t? What could a wimp like you possibly do?”, the robber taunted.

“Heh... you underestimate my power.”, Jeff declared.

Jeff pulled his shirt off. Then, he stared directly into eyes of his future victim with such a fiery intensity that was warmer than the surfaces of a 1000 suns.

Jeff tensed up his arm muscles, as if he was preparing for a direct attack that would defeat the criminal with 1 fatal blow. 

Quickly, Jeff ran towards the villain; the robber was honestly caught of guard, since he did not think that Jeff was brave enough to attack him and as a result, the robber was utterly defenseless. Jeff had the robber where he wanted him, and—

“YOU HAVE THE HIGHER GROUND, SIR. PLEASE SPARE ME”, pleaded Jeff with an awkward smile on his face, as he got on his knees and clasped his hands together 🙏, in order to beg that the criminal spare his life.

Once again, the robber burst into laughter. This time, it was non-stop. The evil doer’s stomach became sore from laughing uncontrollably and as a result, his defenses were for sure down now. The criminal scum even moved the gun away from the silver haired woman’s head, as well as released her from his grasp, as he chuckled left and right.

At that moment, Jeff seized the opportunity and grabbed the silver haired woman’s arm and rushed towards the exit. The couple made it outside and ran as fast as they could. Jeff was almost dragging the woman.

In the distance, they could hear the robber yelling, “Hey, get back here! I need a cute hostage, so people will take me seriously!… My rent money is on the line here!… and the landlady scares me 😢.”

Jeff and the woman ran for at least 3 minutes straight. The fear and adrenaline allowed the pair to run much farther than they normally could. When they finally stopped, they breathed heavily. Their hearts almost leaped out of their chests, as they bumped like a loud base drum.

“*exhale*...*inhale*... this is what you get for *exhale* *inhale*…  reading manga without paying... hehe.” Jeff used humor to calm the girl down.

The silver haired woman’s peach colored cheeks face showed that she was embarrassed, as she looked to the side. The two did not notice that the young lady dropped her glasses disguise somewhere.

“Vi-vielen thanks for saving me. My Name ist Erika von Thieb”, informed the young woman.

(Jeff’s Inner Thoughts)

“Von Thieb?.... VOLKER’S SISTER!?”

“Ehhhh!”

To be Continued.