La Fuga

She therefore became all the more determined to do her bit for the resistance movement. So when a beautiful smiling young woman carrying a hand basket of fruit and groceries walked across the Piazza San Marco the German soldiers looked at her not what was in the basket. If they had emptied the basket on to the ground in the square, inside it would have revealed a false compartment which could hold a hand gun and clips of ammunition. On the days when she was not carrying anything incriminating she would sometimes stop and talk with them. She couldn’t speak much German but they knew enough Italian to keep her interested. There was the usual banter about meeting up after the war and offers to take her back to Germany when all of this was over – they were the words that come out of the mouths of lonely and bored soldiers. When there was no officer around they would give her a cheery wave to which she always responded. By being able to hide her contempt for the army of occupation she was of great assistance to the resistance movement because she was able to beat the night-time curfew whilst the Germans never suspected her of anything. Her friendliness with the German soldiers was misunderstood by some of the local population who would spit at her and call her names. They didn’t know any better and she felt this also assisted the deception so didn’t worry about it. Her basket was never searched by the admiring soldiers on duty. In addition important messages were slipped into her clothing, the lining of her brassiere being the favourite hiding place. On one such occasion when she reached a safe house she set down her basket and un-self consciously pulled down the top of her dress and removed her brassiere in order to extract the message. This action caused her full breasts to be completely exposed. The jaw of the young resistance man who witnessed these unexpectedly treats dropped open. Her breasts were just a bit too large to be described as beautiful but notwithstanding that they were a sight for sore eyes. This lack of self-consciousness didn’t matter to Isabella because three years of wartime conditions had changed her from a naïve young girl into a brave young woman who did not stand on any kind of ceremony. “What’s the matter with you?” she barked at him. “Never seen a naked woman before?” The young man, Angelo Carlucci, was stunned but was able to compose himself enough to give a satisfactory response. “Yes I have, but never one so beautiful Signorina.” “It’s not Signorina, it’s Signora. My husband is with the partisans somewhere in Sicily fighting the Germans and is most likely dead by now. So what do you think of that?” In her anger she still she made no attempt to cover her naked breasts. Angelo was not to be bullied by the sharpness of her tongue or her defiance no matter how stunning this young woman was. “There is little that I can say Signora, other than the fact that I guess that he fought for Il Duce before changing sides. I am glad he did – change sides I mean. Fighting for Il Duce is something that I refused to do, so I do this instead. I apologise if my comments offend you in any way and I hope you may soon have positive news from him. It must be very worrying for you.” She ignored what he had to say and passing over the piece of paper removed from her brassiere, her breasts swaying as she turned. “Here take this, I don’t know what it says but I am told that I must say one word to you and it is ‘laguna.’ I hope it means something to you because it means absolutely nothing to me.” He nodded without being able to take his eyes off her as she redressed the top half of her body. “Now that you’ve finished staring at me, I’ll be on my way. It would be a good idea in future if instead of gawping at me you emptied the basket that I have risked my life bringing to you. You still haven’t done it.” Her eyes flared with anger.