'Where the Fruit Hangs Low' by Rob Lofthouse
'Where the Fruit Hangs Low' is the latest addition to my back catalogue.
Currently self-published on Amazon, I endeavour to attain representation in the form of an agent, since my previous agent died of a very aggressive cancer.
In addition, the story is now in Screenplay format, and I look forward to seeing it on the screen, big or small.
The inspiration for the story came some years ago, when I was living in Detmold, Germany. I was a soldier stationed in Paderborn, the very location of my second effort 'Bazooka Town' now picked up by Lume Books in 2018, thank you guys! Not too far north- east of Detmold is the well known historical town of Hamelin (of Pied Piper fame).
The fairy tale most of us were all brought up with ends with the piper leading the rats out of the town to the cheer of the inhabitants. The actual folk tale ends in a far darker place... the piper clears the town of rats but returns for payment for his services. The Mayor of Hamelin refuses, so the piper casts a spell on the people and whilst they are entranced, he takes their children.
It was the basic structure of this time worn tale that my adaptation began to ferment. It would be in Germany, in a far more recent time, and the plot could somehow have some credibility to it, be it fiction.
It is late March 1945, in war weary Berlin. SS Hauptsturmfuhrer (Captain to you and me) Bruno Feltz is taken by force into custody of the Gestapo in his battle worn hotel room.
Unbeknown to him, he has been captured by British agents who have enough leverage on him to serve their needs. Smuggled out of Nazi Germany into liberated Holland, he is given a mission by his British captors.
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Parachute behind his own lines and round up as many Panzer Kinder 'Tank Children' as he can and lead them through British lines and into custody. Prime Minister Churchill is disturbed at the amount of children now fighting his armies as they push deeper into Germany. The fighting is getting more vicious and desperate. Germany is running short of fighting aged males, and time is running out as the Soviets close on the capital.
Feltz is not alone. The British have rounded up many SS officers with skeletons in their closets they would rather keep from their Berlin masters and the Gestapo.
Feltz is faced with two choices... accept the mission and survive, he'd be allowed to live in England after the war as a free man, immune from any post war incriminations, military or civil.
Refuse...he is free to go. The British will ensure the photos they have of his salacious activities be with the Gestapo by the time he makes it back to his unit.
'Where the Fruit Hangs Low' by Rob Lofthouse.
Available now in Paperback or Kindle on Amazon.
Oh...one last thing...'F*** You cancer!