Sentence The Sixhundredandsixtyseventh

"We must move quickly," said J Alfred Prufrock that morning, on the 8th of March 1939, in the breakfast room of their Berlin hotel; Palestrina MacFarlane and Gertie Mountcastle leaned closer to catch his words as he spoke quietly and quickly, always careful that no-one at an adjacent table, or loitering waiter, would pick up their talk: "there are to be some movements over the next few days, and I need to learn what is known about them, we have had several 'dry runs' but tonight I want us to put the wheels in motion; we need to know where the top brass are going and when so that we can identify our target and make plans to intercept," he said; this told the girls nothing, but they knew better than to ask him to speak more clearly and they knew also that they had to trust to his information and judgement, so after they had eaten, and taking the notes Prufrock had jotted down for them and which were to be used then burned, the two hurried to the room the other girls occupied and told them that tonight they would be working for real: "according to the information we have received," said Pal, "both Dr Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler are to be there tonight and I have it on good authority that they are both fond of an evening stroll, though not necessarily together, this may be our only chance – everyone knows that Goebbels has an eye for a pretty girl and is not particularly discreet, despite his much vaunted family life and for him it is believed that his promenade is actually a sexcursion," and she grinned at the portmanteau word Prufrock had used earlier, perhaps
particularly because, with his disability, it was known that the Propaganda Chief was normally unwilling to take part in any physical activity other than when he could be photographed alongside his Fuhrer and the other prominent leaders of the Party, or romping with movie starlets or the seemingly inexhaustible supply of secretaries and typists he drove his way through; "now, Himmler, we know less about, he seems to be a fastidious man, prudish and prissy, but that often means repressed carnality, so either of them might bite: we girls shall all have to be out, in ones and twos, just in case, and Herr Prufrock has had the van well cleaned and polished, because he doesn't want it to look at all seedy, our image must be High Class, like ourselves," and the other girls giggled, then
Gertie reminded them of the great risk they were all running: "if anyone has any doubts or reservations, now is the time to say, there may not be any chance later to drop out," but the girls, representing the intersectionality of Nazi suppression of all perceived oppositions, as referenced later in Pastor Martin Niemoller's 'First They Came For The Communists' poem, which itemises the ramifications of such policies, were all defiantly anti-Nazi, two were Jewesses whose families had disappeared without trace, and the others came from political or religious families which had also been the subject of State brutality – all were determined to do anything they could to stop the madness which had gripped their Homeland (they refused to use the epithet Fatherland, because of it's brown- and black-shirt connotations) and they all carried Party Cards, produced by the best forger in Germany, a man whose Party credentials were impeccable, whose family-owned print-works produced many of the Party publications and Propaganda materials, who regularly wined and dined leaders of the Party and Nation in his modestly comfortable home and had attended their rallies and weddings and spent many weekends in their company; Prufrock knew that this double-life took a heavy toll on the man's physical and mental health, but also knew him to be the most loyal and trusted partner in their enterprise: "you should have been an actor," he once said as they met at an American Embassy function, and the man handed him a slim package containing forged
work-permits and travel documents: "but I am, my dear Alfred, and I am fortunate in being able to write my own lines and determine my own fate, although, of course if certain of my activities were known to certain parties, the lines may be needed for my allocute, but let us enjoy this evening at your Ambassador's expense and to Hell with tomorrow!" and now. as the prospect of World War loomed closer and darker, Prufrock knew that the fate of Europe and it's millions upon millions of souls may well be determined by whatever happens in the next few days and weeks!