[ WP ] An aging veteran gets dragged to a paintball facility by his grandkids . Another elderly man is there with his grandkids . The two quickly realize they ’ ve faced off on the battlefield before .

Oliver sat with his cup of tea on a table overlooking the paintball field below. His mind drifted back to the war, he'd seen a lot. A lot of bad, but a bit of good. 
 
 Today was his great-grandchild Harry's 14th birthday. Harry had asked to go paintballing so the whole family was there. His friends, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, even his grandparents were there. Oliver was the only great-grandparent; they'd even tried to persuade him not to come but he would have none of it. It was his great-grandchild's birthday and he'd be there, that had been the end of it. Of course he would n't be playing, while he was still spritely for his age he did n't fancy another hip replacement. So while the rest of the family had gone down to get ready to play or say good luck to Harry, he'd bought a cup of tea from the cafe and found a nice seat. 
 
 There was a whistle and he heard the pop of paintball guns firing, for a moment he was lost in memories of the war. The friends he'd lost, the people he'd killed, and his family... 
 
 “ Hello, is this seat taken? ” 
 
 Oliver was jolted back to the present by the words of a small old man. Something about him was familiar but Oliver could n't quite place it. 
 
 “ Not at all, please sit ”, Oliver gestured opposite himself. 
 
 “ My, times have changed haven ’ t they? ” the stranger spoke to Oliver with a slight German accent 
 
 Oliver stared at the strange man, that accent, that face… Now he remembered. 
 
 “ You! ” he shouted suddenly. It was that night, the night he ’ d always remember. 
 
 It was back in the war, back when the allies were being pushed out of France and back across the channel. Oliver ’ s unit was retreating, he ’ d been separated and was trying to find a way to them. He was just outside what looked like an old home, the roof had caved in from the fighting. 
 
 “ HALT! ” a thick German accent yelled. Oliver ’ s stomach turned. A German solider had his pistol pointed at him. For what seemed like forever Oliver stood still praying his captor wouldn ’ t just shoot him. 
 
 “ Vho… ahre… you? ” The German said in broken English. 
 
 Oliver was about to answer when they both heard someone crying, a child. he turned to the sound, it was coming from the collapsed home. With a look at The German as if to say ‘ please, let me help ’ he was ushered into the building at gunpoint. Inside was a little girl, she couldn ’ t have been older than 5, and she was trapped under a fallen support beam. Oliver went to her side, and spoke to her. 
 
 “ Hey, there little girl. What ’ s your name? ” Oliver asked calmly. 
 
 “ A… A… Anna ”, the girl sobbed. 
 
 “ Ok, Anna. I ’ m going to move this off your leg, but it ’ s going to hurt. I need you to be brave, can you do that for me? ” Oliver gestured at the beam and mimed getting it off her, he didn ’ t know if she understood much English. 
 
 “ She, nodded slowly ” 
 
 With both his hands Oliver grasped the beam and heaved, it was too heavy. He tried several more times, no luck. Just as he was about to give up on freeing Anna someone else grasped the beam next to him. It was The German. Together with a great heave they pulled the beam off Anna who had suddenly become silent when she saw a German solider was helping her. The German silently passed Oliver a bag, it had bandages and some kind of antiseptic in it. As Oliver bandaged Anna ’ s leg, using a smaller stick The German had found in the rubble as a splint he thought how even here in the middle of all this destruction there was still some humanity. 
 
 After fixing Anna ’ s leg as best he could Oliver sat down exhausted, and then he noticed in front of him on the floor was The German ’ s pistol. The German picked it up, and Oliver wondered for a second what he would do with it, it was simply placed it back in its holster and forgotten. 
 
 “ You need to take her? ” The German spoke to Oliver “ take her und go ”. 
 
 “ Why? ” Oliver found himself saying for a second but The German responded quickly. 
 
 “ She is not safe here ” He looked at the girl quickly with a look of deep shame. 
 
 Before he knew it Oliver was walking as quickly and quietly as he could through what must have once been a farmer ’ s field. The small girl clutched in his arms. Somehow she ’ d managed to fall asleep clutching the only thing she had left in the world, as small silver Star of David necklace. 
 
 `` Did… did she make it?'' The stranger asked hesitantly. 
 
 `` Yes ”, Oliver said slowly “ but her parents…'' he hated this part, remembering when his unit had captured one of those camps, what they ’ d done to those poor people, even the children. 
 
 The stranger reached over and put his hand on Oliver ’ s hand which was shaking in anger. He gave a nod, he understood. 
 
 “ So why are you here today? ” The stranger asked Oliver hoping to distract him from what were obviously painful memories. 
 
 “ My great-grandson ’ s birthday ”, replied Oliver pointing toward Harry as he dashed into view among the trees below. 
 
 “ What a coincidence, I ’ m here with mine great-granddaughter. Not her birthday though, she plays in the local paintball league so she ’ s practicing today ”, He too pointed at the figure of a girl slightly older than Harry also in the game. 
 
 “ Sorry, I never ask for your name? ” the stranger asked Oliver, “ My name is Klaus ”. 
 
 “ Oliver ”, came the reply. 
 
 “ Listen Oliver, I was wondering… ” Klaus was fidgeting “ You wouldn ’ t happen to be able to put me in contact with Anna would you? I would like to meet her after all these years ”. Before Oliver could say anything else Klaus continued. “ I just, in the war... I did horrible things. I just want to see the one good thing I did with my life ”. 
 
 “ Well Klaus, it looks to me like you did more than one good thing ” Oliver pointed down below as Klaus ’ great-granddaughter helped Harry, who had tripped and was covered in paint, up off the ground and began to give him some paintball tips. Klaus looked. 
 
 “ Thank you, but still it would mean a lot ” 
 
 “ Ok, well give me a minute ” Oliver stood up and walked over to some of the older members of his family that had just trekked back up the hill. He came back with a woman. “ Klaus this is Anna, Anna this is The German ” 
 
 [ Given the time since WW2 I made them great-grandparents instead. Apologies for any grammatical errors, it ’ s been a long time since I ’ ve written anything like this ]
