Postcards from No Man's Land Chapter 16 Summary

Postcard

  • Whether you call them pannenkoek, crepes, flapjacks, or pancakes (and they call them all of those), it doesn't really matter: the point is that they are delicious. Jacob and Hille sit down to have pancakes together at a café and talk about all the times people say something is Dutch—going Dutch, a Dutch uncle, Dutch courage, Dutch oven—you get the idea.
  • The name of the café-turned-pub-mixed-with-a-restaurant is Hotel Schoonoord, after the hospital that was used to treat soldiers.
  • Hille pays for Jacob's food in exchange for some good stories about Jacob and his grandfather—she wants to know all about them.
  • The two laugh and practice their languages by writing things in syrup that the other one says; after a while, they're laughing just because.
  • Suddenly, Hille tells him that she feels really comfortable around him and feels like she's known him forever, even though they just met. He feels the same way.
  • They hold hands and then she asks him to tell her more about him, staring with his insides and working his way out.
  • Sometimes it feels like you're just supposed to meet someone, and that's definitely how these two feel about each other.
  • Naturally, since they're both Anne Frank fans, conversation turns back to everybody's favorite diary-writer. They think about the first time she kissed Peter. Ahem… hint, hint.
  • Unsurprisingly, Jacob asks Hille if she has a boyfriend, and as luck would have it, it turns out she does not. She used to and he was charming and sweet and everything, but… she just got bored with it after a while.
  • The position of kisser is currently open in her life. Maybe Jacob would like to apply?
  • Hmm… first he's got to find out about her a little more. Just kidding. They kiss and joke around a little more, before they start talking about Geertrui—Jacob wants to know what Hille thinks of assisted death.
  • She tells him she's known people with loved ones who've done it before, and it's really hard. It hurts them later in ways they didn't imagine, but she also gets someone's right to die with dignity at their own time.
  • One thing's for sure: Hille thinks everyone should decide before they get old and sick what they want to happen to them. Everyone should get to choose for themselves, so it's not so hard on the families.
  • Eventually the couple heads over to the train station, holding hands, comfortable with each other. As they are about to leave each other, Hille writes down her digits for Jacob, and he gives her another kiss.