Squeaky shoes

We would get together with other Germans that came to the United States to live. The kids were sent to another room to play and the grown-ups would laugh, reminisce and talk for hours. I loved sneaking upstairs away from the other kids and listen to all the stories. Some were awful and some were down right scary. One story I kind of remember about Opa when he stole to feed his family. I know, kind of like Le Mis, huh? I don't remember the where's and why's of the story so some of it I'm just going to have to ad-lib. No one's around anymore that would know exactly how the story goes anyway.

Opa Becker loved his family and always worked very hard for them. He worked for a Russian factory fixing Airplanes. He was a Machinist and was very good at what he did. After the war, the Russians took over Berlin and people were starving. Opa was also working at a meat packing plant. One day they were packing bacon. Just the thought of having bacon or any kind of meat for dinner sounded so good to him. His heart started pounding really hard as he very carefully removed one shoe and then the other. All of a sudden he "accidentally" dropped a few pieces of bacon onto the dirty floor, just kept working for a minute and then stooped down and very quickly laid the bacon in his shoes then he carefully slid his shoes back on. He worked with bacon in his shoes all day and then finally got to squeak home. When he opened the apartment door, he was greeted by his beautiful wife and his little daughters. He told them that he had a surprise so he took his shoes off and carefully took out the bacon one piece at a time. Oma, Hildi and Ingrid's eyes got really big and the smiles on their faces were priceless. Opa stood and smiled as the rest of his family squealed and clapped their hands. Oma took the bacon and washed it "really, really, really, " well and they used a little each day to spice up a soup or whatever. She saved the bacon grease and put it on bread with a little salt. What a treat that was. Opa took a huge risk but it was so worth it to him to see the smiles on his daughters and wife's faces.