Childhood Impressions Revisited: The First Time I Read Where Eagles Dare

 

I first read the book Where Eagles Dare, by Alistair MacLean, when I was maybe 13 years old. I’d seen the movie on TV not long before and loved it. I did get a little lost in the wicked plot twists within the movie--I think both book and movie actually explain the plot twists well when they happen, but as a 13-year-old, I was mostly engrossed by the machine gun fire and explosions.

So when I saw the book on the paperback rack at an Eckerds Drug Store, I pulled out some paper route money and bought it. (As a side note: Remember when mass market paperbacks were cheap enough to be impulse buys? Ah, the good ol’ days!)

Anyway, in the book, there’s a point where the Allied commando team has to stash their equipment before mingling in town disguised as German soldiers. They break into the railway station and someone comes up with the idea of hiding their stuff in the Left Baggage Room. As a 13-year-old, I completely misinterpreted the term. What made the “Left” Baggage Room special as compared to the “Right” Baggage Room? It was a conundrum and there was no internet in those ancient days to look it up.

Over the years, I re-read the book frequently--it remains a favorite of mine. Everytime I got to that passage, I wondered anew about the “Left Baggage Room.” Even when I was more than old enough to figure out the context, I was apparently locked into my 13-year-old interpretation.

When the internet became a thing, I could have easily looked it up, but perhaps I enjoyed my minor bafflement. It had become a nostalgic part of re-reading a favorite novel.

Then, about 15 years ago, I was travelling to South Sudan and had an all-day layover at Heathrow Airport. I decided to visit the National Museum (my favorite place in London), but needed to store my backpack somewhere. That’s no problem, I was told. Leave it in the “Left Baggage Room.” You know, the place where you leave your bags until you need them again.

I was stunned for a moment. It was an epiphany, with my mind instantly shifting to Where Eagles Dare. IT ALL MADE SENSE AT LAST. No wonder it was the perfect place for the commandoes to store their equipment. At last, the mystery was solved.

Of course, the next time I read the book, I was a little disappointed not to suffer the usual bout of minor bafflement when Major Smith suggests hiding their stuff in the Left Baggage Room.

Oh, well. Some of us are impossible to please, I suppose.