“I would,” he said, beaming. She is so pretty, he thought. She is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
“I am glad. It will be good for everyone to have the two of you here. Now, the first thing we must do is to get you both something to eat. Then I’ll go and talk to our gracious leader. Don’t you worry, I’ll make him see reason.” She winked at the children and smiled.
Chapter 30
Solomon and Sarah were permitted to stay with the partisans. However, Cereck made it clear that they were to be Ewa’s responsibility. She didn’t mind.
Cereck’s meeting with Gunther took over an hour. Gunther offered several substantial reasons why he would be an asset to the group, and finally after much convincing, he was permitted to stay. However, a few hours later when Cereck was alone with Luke, he advised Luke to keep an eye on Gunther.
“We don’t know him. Everything he says sounds believable. It seems as if he is just a good German man, if there is such a thing. However, we don’t know; he could be a spy.”
“He could. You’re right. But it’s hard for me to believe that all Germans are bad. I knew plenty of German people before the war. Some were good, some bad.”
“Yes, but remember, we are Jews. We are worth money. And not only are we worth reward money, but these are hard times. People need any extras they can get their hands on. A couple of Jews are not as important to them as a loaf of bread, which could keep their family alive for another day or two. You understand?”
“Of course. I agree with you. And I will definitely keep an eye on him.”
“Don’t let him make a move without your knowing about it.”
Luke nodded.
Chapter 31
Sarah missed Jula. But she was young and soon forgot. In fact, she was thrilled to be with Ewa who gave her plenty of attention. Ewa was like a combination of a big sister and a mother which Sarah craved.
Sarah followed Ewa around all the time. When they weren’t studying, Ewa was reading to Sarah or they were fishing together. At first it was difficult to teach the children because there were no supplies. Ewa had to use a tree branch to carve the letters of the alphabet into the dirt. But within a week, two other partisans in the group offered to allow her to use books that they’d brought with them. And when Gunther and Luke raided a nearby farm one night, they were able to steal a single pencil and some paper. Before Solomon and his family were sent to the ghetto, Solomon had never liked school. He’d found it to be a waste of time. When his mother had tried to teach them, Solomon’s mind had always drifted off to thoughts of other things that he found more interesting. But now Solomon was infatuated with Ewa. She was his first crush, so he hung on Ewa’s every word. And because he wanted to please her, and he didn’t want her to think he was stupid, he was learning to read and write. She would smile at him, pleased by his progress, and his heart would melt. These were the happiest days of his life since he’d left his home, and he would have been content had he not noticed the way Ewa and Gunther looked at each other. It upset him to see the glances that passed between them.
“He’s a Nazi, you know,” Solomon said to Ewa one day as he, Sarah, and Ewa sat together under a tree doing their studies.
“Who?” Sarah asked.
“Mind your own business; I wasn’t talking to you,” Solomon snapped at his sister, then he turned to Ewa. “Once a Nazi, always a Nazi.”
“You mean Gunther?” Ewa looked into Solomon’s eyes.
“Of course I do,” he said.
“I think he is a German man who went off to fight for his country, but he became disenchanted with the leadership when he saw what Hitler was doing to Germany.”
“Disenchanted? What does that mean?” Sarah asked.
“It means that he didn’t like the way things were going,” Solomon snapped again. “You like him, don’t you?” he asked Ewa.
“I don’t know him.”
“I like him. I think he is nice. When we first met him and we were in the woods, and we were cold and hungry, he tried to help us, didn’t he, Solomon?”
“Shut up, Sarah,” Solomon said. Then he stood up and walked away.
Chapter 32
An hour or so later, Luke and Gunther came into the clearing where the rest of the group were gathered.
“This is Gunther,” Luke announced. “For those of you who have not yet met him, I wanted to introduce him to you. I’m sure you have noticed that he has been here at the camp with us for the last week or so. Cereck has made the decision to allow him to join us.”
“Who are you, Gunther? Where do you come from?” one of the men asked.
“I think it’s only fair that you should know I’m a German. I was in the German army,” Gunther answered.
“A Nazi, you mean,” someone else said.
“I was, yes. That is until I found out how terrible Hitler is for our country.”
“We’re Jews. The last thing we need is for some Nazi to infiltrate our camp. You know we’re Jews, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know,” Gunther said. “And this may sound trite, but I’ve had Jewish friends before the war. I joined the army to fight for my country because I believed it was the right thing to do. I won’t lie to you and say I was not aware of anti-Semitism. You wouldn’t believe me if I did.”
“I don’t believe a word you are saying,” someone else said. “I don’t trust him. I think he’s here to spy on us and find out what our plans are.”
“Cereck is convinced that he is not here for that reason. He believes that Gunther is here to join us in our crusade against the Nazis.”
“Crusade. Is that what we are doing? Crusading?” Ewa scoffed. “I am just trying to survive. Believe me, I would rather be a teacher, teaching children, than a warrior starving in the forest.”
“Yes, and we would all like to go back to our old lives. But we can’t. At least not until the Nazis are defeated,” Luke said.
“May I speak?” Gunther asked. Luke nodded, and then Gunther said, “I would like to go home. I’d love to go back to my family the way things were before the war. I had plans too. I had dreams that were swept away by the Nazis. Do you think I wanted to go to Russia and freeze . . . and starve? But I went because I wanted to do what was right. Now I know that the Nazi Party is not good for Germany. I left my parents to do this for my country. And my parents are no longer young. They needed me. I was the only boy in the family. My sister is of no use to them. I had a girlfriend too. We planned to marry. She left me when I went off to war. But I did all of this with the belief that I was bettering Germany. Now I know that is not the case. Hitler is the worst thing that ever happened to the German people.”
“How sad for you that you were disillusioned,” Ewa said. “But the rest of us were not asked to help our country. We were forced into ghettos and murdered. The Nazis took both of my parents away. They were older; they needed help, but they were treated like roaches. With my own two eyes I watched as they killed my brother in the street when he tried to resist. I escaped because a childhood friend of mine helped me. She had a diamond that her mother gave her before her mother was taken away. My friend saved our lives by giving that diamond to the bastard who was in charge. She told him he could have it if he let the two of us go. He did, but then later my friend was caught, and she was killed anyway.”
“I’m sorry for what happened to you. I don’t know all of your stories. I am sure they are terrible, and believe me, I’m sorry. But I want you to know that not all the Germans are in agreement with Hitler. Some of us are just trying to survive, just trying to get enough food to keep ourselves and our families alive. I know the Nazis weren’t killing us the way they were killing your families, but believe me, the German people were not exempt from the horrors that the Third Reich brought to our country.”
“I suppose you want me to feel sorry for you,” Ewa said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No, I just want you to understand.”
“I understand
what you’re saying, but I must admit, I don’t trust you. I don’t think it’s wise for us to let you stay here. I truly believe you will betray us,” Ewa said gravely.
“I won’t. I swear it. I won’t.”
“Hmmm,” one of the other women said. “Ewa is right. Should we be taking such chances?”
“I am a good hunter. I can fish, even ice fish. Having me here will be advantageous to all of you.”
“I think he will be a big help,” Cereck said.
“Who am I to argue? If you want him here, then let him stay,” Ewa said as she turned away from the rest of the group.
Cereck looked at Ewa. “As I said, I think we should allow him to stay. But to be fair to everyone, let’s take a vote.”
“All in favor?” he said. “Now, all opposed?”
It was close, but it was decided that Gunther would be permitted stay.
Chapter 33
A loud shriek awakened Solomon out of a dead sleep. He jumped to his feet. It was Sarah’s voice. Glancing over, he saw that she was not sleeping beside him. Without a moment’s hesitation he ran toward the sound.
Another scream and then, “Solomon! Help me!”
With his heart beating rapidly in his throat, Solomon cried out, “I’m coming. I’m coming. But where are you?”
“I am at the pond. Help me!”
Solomon ran faster. He tripped over a rock and fell, cutting his forehead on a branch. Blood trickled down into his eye, but he got up and began to run again.
“Sarah, I’m coming . . .”
He ran toward the sound not realizing that several of the others were following him.
When Solomon got to the pond he screamed in desperation. “Where are you? I don’t see you!”
“Over here . . .”
Skidding across the ice, falling, and getting up again, Solomon followed the sound. Then he saw Sarah. She was hanging on to a broken chunk of ice.
A second later, Gunther came sprinting out from the trees. His long legs navigating the unstable terrain quickly. “Get off the ice,” he commanded Solomon. “Do as I say, and I’ll get your sister.”
Gunther ran toward Sarah. She was holding on to the ice. Most of her body was submerged, but her head, neck, and shoulders were peeking out of the freezing water.
"I’m going to throw you this branch. I’ll be holding on tightly to the other side of it. Grab on to it and I’ll pull you in,” Gunther said to Sarah.
“All right.” She gasped. Her lips were already turning blue.
“We have to hurry, Sarah.” Gunther’s voice was firm but gentle.
“I’m so cold,” Sarah said, her shaky voice growing weaker.
“Stay with me,” Gunther commanded. “Don’t let go of the ice until I tell you. And then only let go with one hand at a time. Grip the branch firmly. Do you understand?”
“Solomon! Help me,” Sarah tried to cry out, but her voice was a whisper.
“Pay attention,” Gunther said firmly. “Now here is the branch. Grab on, and hold on to it tightly.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t. My fingers are slipping. I’m falling in deeper. Help me. Please help me . . .”
Gunther took off his coat, then he turned to Ewa who was standing beside him. “Go quickly and gather all the blankets you can. Bring them back here.”
She nodded and went running toward the camp.
“All right, hold on. I’m coming,” Gunther assured Sarah.
Solomon stood frozen with fear.
Gunther ran toward Sarah. He fell and slid on his belly across the ice. Using his arms, he pulled himself over to the broken ice where Sarah was sinking. The ice began to crack under him. Ewa returned holding a large pile of stolen horse blankets. She stood watching as the ice moved beneath Gunther’s weight. “It will swallow both of them if he isn’t careful,” Luke said.
Sarah’s face was as white as bone china, her lips a shade of purplish blue. Although he didn’t realize it, Solomon had begun to cry. Gunther had a single moment where he might have turned back to safety. He felt the ice giving way beneath him, but he refused to go back because if he did he knew Sarah would die. Instead, he held on tightly to the ice on which he lay and used his hands to paddle toward Sarah. She was slowly falling deeper. He knew if he didn’t grab her soon, she would succumb to the cold and then fall beneath the ice forever. He paddled harder until he was beside her, then as he reached out he felt the ice that he lay upon start to crack again. He ignored it.
“Give me your hand,” he demanded. She looked at him with a blank stare. “Give me your hand.” His voice was loud and commanding. She didn’t move. He was finally close enough to grab her hands, so he did. She began to fall beneath the water, but he pulled her up. The sheet of ice divided, and his legs were now submerged. Still, he held tightly to the child with one hand and to the remaining piece of floating ice with the other. Kicking his feet as hard as he could, he managed to move the two of them closer to shore. And just as they reached land, the ice cracked. Using every ounce of strength he had left, Gunther hoisted Sarah onto the dry land then pulled himself up and fell down on the ground beside her. Ewa wrapped them both in blankets. Their teeth were chattering.
“You saved her,” Ewa said to Gunther, her eyes glowing with admiration.
“I hope so. Time will tell. Right now, keep her warm. I know we don’t like to make a fire, but we are going to have to, and get some hot liquid into her if she is going to make it."
“I will do that. And, of course, I will bring you some too,” Ewa said. “Unfortunately, if we make a fire, we will have to move the camp very soon, just in case someone sees the smoke."
“Yes, I know, but she needs the hot liquid.”
“As do you,” Ewa said.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right. I do.” He smiled.
Gunther held the child tightly in his arms in an effort to use his body heat to warm her. Solomon was standing beside his sister crying and squeezing Sarah’s hand.
Then two of the men in the group picked Sarah up and carried her back to camp. Gunther walked beside them still shivering.
They made a quick fire and boiled the snow into hot water which Gunther drank and Ewa spooned into Sarah’s mouth.
Then within an hour, they moved the camp north.
Chapter 34
From that day forward, Solomon noticed that Ewa and Gunther smiled at each other more often, and when they looked at each other, their gazes held just a moment too long. Ewa could not lift a bucket of water without Gunther running to her side to help. Solomon resented it when he saw Gunther wrap his coat around Ewa’s shoulders on an exceptionally cold night.
By mid-February, food was very scarce. There was hardly anything to eat. One morning, without a word to anyone, Gunther disappeared. Several of the men went to Cereck to tell him they were worried that perhaps Gunther had decided to turn them in and take the reward money. They asked him to consider breaking up the camp and moving before he had a chance to bring the Nazis back. Cereck said he would think about it, but before he had the opportunity to give it much thought, Gunther returned. His face was bright red with the cold, and his hair was tipped with tiny icicles where the snow had melted and then refrozen on his head. But in his hand he carried two rabbits and a squirrel. A treasure to this group of starving people.
Ewa smiled at him openly. She had never doubted that he’d gone off to do something to help the group. The others still doubted him, but she didn’t.
“This is worth making a fire. Even if we have to move camp right after we finish eating,” Cereck said, smiling, as he took the food and handed it to one of the women.
Everyone nodded. They were glad to have food.
The smell of the meat cooking made Solomon’s stomach ache with hunger. He could hardly wait to eat. But as he watched the meat sizzle on the spit, he noticed Ewa and Gunther taking a walk away from the others. He had to know where they were going, so he followed them.
Staying far enough beh
ind to remain unseen, Solomon followed Gunther to a tree stump which was several feet deeper into the forest.
“Sit down, please,” Gunther said to Ewa as he stopped and indicated the tree stump.
She did as he asked.
“I got this for you,” he said, clumsily handing her a bracelet.
She looked at him puzzled.
“Please . . . put it on.”
“It’s beautiful. I don’t know what to say. And . . . I don’t want to ask how you got it.”
“Don’t ask, then,” he said, smiling.
“It was very sweet of you to think of me. But did you steal this?”
“I thought you weren’t going to ask,” he said, laughing a little.
“I shouldn’t ask, but I feel sorry for the woman you took it from.”
“I didn’t steal it. I traded a rabbit for it.”
“How?”
“I met a man who was hunting in the woods. He wasn’t having any luck. He offered it in trade. I thought of you and I agreed.” He smiled. Then he carefully put it on her wrist. “I wanted to give you something. I wanted to give you something nice.”
She smiled. “I should probably say that you should have kept the food. But . . .”
“But?”
“But it is lovely. And it’s been so long since I’ve owned anything lovely.”
“May I kiss you?” he asked, clearing his throat.
She nodded.
Gently, he took her face in his hands and held it as if it were the most beautiful piece of delicate porcelain. He gazed into her eyes. Then tenderly he placed his lips on hers. She sighed.
Solomon saw the kiss and his heart ached. At that moment he hated Gunther even though he’d saved his sister’s life and brought food to the rest of the partisans. But even more, he hated himself because he knew he was too young, and Ewa could never feel the same way about him as he felt about her. His was a silent and heartbreaking crush that felt like earth-shattering love to a boy turning ten. Tears welled in his eyes and froze on his eyelashes. I hope that someday I’ll be a man and marry a girl like Ewa, he thought. He was jealous, but in truth, Solomon didn’t hate Gunther. In fact, if it weren’t for Gunther and Ewa falling in love, Solomon would have to admit that he liked and admired the man.
Sarah and Solomon Page 11
