Ela: Forever (Waking Forever)

by Heather McVea

  Ela wound her way through the tables, and sat in the chair across from Delia. “Gerber sent me to an extra house today. Katina was out sick.” Ela casually gave Delia’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Are you terribly upset?” She knew Delia wasn’t, but enjoyed watching Delia – a naturally good-natured person – try to work up indignation.

  Delia furrowed her brow and looked thoughtfully at Ela. “Well, I did wait a quarter hour for you, and my time is very precious.”

  Ela cocked her head to the side, considering her friend. “Precious? Really?”

  Delia burst into laughter. “That did sound a bit over the top, didn’t it?”

  Ela took Delia’s glass of water and, taking a sip, nodded. “Yes, a bit much.” Ela put the glass back down in front of her friend. “Have you ordered?”

  Delia picked up the menu card. “No.”

  Ela looked over her shoulder, and making eye contact with the waiter, gestured for him to come over.

  “Ladies, what are you having today?” The man pulled a pencil and paper out of his apron pocket as he spoke.

  “A bowl of the lentil soup, please.” Ela handed the man her menu card.

  Delia looked thoughtfully at the menu. “I’ll have the same please.”

  The man looked at Delia for several seconds with a mischievous grin on his face. “I’ll bring you a cheese plate, too.” He looked over his shoulder, and then back at Delia. “No charge.”

  Delia smiled as the waiter retreated into the café. “That’s nice of him.”

  Ela rolled her eyes. “It’s not nice, Delia. He’s hoping for a date.”

  Delia looked incredulous. “I doubt that.”

  Ela shifted in her chair. “Why? You’re beautiful.”

  Delia blushed. “Please, Ela, I hardly think that’s the case. Besides, it will take more than a cheese plate.” Delia wrinkled her nose. “He had awful teeth.”

  Ela nodded seriously. “Agreed. After all, my virtue is worth at least a juicy brisket.”

  Delia looked shocked at her friend, until she saw the corners of Ela’s mouth turn up slightly. Then Delia caught the spirit of the game. “Imagine if they added gravy.” Delia looked up contemplatively. “Peaches.”

  “Yes, I suppose if you’re into terms of endearment, Peaches is as good a name as any,” Ela said somberly.

  Delia stifled her laughter and stayed with the fake seriousness of the game. “Dimples then.”

  Ela raised an eyebrow. “Dimples?”

  Delia took a sip of her water. “Absolutely. It suits you.”

  Ela laughed out loud and then quickly covered her mouth as the other patrons looked at her. “That will cost you more than a brisket.”

  The waiter returned with water for Ela and the cheese plate. He continued to smile more than the situation warranted. “Ladies, enjoy.”

  As he walked away, Ela’s and Delia’s eyes met and both women laughed. Ela looked at her friend thoughtfully. The features that had made Delia a cute little girl had matured and turned her into a beautiful woman. Her shoulder length chestnut brown hair accented her pale skin and light green eyes. The light speckling of freckles across the bridge of her nose only added to her character.

  “What?” Delia looked concerned.

  Ela realized she was staring at Delia. “Sorry, my mind was wandering.”

  Delia smiled. “Well pay attention, because I have a wonderful idea.”

  Ela placed her elbows on the table and leaned toward her friend. “Like your idea to take up smoking and nearly setting your apartment on fire?”

  “Stop. That was nearly a year ago, and no real damage was done.” Delia playfully pinched Ela’s forearm.

  “I just think it would have been better to let your mother discover you smoking in the bathroom, versus setting the entire apartment building on fire by panicking and –” Ela was smirking as she recalled the details of the near inferno.

  “You’re exaggerating! Really.” Delia frowned. “It made perfect sense at the time to throw the cigarette away in the waste basket.”

  Ela nodded. “You’re right. Assuming you put the cigarette out first.”

  Delia faked a pout. “Between you and my mother I’ll never live that down.”

  The waiter approached the table with two bowls in hand. “Ladies, your soup.” He gently placed the soups in front of Delia and Ela. “Is there anything else?”

  Ela looked across at Delia and batted her lashes. “Delia, can he get you anything else? Peaches perhaps?”

  Delia blushed and averted her eyes. “No. Thank you.”

  The man cleared his throat and made a quick exit. “Excuse me, ladies.”

  “You were saying?” Ela blew on a spoonful of the lentil soup in an effort to cool it off.

  Delia looked confused. “What? Oh, right – my idea.” She stirred her soup as she spoke. “I have been at Hugo’s for nearly six months, and I think I can get you hired on as a waitress. With tips, it will be a bit more than you are making with Gerber.” Delia smiled. “Plus we’ll get to see more of each other working in the same restaurant.”

  Ela nodded. “I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t mind a change of pace.” Ela put her spoon down and leaned back in her chair sighing. “I have spent the last nine years cleaning up after people who have no idea how fortunate they are. I mean, Pan Edelstein has brass bowls for each of his four dogs.” Ela shook her head. “My mother and I have three plates and two bowls for both of us.”

  Delia watched her friend closely, as this was the way Ela’s long rants about the opulence of the rich always started. It was one of the reasons Delia wanted Ela to leave Gerber’s. Being constantly reminded of how poor she was only added to her resentment. “It’s okay, Ela. For all of his money, Pan Edelstein always smells like rotten eggs when he comes into Hugo’s.”

  Ela laughed. “You should smell his house.” She stuck her tongue out. “How one man can generate so much trash is beyond me.”

  Both women laughed. “Then you’ll do it?” Delia asked hopefully.

  “Yes.” Ela said simply. She had wanted to leave Mrs. Gerber for several years, but was waiting for the right time and opportunity. The chance to see more of Delia made the offer even more appealing. “I almost forgot. I have something for you.” Ela reached into the small cloth bag sitting next to her on the ground. She pulled a wad of old newspaper out and presented it to Delia.

  Delia looked at the paper suspiciously. “Trash? You shouldn’t have, Ela.”

  Ela shook her head. “Don’t be smart. There’s something wrapped in the paper, silly.”

  Delia reached across the table, took the paper from Ela, and realized her mistake when the item proved to be quite heavy. “What is it?” Delia turned the cluster of papers over in her hands trying to discern their content.

  “Open it.” Ela smiled.

  Delia began to peel the paper back, and after several layers were removed she saw an ornate silver box with a crystal attached to the top. Delia’s eyes widened. “Ela, this is – this is too much. Where did you get the money for this?”

  “Do you like it?” Ela reached across the table, and took the gift from Delia. “It’s a prism.” Ela lifted the item up toward the sun. “See? It makes the light more brilliant. It magnifies it.” Ela considered the refracted light as it danced across the table. “What?” Ela asked when she made eye contact with her friend, whose expression had gone from curiosity to a disapproving glare.

  “You stole it. Didn’t you?” Delia lowered her voice.

  Ela sighed and gently placed the object on the table. “Yes.”

  Delia shook her head, and reached for Ela’s hand. “We’ve discussed this. You can’t just take things from people’s homes.” She squeezed Ela’s hand. “It’s wrong.”

  Ela pulled her hand away. “Wrong? What’s wrong is these people – the Pan Edelsteins of the world - who have more bowls for their dogs then my mother and I have for ourselves.” Ela began wrapping the prism back in the now torn newspaper, refus
ing to make eye contact with Delia. “I have as much right to these things as the rich do.”

  Delia leaned back in her chair. “You’re wrong, Ela. If you didn’t work for it or pay for it, it’s stealing. Nothing more or less.”

  The color rose to Ela’s face and her jaw clenched. “I did work for it.” Ela put the package back in her bag. “More than Edelstein or all the rest of them who look down on us and only have us in their homes to clean-up after them.” Ela stood, causing the metal legs of her chair to scratch across the concrete floor of the patio.

  Delia reached for Ela’s hand. “Please, don’t leave. I’ve watched you struggle with this for years. You want and want until –” Delia hesitated.

  “Until what, Delia?” Ela looked down at her friend, her lips pursed.

  Delia took a deep breath. “Until your envy has expanded, and you just keep demanding more and more.”

  Ela didn’t respond. She turned and walked away from Delia, weaving in and out of the tables. Delia quickly pulled a mark out of her pocket and put it on the table. “Ela wait!” She followed Ela onto the sidewalk adjacent to the patio. It took her nearly a block of weaving in and out of people before she caught up with her friend. “Stop.” Delia grabbed Ela by the shoulder and forced her to turn around.

  Ela’s face was streaked with tears and her eyes red. “Leave me alone.” Ela pulled away from Delia. “I give you something beautiful, and you lecture me.”

  Delia grabbed Ela’s hand, pulled her to her, and used her other hand to gently wipe the tears from Ela’s face. “I’m sorry. Please – I just know you’re better than this. I’m afraid of what will happen if you get caught.”

  The set of Ela’s jaw began to soften as Delia gently stroked her cheek. Instinctively she leaned into the softness of Delia’s hand. Before she could think better of it, she turned her mouth to Delia’s palm and kissed it.

  Delia pulled her hand away, and the women’s eyes met. Delia swallowed hard and bit the inside of her lower lip. The otherwise bustling street seemed to stand still as Delia and Ela looked at each other. Ela finally broke the silence. “So you’re not going to take the prism?”

  Delia couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s single-mindedness. “No. I want you to take it back.” Ela began to object, but Delia interrupted her. “It’s enough that you thought of me.” After several seconds, Ela finally nodded, and the two women turned and began navigating down the busy street arm-in-arm. “Besides, how would I explain it to my mother?” Delia mused.

  ***

  “I think you’re blowing this out of proportion, Delia.” Ela sat on the Desner’s sofa while Delia prepared them dinner in the small kitchen. Ela had worked at Hugo’s with Delia for the past nine years, and knew the patrons’ penchant for gossip and hearsay.

  “I’m not just telling you what I’ve been told. I’m telling you what I believe, Ela.” Delia lifted the pot of soup off the stove. “The Germans have a chancellor to assign all the Jews in Krakow to specific neighborhoods and tenements.”

  Ela knew that working at one of the busier restaurants in the city, she and Delia were privy to more information than the average person. These rumors seemed beyond reason though. “I find it hard to believe that only four months after the Nazi invasion their biggest priority is where we live.”

  Delia wiped her hands on the front of her apron as she walked into the living room and sat next to Ela on the sofa. “Why is that so hard to believe? You’ve heard the rumors of synagogues being bombed in Warsaw, and I’ve even heard a synagogue in Kaunas being converted to a factory.” Delia took Ela’s hand. “A factory that makes the bombs they are using to blow-up other synagogues, Ela.”

  Ela squeezed Delia’s hand and put it to her cheek. “We should talk to your mother about this. When will she be back?”

  Delia leaned over and rested her head on Ela’s shoulder. “She’s at work until eight and then she will be home.”

  Ela looked at the ticking clock on the table next to the sofa. It was a little after seven, and the sun had already set. “Will she be okay to walk home alone?”

  Delia lifted her head, frowning. “She’ll walk home with Mrs. Konig. They are on the same shift now.”

  Ela gently placed her hand under Delia’s chin and turned the woman’s head so the two were looking directly at one another. “Can we talk about the other night?” Ela was tired of feeling uncertain with everything that was happening, and the odd turn her and Delia’s relationship had taken a few nights ago didn’t help.

  “Yes. I think we should talk.” Delia was having trouble making eye contact with her friend, and Ela didn’t take that as a good sign.

  Ela shifted on the sofa so she and Delia were facing each other. “We kissed.”

  Delia immediately blushed. “Yes.”

  Ela began to feel the stirrings of frustration at her friend’s coyness. “How do you feel about that?”

  A faint and fleeting smile passed over Delia’s lips. “I don’t know how I feel about it.” Delia finally looked at Ela and, seeing the frustration on her friend’s face, realized she owed her more than evasiveness. “We’ve been friends for a very long time, and I’m not sure what I am feeling for you. I know it’s more than friendship and different than a sister.” Delia took a deep breath. “I don’t have a word for it Ela, but -”

  Ela was taking slow, even breaths so as not to further fluster her friend, who was obviously struggling with the shift in their relationship’s dynamic. She was surprised by the tenderness in her own voice when she spoke. “Delia, I don’t know what this is either, but –”

  Before Ela could finish, Delia’s lips were pressing firmly to hers, her arms pulling Ela to her. The specifics of their situation faded away as Ela marveled at the softness of Delia’s lips and the growing tightness in her own stomach as her friend’s fingers twined through the hair at the base of Ela’s neck.

  “Delia, are you home?” Rilla’s voice accompanied the clicking of a key in the front door of the small apartment.

  Delia and Ela both jumped, surprised by Rilla’s early arrival home. It was Delia who managed a response as she slid away from Ela, putting a more modest distance between them. “Yes, mama. We’re right here.”

  Rilla pushed the door open, her arms draped with several cloth bags. “Hi girls. Can one of you help me with these groceries?”

  Ela got up quickly from the sofa. “Of course.”

  Delia went back into the kitchen and began ladling the soup into bowls. She kept her back to Ela and her mother when they came into the kitchen for fear her mother would still see the flush on her face.

  “It’s already getting harder to get the basics at the market.” Rilla put the cloth bag down on the small kitchen table. “I spoke with the clerk and he said shipments have been interrupted throughout the districts in and around the city.”

  Ela slid the bags to the edge of the table and began unpacking them. “Sit down and rest. I’ll unpack these.”

  Rilla tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear as she sat down. “Thank you. I fear there isn’t much to unpack.”

  Delia finally felt calm enough to turn and face her mother. “You’re home earlier than I expected.” She reached for a glass from the dish strainer, filled it with water, and handed it to Rilla. “Here you go.”

  Rilla took the water and smiled at her daughter. “They’re cutting shifts.” Rilla emptied the glass. “Ela, is your mother joining us for dinner tonight?”

  Ela hadn’t even mentioned eating with the Desners to her mother. She preferred having Delia and Rilla to herself. Her mother was frequently distracting and needy. “No. She has a headache so she's resting.”

  Rilla glanced at Delia and then back at Ela, suspicious what Ela said was true. She had seen Luella in the street several days ago and had mentioned a previous dinner she had been absent from. Luella didn’t know anything about the meal and had turned the conversation into a rant about Rilla and Ela’s relationship. “Ela doesn’t need m
e, Rilla. She has you and Delia. You’re her mother and Delia her sister.”

  “Oh, Luella, I’m sure Ela doesn’t feel that way at all.” Rilla had wanted to remind Luella of all the broken promises and all the lies over the eighteen years since Aurick had died. Each indiscretion had only added to Ela’s mistrust of her mother.

  Luella had burst into laughter. “Oh really? Shows what you know.” Luella had turned her back on Rilla and walked away while muttering to herself. “Stupid woman.”

  “Make sure you take her some soup then, Ela.” Rilla insisted.

  Ela nodded and turned to face Delia who handed her a bowl of soup without making eye contact. Handing the bowl to Rilla, Ela sat down across at the small table. “Delia and I were talking about the rumors of the Nazis moving Jews to tenements in the northern district of the city. Have you heard anything like that?”

  Rilla blew on the spoon full of steaming soup. “I have, and I don’t think it’s happening.”

  Delia placed a bowl in front of Ela and sat down with her own bowl of soup next to Ela. “Mama, I have heard people at the restaurant – people who work in different ministries – say that it is happening.”

  Rilla shook her head. “Well if it’s true, I imagine it’s to minimize the size of the area supplies have to be shipped to. I mean the market is bare, and I’m sure part of that is due to transportation resources being allocated for the war.” Rilla took another spoonful of soup and began blowing on it.

  Delia bit her lower lip. “I don’t want to leave our home.” She reached for Ela’s hand and looked worriedly at her friend.

  Rilla looked at her daughter and her friend. She was grateful they had each other, and that, in spite of everything, their friendship had endured. “If there’s nothing we can do about it, then why worry? Besides, it will only be a temporary arrangement until the war is over.”

  ***

  “They’re moving us outside the city!” Rilla rushed through the door of the small one room tenement apartment she, Delia, Ela and Luella had been occupying for the past nine months. “Quickly, gather anything you can carry. We are to report to Main Market Square by noon.” Looking at the clock, her breath caught when she realized it was already eleven-forty-five.