The Grayling
Page 10
A creature darted out from behind the rock that was behind him. “Oh, let it live”, he said to himself instinctively. He stood up and wiped the tears from his cheeks with his bare hands. He said to himself, “If a small creature like that can scamper around and want to live, then why not me?” And then he felt an inner sense of peace from all of the torment. He sighed. He let go of his thoughts and fell asleep. He lay for hours on the ground.
The sun rose and shined through the tall branches of the surrounding trees. Sam was dazed when he woke up. He closed his eyes and questioned his surroundings at first, but then remembered that he had gone out of the bunker. His clothes were soaked with sweat. “Well”, he said to himself, “this will not do”, and he walked to the nearby stream. He waded into the water and shivered from the cold. His thoughts came back to the bombing that he had seen from a long distance away the night before, and he reflected about the large room that he had had to himself in his house. He wondered if his house was still standing. He wondered if he would ever see his home again. Keeping his head above the water, he immersed himself into the water. With his arms he pushed the ripples of water away as he kicked his feet with all of his strength. When he grew tired and hungry, he came out of the water. He said to himself, “I know better than to stay out all night”. He reflected about the young woman that he had met in the woods, and he smiled. He asked himself the question, “Do you think that you will see her again?” He cried out the answer, “Yes, yes, I will”, and he went to the hideout.
Anna was bending over, frying mushrooms for breakfast on the underground, indoor oven, which stood about a few inches from the ground. Sam asked, “Mom, you are okay”, and she smiled and looked up at him with admiration. He sat down and slurped the small, torn pieces of mixed raw and cooked mushrooms into his mouth, hardly chewing them, and drank some hot cocoa, “thinking this cocoa is good even if it does not have sugar. When he had finished eating his food and drinking his cocoa, he felt better and announced to Anna, “I am going to look for berries and mushrooms”. She looked up at him with admiration. She hesitated for a minute, only because she wanted him to stay a bit longer, but then she said, “Okay son”; and she continued to stir her fruit mixture of wild berries and quince for the next meal.
The sons of Joseph Freier came with a look of determination and strength and resolve on their faces–they were united in their cause to survive; they knew that they were being hunted because they were Jews. They knew that they might never return to their magnificent home. They survived and later were reunited with their father and mother and sister, Edith. My father’s foreman helped us a lot. Without him, and the people that he knows, and the papers that were issued, and my father’s money, we would not be alive today!
Martin remembered the walks he took in the woods with his grandfather. He remembered riding on the wagon with Grandpa David. He could hear his grandfather’s voice ringing out, “hudya, hudya”, and Martin could see his grandfather in his mind as though it was just yesterday, as his grandfather, dressed in strong, thick cotton cloth pants and a warm flannel shirt, and a warm three-quarters leather jacket loosened the reins and let the two horses speed up. He asked himself the question, “how could all of this have changed in one night?” He bit his lips. He almost cried, but he stopped himself.
Sam opened the door slowly and slipped into the foyer and waited. He breathed heavily from the excitement even with his mouth closed. He circled the living room. A voice called out to him. “Sam, Sam, is that you?” Sam turned toward the couch and saw his father. “Dad, I did not know if you were alive”, he exclaimed, and he rushed towards his father and hugged him. They hugged each other until they were both out of breath. “Sometimes I wonder if I am alive”, his father said slowly and sighed with a sad expression on his face. Joseph paused and then with both hands extended asked the question, “and what of your brothers?” And he looked down on the ground and shook his head.
Sam blurted out, “they are alive and waiting outside”. Joseph rushed to the door and opened the door with both arms outstretched. “They ran to each other–-father and sons. They held hands. They sobbed. They cried for joy. They danced. They danced round and round. They danced the Harrah. Tired and breathing heavy, Joseph quickly looked around outside and motioned for the boys to come in. Anna came into the room. They looked at her and said, “Glad you made it mom.” Martin’s eyes met hers. They understood each other’s feelings. Martin wanted to cry out of sorrow; the next minute he wanted to cry out of joy. Anna wanted to hold her son in her arms, but she dare not think of love and family. No. No. Not in these times. These times demanded strength and strength alone.
She said to herself, “what about the next time”, and she was silent as he walked in to the kitchen, and as the other boys followed. Joseph shook his head back and forth. He said, “It is a wonder that we are all alive”. Anna squeezed her eyes and then opened them widely and said, “The Lord has given us life when so many others are dying at the hands of the Germans. But, Joseph, your cunning has saved us so many times”. The boys nodded their heads.
“What are we doing about food?” questioned Sam. Joseph cleared his throat and said, “Well, at the moment, we are living on what we buried”. “Well, there are seven of us now and the food will soon be gone”, Sam stated. “Yes, you are right to be thinking of food”, said Joseph, “and I will speak with Andrew about working at the factory, and I was thinking of going over to the baker to see if Dubi has any bread”. “Well, okay, do you want me to go with you, dad”, Martin asked. “Stay here, it is a short distance and I will be back before you know it I promise” Martin smiled and Henry smiled.
“But what will we do with ourselves?” cautioned Edith, as she leaned on the right heal of her foot and held her hands on her waistline”. Anna finished the question, “you can clean the house with me or you can read one of the books we have managed to hide”. Edith snorted, but kept quiet, because she did not wish to upset her relationship with her mother.
Joseph waited for his turn to talk and then interjected, “the boys can cut wood with me”. He looked at the boys for their approval and saw sour expressions on their faces. Knowing this, he said, we can always play a game of chess and he saw each of the boys smile. He knew that he had to find the chess boards, and he did.
Joseph knew what to do. He scratched with his nails at the wallpaper and made a small hole. He reached in far to the right of the paper, underneath and in back of the wallpaper; he felt with his right hand for some dollar bills. When he had grabbed a handful, he covered up the hole with a tiny piece of wallpaper. He pocketed the cash and said to Anna, “I will be back in an hour”. He walked to the main square of the town. It was not far for his house for they lived just on the outskirts of town. He went into the bake shop, after finding a small sign on the outside door, which said, open; and he walked in and he waited.
He waited and paced up and down, while he wiped the sweat off of his brow. A young man who could not have been more than 15 came from the back apartment 5 minutes later. Joseph cleared his throat and asked, “is Dubi in?’ The young man squinted his eyes and hesitated and then said, “Why do you wish to see Dubi?” Joseph replied, “I wish to feed my family bread, and cheese, and cookies”. “Well, have you brought money”, Dubi has asked me to ask everyone, and he sighed, “we just cannot give everything to everyone or we would not have anything for ourselves”. He paused and then Dubi himself came out from the back room and said, “hello Joseph”, nodded his head, made sure that his spiritual cap was correctly placed on his head and said, “if the Germans find out that I am hiding food, they will cut off our heads”.
Joseph backed away a few feet. He sighed and then asked in a polite tone of voice, “How much food can you spare?” Dubi said, “Well, for you Joseph I can spare a bag of breads, and muffins, and cookies, how is that?” Joseph smiled at Dubi and felt excitement in his heart.
Joseph put his hand
in his pocket and put the waddle of paper money into Dubi’s hand. “Here”, he said. “Will this be enough?” Asher counted the money. “It is more than enough”. “Wait here,” he said and I will bring out some breads and cookies”. Joseph asked, “Can you spare any eggs?” “All right, all right”, he said, while shaking both hands in the air. He left. He went into the back of the store.
Every minute of waiting for Joseph seemed like an eternity. Finally, the tall, broad shouldered baker and friend that Joseph had known for so long came out from the back room with a woolen bag filled with the breads and other bakery goods, and said, “Here, Joseph, this is yours”. And he paused and said, “Everything that you paid for is there”. Joseph looked at the tray with eyes wide open. Joseph took some of the smaller breads and hid them in the inner pockets of his jacket. He took two muffins and hid them inside his hat. He hid a bag of cookies in his jacket pockets. He looked in all directions while standing on the top of the front steps of the small house, which was set somewhat back from the street, and he walked fast like a wolf hound who knows exactly where his next meal is coming from and he is going after it.
He walked with her slowly down the hills and paths to her hideout. Thoughts flashed into his mind about how he would walk with his family every Sabbath to the synagogue. Images of the synagogue flashed through his mind. With his memory he followed his images of the synagogue and walked up the steps to the large ascending doors and entered once again the world of spiritualism, the world of spiritualism which he was born into. The sound of the cantor singing could be heard louder and louder as he walked closer to the sanctuary. He wondered if he would be able to find the page where everyone was reading, without asking his father. In his mind, he visualized, he sat proudly with his three brothers and father amongst all of the men and sons. He chuckled as he remembered, “the big discussion at the house was what the meaning of the Rabbi’s sermon was”. When he left the synagogue after services, he always walked slowly as though weighed down by all of the new thoughts mixed with some of the old thoughts that he already knew.
The smell of the blossoming flowers and roses, and the beauty, particularly, of the black roses in the spring and in the fall would always sweeten the scent of the air in Czechoslovakia. The rose is the symbol of love. The rose petal scent blended with the oily smell of the surrounding pines. The sight of the majestic holly shrubs with shining, thumb-shaped red balls, with sharp, green, pointed leaves was imprinted in his mind. Forgetting his step, and tripping on a misshaped branch that had fallen from the tree, the sound of the snap caught his attention, taking his thoughts away from the peaceful times, and placing the times to the present–-the here and now–- with the Nazis strong arm.
Sam walked along the winding paths through the woods. He was thinking of the man he had seen lying on the ground. He muttered to himself, “the man was a beggar.” And he bit down on his lip, while thinking, “wonder how he will survive this war”.
Sam found the entrance to the hideout without any sightings or unusual snappy sounds. “Unreal,” he muttered to himself as he fell into a deep sleep.
Sam had agreed to meet Sarah once a week. It would be a Sabbath to look forward to. Another six months of the war had gone by. It was August and the weather was very hot for the month.
The next morning, Sam said to his mother, “I must go fishing today”, and he trekked through the woods, fully clothed with a warm jacket and pants. Anna questioned herself, “why would he go on such a hot day?” She called Martin and said, “see if you can follow your brother” and as she hesitated, she said, “in case he needs you”. Martin followed him and did not lose him even though he stayed far behind Sam.
Sam headed straight to the lake. The wind blew on his back and he said, “Wind, blow at me some more, and he ran faster, while looking for Sarah from a short distance. Sarah was sitting beyond the clearing. Puffing, his cheeks almost red like a red-colored apple, he walked up to her and said, “How are you?” She turned her head and said, “I am okay” in a soft, sad-sounding voice. They sat for a while. She gave him three left over sugar cookies; and while biting on one, he put the others in his jacket pocket and patted the outside of the pocket in an automatic response.
He fished and she sat next to him and together they watched the string at the end of the pole. She saw the water move in circles with the circles floating farther away from the center circle. As she watched, she began to see glimpses of her life–living in her home–running up and down the twenty-five steps on the stairway, inviting her friends over to do their homework together, going together as a family every Saturday to the temple, coming home from the temple and having a discussion on the part of the Bible that the Rabbi discussed. Her thoughts were interrupted as Sam suddenly called out, “wow, this is a big fish. He tugged at the line and tried to pull it in. Sarah watched, her eyes bulging, as she jumped up and down in excitement. She had never fished before. The thought of fishing for a meal and getting a fish to eat pleased her.
At a hill along the way, which was well hidden from the pathway that had been formed by people trekking through the same area, Martin watched. He smiled and looked in amazement and thought, “my brother Sam has found a girlfriend–-and of all places–in the middle of the woods. Contented that he had solved the riddle of where Sam went all these times in the woods, he headed home to the hideout, on guard always for Nazis or collaborators.
His mother greeted him with a swelled excitement, saying, “So what happened, so what happened?” Martin blurted out with one quick breath, “Sam has found a girlfriend”. “No?” Anna questioned. “Yes,” Martin answered, and Anna stepped backwards and sat down on one of the wooden living room chairs and took out a cloth handkerchief and blew her nose, and for a while she sat and stared into space. Martin brushed against her side, and he felt her warmth, and he said, “It will be all right.” She looked up at him, and she nodded, “yes”, but there were tears in her eyes.
Not far from the lake, and close to some large boulders; and a few yards away from their hideout in the woods; Sarah’s sister had begun taking sunbaths outside of the hideout. She had fashioned foil paper around a large piece of cardboard, and while she sat in a wooden chair, she held the cardboard under her chin. She closed her eyes, and she supped in the warmth of the sun. Sarah’s sister had forgotten that a horrible war was raging.
The sun’s reflection bounced from the cardboard to the nearby boulders, then up into the ridges of the mountains. The reflection bounced off from one rock to another. Per chance, the sun’s rays announced the family’s presence, signaling telegraphically, “We am here.”
Unknown to most people, the Nazis were looking over the terrain, because of fear of an imminent confrontation with the Russian soldiers from the East. On that afternoon, a group of Nazi soldiers were on patrol on the top of the mountain. As they descended the mountain, one of the soldiers spotted the reflection of the sun shining on one of the boulders.
“What is that?” He yelled out loudly as he pointed to the reflection. His lieutenant quickly peered through his binoculars. He said in a bitter-sounding voice, “Cannot see exactly where it is coming from, but we must find out from where!” He yelled to his men, “Could be a signal from a Russian or a partisan, or a Yid!” He quickly ordered everyone to search. He led the way, with his hand nesting on an open holster.
The clouds had grown gray and Molly, noticing that the weather had changed, she thought, “Must be going home.” She folded the sun board, and brushed off her clothes. As she walked, she stopped to pick wild purple flowers, and she thought; “I will bring these home for my mother.”
A shot from a shotgun whizzed out. It pierced her head. Stunned, she stood still, shaking—her body getting colder. The soldiers ran down the pathway so quickly, crushing tiny white flowers with the weight of their big, ferocious boots. Nine tall, green-clad soldiers surrounded her, each soldier aiming his rifle at her head.
She fell to the ground. Her hand accidentally brushed against his rifle. Acting only on animal instinct, one of the soldiers fired his gun at her. She lay on the ground where she fell, lifeless.
“Why did you do that?” the lieutenant shouted at the soldier. The soldier stood at attention and answered, “These Jews are not that smart”. The lieutenant stared at the soldier and then laughed. He shouted, “We will find their hideout. Macht schnell”, as his eyes automatically surveyed the surrounding area and left.
The German soldiers followed the pathway, walking on the fallen grasses and leaves. The wooden house, squelched between tall, thick pine trees, slowly was discovered through the spaces in-between the leaves. The sharp eyes of one of the German soldiers spotted it. The soldiers banged down the wooden door on the front of the house. Their rifle butts loosening and instantly boring gores and chips into the skilled craftsmanship of the door; unable to resist the force, door crashed to the floor, revealing, Sarah’s mother and father. Two shivering figures hovered together and the fear written on their eyes spoke more than words could ever say.
The lieutenant shouted to his men, “let us finish this disgusting job today. Shoot them!” Two lifeless figures fell. Cold on the creaking wooden planks of the kitchen floor, they remained an imprint in time, testifying to the German soldiers’ vulgarity.
From the distance, Sarah and Sam heard the rifle shots, at first dazed by the meaning of the shots. Sam grasped the reality a few minutes later. He grabbed Sarah by the hand and held her tightly. “Do not go,” he yelled, while his head moved in every direction, trying to sense if the Germans were coming near them. She struggled with him, pulling her hand away, until she broke from his grip. She cried out, “I must go to my family,” while tears clouded her eyes.