- "Pedro!" -Her hand was on his shoulder, and she shook him hard with the rhythm of contractions.
Pedro woke up suddenly and opened his eyes wider when he had pressed the knob of light.
- "What's wrong dear!" -And he saw it. All that dirty water mixed with blood on the mattress and Laura with one hand in her belly panting while sweating copiously.
- "I've broken water." The time has come," -Laura said in a rough voice, looking at him as if it were the first time that happened to her.
... Daughter, always the second time, it hurts more I do not know why. I have not had a chance to check ...
- "Do not worry, we'll go to the hospital, and everything will be all right." -Pedro got up from the bed, putting his feet on the cold floor that fall, and searched his long fingers for the pants he had on a small chair beside the bedside table. He slipped it in as quickly as he could and reached for his shirt and then his sweater. - "I'll put on you a gown to go to the hospital."
Laura seethed like a poisoned animal, and her eyes seemed to disengage from their sockets. Each contraction was stronger than the previous one, and she reached for the vagina to feel if there was the Baby's head started to come out. There was nothing but blood and water there.
Pedro slipped on his shoes without buckling them and, getting up, picked up the pink robe Laura had on another chair at the foot of the bed.
- "Take a deep breath," -Pedro said as he approached her on the other side of the bed with his robe in his hand. Laura was also wearing a long white nightgown that now had the half of it with blood stains.
... This time things will be better than the first time. This time we are ready to be parents again, said Pedro to himself aloud ...
- "Sweetie." -Laura looked at Pedro, her eyes swollen and tearful as a plea. - "This time it hurts more than the first."
- "Relax," -Pedro said, kissing her on the forehead.
- “Ouch!
A new contraction and more green water over the mattress.
Pedro took her arm gently and placed her on the edge of the bed and slowly put her robe on. With his strong arms, he lifted her to the sofa in the dining room.
- "What do we do with Claudio? He asked, looking surprised."
Laura told him to talk to the neighbor, Mirelle, next door, with whom she had started a great friendship.
- "All right," Pedro gasped. I'll talk to her. But do not get up ...
Pedro picked up the keys that were hung on a wall key next to the front door and turned the key in the lock that did not squeak at all.
He opened the door and pressed the light switch in the hallway. A dim yellowish light lit the door of their neighbor Mirelle. He rang the bell twice and waited.
After a while, the door opened not before a woman's voice asked, who the hell was it at this time of the morning. He told her that Laura had broken water through the thin lamina of wood that separated them.
- "Laura has broken waters, and we do not know who is going to take care to Claudio ..."
- "There is no problem," -said Mirelle, a tall, slim woman with hair so dark that it looked bluish. She was wearing a white coat. I will stay with Claudio.
- "Thank you!" -Said Pedro, sweating. I'm going to get the kid ...
- "Needless! I'll wake him up myself; I do not want him to be scared," -Mirelle said, waving a hand.
- "Thanks again!"
Pedro went back to his house while Mirelle followed behind with ragged steps.
- "Hello Laura," -Mirelle said as she saw her lying on the couch, her legs spread and her hair wet. - "Take a deep breath. The second birth is always harder than the first. I tell you from personal experience. But everything will turn out well. I will take care of your son Claudio while you are away. He will not miss anything."
... Where had I heard that? ...
And it was true. Claudio would not miss Mirelle because he had played with her many times and they had laughed at life together and with their children, who, although they were four years old, played together as if they were blood brothers.
Mirelle went straight to the room where Claudio slept peacefully in his little bed with protective bars on one side of it and kissed his forehead before waking him up to carry him home.
- "I'll leave the keys in the door," -Pedro said as he dragged Laura to one hand over his bulging belly.
- "It's okay!" Do not worry about anything," -Mirelle explained with Claudio yawning in his arms and tangled blond hair.
Pedro had bought a car Fiat 508 better known as "Balilla", with four gears and that after making an earlier version in Poland had already arrived the factory of this model in France, and Pedro worked in the plant. The car could reach 80 kilometers per hour and had a limousine body. This car began to manufacture in France around the year 1932. Now Pedro earned enough to get one of the 103,000 units that had been manufactured up to this date. He parked at the end of the street.
- "The car is very far away," -Pedro said, holding Laura's almost inert body. Can you stand here leaning against the wall until I bring the car here?
Laura with mute eyes nodded in the dim light of the street. Urban lighting was now electric, and there were high-energy bulbs. Time has passed, Laura thought as she dropped her heavy body against the wall.
Pedro hesitated for a moment whether to leave her against the wall or to carry her by dragging her, or carry her towards the car. He made sure he had the keys of the car in his pants pocket. He had left the keys of the house at the door. These were decisive moments and out of place for Pedro, a patient and calm man who sometimes nerves put him between the devil and the deep blue sea.
In the end, he chose to leave her leaning against the wall with her contractions that grew stronger and more rhythmic. He had to find the car at the end of the street and get her on the seat soon, or the baby would be born in the middle of the night, in the fading light half illuminated from up there, where everyone goes when they die.
- "Hurry up," -Laura mumbled, pressing her belly harder.
- "It's OK darling. Hold. Now I'm coming" -Pedro was more nervous than Laura and began to sweat copiously under his white shirt. It was the end of September, and the heat was still present, but not so much as in Aguilas, Pedro remembered instinctively. Here in France, there is no quince tree summer said to himself, and he ran down the street in search of the car. His steps were a dry clatter that broke the silence of the night. In the distance, the footsteps stopped suddenly, and there was a metallic clink of keys. A knock on a metal door and then the roar of an engine. The air filled with the smell of gasoline and carbon monoxide, and after a few accelerations, the car stopped on the pavement leaving on the ground a slash of rubber tire of the wheels. As the engine continued purring the Fiat's door opened again, and Pedro stepped out of the tiny car.
- "It's coming; it's coming," -Laura whispered now with both hands on her belly.
Pedro wrapped one of his arms around her and placed her on his right shoulder, taking her toward the Fiat. With one hand, he opened the door and with great difficulty sat Laura in the seat of the Fiat that creaked as it sank.
He closed the door with a dry thud that strangled the silence of the night and headed for the other side of the Fiat. When he was behind the steering wheel, he stepped on the clutch, started the first gear, and accelerated. The engine roared, and the wheels slipped on the pavement, raising a thin layer of smoke, and behind it, a column of blue smoke rose into the dark sky.
A few minutes later, Peter stopped the Fiat at the emergency entrance of "Hospital Hôtel-Dieu (AP-HP)". A long and intricate name to remember but that did not matter now. The engine of the Fiat muted like a beast when it sets to sleep. Pedro left the Fiat giving another hard blow with the door and entered the emergency reception.
- "Hello, Miss, my wife is in labor!"
- "All right," -said the fat young lady. - "Right now, we take her up to the maternity ward. Do not worry."
- "Thank you for your kindness, Miss." -Pedro stood to
wait with wide eyes open.
-Adrienne. My name is Adrienne," -said the young lady in a quiet voice.
- "If the child is a girl, she will be named as you!" -Exclaimed Pedro with an unusual gleam in his eyes. He thought it was a good name if the baby was a girl, but he would not know that until later.
- "If you do not mind, you can give me your details while I check-in her." -The lady's flat fingers grabbed a pencil with extreme skill. - "I'm going to call the hospital attendant to enter your wife in the maternity ward." -She paused looking for a lady with his hand on her belly and not seeing her, she asked. - "Where is your wife?"
- "In the car," -Pedro said.
- "Oh!
The young lady at the reception desk picked up the phone and called the attendant. In a few seconds a small, thin man came out approaching the front desk.
- "The lady?" -He had a very pronounced accent, and his voice sounded like a whistle.
- "At the entrance. Inside the car," -Pedro explained, heading to the large glass door. The attendant followed behind him like a poodle dog wagging its tail. Pedro turned to say something and saw, surprised, as the attendant pushed a wheelchair down the smooth floor of the reception.
Laura was waiting inside the Fiat, breathing hard, but the color of her face was astonishingly pink and her eyes, though wet, glowed the light blue under the light of those bulbs.
They took her up to the maternity ward, and the obstetrician instructed Pedro to wait in the waiting room. Take it easy because a delivery could be short or long, depending on the conditions. But Laura only had to blow three times while pushing and the baby came to the world with two kilos eight hundred grammes. She was a light-eyed girl.
The midwife came out to explain to him that everything inside happened normally. And she revealed to him that he was a father of a girl.
A girl that he would name Adrienne. Fate wanted it that way.
8
Year 1940
Back to Spain, in Aguilas
The Sahara offensive, also known as the "joke war", took place between 7 and 12 September 1939. Although its purpose was to support Poland, a great ally of France, which won with disheartened ease, Laura began to worry about such a situation, since she foresaw a bad end in all this. Even though the French troops retired four days after occupying the zone invaded by the Germans, Laura was still attentive to the radio hearing all the news on the matter. In Spain, the Civil War had ended on April 1, 1939, and it was time to think about returning to the land if things got worse in
France. And so, it was, on October 16 the Third Reich ordered to invade the village and reconquer it after a previous attack by Russia to the Sarre. Things were getting uglier, and Laura feared for their lives. After the conquest of Poland, Germany took a break to regroup during the winter of 1939-1940, while the British and French remained on the defensive. The Second World War had broken out in Europe. In that period, when France was half-speed preparing for the worst, Laura with her husband and children decided to move to Spain. Going home, she had jokingly said when she informed Pedro.
- "Yes. It's time to go back," -Pedro said, looking around at his home. A crossroads of feelings surfaced in him combining into a perfect explosive cocktail. This time the causes were greater, and I had to think about the safety of Laura, Claudio and Adrienne.
Laura on one of the nights of insomnia began to write a new letter to her parents. This time more bare and reflective. I would go to the point. His fingers took the pencil and began to write in a nightgown. Outside the night, it seemed to be calm despite everything, while Europe began to crumble, except Spain.
I'm going to get to the point. I do not know if you know what is happening in Europe and here in France. What has happened there, but much worse. We are at the gates of hell. From a generalized war, the Germans have begun. I am afraid for me that more for Claudio, Adrienne and Pedro and no, I have not been wrong in the order of names. They are my three loves, and I announce that we return home.
I hope this letter reaches you.
See you soon.
Laura deposited the letter the next day in a postbox with her hand on her chest, hoping that mail would still work. Things were very confusing, and everything turned upside down, yet people seemed to go to work and walk around normally. The thunder of the first bombs had not yet heard. She still did not think to feel a sour taste in her throat. Despite, Claudio was at the school, and Adrienne was with her, sprawled in the chair of four-wheeled covered by a thin layer of snow that Laura pushed handiness over the stone pavement ground.
The snow gave small pinches on their foreheads as if small insects were hitting their taut, bruised skin.
- "I'm cold," -Claudio complained over his father's shoulders.
- "I know, son, I know. We are all cold."
Claudio fell silent for a moment and began to shiver, sending the tremor to the shoulders of his father who wrinkled his face in a gesture of pain.
They passed the train and walked away about four hundred meters, forming a small path with their footsteps. The snow softened under the weight of his feet and became a hard, slippery plaque. Pedro continued walking with Claudio on his shoulders; he thought how badly Laura would be passing behind him with Adrienne in his arms.
The night was coming, and so were they. At the end of the route turned out to be shorter than expected. They had been lucky and had walked in a straight line to the border only guided by the reflection of the snow and Pedro´s intuition. But even though they had been walking for more than two hours, their feet were no longer sensitive, and they were numb even they were wearing wool-lined boots and a pair of pairs of socks on.
Suddenly Pedro spotted a military post at the top of the hill, on the road covered with a white robe. They were two soldiers wearing in green who had the white helmet and who walked along the road cut by a fence. In the distance, he saw that they had guns in their hands pointing to the ground. The light of the house was weak and yellow, like a candle flame. The cold was intense, and the wind raised wings.
- "There's a check," -Peter whispered. - "Crouch down."
Laura lowered next to her son Claudio, and Adrienne complained about with a sudden cry when touched the snow.
- "Adrienne, please be quiet," -Pedro spoke quietly, for the military post was a few feet away. They had come too close, but the blizzard and snow had made it impossible to see them before.
Laura put her hand on Adrienne's lips that shut up suddenly as if she understood everything that was happening.
They were crouched for some minutes shaking with cold, while the two soldiers seemed made of metal for their resistance outside the gatehouse. The two men were now two white bundles moving from side to side.
- "We'll have to take a chance," -Pedro said, his face bluish and his lips the same color.
Laura said nothing. She was giving warmth to the little four years old Adrienne.
Then, came the opportunity. The two soldiers entered the dimly lit gatehouse, perhaps to reveal the surveillance post to two other well-armed soldiers. Pedro knew that now was the time to act.
- "Laura, get ready. Let's cross..."
- "Through where? -Said Laura, her eyelashes covered with snow.
- "We will go on the right side, for that kind of road." -The gloved finger pointed to the left, not to the right as he had said.
"All right," Laura said under the hat she was wearing, covered with a snow-cover.
Pedro carried Claudio's again and put him on his shoulders. His legs straightened, and he stood up. Suddenly a spotlight illuminated the back of the border as if they had noticed a presence on the side that there was finally peace.
Pedro crouched instinctively, but the light died out a few seconds later. Pedro rose again and began to walk, sinking into the thick snow. Finally turned to the left as he had pointed out, while thanks to a miracle, still no more soldiers or guards had got out.
Laura had Adrienne in her arms and advanced slowly, while she sobbed.
/> Under the glare of the white snow, they made a little walk around the guardhouse where they could now see the two soldiers drinking something hot in their smoking cups. Pedro had believed that there were more soldiers inside, but it was not like that. It was just the two of them. They bend down now that they were closer to the gatehouse with a cold little light shining on the soldiers' heads without the helmet and they advanced almost squatting. Pedro and Laura finally reached what looked like a narrow road downhill. They had climbed the steep slope, and now they were on top of the hill, or whatever it was, Pedro felt full of happiness.
They advanced a few more meters and now left behind the gloomy gatehouse in the middle of the storm of the night. And they advanced a little more. In silence, except the howling of the wind as they brushed against the white trees.
When they reached the downhill, Pedro tripped over a rock and fell rolling on the snow, leaving Claudio like hastily like a projectile toward one side. Laura's eyes widened in alarm. Now Pedro and Claudio were two snowballs rolling downhill, faster and faster until branches bent by the weight of the snow braked their bodies, impassive and wrapped in snow. The wool cap of both was a snow cone, and their hair was disheveled and untidy from the sides.
And far from crying, they laughed together.
And so, they entered Spain.
Their journey had not ended there, together, rolling in the snow, misleading the soldiers in the snow-covered gatehouse. Nor did it stop an hour later when they reached the first town of Spain, already within Catalonia. But the trip continued, now, by train. Although they caught him too far from where they were, things went around from that moment, and an old man picked them up in his rickety car in the middle of the night to take them to Portbou. Pedro offered him money, but the gray-haired, rough-knuckled man waved his hands like blades. He did not want money; he said he had done it for the children. The same ones, who had spent the whole car ride in absolute silence. But the rattle with old Fiat had not been silent at all.
All My Life by Your Side Page 7
