Behind the Bedroom Wall (7 page)

Korinna scowled at her mother. She had more important things to do than to look at these ugly drawings. She tried to catch her mother's eyes, but her mother didn't seem to notice.

Rachel crawled on all fours over to Korinna, and squatted there until Korinna lowered herself to the floor. Korinna sat cross-legged and Rachel leaned over one of the older girl's knees, pointing to the people in the windows.

“That's my papa. He's with Ruth staying somewhere else. And that's Ruth, my older sister. There's Mama and that's me,” she said, pointing to a face surrounded by curly hair. “My hair is like my papa's.”

“This is Ruth playing the piano,” Rachel continued, pulling another drawing from the pile. “She is very, very, very good. She wants to play the piano when she grows up and make people pay to come hear her play. But she said I don't have to pay.” Rachel extracted another drawing. “And this is the apple tree in our yard. The flowers are pretty, but the apples are sour.” She made a sour face.

Korinna bit the inside of her lip, stopping her smile just in time.

Rachel explained every drawing in her pile, and Korinna couldn't help noticing the wistful expression that sometimes overcame the girl's otherwise cheerful exuberance. She had more pictures of her house and
family, and of her friends and school and synagogue. Some of which, Korinna realized, the little girl would probably never see again. But that didn't bother Korinna. After all, these were Jews, one of the enemies to the Fatherland, and they deserved to suffer.

“My husband will be home soon,” said Korinna's mother. She had been sitting on her daughter's bed, watching. “You'd better get back inside in case he brings someone home with him. Sometimes he's obliged to invite someone over for supper at the last minute,” she explained.

Rachel scrambled back into the hideaway with her drawings and her new paper.

“I'll bring your water up now, before we eat,” Frau Rehme said.

“Don't rush,” Sophie said. “Take care of your family first. We're not going anywhere,” she added wryly.

Korinna's mother smiled at the attempted joke and closed the wardrobe against the wall. She shook her head. “It's amazing how that woman still can hold her head up and find humor in her situation after all she's been through.” She stacked the two trays of empty dishes.

“Do you need help carrying those downstairs?” Korinna asked, ignoring the comment about the Jewess.

“No, thank you, Korinna, you've helped enough today,” Frau Rehme said thoughtfully. “You've helped more than you know.”

Korinna scowled. She didn't want any thanks for
being a traitor to her Fatherland. She felt guilty enough as it was, without her mother rubbing it in. She sat down at her desk and pretended to study until she heard her mother leave the room. Then step, step, step, turn. Rachel was walking behind the wall again. Korinna slammed her book shut, creating a loud cracking sound like a gunshot she'd once heard. The walking stopped. Korinna quickly left her room and sat alone in the quiet of the front room until her father came home for supper.

“Korinna, you've never not wanted to go to school,” Frau Rehme said, frowning.

Korinna buried her face in her pillow. “I don't feel well,” she mumbled.

“You missed yesterday. You must go today,” her mother insisted.

Korinna felt like screaming. Didn't her mother understand that she couldn't just go to school as if everything were normal? Rita would take one look at her and know she was hiding something. “I don't feel well!”

Now Korinna's mother began to sound angry. “It will look suspicious if you suddenly start to miss school. You're not sick, and you know it. Get out of bed now or you'll be late to meet Rita.”

Korinna groaned.

“Now.” Her mother turned away from the bed and left the room.

Korinna reluctantly flipped back her blankets and shivered in the cold air. She looked toward her wardrobe. Were the Krugmanns up yet? Maybe they slept most of the day since there wasn't much they could possibly do back there.

Quickly she got dressed. Her kitten, still unnamed, darted between her legs and kept swinging at the hem of her skirt.

“Ouch!” Korinna exclaimed as the little rascal missed her skirt and dug a sharp claw into her leg. She bent down and picked up the kitten, hugging her close to her face. “You silly thing,” she said softly. The kitten began to purr as she stroked its fuzzy head. “I'll play with you after school,” she promised as she deposited her new pet on her bed and gathered her schoolbooks.

Downstairs she finished a hurried breakfast and then went to say good-bye to her mother who stood by the stove, cooking. Korinna didn't look in the pots; she knew the food was for the Jews upstairs. Didn't they do anything but eat? she wondered, annoyed to find her mother working so hard for the enemy. It was a miracle she hadn't noticed all the extra cooking her mother had been doing lately, she thought.

Frau Rehme hugged her daughter. “Have a good day at school, Korinna.”

Korinna hugged her mother back. “I love you, Mother.” And she thought, but you're a traitor to the Fatherland—I have to turn you in. Abruptly she pulled out of her mother's arms. “I'm late,” she said and left the house.

Rita was waiting impatiently at the corner. “Are you feeling better?” she asked.

Korinna nodded. She didn't dare say anything for fear that the whole horrible story would spill out.

“Good,” said Rita. “Now we'd better hurry so we won't be late. Eva went on ahead.”

The two girls walked quickly down the sidewalk. It hadn't snowed in a couple of days, and the sidewalks were pretty clear of snow and ice.

“Guess what?” Rita asked, excitement charging her voice.

“What?”

Rita stopped walking and turned to her friend. “The Führer is coming! There's going to be a big parade, and our
Jungmädel
gets to march in it!”

Excitement fluttered through Korinna's stomach. “Here?” she exclaimed. “To our city? How wonderful!”

Rita nodded, a big smile spreading across her face. “In three weeks. We're going to make a special banner and Fräulein Schönwald is going to write a new song for the occasion.”

Korinna walked along silently.

“What's wrong?” Rita asked, looking at her friend from the corners of her eyes.

“Nothing,” Korinna said quickly.

“I thought you'd be more excited about the news.”

“I am excited,” Korinna said. “It's just that ... that there's a lot to do by then,” she mumbled.

Rita waved her hand. “Oh, don't worry about that.
We're going to meet everyday until then just to get ready.”

“Great,” Korinna said, relieved that they had reached the school building.

“I'll talk to you at break,” Rita said as they entered their classroom.

For a second, Korinna was startled not to see Fräulein Meiser, until she remembered that she had been taken to a work camp with her aging father. Korinna shook her head. She couldn't understand how her teacher could have done something like that. Not that the work camps were supposed to be all that bad, but still, to give up her job and her home. It didn't make sense to her.

“How are you feeling?” Eva whispered as Korinna sat down next to her.

“Better, thanks,” she replied.

“Are you sure you're feeling okay?”

Korinna turned to her with a frown. “Yes, why?”

Eva shrugged. “You look pale and tired.”

“I haven't been sleeping well lately,” Korinna said truthfully.

“Maybe you should have stayed home another day,” Eva suggested.

“Maybe, but my mother wouldn't let me.” She smiled wanly. “You know mothers.”

Eva smiled back. “I know. I have one, too.”

Not like mine, thought Korinna. Mine is a traitor. She turned her attention back to the lesson, but she
found it hard to concentrate. She couldn't help wondering what the Krugmanns were doing.

Finally school was over. She met Rita and Eva in the usual spot to the right of the large front doors of the school building.

“Okay, let's go,” Rita said cheerfully. “You'll eat dinner at my house and then we'll go to the meeting.”

“I'm not going,” Korinna said.

Both Rita and Eva stared at her with surprise. “What do you mean you're not going?” Rita demanded.

Korinna lifted a hand to her head. “I still don't feel very well. It kind of came back during school.”

“What is it?” Rita asked. “A cold? A headache? What?”

“A little of both,” Korinna said evasively. “I ... I haven't been sleeping well lately.”

“Is it the mice?” Rita asked.

“No, no!” Korinna said a bit too forcefully. She'd forgotten that she'd told her friends about the noises. But why wouldn't she have? Friends shared everything from gossip about her cute neighbor, Alfred Bissle, to rustling mouse noises in the walls. “My father put out a trap to kill them. I haven't heard anything since.”

Eva made a face. “I wouldn't want mice in my walls.”

“It was nothing,” Korinna said hastily. “They're gone now.”

“That's good,” Eva said. “I'd hate to have something behind my bedroom wall making scary noises. Especially little mice with their beady pink eyes and those awful rat tails.”

Rita nodded in agreement.

Korinna groaned inwardly. If only they knew the truth, she thought. Perhaps they'd think Jews were preferable to mice. After all, Jews didn't have beady pink eyes, they had dark, suspicious eyes.

Rita nudged her. “Korinna! Are you falling asleep on your feet?”

Korinna nodded. “I am really tired. I guess I should go home now.” She was eager to get away from her friends' prying eyes and questions. “Tomorrow you can tell me about the plans for the parade.” Waving, she turned away and started home alone.

Ten minutes later, she turned up the narrow path to her small red brick house with the green painted door and shutters. It was a pretty house, she decided, with window boxes full of flowers in the summer and icicles hanging from the roof in the winter.

Entering the house, she called to her mother who answered from the front room. Korinna was glad her mother didn't spend all her time with the Jews. It was bad enough she cooked and cared for them.

Korinna's mother looked up. She held a dress in one hand and a needle and thread in the other. “How was school?”

Korinna sat down beside her mother. “Long,” she
said with a sigh. She fingered the familiar material her mother was working on. “What are you doing?”

Her mother held up the dress. “Do you recognize it?”

Korinna nodded. It was one of her dresses that she had long since grown out of. “Why did you keep that?”

“I kept most of your dresses to pass on to my grandchildren.”

Korinna laughed. “I don't think you have to mend any of my old dresses just yet.”