Behind the Bedroom Wall (12 page)

“What's this?” Rachel asked, lifting the paper and finding the small box Korinna had brought in with the sheets of paper.

Korinna smiled. “What does it look like?”

Rachel opened the box carefully. Out spilled a number of pencils of different colors. “They're beautiful,” the little girl breathed reverently. She looked up at Korinna. “Are they for me to use?”

“They're for you to keep!” Korinna said. She had found them in a box under her bed when she had recently been looking for the kitten.

“To keep? Honestly?” the girl asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“Of course. Why would I lie to you?”

“Because you don't like Jews,” Rachel said simply.

Korinna swallowed uneasily, afraid to look up to see if Sophie listened to their conversation.

She stared down at Rachel's bent head, searching for some reply. Could she deny it? Could she defend it? What should she say?

“I like this color best,” Rachel said, holding up a pencil.

Startled out of her thoughts, Korinna said, “What?”

“This is my favorite color,” Rachel repeated.

But what about what you just said? Korinna wanted to ask. I'm supposed to hate Jews, yet here I
am giving my colored pencils to you. I should get up and leave, she thought. But instead, she said, “Why is that your favorite color?”

“It's the color of the setting sun and the color of your hair.”

Korinna picked up a pencil of burnt umber. “And this is the color of your hair.”

Rachel's smile disappeared. “I wish my hair were this color,” she said, fondling the reddish yellow pencil.

“Why?”

Rachel twirled the pencil between her fingers. “Then I wouldn't have to hide. If I had light hair, no one would know I was Jewish and I wouldn't have to stay in this horrible little room!”

“Rachel!” Sophie said sharply. “You're lucky to have a room like this. Just think of poor Papa and Ruthie who have to sleep with cows and goats.”

Rachel's lips turned down at the corners. “I want Ruth and Papa to be here,” she wailed.

“Shhhh,” Sophie said.

The little girl bent her head and cried against her lifted knees.

Korinna looked back and forth between Sophie and Rachel. All the pity she had been working so hard to keep from feeling now pinched at her heart. She picked up a sheet of paper and began to draw. After a few moments, Rachel's sobs quieted to an occasional hiccup. Finally, she lifted her head and watched Korinna draw.

“What's that?” Rachel asked.

“This,” Korinna said, putting the finishing touches on the flower boxes, “is your house.”

Rachel frowned. “No, it's not. My house doesn't look like that. My house has white shutters and it's bigger.”

“Well, this is the house where you live now. This is what it looks like in the summer. Now there are no flowers in the window boxes, and there are long thick icicles hanging from the roof.”

Understanding began to show on Rachel's face. “You mean this is
this
house? This is where we are right now?”

Korinna nodded.

Rachel smiled. “I like this house,” she said. “It's pretty, even if it is smaller than mine. I like it very much.” She nodded her head and took the drawing from Korinna, placing it next to her mattress. “Now I know where I am,” she said happily, and she picked up the yellow pencil and started drawing on a clean sheet of paper while Korinna watched.

Later, a knock on the wall startled Korinna. As the wardrobe pulled away from the opening, her heart beat faster. Even after she saw that it was just her mother with the midday dinner, her palms stayed sweaty and the heat around her neck still choked her. She wondered if the same thing happened to the Krugmanns every time the wardrobe moved. She glanced over at Sophie and saw that the older woman looked tense, staring at the opening with wide eyes.
Korinna hastily looked away, feeling as if she were spying.

Korinna crawled out from behind the wardrobe so the Krugmanns could eat. Before she closed the wardrobe, she opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out a doll. The doll had a China face and hands, but the nose was chipped and a couple of fingers on the right hand were missing. And the doll had been so tightly hugged that it was rather limp through the middle.

Korinna held out the doll to Rachel. “Here.”

“She's beautiful,” Rachel said breathlessly, not yet lifting her hands to take it, as though afraid it would be snatched away at the last moment.

“She's for you.”

Reverently, Rachel took the doll. Briefly, their hands touched. Korinna smiled as the little girl carefully cradled the doll in her arms.
“Tag
never lies still in the cradle for me,” Rachel said, her eyes not leaving the doll's blushed cheeks.

“Tag?”
Korinna asked.

“The kitten,” Sophie explained. “Rachel only sees the kitten in the day when you're not home. So she named it
Tag—
Day.”

Korinna smiled. “I like that name. I have to admit, I never got around to naming the kitten myself.
Tag is
the perfect name.”

Rachel lifted her eyes once again. “I like my doll,” she said. “And I like you. You're so nice.”

Korinna swallowed hard. Didn't the girl realize
they were enemies? She was a loyal German, and Rachel was a Jew. Like oil and water, they just didn't mix. They could not be friends.

On Monday, Korinna didn't get a chance to talk to Rita until they met after dinner on their way to the
Jungmädel
meeting.

“Why aren't you wearing your uniform?” Rita demanded upon seeing Korinna in a sweater and gray skirt.

“It was dirty.”

Rita frowned. “How do you expect to get back on the good side out the leaders if you don't even wear the uniform?”

“I only have one,” Korinna said. “Mother's washing it for me today so I can wear it tomorrow. At least I'm wearing my kerchief,” she said.

Rita shrugged. “If you had two uniforms you wouldn't run into this problem.”

“My family can't afford another uniform,” Korinna said evenly, trying to keep her anger in check. “And you know that, Rita.”

“Maybe if your mother participated more in the Nazi Women's Organization, someone would offer to help you.”

Korinna stopped walking and faced her friend. “Are you trying to say that my mother isn't a good German?” she demanded.

“I'm just saying that she isn't the most loyal person in this town.”

“My mother loves Germany! She—she's just as loyal as your mother. She's just too busy to go regularly to the Women's Organization.”

“Busy doing what?” Rita asked.

“Guten Tag!”
Eva called, walking up to the two girls.

“Hello,” Korinna said tersely.

Rita ignored the other girl.

“What's going on with you two?” Eva said, stepping around the girls to continue on her way. “Aren't you coming to the meeting?” she asked when she didn't get an answer.

“Yes,” Korinna said quickly. “We're coming.” She walked beside Eva, leaving Rita glaring after them.

“What was that all about?” Eva asked under her breath.

“Nothing,” Korinna said. She was glad Eva had interrupted her conversation with Rita. She didn't think Rita could really be suspicious of her mother, but she didn't want to be questioned anyway.

They walked a few moments in silence.

“I'm sorry, Korinna,” Rita said, who was walking behind the other two girls.

Korinna didn't stop walking or even turn around.

“I mean it, Korinna. You're my best friend, and I know your mother is a loyal German. I didn't mean to sound so suspicious or anything.”

Now Korinna stopped and turned around. “I know,” she said. “I shouldn't have been so defensive.”

“Are we still friends?” Rita asked.

Korinna opened her arms wide. “Of course.” The two girls hugged each other while Eva watched.

“You'll always be my best friend,” Rita said.

Korinna grinned. “You, too.”

“Now that that's settled, can we go?” Eva asked dryly.

Korinna and Rita smiled at each other and started walking arm in arm, which forced Eva to walk behind them. But Korinna didn't want the other girl to feel left out, so she pushed Rita to the edge of the sidewalk and pulled Eva up to walk beside them. On the rest of the way to the meeting they sang their favorite song, “Now Is the Time.”

As they reached the building where their meetings were held, their voices trailed off.

Korinna took a deep breath. The last time she'd been to a meeting, she'd been slapped. Today she would be sure to do everything right. She didn't want to be humiliated in front of everyone again.

The Troop meeting passed without a problem. Korinna paid close attention to everything, not letting her mind wander for an instant. The leaders acted as if nothing had happened. They even commended her on carrying extra pamphlets in her book bag because they needed them to give to a new member. Rita collected them from Korinna's book bag along with some of the other girls'.

Eva had to leave the meeting early to take care of her younger brother, so Korinna and Rita walked home together after the meeting. The bright sky was already fading to darkness, and a cold wind whipped at the girls as they buried their chins in their scarves.

“What?” Korinna said at hearing Rita mumble something.

“I forgot to ask you if you'd heard about the Reinekes,” Rita repeated, this time lifting her face to the wind.

Korinna looked obliquely at her friend, not wanting to lift the lower portion of her face from the warmth of her scarf. She shook her head, but Rita
wasn't looking at her, so she had to lift her head a bit and say, “No, what happened to them?”

“Hans searched their house last night.”

Visions of the search on her own house raced through her head. She wondered if Rita knew that Hans had hit her father. “So?” she said.

“He found something there,” Rita said.

Korinna could hear the suppressed excitement in the other girl's voice. “What did he find?”

“Jews!”

“Jews?” Korinna felt a sudden painful tightness in her stomach. “Jews?” she repeated.

“Two of them. They were hiding in the pantry. Hans said he sniffed them out, they stank so bad,” Rita said gleefully.

“How do you know all this?”

“Hans came over this morning before I went to school. He was up all night searching houses.”

“Who were the Jews?” Korinna asked.

“Who cares who they were?” Rita said. “They're Jews, that's all anyone needs to know. I think they were a husband and wife.”

“What's going to happen to the Reinekes?” Korinna asked, hoping she sounded casual.

“The Reinekes have been arrested. Hans said they'll probably be sent to a work camp, if they're not shot first.”

The knot in Korinna's stomach pulled even tighter at this news. “What about the Jews?” Korinna asked, trying not to sound too interested.

“Who cares what happens to the Jews?” Rita said derisively. “They'll be sent away somewhere. Hans told Papa they were trying to leave Germany because they didn't want to be arrested or be sent to a work camp. Imagine,” she said, shaking her head, “Jews still think they have the right to make choices. The sooner they're all rounded up and sent away, the better it will be for all of us loyal Germans.”