Behind the Bedroom Wall (3 page)

“I am Herr Richt, your new history teacher. Fräulein Meiser will no longer be here. Today we are going to study ...”

Korinna didn't hear the rest of Herr Richt's comments. Where was Fräulein Meiser? Beautiful Fräulein Meiser with her long blond braid she wore wound up on her head like an upside-down basket—
what had happened to her? Korinna tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. Her eyes slid sideways to Eva. Eva stared forward, but her eyes glimmered with tears, and her hands were clasped tightly in front of her.

Korinna looked down at the desk. What was it Fräulein Meiser had said last week? She had been instructing the class as to which pages they should paste together in their history books when, in the middle of it all, she had suddenly sighed and looked at the ceiling. “When will all this stop?” she had asked the ceiling. “When?” Then she had shaken her head and continued reading off the list of forbidden pages.

Korinna now remembered she had found it disturbing enough to mark it down in her small notebook.

And, that day after school, she had read her notes to her
Jungmädel
leaders. She had tried to gloss over this little bit of information about her history teacher, not thinking that it was very important in retrospect. But her leaders had seemed particularly interested in what Fräulein Meiser had said during class that morning.

Now, Korinna wondered if she had had something to do with Fräulein Meiser's disappearance from school. Surely what her teacher had said in class wasn't enough to send her away. Or was it?

Korinna tried to concentrate on the lesson, but Herr Richt had a voice that crept along like a slug in her mother's garden.

Finally, when the history lesson was over, Korinna followed Eva out of the room for break. “Eva,” she called.

Eva stopped and turned.

“Do you know why Fräulein Meiser isn't going to teach anymore?”

Eva shook her head. “Someone probably reported her as being un-German,” she said bitterly.

Korinna pulled a loose thread on her sweater. “She wouldn't be arrested just for saying something that sounded disloyal, would she?”

“Who knows these days? One can never be too careful. Poor Fräulein Meiser.” She shook her head and started walking down the hall.

Korinna hurried and walked along beside Eva. “I know you feel bad about what we saw yesterday. You know, with Herr Haase. But you should watch what you say. Rita thinks you're sounding un-German.”

Eva stopped walking and turned to Korinna. Her lips trembled, and tears threatened to tip over her lower lashes. “You know,” Eva said slowly, “I can't help the way I feel about things. I want a strong and rich Fatherland just like my comrades. But sometimes I honestly wonder if it's worth it.”

“Eva!” Korinna lowered her voice, quickly looking around, but no one was paying them any attention. “You mustn't say things like that! If anyone heard you talking like that you'd be turned in to our
Jungmädel
leaders.”

“You're the only one who heard me, Korinna. Are you going to turn me in?”

Korinna stared at her friend, her comrade, her fellow
Jungmädel
member. But part of being a loyal German was turning in traitors.

“I'm going back to class,” Korinna said abruptly. She turned and walked away from Eva, but she could feel Eva's eyes staring after her.

When Korinna got home after school, she didn't call out to her mother, whom she heard talking to Aunt Hendrikia in the other room. First she wanted to find her kitten.

Quietly, she took off her boots and hung up her coat in the small front hall. Her father wasn't home yet. She could tell because his big boots weren't in their usual place under the small square mirror hanging on the wall.

Korinna slipped past the front room where her mother and aunt sat talking and stepped silently up the narrow stairs to her bedroom. In her room, she deposited her book bag neatly on the floor next to her
Schrank.
She picked up a ribbon off the floor. How did that get there? she wondered.

She bent down and looked under her bed for her kitten. She also looked behind her chair and under her small desk.

Still stepping softly, Korinna moved next door into her parents' room. Again she looked under the bed and in various other possible hideaways she thought a kitten might fit into.

“Here kitty, kitty,” she called softly. “Here kitty, kitty.” Nothing. No scratching, no answering meow.

With a sigh, Korinna resigned herself to the fact that her kitten must be downstairs in the kitchen or in the front room with her mother. She returned to her room and lay down on her soft feather bed and closed her eyes for just a minute. The subdued murmuring floating up from downstairs soothed her.

“Korinna!”

Korinna's eyes flew open. The afternoon glow had vanished from her room, leaving an eerie shroud of darkness in its place.

“Korinna,” her mother said again. “Are you ill?” She walked over and placed a hand on her daughter's forehead. “Why didn't you come in and see Auntie? Now she's left.”

Korinna sat up. “Sorry, Mother. I was going to come down, but I must have fallen asleep. Is Aunt Hendrikia angry?”

“I think her feelings were hurt more than anything.”

“Is that why she left so early? I thought she was staying for dinner.”

“She did, Korinna. She's eaten and gone,” Frau Rehme said, tucking a loose strand of Korinna's reddish gold hair behind her ear.

Korinna gasped. “What time is it?”

“Nearly five.”

“Why didn't you wake me to eat?” Korinna asked.

“I let you sleep because I thought you might be ill.”

“I was just tired. Today was a long day,” Korinna said. Her stomach rumbled. “Is there any food left?” she asked hopefully.

Frau Rehme smiled. “There's a plate fixed for you downstairs. Go now while it's still hot.”

Korinna hugged her mother and trotted downstairs to the kitchen. The bright, warm kitchen smelled of the sweet scent of sugar buns and cake—two extra special treats reserved for days when they had guests, especially now that the price of sugar and shortening was so high and nearly impossible to get, thanks to the war. But of course it was worth it, she reminded herself hastily. As her
Jungmädel
leaders always said, no sacrifice for the Fatherland was too great.

Sitting down, she glanced around the small room for her tiny black and white kitten, but she didn't see her. Korinna felt a twinge of disappointment that her kitten hadn't come scrambling for her the minute she'd walked in the door, and now it even seemed to be hiding on purpose.

Korinna quickly finished eating and walked into the front room, the only other room they had
downstairs. It was empty. Not even her father filled his overstuffed chair as he did every night after supper, blowing smoke rings at imaginary targets.

Checking once more behind the long sofa, Korinna finally gave up her search for her kitten and went back upstairs.

“Mother,” Korinna called, walking into her parents' bedroom. The room was empty. Puzzled, she turned around and walked into her own room. Her mother stood in the middle of the floor, gently stroking the head of her kitten.

“Where did you find her?” Korinna exclaimed, taking the kitten from her mother's hands.

“She was under your bed.”

“But I checked under the bed.”

“Maybe she slipped in while you were eating,” her mother suggested.

“Maybe.” She rubbed the silken head. “Where's Papa?” she asked, changing the subject.

“He's at a school meeting.”

Korinna raised her eyebrows. “This late?”

Frau Rehme reached over and patted the kitten's tiny head. “He came home and left again. You slept through it.”

“When will he be home?”

“Soon. Seven at the latest.”

“What time is it now?”

Frau Rehme checked her watch. “Twenty until six.”

“Oh no!” Korinna exclaimed, heading toward the door.

“What's wrong?”

Korinna dashed down the stairs, her kitten still clutched in her arms. “The Führer's speaking on the radio!”

As her mother followed her down, Korinna turned on the old radio to the official station. Already Adolf Hitler's voice was traveling over the radio waves with a special message for his people. The
Jungmädel
leaders had urged all the members to listen to their Führer tonight. Korinna always looked forward to hearing his radio broadcasts. She only wished she could see him speak in person.

For the rest of the half hour, Korinna sat in front of the radio listening to the Führer's voice. At first the speech was quiet yet forceful, but soon the voice took on a moving ring. By the end of the speech, Adolf Hitler spoke at the top of his voice, over the cheers of his followers. What he said was always the same: Destroy the enemy, the Jews and the radical intellectuals, and out of the misery they were now in, a stronger more unified Germany would ascend. A Germany without poverty, without unemployment. The Third Reich that would last for one thousand years!

At the end of the speech, Korinna dropped her kitten on the sofa and stood up as it scurried out of the room. She lifted her right arm in a smart salute.
“Heil Hitler!”
She looked expectantly at her mother.

Frau Rehme, sitting on the sofa and darning one of her husband's socks, looked up at her daughter. “
Heil Hitler,”
she murmured, then she went back to her sewing.

Korinna smiled and sat down next to her mother. “Isn't the Führer wonderful?”

“Mmmmm,” Frau Rehme agreed.

“Mother! Weren't you paying attention to him? His speech was wonderful!”