Behind the Bedroom Wall (2 page)

Frau Rehme sighed and looked as if she were about to say something, but instead she turned and walked back into the kitchen. Korinna followed her.

“Where's Papa?”

“He's correcting school papers upstairs. Call him for supper, please.”

Korinna walked halfway up the narrow stairs to the second floor of the house where the two bedrooms were. She shivered in the cold stairway. “Papa,” she called. “Time to eat!” She waited until she heard the scrape of his chair being pushed back, then she hurried downstairs to the warmth of the kitchen.

“The butcher was arrested tonight,” Korinna said, once they were sitting down to eat.

“Herr Haase?” her mother asked sharply, glancing at her husband.

Korinna nodded. “Hans Damerau was one of the officers. Rita and Eva and I saw the whole thing. They called Herr Haase a Jew-lover.”

“Oh, my God!” Frau Rehme exclaimed, nearly dropping her fork. “A Jew-lover! Poor Frau Haase. What will she do with those little children? She'll have to work extra long hours to keep food on the table. No one will help her now that her husband's been arrested. It will be too dangerous.”

“Someone will help her,” comforted Korinna's father. “Herr Haase helped many people. No one will forget it that quickly.”

Korinna looked up from her plate, her eyes wide with surprise. “But he's a Jew-lover. Why would anyone dare to help a traitor or his family?”

“First of all, we don't know for sure Herr Haase is, in fact, a so called ‘Jew-lover,' and secondly, it's none of our business,” Herr Rehme said firmly. “And I don't want you standing around watching people get arrested. It's dangerous.”

Korinna shrugged. She didn't see anything dangerous about watching an arrest. She didn't see many of them because they usually happened late at night when she was asleep, but she was glad to see traitors to Germany get arrested.

She shifted in her chair, trying not to picture the blood on Herr Haase's head, or the wide, sad eyes of his children. If he were a traitor to Germany, then it was right he should be taken away. It was all for the good of the Fatherland.

While her parents ate in silence, Korinna played with a piece of bread on her plate.

“Why aren't you eating?” her mother asked, eyeing Korinna's full plate.

“I'm not really hungry,” she said, intently studying the tines of her fork.

Korinna's father raised his bushy, red eyebrows. “Not hungry? Hundreds of poor people would do anything for what you have on your plate, and you say you're not hungry?”

Korinna didn't look up. “After our hike, we—we made sweet buns.”

“Sweet buns? For what?”

“Just to eat, I guess. Anyway, they weren't very sweet because we didn't have enough sugar. Just a couple of pinches.”

“Don't you do anything worthwhile at those
Jungmädel
meetings?” her father growled.

Korinna brightened. “Oh yes, we help the poor and babysit for people. And today we got bundles of new pamphlets to pass out. They're very nice. They even have the Führer's picture on the front. Would you like to see them?”

Her father put down his fork with a loud clang. “No!”

Her mother stood to clear the table. “Maybe later. Right now your father is tired. It's been a long day at school for him, too.”

Herr Rehme pushed himself away from the table and took out a pipe from his pocket. “Every day gets longer,” he said, sighing. “Longer and longer.”

Korinna looked at her father. He looked tired and so did her mother. “Maybe I shouldn't be in the
Jungmädel.
Especially now that we're often meeting more than once a week.”

“What?” her mother said, her hand poised above the pile of dirty dishes.

“Maybe I should come home after school and help you. I can help you clean and cook, and in the summer I can work in the garden.”

Herr Rehme drew on his pipe to light it. “No, you'll go to the meetings just the way you have been.”

“But Mother looks tired,” Korinna insisted. “I want to help her.”

“You'll help her by going to the meetings, Korinna.” Her father removed the smoking pipe from his mouth and used the stem as a pointer for emphasis. “It would be un-German of you not to be a member of
Jungmädel.
You would get into trouble for quitting.”

Korinna smiled. “Oh no, Papa, the leaders at the
Jungmädel
are very nice. They wouldn't think I'm un-German just for wanting to stay home to help Mother.”

Korinna's parents glanced at each other.

Her mother plunged the dishes into the steaming water. “That's very thoughtful of you, dear, but we don't want you to give up your meetings. We know you enjoy them. You just go and have fun.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” her father said firmly, blowing out a big puff of fragrant smoke. Then he smiled. “I have a surprise for you.”

Korinna clapped her hands together. “Really? What is it?”

Korinna's father checked his pockets as if he were looking for something. “Now where did I put it? Helga, do you know where I put it?”

His wife smiled, but shook her head.

He finally knocked his broad knuckles on his forehead. “Oh, I remember, next to my boots.”

Korinna frowned. “In the hall, Papa?”

“Go look, I tell you. Quickly!”

Korinna got up from the table and walked to the front hall where she had left her book bag. Next to her father's large boots sat a box she hadn't noticed before. Someone had punched holes in the top. Korinna held her breath and slowly lifted the lid. Inside, a small bundle of fur trembled in one corner. Korinna gently lifted the little black and white kitten out of the box and, hugging it close, walked back into the kitchen.

“Oh, Papa,” she said breathlessly, “he's beautiful! Look at the little white nose! Thank you so much! I'll take good care of him, I promise.”

“I think he's a she, but you're welcome. She comes from a long line of mice killers.” “Don't tease her, Bernd,” Korinna's mother chided.

Korinna blushed. “I heard the mice, Papa. I swear it. They live behind my bedroom wall.”

“I know, I'm just teasing you. I put a mousetrap up there for them. Did you hear any mice last night?”

“No, not last night.”

Her father nodded with approval. “Good. The traps must have scared the little rodents away. Anyway, now if they come back you have a mouse-catcher.”

“Thank you,” Korinna said, touching her nose to the kitten's. “What shall I call her?”

Herr Rehme shrugged. “That's your decision, Korinna. I trust you'll make the right choice.”

Korinna glanced over at her father, looking for the teasing glint in his eyes, but instead he looked quite serious. She wouldn't have thought that naming a cat would be such a serious event, but then, she'd never had a cat before.

“Don't worry, Papa,” she said, hoping she sounded solemn enough for this occasion. “You can trust me to make the right choice.”

By morning, Korinna still hadn't chosen a name for her new kitten. The black and white “mouse-catcher” raced around in crazy circles and made flying leaps at Korinna's stockinged legs as she dressed.

After a cold breakfast of rye bread spread with a thin layer of jam, Korinna left her kitten purring next to the coal stove in the kitchen.

“I'm leaving, Mother,” Korinna called from the front hall, shouldering her book bag.

Frau Rehme came from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel and hugged her daughter. “Come home right after school today. Aunt Hendrikia is coming over for dinner.”

“I won't forget,” Korinna promised as she slipped out into the cold morning air. She pulled the door shut behind her.

Korinna stomped her feet to keep warm as Rita and Eva crunched over to her through the snow.

“Heil Hitler
,” Rita called.

Korinna returned the greeting.
“Heil Hitler.
Guess what?” she added as she joined her friends, and they continued on toward school. “Papa gave me a kitten to catch the mice I heard. She's the cutest little thing. And look.” Korinna stopped walking and angled her calf to show them. “The little monster bit a hole in my stocking!”

“What does the kitty look like?” Eva asked.

“She's black and white and so fuzzy. Maybe you can help me name her.”

Eva sighed. “I wish I could have a kitty. But, of course, I don't have any mice in my walls.”

Korinna shuddered. “I hope the traps really did scare the mice away. What if I ever saw a mouse race across my floor? I'm scared of them.”

Giggling, Eva said, “I know what I'd do—I'd scream.”

Korinna nodded. “And I'd—”

Rita made an impatient sound in the back of her throat. “Wait until you hear this,” she interrupted, slicing her hand through the air for emphasis. “Hans stopped by last night. Guess why Herr Haase was taken away.”

“Why?” Korinna asked flatly.

“He was involved in a secret organization that helps Jews! He's being taken to the work camp, but first they're going to try to find out who else is in the organization.”

Korinna shrugged. “Maybe he'll never say who else was in the organization.”

“My brother says they have methods for extracting secrets out of prisoners.”

Eva's eyes widened. “He told you all this?”

Rita shook her head. “I heard him talking to Papa in the kitchen. They didn't know I was listening.”

“What kind of methods?” Korinna couldn't help asking.

“Secret methods,” Rita said, her voice a loud whisper. “Hans isn't even allowed to tell his own father.

“And look at this,” she continued, taking a small notebook out of the pocket in her coat.

Korinna and Eva looked at what Rita had scratched into the book in her messy scrawl.

“Fräulein Demmer made a face at the Führer's picture,” Korinna read out loud. “She says it's a sin what's happening to the Jews. When she sees me she looks guilty and doesn't say anything more for the rest of the night.” Korinna stopped reading suddenly. “Fräulein Demmer? You mean Elsa Demmer?”

Rita nodded smugly.

“But, Rita, Elsa's your cousin! You're going to turn in your cousin?” Eva exclaimed.

Rita's face turned red. “She's an enemy of Germany, isn't she? She shouldn't be so sympathetic to the enemy, and if she weren't so guilty, why did she avoid me for the rest of the night? She knows she's wrong!”

“But still, Rita, family ...” Eva started walking again.

Korinna put a hand on Eva's shoulder. “Remember, even family members can turn against the new Germany.”

Rita snapped the small notebook shut. “They said to watch
everyone.”

Korinna nodded. She had a little black notebook just like Rita's. “Hurry up,” she said. “We'll be late.” They ran the last few hundred meters to the school and quickly made their way to their classroom.

Korinna and Eva were deskmates. Rita sat across the room. History was their favorite subject, especially with all the exciting events that were currently taking place. Someday, Korinna knew, every student in the world, every person in the world, in fact, would know the name Adolf Hitler. Everyone would honor and love him as she did, and everyone would say what wonderful things he'd done for Germany, the strongest and greatest power in the world. Korinna smiled, opening her new history book.

Korinna looked up, startled.