The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (35 page)

“How oft
en did the street police check up on you?” asked Reinhard while carefully studying the documents.

“Maybe twice a month,”
Jonah said smiling. His legs started shaking. “I hated leaving the house but then the neighbours would have thought I had something to hide.” 

“Bad luck. One of t
hese days someone is going to kill you by mistake.”

The old man seemed to have no idea he was being lied to. Instead he
sounded rather full of sympathy for Jonah.

“How far back can you prove you are an Aryan?” he asked Jonah.

“More than six generations as you can see, so how I came to have this nose I don't know. As I said, not as much as a Slav or a Spaniard in the mix.”

“What a hard lot to draw,” said Reinhard and returned the papers to Jonah.

“Oh, you don't have to tell me,” Jonah said with a little sigh of relief escaping him.

“Where are you going from here?” asked his camp companion. “Are you heading for Linz or Passau?”

“We are planning to go to Brno,” Jonah volunteered, wondering if it had been wise to disclose his destination to this Nazi. The words had just come out and it was too late to take them back now. “You see, we lived in Bratislava and we hope to go back there once the war is over.”

What is the matter with me, Jonah asked himself. He knew the guy was not a friend of the Jews yet he kept telling him about his plans and past.

“At this moment going to Brno is not going to be any different than staying in Bratislava, my dear friend,” Reinhard informed him. “I assume you want to get away from the Russians. For that you will have to go much further west. You could come with us if you like, we are going to Budweis.”

“You don't seem to be on the right road to get to Budweis if I am not mistaken,” Jonah noticed.

“The main roads are busy and it is difficult to find food there. We are going the back way. It is safer as well. There are a lot of pick pockets and thieves amongst the refugees. Some of the people who have lost everything have lost their morals as well. I heard terrible stories of travellers being robbed in their sleep and some even stabbed. “

“Dreadful. People are turning into wolves,” Jonah said.

“Exactly!” agreed Reinhard, “So let’s stick together.”

“Thank you very much for your offer Reinhard but we are going to keep going with our own plan,” said Alma, coming to Jonah's aid.

“You know they are still looking for Jews everywhere, send them away or kill them. You are in big danger everywhere with your looks, but in Br
no you will have both the Nazis and the Russians after you. You better believe me,” Reinhard assured him.

“Why are you taking such an interest in us?” asked Alma.

“I don't like what is going on in this war,” the old man explained. “I have seen too many people dying for nothing. My son went missing in Stalingrad, his wife died of pneumonia. Now I see you making a stupid and fatal decision, I feel I have to warn you. Ultimately it is your life but pains me to watch you throw it away. I like you, despite your big nose!” He smiled at Jonah.

“All we need to worry about are the Russians. We have papers to prove we are not Jews,” Jonah replied.

“Let me tell you Jonah: You have been one lucky schmuck to get away with it so far. Sooner or later some Nazi soldier is going to rip that passport of yours in half and kill you anyway. He will say: If you look like a Jew you probably are a Jew. You are not fooling me!”

Did Reinhard mean to say
the last sentence to Jonah or was that part of that theoretical scene with a soldier? Had Reinhard caught on? Why had he called him schmuck? They should have stayed on their own, how foolish to risk their life for a little grilled fish.

“Don't be so shocked!” said Reinhard to the silent pair. “I am only trying to help. Your passports are excellent, I have no idea how you did this. The Russians are savages. Your pretty wife is going to be popular with their soldiers. I am taking my gi
rls to safety. I know the roads and I can help you if you let me. You survived this long, don't throw it away now.”

“Sorry Reinhard, you got it all wrong. The papers are no forgeries, we really are not Jewish!” said Alma, not trusting the old man.

“Come off it,” Reinhard said dismissively. “I believe that you might not be a Jewess, princess. Your husband is. I have a nose for these things.” He giggled at his own wit.

“What are you saying?” asked Alma.

“I am not saying anything,” he said calmly. “I am going to lie down. You think about my offer and let me know in the morning. We will start our journey as soon as we get up. As I said, no time to lose.”

Jonah felt trapped. Could they trust this man? Was he trying to sound th
em out or was he genuine? He could not discuss it with Alma, their voices would carry far in the quiet of the night. Jonah decided it was better to run right here and now. His instinct told him he could trust the man but is was a risk he did not want to take. The teenage girls had been asleep for some time. Once Reinhard was snoring regularly, Jonah signalled to Alma to get her things and follow him. The moon gave enough light for them to get away from the lake but the escape through the woods was difficult and Alma fell a few times, hurting her strained ankle again.

“We have to give up!” she said in resignation. “I can hardly walk as it is. We will have to wait for sunrise before we can carry on.”

“You are right. I don't think I could even find the way back to the lake in this darkness,” admitted Jonah. “We are stuck here now or we are just going to get lost completely.”

“Should we go back to Reinhard and his daughters? I don't know what to think about him. He seemed genuine to me,” Alma confessed. “He could have just shot us if he
had wanted to.”

“We can't afford t
o trust him,” Jonah said. “All his talk was so ambiguous and we still don't know if he is our friend or enemy. We better stick with our plan. Besides, you would never reach Budweis with a foot like that.”

They cuddled up to each other and sle
pt leaning against a large tree; their dreams were both anxious and nervous. They were on their way as soon as it was light enough to see the tree roots and rabbit holes in the ground. Alma's ankle had swollen considerably and hurt in her shoes even before she put weight on it. Knowing that she had no choice she put on a brave face and pushed herself to go on. They made good progress considering her handicap and once they were back on the road they blended in with the crowd of refugees. Alma was worried that they might come across the nasty border patrol again on the main road but with her ankle being so weak they could no longer use the longer and more clandestine route as they had planned.

By noon they had made good progress and Jonah guessed they would have to sleep one more night on the road before reaching Brno. An old woman came up to Alma and told her to take her shoes off. She had some ointment she wanted to rub into the flesh around the ankle to help with the swelling. Alma protested, worrying that if she took off her shoes she would never get them on again but the old woman insisted and Alma gave in. The ointment stung and burnt for a while but when the pain receded the ankle felt warm and comfortable. Jonah and Alma thanked the woman overwhelmingly but she just shrugged her shoulders and made the sign of the cross to bless the two. Getting the shoe
back on proved too difficult and eventually they gave up and just put a few extra pairs of socks on the swollen foot instead.

They continued their journey for a few more hours, Alma feeling much better than she had in the morning. The army truck with the old border patrol passed them twice, once driving towards Brno and then coming back shortly after. Fortunately this t
ime it did not stop or push anyone off the road. The horn had been pushed almost constantly and everyone managed to get off the road before the truck passed. Jonah took the short interval between the sightings of the truck as a good sign. Surely they had to be close to the city now if the truck had taken so little time to off load its passengers and return in the other direction towards the border to Slovakia. 

Soon after the second passing of the army truck a young girl on a cart stopped and offered Alma a ride which she gladly accepted. Jonah and his suitcase were allowed on as well. The young girl did not speak to them during the journey and Jonah wondered why she was being so kind when she almost seemed to resent the two. Jonah and Alma were grateful all the same and since the girl was also on her w
ay to Brno they asked her to drop them somewhere in the east of the city, where Jonah was hoping to find his friend Kolya.

Kolya had been a civil servant from the Czech part of Czechoslovakia and had been expelled from Slovakia after the declaration of Independence in 1938. He had lived in the same area of Bratislava where Jonah had his workshop and the two men enjoyed the occasional game of chess and a glass of wine. When Kolya left Slovakia
, he had come to say goodbye to the family and had written them a letter with his new address inviting them to visit.

With the German occupation only a few months later and with the
outbreak of the war in the summer nothing had ever come of these plans. Jonah looked forward to seeing his old friend again. They reached Brno in the late afternoon and stood in front of Kolya's house before dusk. Alma had tried to warn her lover that the chances of finding his old friend at the same address after so many years were slim but they were in luck and a slightly aged and silver haired Kolya opened the door to them.

“Holy Mary and Joseph!
Jonah, my friend. What are you doing here?” he exclaimed and opened his arms for a warm embrace. “Come in, come in. Who is this pretty lady? Not one of your daughters I hope? They couldn't have aged this much.”

“This is my wife, Alma,” he replied.

“She would not have a sister to keep me company, would she?” Kolya said with a wink. “Come on in!”

Jonah was too tired for all this banter and cut right to the chase.

“Listen Kolya, it is good to see you but I won't lie to you. We are in trouble and we need your help.”

“I guessed as much,” Kolya replied. “You don't see many Jews in the Protectorate these days
that don't need help. What exactly did you have in mind?”

“We need somewhere to hide. We left Bratislava a few days ago to help my daughters across the border but my son is still missing in the war. I want to go back to Bratislava once the fighting has gone past here and meet him when he gets home. Do you think there is any
where where we can stay?” asked Jonah.

“You will stay here w
ith me of course. We will play chess until you learn how to beat me,” said Kolya teasingly.

“
I hoped to stay longer than that. I already know how to beat you at chess. I will give you lessons in it. Maybe you will stop losing your queen even after my opening moves if I stay here long enough to teach you,” Jonah replied. “But seriously, we don't want to put you in danger!”

“There
is not much risk. There are informers around of course but not as many as before. The Germans are only looking for resistance fighters and communists now. There is no hunt for Jews, they believe that they got them all. I can hide you in my wine cellar. I can put a rug over the trap door in the floor, so no visitors will know. I work in a factory during the day so you will be on your own. You can't make any noise of course.”

“Still no wife?” asked Jonah.

“Still all alone. If your wife has no sister, maybe you can spare one of your daughters after the war?” he said and roared with laughter.

“
They would be lucky to have you.” Jonah replied.

The wine cellar was very small compared to the spac
e they had used as a hideaway on the estate of the Countess. There was no wine left in the cellar and it dawned on the pair that they would probably have to wait hungry as well as in the dark.

“I am afraid I had to sell all my wine to buy food. Everything we grow or make gets taken away by the Germans. I can get you probably just enough food
so that you won't starve. I have two blankets and a lamp but please try and use this only when you need to. I have so little oil left for it.”

“Of course,” promised Alma.

“When I got back from Slovakia I had to move in here with my parents.” Kolya told them. “There were so many of us Czech civil servants coming home – all at the same time - and no work for any of us. I was lucky to find a job at the factory. When the Germans took over they sent all unemployed men west to work in their own factories like slaves. From those who managed to come back we heard how appalling the conditions there were.”

“That is terrible. Where are your parents now?” Alma asked.

“My parents died of typhus in a German labour camp right at the beginning of the occupation. Somehow their names were on a list of communists and a lorry picked them up one evening. I can't imagine how they could have been politically involved at all. I never knew anything about it. Well, at least they were old and did not have to wait long for their death.”

“I am so sorry to hear that,” Alma said.

“Well, that is all in the past now,” Kolya said quickly. “Jonah, I want a game of chess right now and trust me, I won't show you any mercy!”