by J. R. Sharp
As she made her way out of the town, she was getting hot and decided to stop to remove her winter jacket and place it in the basket in the front of her bike. She was getting close to the old train overpass, which allowed bikes and pedestrians to travel below the tracks. Catherina was removing her jacket when she heard the train noise and soldiers yelling from her left side. She had never heard soldiers yelling at the train station before and wanted to get a better view of what was happening in her town. She grabbed her bike and made her way through the tall bushes that surrounded the tracks. At about two hundred yards away, Catherina made it to a clearing to view what was occurring.
Francisco was watching as the soldiers were yelling at the Jews and Gypsies to get ready to board the train. Most were complying, but there were a few who didn’t want to board without all of their possessions. There was a German officer sitting at a desk that was placed near the edge of the train tracks who was looking at the records that Francisco had given to him.
“Is this all of them, Deputy?” asked the officer. The Jews and Gypsies looked miserable, cold, and hungry.
“Yes, that is all of them in this area, Major,” answered Francisco as he continued to look at the other cars full of Jews.
“Have them start to line up and come to me so I can interview them,” the major said. “After I interview them my soldiers will place the men in the front empty boxcar and the women and children in the back boxcar. Let’s get started. We have other Jews to pick up and Poland is a long way from here.”
Catherina could see them being loaded on the boxcars. First the men and then the women and children; it was chaotic with most of the woman and children screaming for their men to join them. It didn’t take very long, but Catherina couldn’t help but cry for them for being deported for no reason except their religious beliefs. She wanted to leave and get back to her family, but she was scared that the Nazi guards would see her looking at what was going on and arrest her. She stood still among the bushes with her bike at the base of her feet. Before she knew it, all the Jews were loaded on the train and the guards followed them back on the train as well. She noticed that Francisco saluted the German officer.
Catherina was just about ready to make her move towards her bike when she noticed there was quite a bit of luggage and furniture being left behind by the Jews and Gypsies. She waited for them to finish before she dared to move.
Francisco ordered the guards to load up all the extra luggage and furniture onto two troop transporters. They would take all the personal possessions to the auction house for inspection and redistribution if there were of any value. Francisco got into the passenger seat of one of the transport trucks. He wanted to make sure that nothing was taken of value, plus he needed some new dresses for Betty. As they pulled away from the train station Francisco ordered the first truck to go ahead of him so he could keep an eye on it. As they made their way to the auction house, Francisco was looking into the side view mirror to make sure nothing was happening in the back of his truck. As he looked into the mirror he noticed a woman getting on her bike and riding off in the opposite direction of the convoy.
The journey only took about fifteen minutes before they entered the auction house.
“I want everything unloaded off the trucks and placed in three areas,” Francisco ordered. “Put the furniture in area one after you remove all the items you find in the furniture. Place all items taken from the furniture in area three. Empty all the contents of the luggage in area three and place the empty luggage in area two.”
Francisco was marking the three areas in the dirt with his boot at the same time he was giving instructions to the soldiers. The German officer that had taken the Jews and Gypsies had instructed Francisco to look for valuables, which included art, jewelry, and precious metal. Once the valuables had been collected, he would have to inventory them and make a report to his superiors. Once the inventory was completed, he instructed his soldiers to burn all the furniture and luggage.
Francisco grabbed two soldiers that were not interested in any items and instructed them to carry all the valuable items to his office that he shared with Major Klein. Francisco stood behind the soldiers to ensure they carried the items, including the three dresses that he thought Betty would like, to their final destination without making detours. Once the items were placed in the office, Francisco placed all of the valuables in a closet that he locked with a key. He grabbed the three dresses and made his way out of the office.
Catherina arrived home with a heavy heart as she thought about the deported families. As she made her way to the barn, Pietro was working on his spring equipment. The weather had turned so that he would have to move the soil before the planting season.
“What disturbs you, Catherina?” asked Pietro.
“You were right, Dad, they just loaded all the Jewish and Gypsy families in this area on trains,” replied Catherina.
“How do you know that, Catherina, and where is your jacket?” asked Pietro. In her haste to leave the wooded area she lost her jacket while getting on her bike to come home.
“It must have fallen on the way home.”
“No worries. Go inside and help your mother. I will go see if the jacket is still on the road.”
“It is probably near the wooded area by the railroad tracks.”
“Tell your mother that I will be home before supper,” replied Pietro. He walked his bike to the road and headed towards town to get his daughter’s coat.
***
As Francisco was walking home to his apartment, he stopped to talk with his supporters at the coffee shop across the street from the train station. Most of the talk was about how the Germans and Italians had not taken Russia yet. Francisco finished his coffee and walked towards his apartment. Just past the railroad tracks, Francisco could see someone going into the wooded area just before the station. He saw Pietro coming out holding a woman’s jacket.
“So, what are you doing in the woods with a woman’s jacket, Pietro?”
“Just getting something that belongs to me.”
Pietro nodded politely, got on his bike with Catherina’s jacket, and started his way back to his farm.
Francisco opened the door to his apartment to find Betty making dinner. He set the dresses down on the small couch that was in the living room.
“What is for dinner?” asked Francisco.
“Pasta, sausage, and wine, my lover,” responded Betty. She turned around from the stove to see Francisco pouring himself a glass of wine.
“I have a surprise for you, my love. They are on the couch,” said Francisco.
Betty couldn’t help herself as she went to see what was in the living room. As she went past Francisco, he smiled for a moment as he looked at Betty bending over looking at the dresses. He was sipping his wine when it hit him, that the woman coming out of the wooded area earlier today at the railroad tracks was Catherina.
Chapter 11
MISSING ANIMALS
ANNA WAS GETTING DINNER ready and was looking out into the fields through the kitchen window. She could see Pietro working the fields with Bruno; it was harvesting time and the horse wasn’t doing as well as he had in the past. Pietro would be very tired when he came home. Pietro had been working the horse non-stop this summer. The Germans were not going to let up on crop production. Catherine stood next to her mother watching both men struggle with the horse.
“Why doesn’t he just use the cow when the horse acts up?” asked Catharine.
“Your father is afraid that the cow will get hurt and then how will we have any milk to drink and sell. I don’t know who is more stubborn, the horse or your father,” answered Anna.
“That is enough! Take the horse back to the barn, feed him, give him as much water as he wants, and put him in his stable. We will try again tomorrow morning,” Pietro told Bruno.
“Okay, Dad, I will check to make sure that his shoes are good and that he isn’t in any pain as well.”
“If he doesn’t start to
perform we are going to have to go with the cow and you know that I hate to use that damn cow, it is so demeaning. If we don’t finish this crop soon, Major Klein will be here to take this farm, and we cannot let that happen, so get that horse back to the barn.”
Bruno did what he was told, but he was as tired as the horse and he wasn’t getting any better. He usually spent most of his days off sleeping, only coming out to eat his mother’s dinners. Working on the railroad during the winter really took the life out of him. In the past two years all Italian men who didn’t serve must work the railroad. Bruno was working a lot harder fixing railroad tracks destroyed by allied bombing.
Pietro knew Bruno was sick, but didn’t want to admit it, and neither did Anna. They continued to treat him as if he was completely normal with the exception of allowing him into the main house with the children. Anna and Catherina were constantly cleaning the house after Bruno for fear of spreading his sickness to other members of the family.
Pietro needed Bruno’s help with the crops until Chester could come back from the war. At least Chester was safely in Germany right now, but for how long? Pietro had learned that Chester’s army unit had refused to fight for Germany in Egypt. The German’s needed their Italian allies and didn’t want to send the wrong message to the royal family of Italy, so they decided to imprison resistors like Chester in German labor camps. Pietro knew this wasn’t good for Chester, but it was better than being killed for a fight that no one would remember.
As Pietro turned towards the farm, he stopped to look at the condition of the house, barn, and the surrounding areas. The roofs of all the structures looked good, and there were no broken windows. Fences were all in good order, and overall everything looked acceptable. But something didn’t seem right. Then it hit him; there were fewer chickens, goats, and sheep running around the farm. Pietro made his way to the farm and started to count all the animals and sure enough they only had half of their livestock.
Pietro entered the kitchen to find his wife sitting and mending clothes.
“Anna, I just counted all the animals and we have only about half of what we normally do this time of the season. What happened to all the animals?”
“Pietro, I have been telling you for months that every time the Germans come here they take either some chickens or some other animals, but you’re always talking with the soldiers and you don’t notice what is taken.”
“How much coin do we have left since we took it out of the bank?” asked Pietro.
“We have about half the money left with nothing really coming in except for the crops, Bruno’s income, and Catherina’s job at the silk factory. We probably need to start hiding the animals or they will eventually all be taken. There are only so many farms here that still have animals to take,” replied Anna.
“Damn it, do we have to hide everything?” yelled Pietro. He made his way out the back door of the kitchen heading towards the barn. As he entered the barn, Bruno was taking care of the horse and cow.
“We need to start hiding the animals before the Germans take everything from this farm,” said Pietro.
“Well we could always put some of the animals in the roof of the barn and then rotate them every so often,” answered Bruno. Pietro looked up in the barn and started to laugh.
“That is a great idea. We just need to put some more wood planks up there and some food but it would work,” said Pietro.
“I was just kidding, Dad.”
Pietro wasn’t kidding. He was already counting the old wooden planks in the corner to see if they had enough.
“Give me a hand with these planks. We need to make a ladder to get up into the rafters but it has to be located so nobody can see it.”
Bruno started to get the planks together for his father. Pietro was on the other side of the cow’s pen looking up.
“Here is what we are going to do, Bruno. Bring me the ladder over in the corner of the barn,” said Pietro, who was already removing some farm equipment that they stored in that corner. “Put the ladder right here, Bruno. With the ladder in this location we will nail some more steps leading to the rafters. We will keep the ladder in the corner and then nobody will notice the steps leading to the rafters.”
Anna headed out to the barn to see what her husband was up to. She could hear the noise but her husband and son were nowhere to be seen. Then she looked up to see them nailing some boards across the rafters.
“I am afraid to ask what is going on, but I have to ask what are you two doing up there?”
“Well we are building a new home for some of our animals. You were right that I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on with our animals, so now we are going to hide at least half of them,” replied Pietro.
“How did you two get up there?” she asked.
“Look past the cow and you will see how we got up here,” replied Pietro. She walked around the cow then saw the ladder with additional steps attached using rope that led up to the rafter area. “When we want to get up here, you pull on that rope you see on the right. The extension ladder will roll down to the top of the ladder. We will keep the ladder out of the barn so nobody gets any ideas about getting up here,” replied Pietro with a smile from ear to ear.
“What happens if the Germans come here and notice that there are chickens up in the rafters?” asked Anna.
“We tell them that they always fly up here to get away from the rooster and that they usually get down in the evening to go back in the hen house for sleeping and eating,” answered Pietro. “Hopefully they don’t hear the other animals we have up here, but we can say that we have been having some troubles with stray dogs killing them so we keep them up here for safety.”
***
It was almost dark when Pietro and Bruno finished with installing the floor in the barn rafters.
“Tomorrow we will get some chickens and one of the goats to see how they do up here. Take the empty feed sacks and lay them down on the floor. We also will need some hay on top of the sacks with some water and food,” Pietro instructed.
“That will be fun trying to get a goat up there let alone some chickens,” answered Bruno.
“You may have to tie them up so they don’t kick you or scratch you. Why don’t you meet me in the front of the house for some dinner, coffee, and a smoke,” replied Pietro.
“Sure, just let me clean up first,” answered Bruno.
Later on that week, Pietro was on top of the wagon getting his first load ready for transportation to the auction house when his son came over to give him a hand.
“Well I am glad that is over with and the horse was able to get going the last couple of days. I think it was all the time I spent in the barn the last couple of days that did it. He was lonely and just needed some attention,” remarked Bruno.
“It is a horse, he has no feelings, especially that one,” replied Pietro, pointing at the horse tied up at the barn. As Pietro was looking at the horse, he noticed his son looking in the distance towards the town.
“They are coming,” yelled Bruno. He immediately ran towards the main house to get them ready for their visitors. Pietro looked in the distance and could see the clouds of dust headed in their direction. This wasn’t the normal cloud of dust that a couple of vehicles made; this was a much larger one, which meant more soldiers and more problems. Pietro looked around the barn area before he made his way to the rocky driveway. There were just enough chickens and goats to make it look normal; the other half were already up in the rafters being quiet for the most part.
“Is everyone in their places and food tokens out for their taking?” yelled Pietro.
“We need some more time, Pietro!” yelled Anna.
Pietro rushed to the driveway entrance and pulled an old cart from the bushes that was missing a wheel. He prepositioned the smaller cart to delay the Germans. He moved it into the middle of the driveway and tipped it over so it looked as if he was working on it. Just as he grabbed a metal pry bar to start getting the lug off of the axle, he
looked up to see Major Klein’s sedan, which stopped to avoid hitting the cart and Pietro. There were three vehicles following the major’s car. Pietro grabbed a rag from his back pocket to clean his hands as he walked around the cart to greet his guests. Francisco stepped out of the sedan.
“How can I help you, Francisco?” asked Pietro.
“Well you can start by moving that cart out of the way so we can get to your driveway, Mr. Zucchet,” yelled Francisco.
“I would, Francisco, but I will need a hand getting it out of the way. I am not as strong as I used to be. Let me get the wheel back on and then can you have a couple of your friends help me get it out of the way.”
“Hurry up with the wheel and we will get a couple of soldiers to help you,” replied Francisco. Pietro noticed that the entourage comprised of German soldiers only. Fascist sympathizers had either been sent to the front to fight or fled in fear of the Germans.
Pietro made his way back to the cart and was looking in the direction of the main house to see if everything was ready for their unscheduled visitors. The signal was for Bruno and Anna to be standing out front, but neither was outside yet, so he needed to stall them longer. He could hear the Germans getting out of the troop transporter and heading in his direction.
“Can you get this wheel back into the axle hole so I can get the grease on it and put the pin into the axle?” As the soldiers grabbed the wheel, Pietro was getting the grease from his pre-staged rag to put on the axle before the wheel would be put on axle. The two soldiers lifted the wheel and held it in place while Pietro applied the grease with the rag. As he applied the grease, he could see Anna and Bruno exit the house from the corner of his eyes.