The Serpent's Egg

by JJ Toner

  “This is Max and Anna. This is my daughter, Sophie. Sophie, say Hello to Max and Anna.”

  Sophie hid behind her mother’s apron. Anna picked up the book. She found a chair and sat down. “Come and take a look at the book we brought for you, Sophie.”

  Sophie retreated further behind her mama.

  Anna opened the book, holding it up in front of her face. “Oh, no, I think this book is too advanced for someone of your age.”

  Sophie ran over, sat up on Anna’s knee and began to read. She was a good reader for her age. It took her about five minutes to reach the end of the book.

  Anna gave her a broad smile. “Well, that was amazing, wasn’t it, Max? I would have thought this book was too hard for someone of your age. Either that or you must be older than you look.”

  “I’m seven.”

  “That’s astonishing, isn’t it Max? Who would have thought a 7-year-old girl could read a book like that?”

  “I have more books upstairs. Would you like to see them?”

  Matilde intervened. “I’m sure Max and Anna will want to go to their own homes…”

  Max smiled at Sophie. “We’d love to see what books you have.”

  Sophie ran upstairs to fetch her books and Max said to Matilde, “Frau Greta tells me you’ve had trouble with the Brownshirts.”

  A shadow passed over Matilde’s face. “They’ve destroyed my husband’s business. They burned his shop. They beat him and broke his arm.”

  “Have you thought about leaving Germany?”

  “We have applied for permission to travel to France, but the whole process is taking too long.”

  Sophie came bounding down the stairs, a bunch of books in one hand, a large lifelike doll in the other.

  Anna reached out and took the doll. “Who’s this?”

  “Aschenputtel.”

  “Well, Hello, Aschenputtel,” said Anna. “My name is Anna.” She put the doll to her ear. “Aschenputtel says Hello, Anna.”

  Sophie chuckled.

  Anna admired Aschenputtel’s clothes, her hair, and her neat, flat shoes. Then Sophie jumped up on Anna’s knee, and they went through Sophie’s books, one by one.

  “Can you really read all these?” said Anna.

  “Yes, I can,” said Sophie. And she read them all.

  #

  Anna was bubbling after the time she’d spent with young Sophie. “Wasn’t she gorgeous! I hope we have a child like that. What do you think, Max? Will we have a little girl like Sophie some day?”

  “I’m sure we will, Anna. With your looks and my brains, how could we fail?”

  #

  The wedding preparations accelerated. Anna sent out invitations to her friends at work and asked one of them – Ebba – to be her witness. Max included Libertas and Harro Schulze-Boysen on his guest list. He explained to Anna that Libertas was the ‘L’ on the note who had made it all possible. And Libertas had agreed to host their wedding reception in her house in Pankow in the north of Berlin.

  Anna was familiar with the affluent area. “What sort of house is it?”

  “It’s a mansion. Wait ’til you see it!”

  Anna checked both lists. “Who else are you inviting?”

  “Frau Greta and Ule?”

  “They’re on my list. What about the Rosens and Madam Krauss?”

  “Send them invitations. Madam Krauss might come, but I doubt that the Rosens will venture out.”

  Max sent an invitation to his mother.

  Chapter 43

  March 1939

  Two days before the wedding, Max called in to Greta Kuckhoff’s apartment to meet with Adam. Max thanked him for agreeing to be his witness. Kuckhoff gave him his most charming smile and said he was honored to be asked.

  They discussed a few details about the ceremony. Max handed over his two mismatched rings.

  Adam slipped them into his waistcoat pocket. “Who have you invited to the ceremony?”

  “Just you and Greta and Ule, of course. Anna’s parents will be there. Anna’s witness is someone from her work. I’ve invited my mother, but I’m not sure she will attend. She’s a bit … odd.”

  “What about Libertas and her husband, Harro?”

  “They’ve been invited, and so has Delma.”

  Bouncing the massive Ule on her knee, Greta said, “That’s quite a crowd, isn’t it, Ule?”

  Ule slid to the floor and crawled about on the carpet, and then stood against the furniture. He looked about ready to take his first steps.

  “Speaking of Delma,” said Adam, “we have an important piece of intelligence that must be delivered to the Soviets tomorrow. I’ve asked Delma to drop it in to our contact at the Embassy. I’d like you to pass it to Delma. Do you think you could do that?”

  Suddenly there was a lump in Max’s sternum. “Isn’t there someone else you could ask?”

  “It’s a simple procedure. You take a cigarette pack to a café, sit beside Delma and let her pick up the pack. That’s all you have to do.”

  “I can’t see the need. Why not give the packet to Delma? Why involve a second person?”

  “Trust me, there are good reasons for doing it this way. Will you do it?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  #

  When Max woke and got dressed in the morning, he searched his pockets for the cigarette pack.

  “Anna, I had something in my pocket. Did you see it?”

  “Something? You mean this?” She placed the cigarette pack on the kitchen table.

  Max reached for it, but she picked it up and stepped away. “When did you start smoking?”

  “I didn’t. I don’t. The pack contains a message I have to deliver this afternoon. Give it to me.”

  “A message from your Communist friends? Who’s the message for?”

  “You don’t need to know that, Anna. Now give it to me.” He strode across, grabbed her wrist and took the pack.

  #

  The café was in a crowded area close to a Friday fish market. Max took a seat at an outside table and ordered coffee. Ten minutes later, Delma came over and sat at his table. She ordered tea.

  “Hello Delma.” She looked even paler than the last time he’d seen her and she had a nasty raking cough.

  “Hello Max. I’m hoping to make it to your wedding tomorrow.”

  “My last day as a single man, and here I am having a secret liaison with another woman. I don’t know what Anna would say if she knew.”

  “I’m looking forward to meeting your lovely Anna. How long have you known her?”

  “We’ve been together for two years. I knew her for a couple of years before that. How about you? Are you married or do you have a boyfriend?”

  “Nothing like that, I’m afraid. I have a nasty disease in my lungs that forbids close intimate contact.” Max gave her a quizzical look and she added, “It’s called Tuberculosis.”

  She reached under the table. He did the same and handed the cigarette packet to her. She finished her coffee and left.

  The whole process was surreal.

  He watched her disappear into the crowd. But as he watched, he noticed three men, all dressed alike in beige coats, maneuvering around her.

  Gestapo!

  He jumped from the table and ran after her to warn her. If he got to her in time, she could get rid of the evidence.

  He was too late. The three men closed in and grabbed her. A black car drove up. They bundled Delma in and drove away.

  Chapter 44

  March 1939

  Taking a tortuous route to throw off any possible followers, Max hurried back to Greta and Adam’s apartment. Adam opened the door.

  Max was out of breath. “Delma was taken by the Gestapo.”

  “You saw this? Did she have time to deliver the packet?”

  “Not unless the drop was in the square in front of the café.”

  “It was in the fish market.”

  “She never made it that far. There were three of them. They seem
ed to know who she was.”

  Adam swore. He bit his lip hard enough to draw a drop of blood.

  “You could send the message again. Let me deliver it.”

  “I’m not worried about the message, Max. To hell with the message. Delma is too fragile to withstand interrogation.”

  “You think she might talk?”

  “I’m afraid she might die in their hands. The only names she knows in Berlin are yours and Vigo’s.”

  Max remembered how close Delma and Vigo had been on the train. “I can tell you she won’t give them Vigo’s name.”

  Greta came in to the room wiping her hands on a towel. “Is everything all right?”

  Adam said, “Delma’s been picked up by the Gestapo.”

  “The message was encrypted. Without the code, there’s no way they can read it. Delma doesn’t know the code, and she can’t identify any of us.”

  “Apart from Max here and Father Vigo.”

  “She won’t give them Vigo,” said Greta. “Have you seen the two of them together?”

  “So Max is the only one at risk.”

  Max stood. “Delma’s at risk. You said so yourself, Adam. We’ll have to cancel the wedding. We can’t have all those members of the Orchestra together in one place. It’s too risky.”

  Greta smiled grimly. “What makes you think Anna will let you cancel?”

  Adam stood up. “We mustn’t cancel. To do so would cast suspicion on us all. No, we must carry on as if nothing has happened and hope that Delma holds her nerve. I’ll ring Libertas and Harro and let them know what’s happened.”

  Three minutes later, Adam replaced the telephone. “Harro says they’ll come.”

  Greta said, “How does Libertas feel about the reception?”

  “She’s happy for that to go ahead.”

  #

  Max woke in the morning after about two hours sleep and with a searing headache.

  Anna laughed at him. “I can see you had a bad night. I didn’t sleep too well myself. But never mind, you’ll be able to catch up on your sleep tonight.” She winked at him.

  She really had no idea. He’d lain awake long into the night worrying about Delma and about what was to come the next day. Would the marriage be legal if it was based on a forged signature? If not then all their children would be illegitimate – if they ever managed to have any. The Gestapo might even prevent the wedding from taking place. The reading of the banns would have alerted them. They must surely know what he’d done. He was facing the prospect of a disastrous wedding ceremony. Anna would be horrified if the Gestapo broke it up and prevented the marriage.

  Dressed in his best suit, Max made his way on foot to the Kuckhoffs’ apartment. Greta and Adam had agreed that he could use their apartment as his bachelor base prior to the ceremony.

  Adam was dressed in a neat 3-piece suit, the wedding rings safely tucked away in his waistcoat pocket. Dressed in a housecoat, Greta was attending to her large offspring. “How are you feeling, Max?” The outfit she’d selected for the ceremony – a light knee-length dress with a red floral pattern – hung on a hook behind the bathroom door where Ule couldn’t put his grubby hands on it.

  “Just a bit nervous.”

  Adam slapped him on the back. “That’s normal.”

  #

  Libertas hugged Anna like a long lost sister when they met. She had offered her house to Anna and her witness, Ebba, as their base of operations. Anna asked her hostess if she could borrow some foundation cream.

  Libertas laughed. “I can do better than that, child. Come with me.” She took Anna and Ebba to her private rooms and sat Anna down at an actor’s makeup station. Anna had never seen so many different creams, eyeliners, and lipsticks. There were unlabeled jars of mysterious creams whose purpose she could only guess at. Libertas opened a few and showed her how to use them.

  When all three women were content with Anna’s makeup, Ebba helped Anna to put her wedding dress on.

  “Isn’t that what you wore to the embassy ball?” said Libertas, rather tactlessly, Anna thought.

  “Yes, I’ve adjusted it slightly. Do you like it?”

  “I love it,” said Libertas.

  While she waited for Adam to arrive, Anna showed Ebba her wedding presents: a cuckoo clock from Ebba, a complete set of bed linen from her own parents, an antique vase from Libertas, the latest model electric kettle from the Kuckhoffs, and a set of pots and pans from Frau Noack.

  #

  Adam picked up Max from his apartment and drove him in his battered green Horch to the Schulze-Boysen’s house. The house was no more than a stone’s throw from the registry office. Anna’s witness, Ebba, was wearing a blue dress with a heart-shaped neckline. Anna was wearing bright red lipstick and rather more make-up than Max was used to. She looked stunning, dressed in a long, fine wool dress in cream, decorated with gold thread and lace that looked vaguely familiar. She wore matching gold sandals.

  Anna introduced Ebba to Adam. Adam shook her hand warmly, flashing his charming smile.

  From there, Adam drove them the short distance to the city registry office. The office was busy. Hordes of people stood around in the corridors and outside on Schönstedtstrasss with anxious looks on their faces, waiting their turn to get married.

  Anna threw her arms in the air. “My God, Max. Look at the crowds. We’re going to be here for hours.”

  Max was secretly pleased. Perhaps a registrar under pressure wouldn’t scrutinize a Gestapo signature too closely. “We have an appointment for eleven o’clock. I don’t expect they’ll delay us too long.”

  “It’s already past eleven!”

  By 11:30 the crowd had thinned slightly. A clerk called their names and they hurried into the registrar’s office.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting,” said the registrar. “You have your Authorization?”

  Max handed over the document and the registrar glanced at it.

  “These are your witnesses? What are your names?”

  Adam and Ebba gave their names, and the registrar took them through the ceremony at the speed of lightning. Once they had exchanged rings, everyone signed the register, the next couple and their witnesses hurrying in as they left.

  “What just happened?” said Anna.

  Max laughed. “I think we got married.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips.

  Adam put a hand on Max’s shoulder and pulled them apart. “You can do that later, you two. Give me the rings.” Anna and Max slipped the rings off their fingers and handed them to Adam. They would be needed again in the church. “Now get in the car.”

  Chapter 45

  March 1939

  Adam drove to the Schulze-Boysen mansion where he dropped Anna off and picked up Max’s mother. Then he drove Max and his mother to the church. Libertas and Harro had made their sleek Daimler-Benz saloon car available for the bride and her father.

  Max was pleased to see his mother there, looking herself again, not happy, exactly, but he could tell her melancholia had lifted. She wore an outlandish outfit in canary yellow that she must have bought for the occasion.

  On the stroke of noon, Max and Adam took their places side by side at the top of the aisle. A warm breeze wafted through the open door of the church. Max couldn’t have felt any worse if he’d been waiting to face a firing squad. Getting through the civil ceremony had been a minor miracle, but he had a premonition that his luck had run out and a disaster was about to befall him. A bead of sweat ran down his back.

  Adam said, “Take it easy, Max. I’m sure she’ll be here in a minute or two.” He gripped Max’s arm. “Are you all right? You look a bit queasy.”

  Max waved a hand. He was having difficulty breathing.

  “Sit down for a minute. Catch your breath.”

  Max sat on the pew. He wiped his brow.

  Adam babbled on. “It’s just nerves. I was the same when I married my first wife. I was a bit calmer the second time around, and Greta was a b
reeze. Mind you, Greta was four months pregnant at the time. Take a few deep breaths. You’ll be fine.”

  Sitting directly behind Adam, Max’s mother touched him on the shoulder. “Did I hear you say you’re divorced?”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  Sitting beside her with Ule squirming on her knee, Greta smiled. “I’m Adam’s third wife, Frau Noack.”

  Frau Noack tutted. “Divorced people cannot be witnesses in a Christian marriage. You’ll have to find someone else, Max.”

  Adam hurried into the vestry. “The bridegroom’s mother says a witness can’t be divorced. Is that true?”

  Vigo was half dressed in his priestly garments. “Yes, that’s true. Who is Max’s witness?”

  “I am.”

  “You’ll have to find him someone else.”

  Adam went back to his place. “It’s true. I can’t be your witness.” He looked around the church. “The only other males here are the photographer and the usher. You could ask one of them. Or you could wait and ask Harro. I’ll have a word with him when he gets here.”

  On the bride’s side of the church sat Anna’s mother corralled amongst a murmuring gaggle of Anna’s workmates, wearing bright colors and strange hats. Amongst the guests, red seemed to be the predominant color. Greta wore a red floral dress and red hat, two of Anna’s workmates wore red, Adam Kuckhoff and the bridegroom wore matching red ties. The exceptions were the bride’s mother, who wore beige, Ebba in blue, and Max’s mother in her bright yellow suit and matching hat.

  Near the door at the back of the church, the photographer fiddled with his camera. Then the smooth purr of the Schulze-Boysens’ car signaled the arrival of the bride. A murmur ran through the assembled guests. The organist, who had been playing something unrecognizable, launched into the wedding march with gusto. Father Vigo emerged from the vestry carrying a book. Max snuck a glance over his shoulder and saw Anna walking down the aisle on her father’s arm. Everyone stood up. The photographer took a few pictures as the bride and her escort strode down the aisle, followed by Ebba.