Ralph lifted his cigar to his mouth and escaped to the porch adjacent to the living room. Rebecca scrutinized her mother’s eyes, her fake smile and her raised brows and waited for the words. “In these fragile times, who you date is important; the reputation you build for yourself is important. You don’t want to have doors shut for you because of the mistakes of your youth.”
“What mistakes, Mother?” Rebecca remarked in a contrived innocence.
“He is a Jew. I can’t have my only daughter, my only child dating a Jew.” She said the word Jew almost in a whisper, like she’d catch an illness from saying it too loudly.
Rebecca fell back into her chair at the words her mother actually said aloud, words she knew formed in the corners of her mother’s mind during dinner and tried to ignore. But her mother sat in front of her and would not let her hide in the fanciful dreams of her unbridled youth in Munich.
“I…I…” Rebecca stuttered at what she wanted to say. “I’m not going to do this with you, Mama. You always try to control every decision I make and it’s not going to work with him. It’s my decision, not yours.” Rebecca pulled herself out of the chair with both hands and stormed out of the living area while Ralph blew cigar smoke out the open glass door.
Fifteen minutes later, Rebecca returned to the living room with her luggage in hand and placed it between the living room and the corridor.
“I have to get going. I have a lot to do, and don’t want to be late arriving in Munich.” She scurried past her mother to her father and gave him a hug and thanked him for the car. Then she plodded to her mother and offered a worn smile. Her mother stood and they politely hugged out of aristocratic expectations. Rebecca turned with her long dark brown hair swaying about her and lifted her luggage to walk out the front door. Mildred hurried to her side with a square treat wrapped in foil and handed it to her.
“Don’t forget to take this. I made it myself for you, your favorite banana bread.” Rebecca’s tense cheeks and stretched eyes lightened and she hugged Mildred before exiting to her new blue Audi.
Thursday, December 31, 1931
The New Year’s Eve party was one of a many in this apartment building and they reminded everyone a new year was born. Perhaps the jazz music and gaudy decorations or perhaps the idea of the past ending and a future beginning allowed everyone the freedom of the untamed. The last night of 1931 gave people an excuse to be rowdy and wild, despite the growing conservative German culture toward a more civil society. On this night, those rules did not apply anymore. On each floor of the apartment, music permeated the walls and the sounds of chatter and laughter filled the halls.
Rebecca walked through Eli’s open door into a room filled with guests, music, dancing, food and drinks. Her maroon dress swayed over her slim ankles and her sleeves cuddled her elbows. A white ribbon adorned her waist and her hair, holding her long brown hair up into a looped braid. The dim lights lit enough for everyone to make out shadows of who everyone was with. Eli noticed Rebecca from across the room and darted to her side to escort her through the crowd and help her untangle the long, thick, white scarf around her neck. They stood near the kitchen, the light from the moon shining through the window and over their faces.
“How are you? It’s so good to see you.” Eli held her shoulders, stroking his hands down her arms to her hands and then took one into his.
“I’m…good. I’m good.” Rebecca strained to keep the argument at her house between just her and her mother.
“Did everything go well with your parents at Christmas? Did you have a good time?” Rebecca tried to resist remembering the tense scene and her drive back to Munich, desperate to see Eli again.
“My papa bought me a new car.” She gleamed, tilting her head to one side, hoping conversation would revolve around that singular topic. A tall blond haired man, whose hair reminded Eli of the military, and a woman with long blond hair and taut lips, held hands as they half danced next to Rebecca. She introduced them to Eli.
“These are my friends from University, Louise and Barnard.” She gestured as she said their names. “Louise is also studying to be a nurse and Barnard wants to be a lawyer, like you.” Her eyes glinted of pride, glancing at Eli.
“It’s so nice to meet some of Rebecca’s friends.” Eli shook Barnard’s hand and Bernard politely reciprocated, recoiling his hand just before Eli let it go. Eli smiled and nodded to Louise, whose fluffy dress matched the fluffiness of her hair, and then turned to Rebecca.
“Would you like to dance?” Eli scooped Rebecca’s hand into his and whisked her onto the dance floor which was his living room with all its furniture rearranged against the walls. Eli’s grey vest over a crisp white button down shirt looked sharp over his grey tie tucked into his grey slacks. His black loafer shoes slid across the wood floors with Rebecca in his arms. One hand pressed her straightened back while his other lay in her hand, guiding her along the floor like two ballroom professionals.
The floor filled with more couples eager to escape the clutches of civil culture. Twirling and swirling became a ruse to disregard propriety.
Laughter and music drowned out minds throbbing with the changing face of Germany. Food and drink offered splendor to savor what might not be there tomorrow. After a few times around the mock dance floor, frolicking to a jazzy beat, Eli cuddled with Rebecca in a corner of the room, standing next to a bookcase with his hands clasped over hers. The two lovers whispered in each other’s ears with intermittent bursts of laughter, whispers and laughter seen throughout the room.
“Could you get me something to drink?” Rebecca asked. Eli scattered to the other side of the room to the table covered with plates of food and drink. A dark, curly haired young man, taller than Eli and more plump, surprised him from behind, pinching his shoulders. Eli spun around, spilling a bit of Rebecca’s drink.
“Aaron.”
“Eli.”
“Glad you could make it. I wasn’t sure if you were coming.”
“Well, I managed to get out of my prior engagements.”
“Good. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you.”
“Is that her?” Aaron pointed toward the secluded spot near Eli’s bookcase. He’d seen Eli whisk Rebecca away there after the dance. Eli’s face lit up, gazing at her, and nodded.
“Yes.”
“She is beautiful.” Aaron admired her for a moment and then returned to Eli, “…and not Jewish.” Eli’s eyes retreated away from Rebecca and looked at Aaron with harsh sharpening around the edges at the words not Jewish. “Have you told your family yet? No, you couldn’t have; they would have killed you. Specifically, your father would have killed you.”
Aaron asked, “Do they even know you’re dating someone?” Eli relaxed with the worried words from his friend who only meant well, a good friend he had known since University and saw regularly at Synagogue.
“I will tell them. It’s complicated. I’ve been waiting for the right time.” Eli bit his lip. “Besides, it doesn’t matter what my family wants, what my father wants. I’m the one dating her, not my family.”
“Are you sure about that?” he asked, knowing that solid friendship between them protected him from any hard truths. Rebecca looked Eli’s way, smiling, washing away all the nuances of unspoken prejudice, shades of differences that seemed to only disappear in this room on this night in this very moment between the two of them, and then she looked away and they all returned. The harshness of reality always returned to him like cancer, knowing it could only be ignored for so long before rupturing. Eli watched Rebecca’s gaze over his face and her smile under the moonlight. He knew in this moment with absolute certainty that they were meant to be together and he would let nothing tear them apart.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Eli said, patting his good friend on the shoulder, then he walked away to return to his Rebecca. Her arms opened wide to wrap around him and with their embrace, Eli’s left foot moved up into the air and their lips pressed together. He handed her a glass of pineapple juic
e mixed with a touch of rum. When the music slowed down, the table with food and drink became a center for political conversation, everyone taking views and offering their advice. Aaron stood by the table, speaking with his hands.
“ The Nazi party is growing at alarming rates. Something has to be done to stop them,” Aaron protested. A taller young man in a white sweater and beige slacks joined the topic.
“You’re right. Berlin was sterilized of its wild ways. In the twenties, it was one of the most free cities in Europe, and look at it now. It’s only a matter of time until they sterilize us all from our indecencies.” A blonde with long hair pulled back into a pony tail wrapped her arm around the young man in the white sweater and used her political wits gained from reading the newspaper.
“The papers say they are the largest political party in Germany now.” Her voice carried a refined sophistication to it. “They say it as if it’s favorable,” she ended in dismay.
Rebecca overheard the dialogue and pulled Eli with her towards the table on the other side. She interjected as she poured another glass of juice, “This time next year, Hitler and his party won’t be here. It can’t be. Everything he stands for, everything he is pushing for is wrong. His ideas strangle the very fabric of what it means to be free, until there is nothing left to breathe,” Rebecca said and sipped her juice from its crystal glass.
Eli smiled at her dedicated persuasions.
“I must admit, Rebecca, I hope you’re right, for all our sakes,” Aaron said, staring at Eli, and his forehead wrinkled with thought.
“What is it?” Eli asked.
“Nothing. It’s just there is so much going on with Japan and China and now with our Nazi Germany, the future is starting to look bleak…” Aaron looked at Rebecca, “but don’t let me digress down that train of thought and spoil everyone’s New Year’s Eve. Besides, I haven’t met the new lady in Eli’s life.” Aaron smiled at Rebecca and took her hand to his lips. “I’m Aaron, one of Eli’s closest friends.” Aaron played with his hands like boxing fists at Eli’s chest and then dropped the playful fists to his side.
“I’m Rebecca,” she said and slid her fingers through her loosening braid to pull it tight.
“And I see you are on the side of throwing Hitler and his Nazi regime out of Germany. That is a good sign.” Aaron smirked in Eli’s direction.
“How can anyone be on his side?” Rebecca intensified her expression and in the corners of her mind, she wandered back to her mother.
The young man with the white sweater interjected, “With the stress from the Great Depression and the war that has left Germany in economic ruin, it’s no wonder everyone is gripping towards extreme nationalism.” He rolled his eyes. “People need something to hold onto in times like these, someone to tell them everything will be alright.” Bernard listened and directed his views at the table with Louise standing behind him, “But we can’t prejudge the party’s abilities. They may make good on their promises and bring Germany to its once splendor.”
Aaron darted his eyes at the man. “At what cost?” Aaron didn’t ask to receive an answer, but to leave a trace of question in his mind.
The young man with the white sweater kissed the blonde with the ponytail. “Let’s not spoil our evening with political talks,” he replied and they spun off toward the mock dance floor.
“He’s right. We shouldn’t weigh down our last night of 1931 with heavy discussion. We should be weighing it down with lots of alcohol,” Eli joked and lifted up two more glasses of rum juice for Rebecca and himself to enjoy. Then the two of them twirled off under the dim lights with refined feet bouncing against the wood floors to the sweet sounds of swing music.
Everyone wore sophisticated garb with a hint of frivolity in it. Even the young man with the white sweater brought a tall black hat with him in case the feeling emerged. Big gold butterflies in metallic design embossed Rebecca’s shoes, her felicity for the year’s end on her feet. Eli’s grey tie when swaying and overturning in dance was clearly decorated on the opposite side with silver glitter.
The night filled with more gaiety and delight than deep political discussion, but the mix represented a small paradigm of Germany’s existence. It was the last night of an upcoming new year that would hold such pleasure and merriment combined with civil discourse before Hitler’s regime changed the face of Germany.
Rebecca grew tired and Eli walked her to her floor. They said goodbye at her front door with a kiss and a hug that told them both they wanted more. Eli’s hands caressed Rebecca’s back, leaving his tender touch over her shoulders, they both knew then that the moment would be soon. Eli let Rebecca move into her room without following her as he was mannered and didn’t want to take advantage; therefore, he found himself wandering the apartment halls inebriated and alone.
Eli swung his feet up the steps, clicking his heels and singing the jazz music he had just left in his room, elated at the relationship blossoming between himself and Rebecca. Losing his way, he walked up two flights of stairs and knocked on a stranger’s door. She answered with long red hair and light green eyes and a pale white face, appareled in a white night robe. She looked as if she had missed all the festivities of the New Year’s Eve night.
“Yes?” Her tiny voice asked like a baby bird just waking.
“Sorry. I’m looking for my room.” Eli stumbled and hit his head on her door.
The redhead held his wobbly form up and asked, either because of politeness or because of earnestness to return to her bed, “What is your room number?”
“104…no, no.” Eli thought for a moment, his mind wandering to Rebecca and then back to the question, “room 404.”
“You’re one floor too high,” she said and directed him to the stairs. “You have to go down one floor.”
“Thank you.” Eli struggled with her name and then realized he didn’t know it.
“Betsy.”
“Betsy, thank you.” The redhead smiled shortly and returned to her room, hiding from the night. Eli pranced down the steps and fiddled with the doors, following the sounds of boisterous noise until he made his way back into his room. The party was half as crowded as when it began and Eli fell to his sofa against the wall with his head on the armrest. Aaron walked over and sat next to him.
“What a night.” Eli slurred his words.
“Sounds like all the alcohol is hitting you. Did you get Rebecca safely back to her room?”
“Yes.” Eli stared at Aaron with stark concentration like a boy to his father. “Yes, I did.”
“She seems like a nice lady.”
“She is. She is the most wonderful woman I have ever met in my whole life.” Eli exaggerated his words from the unrestraint provided by the rum.
“And your family has no idea about her, the reason you’ve been missing so many Shabbos at synagogue.”
“And you are not going to tell them,” Eli defended her, “not until I have spoken with them.”
“I promise. This is your dilemma.” Aaron patted Eli’s leg with his last words.
“And I gladly take it.” Eli pounded his chest with one fist over his heart like a gorilla in war and then fell on top of Aaron’s lap.
“Why don’t you get to bed? I’ll take care of the party.” Aaron helped Eli to his feet and wobbled with him into his closed bedroom in a familiar wobble the two had participated in at a previous New Year’s Eve party.
* * *
When Eli awoke, his room door was closed. Stumbling over his exhausted feet from a long night of showing Rebecca a good time, he made it to the door. He gazed around the living room and saw cleaned tables, the leftover food and drink refrigerated, and his good friend Aaron sprawled out on the sofa. Eli thanked his friend in a whisper, though he still slept, then unrolled the quilt in the corner of the sofa and laid it over Aaron. Aaron shifted his body, rolling his face towards the cushions and hugging the pillow.
Eli remembered today was the first day of the new year and his eyes lit up. He gazed at his fl
oor, knowing Rebecca was just below him, the woman he had his eyes on for several months, the woman he had been enamored with before even speaking with her. Eli walked to his kitchen, planning to make scrambled eggs for himself and Aaron, shuffling pans and pots around to create enough room to cook.
The smell of the eggs flowed into the living room, over the sofa and into Aaron’s nostrils. His head lifted from the couch with his eyes still closed and, like a carrot leading a rabbit, he sniffed a few times before opening his eyes and asked, “Are you cooking something up for me? I’m starved.”
“It’s the least I can do after all the help you gave me last night.”
“It wasn’t all me. I have to admit, I had help. The political squad swept while I wiped.” With the words political squad from Aaron’s lips, Eli knew exactly who he meant, the tall blonde in a ponytail and the man with the white sweater. Eli hadn’t learned their names, but he knew they were friends of Aaron.
Aaron often referred to the three of them as the political squad because at his office every discussion inevitably led back to the state of the country. His two friends, who dated each other, would huddle around his workroom, impassioned by all the latest news. The three of them enjoyed thinking of themselves as the rebels of the office, the rebels against the growing Nazi party, though in truth, the only rebellion manifested in whispered words and private conversations among them.
Everyone knew the power of the country was shifting like a wave from a storm in the ocean heading towards shore — forceful and sure.
The President of Germany, Paul Von Hindenburg, had a failing mind, and political intrigue plagued the previous year, destroying the young republic Germany tried to develop. Political parties squabbled over issues, never directing a certain course. Disrupted proceedings by the hundred Nazi elected officials in Reichstag left a crippled government. Coupled with the economic crises of the Great Depression and the desperately needed reparations caused by War World I, the country yearned for leadership.
The Day the Flowers Died Page 6