by Bob Bidecant
*****
After her marriage to Abraham she had lived with his parents in a small apartment in the Jewish quarters of Minsk in the Pale of Settlement. Only one day was permitted for Abraham to wed and the following day he had to return to his unit. It was six months before they met again. With only four days leave, Abraham was so exhausted that he fell asleep in the synagogue when they went together to pray, Sarah apologised to the Rabbi who simply smiled and told her to let him sleep,
‘We can pray, he can dream.’ he said. During the next two years they saw each other only three more times, each time it was only for four short days before he was waving her goodbye again from the train window as she stood on the platform forcing herself not to cry. She worked for six days each week as a nurse in the local hospital, wearily walking home each evening regardless of the weather. As she left work that evening it began raining and by the time she arrived outside her home she was saturated. With her head lowered to protect her face from the sheets of rain whipping at her, she did not notice the Russian officer cadet standing as far back as he could get in her doorway to stay dry.
The young man responsible for delivering the official death letter to the young wife had rehearsed several times how he should give her the news. It was the first time he had been given the duty by his commander.
‘Don’t beat around the bush son it will make it worse, confirm who they are, tell them straight away and then shut up.’ he had been advised by an older officer who had performed the task many times. As she ran up the four steps the first thing she noticed were a pair of highly polished boots between her and the door, excitedly her first thought was that they belonged to Abraham and he had returned home on leave.
‘Abraham.’ Sarah called out as she looked up, smiling until she saw the man’s face. It wasn’t Abraham but a fresh faced cadet officer with rain dripping from the peak of his cap and off his nose.
‘He is dead.’ blurted out the cadet. Then realised he had not followed protocol properly.
‘Are you Sarah Zlotin, wife of Abraham, medic first class?’ He stammered, remembering he should confirm that he was addressing the correct person first. Sarah did not answer him, she head butted him in the chest as her legs buckled under her and then she fell sideways splitting her head on the stone step. The cadet jumped back shocked and then regaining his military composure, helped her up offering his handkerchief to stem the blood from her forehead and gently holding her arm, took her key and opened her front door. He then escorted her into the sitting room. Abraham’s shocked parents were also informed of the news by Sarah who was weeping uncontrollably. The parents joined in the weeping and the embarrassed cadet officer excused himself and left the apartment as quickly as he graciously could. Closing the front door behind him he ran down the steps two at a time onto the street and cursed himself as he walked as quickly as he could back to his command.
‘How did it go?’ asked his commander.
‘It could have been better Sir.’ he replied.
Sarah cried herself to sleep that night hugging a pillow and her wedding picture. The next morning she returned to work.
Several months later as Sarah entered the house she was surprised to see the Rabbi sitting with Isaac, Abraham’s father. The Rabbi stood and shook her hand, asked how she was and then excused himself and left.
‘Sit down my dear.’ Abrahams father said gesturing to a chair. ‘Today we all received our travel documents, we are free to travel and leave Russia, The Rabbi has arranged for us to stay with his family in Amsterdam Holland, where Jews are free from persecution.’ Abrahams pay had been honoured and there was enough for them to travel by rail. They left Minsk the following week. The train was uncomfortable but they endured the heat of the day and then cold of the night without complaint. Abrahams mother become feverish and some of the Russian passengers insisted she was removed for fear she had something contagious. That night they all slept in the mail van. After several days of changing trains and waiting on platforms they arrived in Amsterdam. An older Jewish man met them off the train and instructed a young boy to carry their bags to a small waiting coach, casually clipping him across the back of the head to hurry him up. After hugging the parents for several minutes the man wiped his eyes, stood upright and squared his shoulders back, trying to look taller and more official. He introduced himself to Sarah in Yiddish, handing her a boat ticket.
‘You must be the beautiful Sarah, Abraham sends his love and hopes to see you soon. He is waiting for you in South Africa…’
She did not hear the rest of what he said as now for the second time in her life she fainted again.
2.7
Emma entered the kitchen and sat down holding her head. Sarah was standing before the large window looking out across the farm cutting some bread. She smiled as she heard her daughter sit down
‘Papa has left on a business trip and will be back in a few days,’ she turned and the smile vanished when she saw Emma’s drawn complexion. ‘Emma, are you alright?’ asked Sarah concerned.
‘I have not been sleeping so well mama.’ She answered wearily. Sarah felt her forehead with her hand but she had no fever.
‘Whatever is troubling you child?’
‘A strange dream mama, I have had the same one every night this week.’
‘A strange dream, what about?’
‘About two puppies, one is black and other one white. It starts very peacefully. I am sitting in a field wearing a beautiful long white dress playing with two puppies, at first they are playing but then they start to fight with each other. The black one is the stronger and becomes more and more vicious, it stands over the white one biting it. I try to part them but the black one attacks me each time I try to stop him. The white one tries to get up and run away but it isn’t strong enough. It makes the most terrible sound and then it goes quiet and lays still covered in blood. The black one doesn’t stop, he tears pieces of skin from his face and his belly, then stops and wags his tail, very pleased with himself. I pick up the white puppy and cradle it in my arms and then I look down and my white dress is covered in blood.’
‘Oh my poor darling, how long have you been having these bad dreams Emma?’ Sarah asked, already knowing the answer.
‘Since the stranger arrived.’ She answered.
Sarah decided not to let Emma change the dressing any more, she was sure that seeing the injuries the man had sustained were causing her bad dreams. Emma continued to sit with him while he slept several times during the day to keep his lips moist and give him drops of water. The following day his fever finally broke and high temperature eventually subsided and he awoke as Emma was dripping water onto his dry lips. As he opened his eyes she stood up from the bed and stepped back, quickly.
‘Neden benden korkuyor.’ He whispered in Turkish.
‘Sorry but I don’t understand you.’ She said slowly.
‘Why you scared from me?’ He asked. Emma was relieved that he could speak some English.
‘You knocked me onto my backside the last time you woke up when I was giving you water. You were having a nightmare.’ She said.
‘Having a what?’ He didn’t understand the word.
‘A bad dream, I have them too.’ She explained
‘Oh sorry, where I am?’ He asked.
‘You are in my family home Jaak, my brother brought you here one week ago, I am Emma.’
‘How you know my name?’ He was surprised.
‘You spoke with my father, don’t you remember?’ Jaak shook his head. ‘I am so glad you can speak English, are you hungry?’
‘No, yes. I don’t know.’ He was confused with the questions.
‘I will bring you back some broth anyway.’ Emma helped him sit up and propped another pillow behind his back, she put a glass of water beside the bed and left. Jaak looked around the room then reached for the water with a shaky hand. Just as his fingers closed around the glass the Boerboel sprang up and plac
ed his front paws on the bed. Jaak was shocked, knocking the water over. He looked directly into the dog’s huge face. The dog barked once and then licked his hand. Jaak relaxed and held his hand out towards the dog.
‘Fuck, I thought you were a bear.’ He said to the dog in Circassian as it licked the spilled water from his hand. He reached out for the glass a second time and lifted it to his mouth. Jaak sipped the water slowly as he laid back into the pillow when a second gigantic dog leapt up on the other side. Emma returned with a broth, she picked up the empty glass and refilled it with water,
‘You were thirsty.’ She said, not noticing the wet stain across Jaak’s chest.
‘I meet your dogs.’ Jaak replied simply, accepting the spoon of broth as he let Emma feed him like a baby.
Placing the empty dish down Emma removed the pillow and helped Jaak lay flat then she left.
Once she was gone and he was alone he tried to get off the bed. As he lifted himself onto his left elbow he felt the pain across his back, shoulder and chest and stopped for several seconds. Then ignoring the pain he swung one leg off the bed feeling more pain on the back from his thigh. Waiting several more seconds, he then swung his second leg off the bed, the momentum helping him to sit up without using his stomach muscles. He sat on the edge of the bed for several minutes trying to control the pain that had reignited in his chest and back. He lifted the sheet covering him, he was naked but his clothes were laid in a neat pile on a nearby table. He fell back onto the bed. That was enough for him for one day, tomorrow he would get dressed. Sarah came into the room with Emma later that evening. She spoke slowly with Jaak and asked if she could change his dressings.
‘How many?’ Jaak asked in broken English. ‘I have many hurt.’ Sarah explained to him slowly the extent of his injuries, they were all spear or knife wounds.
‘You have a deep cut across your right shoulder blade which had also cut into the muscles, a stab wound in your left side which looks like you received from someone behind you as the cut in your back is wider than the one in the front. The wound penetrated right through and came out the front, I poured honey into the wound, left it open for two days and then it looked clean enough so I stitched it up. You also have cuts across the backs of both thighs. Something must have got into the cuts before you got here as you also had a fever. Emma cleaned your wounds and changed your dressings every day and stayed with you most of the time during your fever. You are welcome to stay as long as you like and until you are strong enough to leave, my son has returned to his work and will be back in a few weeks and my husband is on a business trip in Durban so will also be away for a while.’
‘Thank you.’ Said Jaak to both of them only understanding a fraction of what Sarah told him. Sarah left a bell by one side of the bed within reach of Jaak’s hand and a bed pan on the other.
‘If you need help in the night just keep ringing that bell the foreman has a bunk next to you and he will hear it.’ Sarah said as she and Emma left the room.
The following morning Jaak had regained his appetite and was hungry. Joe the foreman had made him a small table to sit over the bed and he sat up and ate a breakfast. Joe and Emma, standing in the room watched as he began to eat. Emma was shocked, he picked up and ate everything with his hands. Joe looked at Emma and excused himself from the room. Emma pretended not to notice and also left. The next day Jaak managed to get off the bed and tried to dress. He gave up and rang the bell. Emma entered the room, saw what Jaak was trying to do and then left again. She returned several minutes later with a dressing gown that belonged to Abraham.
‘I think this will be easier than trying to get your trousers on.’ She said helping Jaak to put it on and then re folded his clothes and replaced them on the table. From the time Jaak had been brought into the room they had kept it dark to aid his rest and speed up his recovery. Emma decided he was well enough now, she walked over to the window and pulled the curtains back, Jaak instinctively lifted his arm to cover his eyes.
The bright sunlight blinded him, pain pierced through his head for several minutes. Years of being incarcerated in a dark Russian prison had weakened his eyes and strong light was painful. Emma closed the curtains again. ‘Wait here for a moment.’ she told him and walked back to the kitchen. She returned holding a small oblong tin case.
‘Try these on.’ She said opening the case and removing a pair of small round blue tinted glasses. She offered them to Jaak. He inspected them from all angles for several minutes, he had never seen blue glasses before.
‘My father bought them in Durban from an American,’ she explained. ‘They protect your eyes from the sun, Mikael has a pair too, and he wears them on very bright days when he is out riding.’ Jaak tried them on and nodded to Emma, who opened the curtains for a second time. Jaak looked around the room and then out of the window. He took Emma’s arm for support and they stepped out into the sunlight.
Jaak became stronger each day. He had managed to bathe on his own and finally cleaned and shortened his beard. He walked for longer periods each day, still limping slightly but without relying on a stick to get around. Sarah stopped her housework and looked out of her kitchen window. Emma and Jaak were walking across the farm to the field to feed the horses in there. She was sure Abraham was wrong about him. It was just wishful thinking. The possibility of it being Mikael’s brother must be millions to one she thought, but as she watched him walk with Emma she realised he had many of the same mannerisms as Mikael. She missed Abraham, he was not due back for at least another six days, he was travelling to the other side of the Transvaal visiting new customers, she missed Mikael too but she was used to him being gone for weeks at a time.
‘Tomorrow I have to go into the town for some supplies. Would you like to come with me?’ Emma spoke slowly. Jaak listened carefully breaking the words down into pieces that he could understand. Emma took his hand and led him across the yard. She pointed to the horse, then the carriage and then to her and Jaak.
Jaak felt her warm soft hand in his and he shuddered, Emma didn’t notice. He felt a strange affection overwhelm him. It was an emotion he had never experienced before, he wanted to keep hold of her hand for ever.
‘Yes I come.’ He said smiling.
They walked back to the kitchen slowly, Emma held his hand until they reached the door. Jaak felt like a small boy again, he wanted to hold Emma, he thought he was going to pass out, the temptation to kiss her was so strong. Jaak laid back on his bunk and thought about her. For the first time in many years he had begun to have feelings for another human, he was in love with Emma.
The next morning Joe and one of the workers prepared the four wheeled carriage and two horses. Emma picked up the list of groceries her mother had written out and kissed her as she left the kitchen.
‘You look beautiful today, Did you sleep well?’ Sarah smiled as she looked at Emma, normally happy in slacks and shirt, today she wore a pretty white dress.
‘Yes mamma, no bad dreams now.’
Joe wolf whistled as she stepped up onto the carriage.
‘I didn’t realise you were a girl.’ He joked with her.
‘Emma do you want me to come along too?’ He asked seriously.
‘No thanks Joe we will be fine.’ She replied looking for Jaak. Jaak opened the door just enough to slip out. The dog tried to follow him but he pushed him back into the room and shut the door.
‘Not today big boy.’ He said to it as he walked across the yard and stepped into the carriage.
2.8
Riley was a coward. He had been in the makeshift stockade when the Zulu attacked and did not get involved in any of the fighting. The Zulu’s only found him several hours later after it was all over and dragged him to the fence with the others. After Sinclair cut him free he fell to his knees but he was uninjured. Rubbing his wrists to get the feeling back, he stumbled to his feet and walked hurriedly towards the gap in the wall, he stopped at the body of the dead warrior lying there and stepp
ed around it then glanced once towards the rest of the men and ran to the horses.
He mounted the first one and loosened the other two, slapped their rumps and rode away. The loose horses were not in the mood for running and stopped within several yards to carry on grazing. Riley cursed and for a second contemplated returning for them but he saw Mikael mounting his horse and decided to bolt for it. He needed a head start. He was sure they wouldn’t come after him, they were too beaten up and they needed to get back to the garrison and inform the command of the attack. He had enough of Army discipline and prison. There was gold here and he wanted it. He rode for several hours until he reached the outskirts of East London, a town aptly named after its English counterpart. With buildings set spaciously apart and a panoramic backdrop of African mountains to match anywhere in the world for beauty they looked nothing like each other, but they did have many other things in common. As well as the same name they both had immigrants, hundreds arriving daily with money and locals ready and willing to help them part with it. Rows of white tents encircled the town, temporary and cheap accommodation. Men arriving from long sea voyages or returning from the gold fields had every opportunity to be relieved of their money within the canvas walls. Food, alcohol, women and gambling tents and if they had the money or desire to spend on cleaning themselves up there was even tailors, a laundry and bath houses available.
Riley stayed on the outskirts of the town waiting for dark then he left the horse tied up and walked into the tented area that the immigrants were using for temporary accommodation, he would not use the horse any more, they were branded and if the British caught anybody on an Army horse they were shot for stealing it. After making a few enquiries he found the tent he wanted, he poked his head inside and looked at each of the men inside. He grinned lopsidedly as he saw the face he was looking for.
‘You’re fucking late, we’ve been waiting three days for you.’ Said the face.
‘Yea I know,’ said Riley. ‘But I’m here now.’
For the next hour they drank whiskey and Riley told them the story of the Zulus, exaggerating his own participation. Then they all left and rode to a small farm several miles away that Riley had found some time before.
He had planned and waited months for his gang to arrive, four came from England and three from Australia. He had been systematically stealing uniforms, food and weapons, from the regiment and stashing them at the farm in readiness for their arrival. They were coming because of the gold rush, it was their plan to get rich from gold but they no intention of digging for it. Stealing from immigrants was much easier. All new arrivals had their details recorded by the British when they disembarked the ship but after that nobody cared about them. They were easy targets and there were many arriving daily to join in the search for gold. Men returning from the gold fields were more suspicious of strangers, especially with their saddle bags full of gold but they welcomed the sight of British Army troops for added protection. Riley had done his homework and thought things through carefully, he insisted settlers were to be left alone. He knew immigrants went missing for months at a time without anybody caring but settlers would raise the alarm if members of their families went missing within days and that could mean the Army discovering them.
Within days of arriving at the farm they had held up several people already, dressed in the stolen British uniforms they had succeeded riding directly up to them before the victims realised they were not real soldiers. By that time it was too late to react and outnumbered, they handed over their possessions without a fight. Riley and his gang were not fussy. They robbed anybody who looked worth stealing from. If the victims were on their way to the goldfields the gang robbed them of their provisions and then take it to the town and sell it back to the storekeepers. If they caught anybody returning they took their gold. They killed all of them. Partially hiding the naked bodies under bushes, the next morning there was nothing left except a patch of red earth. Riley had joked that Africa was the best place in the world to dispose of a body, calling the hyenas his clean up mob.
Riley awoke in agony, he and the rest of the English gang members had developed food poisoning. After a short discussion he took four of them and rode back to the farm to recuperate for a few days. The Australians decided to stay camped out where they were, well hidden in a copse of trees high up on a hill where they had a perfect view for miles in every direction. Charlie sat alone hidden by a tree watching a distant wagon casually getting closer towards them, the two occupants were relaxed and talking to each other. He was the biggest man in the gang and a ruthless bully.
‘Harry, bring me the glasses.’ he barked. Harry handed him a set of wooden handled Army issue binoculars.
‘Are they settlers or immigrants, Charlie?’
‘A pair of tits.’ he replied. He handed back the binoculars to Harry, who raised them and spent some seconds adjusting them to his eyes.
‘I see what you mean, nice tits.’ he laughed as he focused on Emma. Then he stopped laughing and became serious. ‘You’re not thinking of going down there Charlie, are you? Riley will kill you if he finds out.’
‘Fuck what he wants, I haven’t had a woman for months. Anyway he is back at the farm stuck on the crapper so how will he find out, unless you or that retard Sammy open your big traps.’ He pointed to the third younger man. The two were a lot smaller in stature and intimidated by him.
‘Come on, move yourselves,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a hot date waiting, and button up those Limey jackets we are supposed to be British soldiers, and no shooting unless we have to, there are British patrols in the area.’
Emma stopped talking suddenly and looked anxiously at the three men who were riding towards them. Jaak was alarmed by her reaction. Then she relaxed her shoulders and sighed loudly.
‘They are British troops, don’t worry.’ She smiled at Jaak.
‘Hello,’ she called out as they approached. ‘Is everything alright?’
‘Everything is fine, do you have any water, we ran a bit low.’
‘Yes in the back there is a barrel of fresh water, please help yourselves to some.’ She answered bringing the horse to a halt and pulling the wheel brake on. She dismounted and walked to the back of the open backed wagon and lowered the wooden tail gate. Charlie and Sammy dismounted and walked their horses to the back of the wagon to where the water barrel was kept. Sammy filled his canteen bottle while Charlie accepted the cup from Emma and drank. Harry stayed mounted, positioned close to Jaak who stayed in the seat looking back towards Emma. Suddenly her eyes widened and she screamed
‘No.’
The spade connected with the back of Jaak’s head. Harry swung it with all his strength. Jaak fell forward onto the backside of the horse and then sideways from the wagon onto the floor, the blood seeped from his head wound into the dirt as his body lay contorted in a strange shape. Harry looked down at him.
‘I bet that hurt,’ he laughed. He shouted to Sammy.
‘Got him in one.’ He kicked his horse and walked it to the back of the wagon, where Charlie and Sammy were holding Emma. Harry pulled his knife out as he dismounted. Jaak fought to stay awake, but it was useless, he drifted into unconsciousness to the sound of Emma’s screams.