Henry & Sarah

by Kadrak, Suzanne

  “Why donʼt you ask the Rosenzweigs?” Esther threw in. “Their son Hamish has moved out of their flat a couple of weeks ago to live with his wife Miriam. They might have a spare room now.”

  “Thatʼs actually a brilliant idea!” Paul replied enthusiastically. “You know, I might as well go over to them right now and ask them.”

  “Oh yes, do that!” Yasmina agreed.

  Paul got up from his chair.

  “I will be back in a short while,” he said, then he dashed out of the room.

  Esther poured Henry, Oscar and Sarah some more coffee into their cups.

  “So what made you come over to America then?” Sarah asked Yasmina and Esther.

  Yasmina, who had just been so overly merry because of her motherʼs brilliant idea and the fact that Oscar was taken care of, suddenly turned rather serious and quiet. Esther didnʼt say anything either and merely stared at the table, a pensive and sad expression on her face.

  “Have I said something wrong...?” Sarah asked uncertainly upon noticing the unexpected change in Yasminaʼs and Estherʼs demeanor.

  “No, Sarah, it is alright,” Yasmina said softly and forced a smile. She hesitated for a moment before she went on. “We came to America, because it just nicer here. The people are friendly and the city offers a lot of opportunities. Thatʼs all.”

  The sudden casual tone to Yasminaʼs voice stroke Henry as odd. He couldnʼt get rid of the impression that Yasmina wanted to conceal something from him, Oscar and Sarah.

  “Why donʼt you tell them the truth, Yasmina?” Esther said to her, sounding calm and serious.

  Yasmina swallowed some tears. She lowered her head and began to nervously play with the napkin on the table. As she didnʼt show any inclination to elaborate on the issue any further, though, Esther began to speak.

  “You must know, we lived in Germany originally, but eventually we found that it would be better for all of us if we left. And there is a simple explanation for it: In certain places certain people are welcome, and certain people are not. As for us, we were not.”

  “But… but why…?” Sarahʼs confused gaze darted back and forth between Yasmina and Esther.

  “My dear parents moved from Russia to the south of Germany about fifty years ago,” Esther continued. “My father was a tailor and set up a little tailorʼs shop in Munich. He did quite well and managed to nourish me and our dear daughter Yasmina. We had many friends and led a wonderful life. When my father died because of a weak heart, my husband, who had until then worked in a factory, took over the shop. If you ask me for my opinion why the mood towards us so suddenly changed... well, I am afraid I am unable to tell you. I suppose that it was because quite a lot of Jews had come to live in Germany. And for some reason, the people there donʼt seem to be able to deal with the great number of them. Some people envy other peopleʼs success. They definitely envied our success although we were not really rich at all. But we were not poor either. We were just average people, trying to get by. And we happened to be successful. Is that a crime? But at the end of the day I suppose it doesnʼt really matter. People have always been afraid of things they donʼt understand, of cultures that are different, of traditions that appear unfamiliar. Our culture and traditions are different. And it seems that people need to fight what they are afraid of, or else it is regarded as a threat. It has always been like that, and will probably always be.”

  Esther smiled weakly, slowly raised her cup and took a sip of her coffee. Then she continued with her story.

  “People began to grow hostile against us. Well, not only against us. There were some other Jews living in our area, who experienced the same. One day somebody threw a stone through our bedroom window. There was a note attached to it, saying ʻGet out, Jews.ʼ It wasnʼt anything unusual for us to receive notes like this. Once we even had these lines scrawled all over the front of the house. It wasnʼt such a big problem. You get used to it. You can paint a wall. You can replace a window pane. But then, two days after the incident with the stone, one of our Jewish friends came running to us, informing us that our tailorʼs shop had gone up in flames. Somebody had set it on fire. My husband Ishmail ran over to it as fast a he could, trying to extinguish the fire. Except for our Jewish friends, nobody helped. When Ishmail realized that he would not be able to save the shop from burning to the ground, he decided to at least save some of his expensive sewing machines and the clothes he had already made for our valued customers. And so he ran inside the burning building. He managed to escape the fire, but ultimately he died because of smoke poisoning.”

  Esther stared vacantly at Henry. There were no tears in her eyes, and her face did not show any emotion. Henry guessed that she had somehow learnt to deal with her endless grief, and that there simply were no tears left to cry.

  “Excuse me please,” Yasmina suddenly croaked. Then, breaking out in sobs, she jumped up from her chair and hastened over to a door leading into one of the adjacent rooms.

  “I am so terribly sorry... I should not have asked...” Sarah whimpered, embarrassedly lowering her head.

  “Donʼt be sorry,” Esther said. “It is my fault. Please forgive me; it was not my intention to ruin our merry gathering with our family history.”

  “You didnʼt ruin anything,” Oscar said softly. “We are deeply affected by what has happened to you. I am in fact at a loss of words...”

  With a quick movement, he placed his hand on Esther Levyʼs hand and patted it gently, which made her smile a little.

  Henry was grateful that Oscar had managed to comfort Esther, as he himself simply didnʼt know what to say. He could now understand why, upon their arrival, Yasmina had asked them if they had a problem with her being Jewish. She had been afraid that she would be rejected. What Henry couldnʼt understand was how these loving people, who had welcomed him, Oscar, and Sarah in such a friendly way, could be despised by anyone at all.

  “Well, I think I will go and look after my daughter. Please, excuse me,” Esther said and was already getting up when Sarah suddenly asked, “May I go?”

  Esther gave her a warm smile.

  “Of course you can.”

  * * *

  Sarah found Yasmina sitting on her bed. The girl was holding a crumpled handkerchief in her hands and was staring out of the window, a strangely blank and dreamy expression on her face.

  Sarah stood at the door, not knowing what to do or what to say.

  “It wasnʼt all bad in Germany, you know,” Yasmina began without averting her gaze from the window, as if she was seeing something out there, a picture of past and happy days. “Despite my fatherʼs terrible fate, I miss home so much... Do you know what it is like to walk along the shores of Lake Königsee on a sunny springtime afternoon? And to feed the swans at the turquoise lake under a clear blue sky? Many believe that it always rains in Germany, but this is not true at all... And all around the lake there is the vast dense woodland, fir trees and spruces, and in the distance on the slope of the hill there rises King Ludwigʼs castle, just like in a fairytale... On clear days like these you can even see the mountains in the distance with their icy tops. Can you imagine that?”

  Yasminaʼs voice had become a hardly audible whisper.

  “I am afraid, I can not imagine it,” Sarah said softly. “I have never been to the mountains, and I have never heard of a King Ludwig either. But I know what it is like to leave oneʼs home behind; even though not all memories might be good ones...”

  Yasmina finally tore her gaze away from the window and looked at Sarah, who took this as an invitation to walk over to the bed and sit down next to Yasmina.

  “I had a best friend in Germany,” Yasmina continued. “She was called Annegret and she was German, but she never cared about what the others said about me and my family although this made her the target of animosities, too. We spent every single moment together. I miss her so much...”

  Sarah shyly played with a strand of her hair.

  “You donʼt know me at all, but maybe... may
be I can be your friend...?”

  Suddenly, a warm smile blossomed on Yasminaʼs lips, and all her sadness seemed to disappear.

  “Of course you can be my friend,” she said and took Sarahʼs hands in hers.

  “However, I have to add that... that I have never really had any friends,” Sarah stammered. “I am afraid, I do not even know how to be a friend to someone. I have always lived a rather isolated life...”

  “Oh, donʼt you worry about it.” Yasminaʼs eyes began to sparkle. “First we have to go window shopping!”

  “I do not have any money...”

  “You will not need any money for this,” Yasmina explained, becoming rather excited. “Window shopping means that we stroll through the arcades and admire all the nice unaffordable things they have on display in the luxurious shops. Then we go inside, pretend that we are really well-off, look at everything, try it on, and then leave, pretending it all wasnʼt good enough for us. And in the evening when we come back home, we sit over a nice cup of coffee and rant over all the things we would have loved to buy and which we will buy once we are rich. It is such an enjoyable past time activity, youʼll see!”

  The two girls laughed.

  “You are pregnant, too, arenʼt you?” Sarah then asked.

  Yasmina smiled proudly and stroked her belly.

  “Yes, I am indeed... It will be due next year in April.”

  “So will mine,” Sarah said.

  “Oh, wouldnʼt it be nice if we could go through this pregnancy together? We could go for walks with the pram! In the park!”

  “Yes, that would be very nice!”

  Suddenly, someone knocked and opened the door. It was Paul, pulling a rather worried face.

  “Is everything alright?” he asked carefully. “Esther told me that you had all become a little bit upset after I left.”

  “Everythingʼs fine, fine, fine! Now get out, we are having an important ladiesʼ talk here,” Yasmina quickly replied and made a dismissive gesture with her hand, indicating her husband to leave.

  Paul grinned and shook his head.

  “By the way, the Rosenzweigs will come over later tonight,” he said. “It looks like we have found a place for Oscar to stay.”

  “That is wonderful!" Yasmina exclaimed..

  Then Paul softly closed the door and left.

  “They seem to be alright. Ladiesʼ talk...” he said when he came back into the living room.

  “Donʼt you think we should prepare Henry and Sarahʼs room now?” Esther remarked. “They surely want to have a little rest after the long journey.”

  “That is a good idea actually.” Paul immediately disappeared in a room which lay right next to the bedroom from where Yasminaʼs and Sarahʼs merry and girlish laughter could be heard.

  Henry was glad to see that Sarah was so happy in Yasminaʼs presence. During the past days he had already felt that Sarah needed some kind of close female friend with whom she could talk about things which she could not really talk about with a man. He hoped that Yasmina would be that kind of friend for her in the future.

  Henry finished his coffee, got up from the chair and followed his brother.

  “Paul, tell me, is that the guestroom?” he asked as he was looking around. He was a little bit worried because it was obvious that it wasnʼt the guestroom. There was a doll sitting on the nightstand, and some childrenʼs books were scattered all over the floor.

  “No, Henry, thatʼs where Renana and Ephraim normally sleep. But they can move into the living room for a while,” Paul answered casually. He was already in the process of pulling the sheets off the bed which was merely an oversized mattress on the floor. “I just need to check with Yasmina where she has hidden fresh bedsheets. I donʼt know where she puts all these things.”

  Henry quickly tried to stop his brother.

  “Paul, please listen to me,” he said. “I really donʼt want you to go through all that trouble for us.”

  Paul shrugged.

  “Why not? You are family.”

  “Paul, we donʼt want to drive these children out of their room. And you are already five people living in this place. I am feeling rather awful...”

  Paul let the used bedsheet carelessly fall onto the floor. Then he turned around and put his hands on Henryʼs shoulders.

  “Henry,” he said gravely, “these children slept with three people and a dog on a torn, flea-ridden blanket on the floor. Believe me, you have no idea what it was really like back then in the tenements. I can assure you that Renana and Ephraim can put up with quite a lot of things, as long as it doesnʼt rain through the roof, and as long as nobody insults them or causes any pain to them. That, Henry, would be a major problem and much worse than having to sleep out there on the very comfortable sofa. Do you understand what I mean?”

  Looking into his brotherʼs eyes, Henry could clearly see Paulʼs enormous fear that his children, who meant the world to him, could ever experience something similar as Yasmina and her family had back then in Germany; the fear that Renana and Ephraim could ever be rejected, could ever go through the same hell.

  “Yes, I think I do understand...” Henry mumbled somewhat embarrassed.

  “Alright then, Bonebreaker,” Paul said and let go of Henry again. “And now help me with that bed here. I am afraid, I am all thumbs...”

  Suddenly Yasmina and Sarah appeared in the room. They carried fresh bedsheets and were all smiles. While the two girls began to make the bed, Renana sheepishly lingered in the frame of the door until she eventually walked over to her mother and shyly tugged at her skirt.

  “Mama, can I show Sarah my drawings?”

  “Well, you must ask her,” Yasmina answered. “She might be tired and might want to get some sleep now.”

  Renana pulled a disappointed face and was already about to leave when Sarah suddenly took her little hand and softly said, “I would actually love to see your drawings.”

  Renanaʼs whole face came alive. She immediately rushed over to a little wooden chest which stood in a corner of the room and tore off the lid. Inside the chest lay a pile of papers which she grabbed. Then she happily marched out of the bedroom and into the living room where she spread all the papers on the dinner table.

  An amused smile on his lips, Henry followed Renana and Sarah back into the living room where he found Oscar sitting next to Bubbe on the sofa, checking her heart with a stethoscope which he had taken out of his doctorʼs suitcase.

  “Is everything alright?” Henry asked with a frown.

  “She is fine,” Esther said. “Dr. Scott was so kind to have a look at her because she hasnʼt felt very well recently.”

  “Her blood pressure is a little bit high indeed, and she seems to suffer from heart rhythm,” Oscar remarked, putting the stethoscope back into his doctorʼs suitcase. “But I can give her some medication. That should help her.”

  Esther translated to Bubbe what Oscar had said. A flirtatious twinkle in her eyes, Bubbe suddenly reached out and pinched Oscarʼs cheek. Then she burst out in merry laughter while Oscar smiled sheepishly and blushed. Henry had to grin at the fact that Oscarʼs charms obviously even seemed to work on ladies who were way past their mating age.

  Henry was just about to sit down next to his friend on the sofa when Paul called over to him.

  “B.B., would you like to join me for a smoke?”

  “Oh, very much so, yes,” Henry quickly replied, got up and followed his brother downstairs and outside. Having arrived there Paul handed Henry a cigarette, then he lit another one for himself and pulled at it.

  Henry shook his head in disbelief and chuckled.

  “Do you remember when you and I would go for a smoke in the yard behind our house?” he said. “God, it seems like yesterday... You know, I really canʼt believe that I am here, so many miles from home. I mean, for the past months it all seemed so... so hopeless. And now my whole life seems to have taken a completely different turn. It is all so new and alien…”

  “You will get used
to it,” Paul said, blowing the smoke out through his nostrils. “I know that feeling very well, the excitement, the nervousness, the exhilaration. I also know the disappointment, the disillusionment, the inevitable pitfalls. But donʼt you worry too much about it, Henry. Be confident that things will work out fine. Just look at me: One day I am a lone tramp on the street, and the next day I run into these people up there without whom I couldnʼt possibly live anymore.”

  “You have a wonderful family, Paul.”

  “Thanks, Henry. I know that life has been pretty generous to me, and I really hope that there are no major setbacks awaiting me. But I suppose things will be alright—with a little mazel...”

  “Mazel?” Henry asked.

  “Luck,” Paul answered and laughed. “I seem to get more and more into the habit of speaking Yiddish.”