A Flicker of Light (18 page)

Bringing the candle closer, he searched for the dial and sat down on the floor to listen. He kept the sound low as he turned on the radio realizing it
was
already tuned into the BBC,
the British Broadcasting Corporation
. Strict laws had been put into effect concerning acceptable radio stations. This certainly would never have been considered one of them. The BBC brought news of the war from the viewpoint of the enemy.

Who lived on this farm?
As he took in his surroundings, he noticed numerous bolts of fabric leaning up against a wall. On a shelf he saw several packages of cigarettes. He felt almost sure that the occupants must be trading on the black market.

Aaron leaned back
, fine-
tuning the station as the man on the radio gave news of the outside world. At the university
,
he had taken enough classes in English to be considered almost fluent. Quietly
,
he sat with his back against the wall and listened as the British announcer told of Germany’s troubles on the Eastern front. The Russians had proved to be strong adversaries. With the German army divided fighting Great Britain, as well as Russia - although the Fuehrer had tried to hide the fact from the
citizens
- it appeared as if the German
s would lose the war. Soon winter would set in and the weary, unprepared German army would encounter severe cold as the well-equipped Russian army stepped up to their challenge.

I

n the barn, under the hay and out of sight, Klaus had built a cellar. He had hidden it well by installing a trap door that matched the wood of the floor so perfectly
that
only someone with knowledge of its location would be able to find it. For some time now, Petra had known of the family’s efforts to hoard and conceal supplies in the cellar before the Nazis had an opportunity to confiscate them.

As Petra entered the barn with
a
bushel of onions
,
she noticed that the hay had not been replaced properly the last time one of the
Bruchmeiers
had gone down to retrieve some canned goods. The hay had been disturbed, leaving the trap door open to view. On occasion, in her haste,
Siegland
had forgotten this important step. Petra would need to cover it well when she left this time. From now on
,
she would offer to go down into the cellar for
Siegland
. The older woman sometimes lost sight of the dangerous times they lived in.

Petra’s fingers found the latch, and the door creaked open. With a candle in her hand, she climbed down the steps. She planned to leave the candle downstairs to light
the way and then go back up to retrieve the bushel of onions. Then
she would continue in this manner
until she’d hidden all of the
vegetables as she’d promised
Sie
gland
she wo
uld until
night
fell and t
hey could safely begin canning.  When Petra
reached the bottom of the stair
s
,
she placed the candle on the shelf
,
and then she went back up and got the onions. As she came down the stairs with the heavy load, she took great care with her footing
. Heavy and full, the wooden crate
almost slipped out of her hand as she placed it down on the floor. Then
,
turning to go back up for another box, she heard movement as someone or something scurried across the floor. Her heart pounded as she looked around to see if perhaps a rat or snake had gotten in to the cellar.

Behind a large bushel of flour she saw him, crouched in the corner like a captured lion. His piercing green eyes glared at her in the light of the candle, while long dark hair fell haphazardly over his left eye and his lips fused together in a grimace. His body looked as if he were ready to spring.

“Who are you? What do you want from us? We are only poor farmers. We have no money.” Her knees went weak and nearly buckled as she watched him.

“I don’t want anything,
” Aaron answered.

“Are you hiding from someone? Are you in trouble?” Remembering her own situation when she’d run away from the
Lebensborn
, she suddenly felt a slight pang of sympathy for this man.

“Are you all right down there
, child? I think Hans is hungry,
”
Siegland’s
voice startled the man, and within a moment
,
Petra found herself detained in his grasp. Without force and gently enough not to hurt her, he still held her tightly. Quickly, his hand covered her mouth and he whispered into her ear, “Don’t make a sound.”

Her heart thumping, Petra immediately thought of the baby. Would this man kill the family and her child if he felt trapped, or if his position were exposed?

His grip had loosened upon her mouth, and in a soft voice she whispered to him, “It’s all right. Please let me answer. I won’t reveal that you’re here. If I don’t answer, she’ll surely come down.”

He nodded, motioning her to go ahead. “It’s alright, Mama. I am counting the jars down here. Give me a few minute
s,” Petra called.

“Yes, all right. Come when you a
re ready. I’m going to get Hans,
”
Sie
gland
answered.

Still in shock, Petra turned to the man, feeling the heat of his thigh against her own. She was only inches from his face, and she looked into his eyes, “Now tell me, who are you?” Petra said.

“I am a Jew,” he replied, hanging his head as he spoke. “I am a Jew.” Spent, Aaron released her as he fell away, leaning against the wall.”

“Oh, dear God, no.
I don’t know what to do. Why are you here? Wher
e did you come from?” Petra asked
.

“I am from Berlin. I came searching for food. If you report me, I will be murdered or taken to a camp, and then killed or worked to death.”

“They don’t really kill Jews, do they? I mean, they don’t just slaughter them just for being Jews.”

“I have seen terrible things, things that you cannot imagine. I have been hiding on the road for a long time, hiding in barns like this one, or in forests, stealing food to survive. I have seen the
Nazis
rape and murder women. Once I saw them take a group of Jews and force them to dig a hole. Then they made them strip off their clothes and they shot them, then they threw the dead bodies into the hole. One of the children did not die from the initial gunshot, and I watched as she shook her mother’s dead
body
,
trying to bring her back to life as they lay together in the grave. One of the SS men walked over and shot her as if her life had no meaning, no value at all. You cannot imagine what these people are capable of. No sane person could fathom it.”

A shudder traveled through Petra as she considered the man. His eyes told her that he spoke the truth. She could not in her wildest dreams envision such cruelty.

“I won’t tell anyone that you’re here, but you must leave tonight. By morning when I come down, it is imperative that you be gone. Do you understand?”

“Thank you, and
yes, I do understand you clearly, but please try to see my situation. I’m not a common criminal. In fact, in my old life, I mean before all of this began, I attended the university and was training to be a doctor.”

“So how did you ever end up here?’

“It’s a long story, a very long story. I lived in Berlin. An older doctor took me on as a friend and partner. He mentored me, and I learned a great deal about medicine. After graduation from school, I went off to the university to continue my education. On the night of
Kristalnacht
, Nazi thugs burned the charity clinic that the doctor had
established. From that day on, we Jews were forced to wear arm bands with yellow Stars of David to identify us.

“
The university I was attending expelled me for being a Jew, but since the doctor had trained me so well, I was capable of
acting
as a much-needed physician in my old neighborhood. I continued to work by making house calls. My dear friend, the doctor, cautioned me and told me that we must leave Germany. He had passage to America for his wife, himself and for me. I had a girlfriend that I cared for very much, so I told them to take her instead. She died on the boat on the way to America.”

He lied about Greta. He had told himself this same thing for so long that the lie came easily to him now. “I lived with my father in Berlin when I received the news. Although the Nazis had put a curfew into effect, I didn’t p
ay much attention.
The SS began arresting our neighbors.

“My father would not have gone willingly, as some had. That much
,
I felt sure of. Finally, they took him by force while I worked with a sick child one afternoon. I came home to find him gone, the house ransacked. What possessions they did not take, they left flung about or broken. As you can well imagine
, I felt angry and helpless
when one of our neighbors confirmed
what had I
already
suspected
. My father had been forced into the Gestapo car,
and this time
,
when the alarm sounded, it sounded for him. From that day on, I knew that they planned to take all of us, and in time, they would succeed.”

“Take you where?
To the camps?”

“Yes, to the camps - some to work and some to die. They are gassing people in these camps and burning their bodies.” His handsome face was strong and serious as he explained the atrocities taking place in a world that Petra knew nothing about.

“Petra,”
Sie
gland’s
voice drifted down
from upstairs
. “Petra, come please. Are you all right? The baby is sick. I don’t know what’s wrong. He has a red rash all over him, and he is very hot with fever.”

“Yes, Mama.
All right, I’m coming.”

Unsure what to do, she turned to the man, annoyed, but unable to throw him out, “Sta
y here. I’ll bring you food, but
for God’s sake, be quiet.”

“Thank you, I am so grateful.” Shame stung his pride. His vulnerability and dependence sickened him. Never before had he begged for anything, and now here he stood at the mercy of this beautiful woman. In his other
life, his life before the Nazi
s, he would never have allowed any woman to see him weak or helpless. He had believed that a
man must be strong enough to take care of the woman. Now Hitler had altered everything.

Distracted by
Siegland’s
announcement about Hans, Petra turned and ran up the stairs. Aaron sat in the corner of the dark cellar and stared at the trapdoor as she closed it. She could very well go to the authorities, but he doubted she would. Her eyes had glistened with kindness.

Aaron had heard what the older woman said, and he felt fairly sure that the child had measles. But as always, the possibility of the dreaded typhoid was also there in his mind. Both presented with symptoms of rash and fever, but he could not make a definite diagnosis without seeing the child and its skin problem. His mind raced as he contemplated treatment. With no medicine available to him, he would have a difficult time. Every muscle in his body tightened. He walked back and forth across the room, lost in thought. In order to minister to the child, he must forgo the safety of the cellar. But dare he enter the house? What would the older woman say? Would she turn him in? Aaron paced like a confined animal, unable to decide what to do. He ran his fingers through his hair, brushing it back from his face. His thoughts went to the boy. Unsure if they had a doctor available, he thought that the child might die.

All his life Aaron had faced grave circumstances head on, and he would do so now. With one swift movement, he climbed the stairs and pushed at the door only to find it locked. Scanning the room, he searched for something strong enough to break through, but saw nothing. With the side of his body he thrust harder, but the door held tight. Then
h
e spotted something. He jumped down from the step and went over to investigate. Deep in the darkest corner of the cellar, covered in an array of spider webs, he saw an old rusted garden
hoe
. As he wiped the webs from the handle, a large red and black spider crept out and disappeared into a crack in the wall. Then he took the hoe, and driving it upward, he rammed the door. Aaron felt the lock
break
and the wood give way. Then, forcing the door open, he climbed out of the cellar and made his way to the house. Klaus had gone into town while the women stayed behind to look after the baby. When Aaron entered the nursery,
Siegland
screamed and Petra turned around. Immediately, they both looked at each other. Now, Petra found herself wondering, as did
Siegland
, if this man might be the murderer that the officers had come to tell them about.