Mother and Me (15 page)

“Lupicki's very resourceful,” Mother answered her. “It's good to have his good will.”

“Isn't that a dangerous way to do it?”

“Why?”

“He's a simple man, and you're putting wrong ideas in his head.”

“Because I told him to have bigger ambitions than clerking in a shoe store?”

“You know what I mean,” Auntie Paula said.

“For heavensakes, Paula.”

“Paula's right,” Auntie Edna said. “It's not a good idea to be putting ideas in these people's heads.”

I had no idea what they were talking about.

“I'm not putting ideas in anyone's head. He's an intelligent man, who's just never thought he could do better than be a shoe-store clerk.”

“It's just dangerous, particularly at a time like this,” Auntie Edna said. Then they all stopped talking.

I thought my mother was right. If Mr. Lupicki was as smart as she said, then he should certainly do something that paid him more money than being a shoe-store clerk. What was dangerous about that, I could not understand.

Later that afternoon we pulled to a gradual stop without pulling off the pavement, which seemed to concern the grownups. “Why are we stopping here?” Auntie Edna asked.

Mr. Lupicki's dark head and shoulders immediately appeared at the back of our truck. Just some soldiers with car trouble, blocking the road, he assured us. Then he helped us all to the ground.

Looking around the side of the truck, I could see three cars and three trucks, all different shapes, but all painted the same green that ours had been until this morning, stopped in the other lane of the road. Soldiers stood all over the road, and some were peering under the hood of one of the trucks. They had helmets on their heads and carried rifles. Some had backpacks. I could see one young soldier, without his jacket, his
shirt sleeves rolled above his elbows, a large screwdriver in his hand, talking to Mr. Dembovski at the front of our truck.

“What is it, Dembovski?” Mother said, walking up to the two of them. I found myself following her, though the others stayed at the back of the truck.

“They want to take Missus's truck,” I heard Mr. Dembovski say.

The young soldier's face suddenly turned a dark red. “I am First Lieutenant Yan Tchymanchek,” he said, and I could see how nervous he was. “One of our trucks has broken down, and I have authority to commandeer Missus's truck for military service.”

“This is Senator Nathan Padovich's truck,” my mother lied. That had been my father's name. I didn't know what a senator was.

“I am Mrs. Senator Padovich,” she said. In Polish the wife of a doctor was addressed as Mrs. Doctor, and this must have been the title for a senator's wife. “I'm taking my family to Durnoval.”

The young lieutenant pulled to attention. “I am sorry, Mrs. Senator, but I have orders.”

“What kind of orders?”

“Orders to take my men to Warsaw for defense of the city. My orders …”

“I understand,” Mother cut him off. “What's wrong with your truck?”

“We don't know, Mrs. Senator. It just stopped.”

“Maybe my driver can fix it.”

“We haven't the time, Mrs. Senator. We have already been delayed.”

“And you want to leave us out here on the road? We have children,” she said.

Suddenly I was frightened. I could see us all standing in the empty road with the broken truck as the soldiers drove off in ours.

The lieutenant's face got still darker, and now he was sweating. But he didn't have an answer for her. He had dark wavy hair and a little mustache.

“Go see what's wrong with his truck,” Mother said to Mr. Dembovski.

“Y-yes, Missus … Mrs. Senator,” Mr. Dembovski said, touching his forehead as in a salute. He walked over to the truck, and the soldiers made room for him at the engine. Mr. Lupicki quickly joined him.

“He's an expert mechanic,” Mother said. “But tell me, Mr. Lieutenant, where is Mister from?”

“Oh, from Lvow, Mrs. Senator.”

“I hear it's a beautiful city,” Mother said, “though I've never been there. Is Mister married?”

“Yes, Mrs. Senator.” “And children?”

“One little girl.” And now he was smiling.

“Does Mister have photographs?”

“I have some in my tunic in the truck.”

“I would love to see them. This is my son Yulian.”

I stood to attention and saluted.

“My father's in the Air Force,” I heard Fredek say behind me.

“Fredek, come back here!” Auntie Edna said. I saw Fredek head, instead, towards the broken truck.

“Fredek!” Auntie Paula commanded. Fredek turned back.

“Come with me, Yulek,” Mother sang out and reached for my hand. I sensed there was a purpose in this invitation and took her hand obediently. We followed the lieutenant to the truck where Mr. Dembovski and Mr. Lupicki were both tinkering with something under the hood. A soldier was in front of the truck fitting the crank into its receptacle under the grill.

The lieutenant brought his tunic out of the cab and pulled a photograph out of an inside pocket.

“Oh, aren't they beautiful,” Mother said. “The little girl looks just like Mister. And Mister's wife looks so young. Look,
Yulek, aren't they a beautiful family?” I understood that I was to agree, although the faces in the picture were small and dark. “Yes, Mummy,” I said. I was surprised that the lieutenant didn't see that we were putting on an act for him.

“Is the little girl strong?” Mother asked.

“Strong?”

“I mean, is she in good health?” “Oh, yes.”

“Then Mister must thank God for it. Yulek is so fragile. Every little thing upsets his little system.”

In the context of the situation, I didn't consider this a put-down. “Oh, the poor boy,” the lieutenant said. I coughed, and Mother looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

“In Warsaw he was under a pediatrician's care.”

“Maybe he will grow out of it.”

“Yes, his father and I pray for that. Is Mr. Lieutenant a career officer?”

“Actually, Mrs. Senator, I'm an architect. I am in the reserve.”

“Then, after this is over, Mister will have to come to Warsaw and visit us. We're in the telephone book, Padovich, you know. My husband is in charge of some important building projects, and there will be a lot of rebuilding to do.”

Mother was telling one lie after another. But this, too, I supposed, was part of its being wartime.

Then there was some shouting among a small group of soldiers, and the lieutenant excused himself to tend to the commotion. Immediately, Mr. Lupicki was at Mother's elbow.

“Boleswav says he can't fix their truck. It's something electrical,” he said in a whisper that I could hear. “He says that we should all, very quietly and quickly, get back in Missus's truck.”

I saw that Mr. Dembovski was still working under the hood of the soldiers' truck. Mother didn't answer Mr. Lupicki, but took my hand again and began to lead me with quick steps
back to our truck. The rest of our group, who had been standing at the back, were not in sight.

Mr. Lupicki helped Mother and me climb up, and I found everyone else in the truck already.

“We're not supposed to speak,” Fredek whispered as I took my seat next to him.

“Shish!” Auntie Edna hissed.

“Shish,” Miss Bronia said quietly. We sat in silence. Then I heard the engine start up, and we began to move. People were holding their breath.

After we had passed the soldiers in the road, I could see the lieutenant standing alone, looking after us.

“Do you think they'll come after us?” Auntie Edna whispered.

“No,” Mother said. “He wouldn't leave women with children out in the road.”

“Well done, Mrs. Senator Padovich,” Auntie Edna whispered, as we watched the lieutenant in the road growing smaller.

Relieved as I was to be on our way, it wasn't without some pangs of guilt. It was only when I realized that it wasn't the lie about who we were that had let us escape, but the lieutenant's unwillingness to leave women and children stranded on the road, that I felt better. I chose not to pursue the matter further.

In a while we made another stop so people could go to the bathroom. Again, we had stopped by some trees and a stream. The three mothers and Sonya walked a way along the side of the road to stretch their legs. When I had rinsed my hands in the stream after going to the bathroom behind a bush, I saw Mr. Lupicki standing behind me.

“Would you like to learn how to do a magic trick?” he suddenly asked me.

“Yes, please,” I answered him, surprised that he should single me out for this attention. Mr. Lupicki put the cigarette between his lips and proceeded to show me how he flicked a coin into the palm of his hand as he pretended to throw it into the air. He gave me a coin, a smaller one, and had me try it. I, of course, immediately dropped the coin, but he urged me to try it again, and after awhile I got so that I could actually hold it without its looking like I was holding anything.

“You keep the coin and practice,” he told me, “and tomorrow I'll show you how you can turn your hand over and still hide it.” He held his head cocked to the right and squinted his left eye to avoid the smoke while he talked. Then he patted me on the head and walked back to the truck cab where Mr. Dembovski stood smoking.

Back in the truck, I practiced my new skill … until I dropped the coin.

“Yulek, where did you get that money?” my mother asked with alarm as she saw me retrieving it. I explained that Mr. Lupicki had given it to me.

“What did he do to you?” she asked, her alarm compounded.

“He showed me how to do coin tricks,” I said, puzzled and somewhat frightened by her alarm.

“Give it to me,” she said. I stepped across the space between us and handed her the coin.

“You are never to accept money from strangers,” she said.

“All right,” I conceded.

Nobody in the truck said anything for a moment, then my mother asked again, “Are you sure he didn't do anything to you? Did he touch you?”

“He patted me on the head.”

“On the head?”

“Yes.”

“You are never to speak to him again, ever,” she said.

For the life of me, I could not imagine in what way either one of us had transgressed.

To my Aunties, my mother said, “The next time we stop, that man is getting out of this truck.”

“All he did was teach Yulek some coin tricks,” Auntie Edna said.

“Why would he do that? Fredek, did Mr. Lupicki teach you any tricks?”

“No, Auntie Barbara,” Fredek said.

“So why just Yulek? Why not both boys? Why single out Yulek?”

“Because you were nice to him, Basia,” Auntie Paula said. “He was being nice to Yulek in return. You brought this on yourself.”

“Well, I don't want Yulek taking money from strangers.”

“He didn't give him money.” Auntie Paula said. “He gave him a coin to do tricks with. With that, he couldn't buy a chocolate.”

“I don't trust that man,” Mother said.

“Do you hear what you're saying?” Auntie Paula asked her.

“What? I said I saw courage and cleverness in his hand. That doesn't mean I trust him. Yesterday you were the one telling me you didn't trust him.”

Auntie Edna said, “We'll be in Durnoval tonight, and he'll be going his way.”

“I just don't want Yulek taking money from strangers,” Mother repeated. “Miss Yanka should have taught him that. Didn't Miss Frania teach Fredek that?”

“I don't know,” Auntie Edna said.

“Fredek,” Mother said, “are you supposed to take money from strangers?”

“Oh, no, Auntie Barbara, Miss Frania taught me….”

“What stupidities you ask, Basia,” Auntie Paula interrupted. “What do you expect the child to say?”

“The truth,” Mother said. “Fredek always tells Auntie Barbara the truth, don't you, Fredek?”

“Oh, yes, Auntie Barbara.”

“This is total nonsense,” Auntie Paula said. “Don't you understand children at all?”

“Of course I understand children. Fredek is a very intelligent boy, and he and I get along …”

“Why don't we just all sing?” Auntie Edna interrupted. “Bronia, start a song.”

Miss Bronia looked confused for a moment, as though her mind had been far away. “Yes … yes, a song,” she said. “How about…?” It took her some time to think of a song for us to sing.

I still didn't like Auntie Paula very much—she wasn't kind or gentle—but she did make a lot of sense when she talked. And my ability to see her in these two different lights, I considered, a very grown-up observation.