The Day the Flowers Died (30 page)

“Take care of yourself,” Ezekiel finished and hung up.

Click.  The sound of the click on the other end pulled
Rebecca back into a silent emptiness.  Without Eli in the room
with her, loneliness flooded in. Though she’d been alone throughout
University, this loneliness felt more pronounced.

At the end of the week, Rebecca felt like she was going to die,
as if her own heart would somehow stop in its rhythmic motion and
her own lungs would collapse and leave her whimpering for air on
the floor.  Did she feel this way from being physically ill?
Or, did the worry bombarding her mind do this? She didn’t
know.  Fighting depression, she kept busy at work and tried to
keep her mind occupied at home.

Ezekiel called midweek to inform her that, as far as his friends
knew, there was no sign of Eli at the Dachau camp.  This gave
them both relief, but still no Eli and they both dreaded the answer
could be far worse than Dachau.

* * *

On Saturday evening, Eli made his way upstairs, checking over
his shoulder to make sure he’d remained unseen.  Easing his
door open, he slipped inside. The smell of home wafted over him,
orange scented soap and dinner.  His bleary eyes scanned the
room and focused on his beautiful wife standing at the stove, her
back to him, pouring tea.  Pushing the door closed behind him
so that it clicked, he watched her whirl around at the noise.

Rebecca dropped the teacup in her hand, where it smashed on the
floor.  Her heart raced and her eyes widened.  She ran to
him and felt his face, his chin with stubble, and his dirty hands
that had grown coarse over the past five days.  His beige
trench coat was torn and navy pants damp.

He held her soft porcelain face in his and then pulled her to
him, grabbing her, pressing her against his chest, needing to feel
her heartbeat and her breath on his ear.

“God, I’ve missed you,” Eli whispered after a moment.

“Where have you been?” Rebecca’s eyes welled with tears and her
lips trembled.

“I’m sorry.  It wasn’t safe. They were watching the
apartment…my parents’ house…Aaron’s.” He held his arms out. 
“I need to get cleaned up.” Eli went into the bathroom, Rebecca
following.  He poured water over his hands and face. 
“Aaron and I had to stay hidden.  They came to his house, too,
looking for him.”

“Aaron was with you?” This news brought relief that Eli was not
alone on the streets for five nights.  Rebecca pulled off his
trench coat and her soft hands brushed over his rough ones, his
nails embedded with dirt.

He poured more water over his face and arms. “Yes.” Eli took a
moment to answer before pulling off his torn shirt and shoes.

“What happened?”

Eli loosened his belt.  “Aaron and I were picking up the
documents for our families and the Gestapo pulled up to the
building.” He took off his pants and jumped into the bath for a
quick wash, his skin moist with dirt and his knees scuffed. He
poured water over his hair and raked his fingers through it.
Rebecca bent down to the bath and cupped her hands through the
water, gathering some to drizzle over Eli’s soiled body.  “We
were locked in the closet to hide, but they took Mr. Reiner,” Eli
explained in a tone of agony, “and his wife…I can still hear her
crying while they beat her.” His strength shattered at the
memory.  Tears fell from his eyes over his cheeks, first one,
then another, until they blinded him.  He couldn’t stop
them.

Rebecca leaned in and pulled his head to her chest, getting her
summer dress soaked. “You’re ok now. You’re safe now.” Rebecca
rocked him in her arms, leaning into the tub until his skin pruned
and her dress was soaked from chest to waist.

Eli called his papa after his bath and Rebecca showed him the
letter she hoped would bring relief to his face.  But he knew
as well as she did that this letter alone did not ensure
anything.  For the first time, Eli did not wear his façade in
front of her, the face that told her everything would be alright,
because he knew that she would not believe the lie anymore.

Saturday, July 22, 1933

Eli awoke to the sounds of heavy breathing. He rolled over to
see Rebecca holding her chest as she lay sweating on top of the bed
sheets, her head propped up on pillows and her silk white nightgown
clinging to her damp body.  The sounds of her struggling for
air filled him with desperation.  He threw himself over her
and rested his head against her slowly rising chest.

“Rebecca! Are you alright?” Her blue pupils faded in and out as
her lids closed and opened and the white of the eye consumed
them.  “Rebecca!”

“I feel weak,” she struggled to whisper and her eyes closed
again.

“I’m taking you to the hospital.” He wrapped her arms around his
shoulders and pulled her from the bed.

“No, it’s too dangerous.” She said each word slowly into his ear
as she lay in his arms.

“I don’t care.  You need help.” He set her down on the
lounge chair in the bedroom as he heard her weakened voice whisper,
Gestapo.  “I’m getting you dressed.”

“The Gestapo,” she paused for breath to say it louder, “could
see you.” Her sentence sounded broken in its stretched
intonation.

“I’ll be careful.” Eli’s arms reached for a purple summer dress
from the closet, revealing his defined muscles.  Rebecca
admired him with a light smile as she waited in the lounge chair
for him to dress her.  Her hair drooped around her face and
her body appeared limp without much will of her own holding it
there.

“Love you.” She mustered two more words in an inaudible
sound.  Eli kissed her chapped lips and then slipped the
summer dress over her nightgown and took a washrag dipped in water
from the bathroom and wiped her face.  He pulled out his black
slacks and a salmon colored shirt and added his beige trench
coat.  He took out his knit beige wool hat, a hat he never
wore, and pulled it over his hair and part of his forehead.

He helped her off the chair and she walked with one arm over his
shoulder, draped around his neck.  He braced her up with both
his arms, one behind and over her back and the other positioned
upon her delicate waist.  They walked together down the steps
and to Rebecca’s car. Her vehicle was more reliable and
inconspicuous. Eli’s broken windshield invited questioning eyes
and, as the car grew older, the engine grew temperamental.

Eli pulled into the hospital parking lot and carried Rebecca
over the steps into the waiting room like he was cradling a
baby.  The secretary behind the desk noticed Rebecca at once
and, despite her disapproval of Rebecca’s choice in husbands, she
grew alarmed at seeing her so despondent.  She leapt out of
her chair and rushed to Eli’s side whom, unknown to her, was in
fact Rebecca’s husband.  She rolled a wheelchair over to Eli
to place Rebecca into and then wheeled her through the swinging
doors.

Eli stayed close to Rebecca, following the secretary down the
hallway into a patient’s room and then she realized Eli must be the
rumored man by the way he clung to Rebecca’s side.  She
grimaced as she left the room, having to assist more patients in
the waiting room.  Rebecca sighed at the sight of the hospital
bed, used to aid patients and now a patient herself.  As Eli
laid her in the bed, the doctor appeared at the door.

Rebecca gazed upward at his face and recognized him. A short
smile crept over her and she closed her eyes to rest.  Eli
brushed his fingers through her hair and along her jaw line to her
lips.  He rested his head next to hers while the doctor
entered the room.

His long white jacket swept against Eli’s arm and he lifted his
head.  The doctor inserted a thermometer into Rebecca’s mouth
and she opened her eyes.  He took the device out of her mouth
moments later and took a step backward.

“How are you feeling?” he asked in a professional but concerned
manner.

“I feel…exhausted.  I…feel like…I can’t…breathe.” Rebecca
spoke in short bursts and pulled her left hand up to her chest to
hold her heart.

“Does this hurt?” The doctor pressed against her abdomen on one
side and then the other.  Rebecca grimaced both times.  A
nurse walked in with another instrument and wrapped it around
Rebecca’s upper arm to measure her blood pressure. Eli stood and
put his face into his hands against the wall.  The doctor
walked over to Eli and put his hand over his shoulder. “We’re going
to have to run some tests.  You may want to wait out
front.  It could be some time.”

“No! My place is with her.  I’ll stay by her side.” Eli
walked over to her, kissed her forehead and then sat in the chair
in the corner.  Rebecca’s eyes closed and she appeared to fall
into a tranquil sleep.  The doctor spoke in quiet with the
nurse who rushed back with a tray of more medical tools.  The
doctor drew Rebecca’s blood and peered in her mouth, pried open
with a wooden flat stick.  Eli watched her without moving from
the room or taking his eyes off of her, except to address the
doctor and nurse.

The minutes became hours as Eli watched the woman he loved, the
only woman he ever loved this much, lay in the hospital bed, losing
her vibrancy to feebleness and confined instead of free.  His
heart ached.

Though the thought of both of them losing their chance to escape
Germany by boat this month weighed heavily on him, he could not
think of much else but Rebecca.  She would be in no condition
to travel and they would have to wait until September to depart, if
at all this year.

In the late afternoon, the doctor returned to the room. 
Eli rose from his chair to hear the assessment of Rebecca’s
declining health.

“I have good news,” the doctor announced and Eli sighed in
relief.  “She’s suffering from a combination of stress and a
lack of nutrients, which is treatable.  We have vitamins and
an IV of glucose in her now.  It should stabilize her. However
she’ll need to rest all day and preferably all week.”

“When may I take her home?” Eli’s wrinkled forehead
straightened.

“Tomorrow, after I’ve made sure she’s strong enough to
travel.”

“Thank you so much, doctor.” Eli grabbed the doctor’s hand and
shook it profusely.

“There is one more thing.” The doctor interjected midway between
Eli finishing the shake and letting go of his hand.  Eli’s
eyes widened at the doctor’s words and he waited in silence for the
doctor to finish his thought.

“Rebecca is pregnant,” the doctor said matter-of-factly and
tried to conceal his elation for treating Rebecca.  No matter
what he felt for her, he wanted her well and happy.  Eli
rushed over to her side and held her hand which dangled over the
edge of the bed.

“You’re having a baby,” he said in a mixture of disbelief and
exuberance.

“I heard.” Rebecca spoke quietly under an elongated smile,
revealing her teeth which she didn’t try to hide.  Eli placed
his hands over her belly and they stared at each other for a few
moments, gathering their thoughts, assimilating this new unexpected
information.

“We will get to America. We’ll start our family there.” Eli said
it with such assurance and confidence, like he spoke in the
courtroom, that he left no room for Rebecca to doubt its
validity.

“But we missed our boat,” Rebecca sighed.

“There’s another in September, if you’re feeling up to it.”

“What about your family? They should leave this month. They
shouldn’t wait on me.”

“I’ll talk to them later. But right now, I want to make sure
you’re alright.”

“Has my passport arrived yet?” Rebecca tilted her head in Eli’s
direction over the hospital pillow.

“Not yet,” he said with disappointment, knowing his own
immigration papers were not yet completed either.  “But it
will.  You are an American citizen through your mother.”

“Yes, my mutti.” Rebecca’s thoughts fixed on her mother and her
eyes rolled to the ceiling as they became teary.  “She doesn’t
even know I’m here.” Eli shook his head no to her question. 
“She doesn’t even know I’m married.” Eli rubbed his hands over her
dangling arm.  “Will she even be a part of this child’s life?”
Eli wrapped his hand around her own.

“I’ll talk to her for you if you want me too.  I’ll let her
know what’s happening.” Eli swept his fingers through her dark hair
which, in this hospital light, concealed the honey hints.

She shook her head and answered, “No, I’ll talk to her myself
when I’m feeling better. She should hear it from me.” Rebecca knew
Eli speaking to her mother would only complicate matters. Seeing
him while her daughter lay in a hospital bed, hearing the words of
their marriage and her pregnancy and their soon departure from
Eli’s lips instead of her own would only sever the already thin
bond between them.

“Ok.” Eli kissed her lips.  He stayed the night with
Rebecca and the next day the doctor approved her for release, but
insisted on her resting throughout the rest of the week. Eli
wheeled Rebecca out of the hospital and to her car, lifted her in
his arms, though she was more capable of walking this morning, and
placed her in the passenger seat.

The new morning brought a new hope to each of their faces,
easing their once worried expressions and festering anxieties, the
kind of hope that crept into lives unexpectedly. Though the
pregnancy meant Rebecca would be in a more delicate condition for
traveling, they were both elated at the thought of starting a
family.

The following day, Rebecca slept in while Eli drove to the Levin
home to provide his family with the spurious documentation he had
procured at a risk to his own life.  Ezekiel took the papers
from his son’s hand with a reluctant tug and then sat in the living
room to talk with him.

Deborah came in with a bowl of fruit and tea for the both of
them and placed it on the table in the middle of the room. Ezekiel
ate a strawberry before speaking.