The Roses Underneath (9 page)

“Ready, yes.” Anna thought the job sounded straightforward enough.

Cooper put the jeep in gear and stomped on the gas.

Anna stood back as Cooper leaned into the heavy wooden door with his shoulder and then kicked the base with a dirty boot to loosen it from the frame. There was no need—the door swung open easily and he strode inside without hesitation.
Like he owns the place
, thought Anna. Which he did, technically. She followed at a distance as he checked each of the three doors that led off the main entry hall into smaller rooms. He had taken his Colt .45 from the back seat of the jeep and was carrying the gun awkwardly in his right hand. Anna had not considered that they would need to be armed. She hugged her papers to her chest to muffle her pounding heart.

“All looks clear.” Cooper returned the Colt to its holster. “Okay. Let’s see what we can find.”

Just then Anna saw something move behind the balustrade of the second floor. She gasped and looked up.

“What?” Cooper whispered, his hand moving back to his holster.

“Something moved up there.” Anna stepped back and leaned against the wall at the foot of the stairs.

Cooper bounded past her up the stairs, waving the gun in front of him. “Hello there? United States Army here. Come on out now.” He motioned for Anna to come up. She took a deep breath and followed. On the landing, he took her elbow and pulled her alongside him as they walked down the corridor. Several closed doors ran along the wall to her right, but he was headed for the one at the end. He pushed it open.

The room seemed empty, abandoned to its fate. Drop-cloth-covered chairs and a large bed stripped of its sheets occupied the space at random. An old blanket lay rumpled on the bed and, in the corner, under an open window, lay a pile of rocks. Anna nudged Cooper and pointed to dust smudges on the floor that tracked between the bed and the bathroom door, and then to the large wardrobe that stood directly opposite them. Cooper nodded and strode across the room. He flung open the wardrobe door with one hand, the other pointing the .45 into the dark opening.

“Come out now, you,” he bellowed. Then he took a step back. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Anna squinted to see what the wardrobe had revealed. A boy huddled on the floor, bony blackened knees drawn to his chest. The three of them locked eyes for a moment, then the child bolted for the door. Anna dropped her papers as she caught him by the arm and spun around with the force of his escape. He tried to wrestle free but Anna held on, grabbing his other arm and pulling him close as hard as she could.

“
Um Gottes Willen
, for God’s sake, what are you doing in there?” she cried. The boy thrashed and Anna hugged him as tight as she could. His head snapped back and hit her squarely on the nose, causing her to loosen her grip. He tried to get his footing on the wood floor but slipped and fell back. Anna grabbed him by the waist of his pants and held on. “Don’t be scared. We won’t hurt you.”

Cooper stood rooted to the spot, pistol pointed in their direction. “Ask him who he is and what he is doing here,” he whispered. “Go on.”

“I was just doing that, sir. If you could put your gun away, it would help, I think,” Anna said, sitting back onto the floor with the boy wrapped inside her arms. Cooper stashed the weapon and took several steps back, palms raised in sarcastic apology.

“What is your name?” Anna asked gently. “My name is Anna. I am your friend. Can you tell me your name?”

“Are you an
Ami
?” the boy snapped.

“No, I’m not. Only he is.” She pointed to
Cooper. “What are you doing here?”

“Let me go! I am not talking to him.” His eyes shot at the American. “I don’t like
Amis.
Who are you?”

“My name is Anna Klein.” Anna loosened her grip to turn the boy around and face her. “Do you want me to tell him to go?”

He nodded and Anna used a free hand to wave Cooper out of the room. His eyes threw her a silent question, but he obliged and closed the door behind him.

Anna took a good look at the boy. His eyes were big in his hollow face, his lips dry and crusty. A small scar ran from the corner of his mouth down his chin and disappeared into a scrawny neck that was ringed with dirt. Anna could feel the bones of his shoulders in her palms. He seemed frail as bird and he couldn’t have been more than ten years old.

“Now tell me
Kind
, what is your name?” she asked again.

The boy looked at the floor as if he wanted to dissolve into it. “Grünewald Oskar,” he said under his breath.

“Oskar, where are your parents?” Anna took one of his hands in hers. “Do you know?”

“Yes.”

“Well, where are they?”

He shook his head.

“No? Tell me please, so we can find them for you.”

The boy snorted. “They are dead. My parents are dead.” His eyes dared her to respond.

Anna pulled him close and eventually he softened and crawled into her lap. She rocked back and forth as they sat in silence. “You are safe now. Don’t be scared,” she whispered into his matted hair. After a few minutes, Cooper peeked through the door, eyebrows raised like question marks on his face. She shook her head for him to leave them alone, but he opened the door anyway. Anna sighed.

“He says his parents are dead,” she whispered. Oskar turned his head to see Cooper enter the room and bolted from Anna’s lap like Jesse Owens on fire. He was down the stairs before Anna could get to her feet.

“I said stay out,” she shouted as she ran past Cooper and took the stairs two at a time. The front door stood wide open and Oskar’s footsteps cascaded down the marble stairs. The sun blinded her and she put a hand to her eyes to shield them. Oskar ran along the path toward the road, his skinny legs spinning in panic. Cooper appeared at her side but she held her arm out for him to stop. “Let him be,” she said. “He can’t go far. He has nowhere to go.”

Cooper let out a sharp breath. “Frau Klein, I am not in the babysitting business, I keep telling you. We are here to work.”

“I
am
working Captain. I am being—what do you call it? Your go-between.” Anna cocked her head. “What do you suggest we do now?”

“We go about our business and see if he comes back. Then we’ll figure it out.” His tone was neutral and hard to read. “Go get your papers and let’s get started.”

Oskar came to a stop outside the remnants of the iron gate, hands resting on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The run had worn him out. Anna sat down on the steps. “I’ll just wait here until he comes back.”

“Frau Klein, we are here to work, and you work for me,” Cooper barked. “I can’t stop for every waif and urchin running the streets. There are too many of them and that’s the Red Cross’ job. If you don’t care for this job I’ll be glad to find someone else who does. Now let’s go.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Captain,” Anna said. “But just a moment, please.” She went to the jeep and fished the brown bag from under the seat. She laid the two cheese sandwiches on the parapet by the front door. “For when he comes back.”

They spent an hour assessing damage inside the house, which was minimal. Most of it seemed to have been caused by marauding soldiers. The roof leaked in the kitchen and the place had been cleaned out of any valuables. A few pieces of furniture hid under dust covers but nothing was very interesting. Cooper walked with purpose through every room and pointed out damage or lack thereof. Anna took notes but peeked outside to get a glimpse of the boy when she could. Oskar sat by the gate for a while, a small gray figure hunched with his back to them. When the sun was overhead and the air thick with heat, he started back up the path. He was halfway back when Anna saw him walking, hands shoved into the pockets of his too-short pants.

“He’s coming back,” she said. “Could you leave him alone this time, please? He doesn’t trust you. Maybe I can find out where he lives and we can take him home.” She straightened her papers on a little sideboard in the entry hall and put them back in the folder.

Cooper stood in the doorway and watched the boy approach, arms crossed across his chest like a vexed father. “Oh all right, Frau Klein. I guess he’s going to get my sandwich too, right?” He smiled. “I’ll stay out of it for now, but we have to move on soon.” He stepped away from the door.

After Oskar had eaten both sandwiches, Anna sat with him on the steps. The color had returned to his cheeks and his body was calm. She stroked his hair. “Now, Oskar you must tell me how you came to be here. Tell me everything you remember. I won’t tell the
Ami
anything you don’t want me to, all right?”

Oskar stared at his shoes, mouth set firm in defiance. She sensed the fear returning to his body. He put his chin on his knees and began to play with the hole in the tip of his right shoe.

“Come on, child. Don’t you want to go home?”

He turned his face toward her. “Why are you with that
Ami
?”

Anna bent over and put her cheek on her knees to put her face close to his. “You know, I have a little girl. Her name is Amalia. We came here and had nothing. The
Ami
gave me a job so we can have money and a place to live. That’s what I am doing here. It’s my job.”

“Working for the
Amis
? That’s not a job for a German woman.” He looked at her with cold eyes. She recognized the well-drilled tone of disdain and contempt that was the mark of party members and the thugs they empowered. She inhaled. “Well, the
Amis
are the ones that have the jobs to give now,” she said. “And I have to take care of my family. So here I am.”

“Where is your husband?”

She decided to play along for a few more rounds. “He stayed behind in Thuringia. He is a doctor there, in charge of the hospital.”

“You should have stayed with him. Your place is with him, not here with the
Amis
.”

She knew he was only mimicking what he had been taught but his tone irked her.
Damned Nazis. Now even this had to be undone
. “Tell me Oskar, how old are you?” she asked.

He hesitated. “I am eight years old.”

“You have been through a lot at eight years old.”

He had never known a world where people didn’t bark orders at others, shame them or belittle them, threaten, coerce or terrify them.

“I wanted to fight, but it was over before I got old enough.” He sat up straight and crossed his arms. “I was going to fly airplanes. I was going to bomb
their
cities and
their
houses. So they would know what it feels like. But now I can’t even do that.” He slumped again.

Anna reached out to place a hand on his back, but he jerked away. “I would never work for the
scheiss
Amis
. You are a disgrace.”

Anna sighed. “Yes, perhaps I am. But for now let’s worry about you. Why don’t you tell me why you are here?”

Oskar stood up and walked down the stairs to the gravel path. He kicked at the stones and dragged his feet in the dust, making a scraping sound Anna had always found irritating. She settled in for the waiting game.

Cooper’s American footsteps approached behind her.
Decisive, confident. “So, Frau Klein, how’s it going? He talking or what?” He smiled at the boy who glared up at him.

“Not yet. Give me some more time please, Captain. He’s very upset.”

Cooper sighed. “Frau Klein, we have to move on. You can talk to him in the jeep. We’ll take him to the camp and they’ll sort him out. Find his family or whatever he needs.” He held a hand out to pull Oskar to his feet. “Come on son, we’ll take you somewhere safe,” he said, his voice too loud.

“What’s he shouting about?” Oskar asked Anna.

“He says we’ll take you to the American camp. They have doctors there and they’ll take care of you.”

“I don’t need a doctor. I am not going with you.” The boy shoved his hands into his pockets

“They can help you find your family,” Anna said.

“I told you, my parents are dead,” he said. “Thanks to his bombs.” He pointed at Cooper, and before Anna could stop him, he jumped up and ran around the side of the building.

“Now what?” Cooper shouted.

Anna stood and started after the boy. “His family died in a bombing raid. Just let me talk to him, please.” She turned the corner and stopped. Oskar had disappeared down a set of stairs leading to a basement. She shook her head and followed him into the dank blackness behind the door.

“Oskar? I know you are in here,” she called out as she felt her way along a stone wall. “Listen to me, child. Your family died in the bombs? Well this is something we share, you and me. My family did too. My mother and my father.” She paused but only silence responded. “So, now you can believe me. I can help you. We can find you a real home. You don’t have to live here anymore. And you don’t have to be alone.”

Her eyes were slow to adjust to the darkness. She stood still and listened, but no sound came. A click, and then a dirty yellow light hovered in the center of the room. Oskar stood, one arm still raised to hold the cord of the bare bulb.

Anna blinked. For a moment she couldn’t focus on anything but the boy, but then the details of the room sharpened. The space was small with a low ceiling and dirt floor. Rows of shelves lined the back wall and stacks of large, flat packages leaned upright against each other like files in a cabinet. To the right more crates were stacked on the floor almost to the ceiling, an empty gilded frame as big as a bed sat abandoned in the corner. Anna turned slowly. She had expected to find a stash of canned food, household goods, or some furniture hidden for safekeeping. The only furniture was a long table along the left wall, also piled high with paintings and frames. Underneath the table a large landscape painting leaned against the wall. Next to it, flat on the floor, a portrait of an elegantly dressed man stared up at her. There was a still life of flowers and a bowl of fruit against a dark background, a painting of a woman in a yellow dress twirling a string of pearls between her fingers, and a small painting of Christ on the cross with Mary at his feet.