Mila 18 - Leon Uris

“I have quit,” Andrei said.

“What are you going to do?” Gaby asked.

“Try to contact the Home Army. They’ll give me a command. The Home Army needs men like me. They won’t argue and quibble, they’ll fight—tired of all this damned arguing—all this dealing with Kleperman.”

Gaby watched him mumble aimlessly.

“Roman. That’s the name of the commander of the Home Army in the Warsaw district Roman. I’ll get to him somehow. You’ll stick with me, Gaby?”

“You know I will.”

He put his arms about her waist and buried his head in her belly, and she stroked his hair. “Are you certain?”

“I am certain—absolutely certain.”

Rachael and Wolf lay side by side on the bed, awed by the magnificence of their experience.

Wolf was completely exhausted. Rachael held him and petted him, and her lips sought him again and again.

She felt so elated from the wonderment of fulfillment.

It was not ugly or difficult. She felt no shame when they saw each other for the first time. Wolf had been so gentle and tender. He knew the awkwardness in her.

He was happy. She had made him happy. He was tired, but he wanted her to touch him.

Poor dear Wolf, Rachael thought. He is so shy he cannot say words he wants to, but I feel every word he wants to tell me by the way he touches my breast and kisses me and whispers to me.

It felt good ... so good ... and I am so proud I was able to be a woman for his sake. Now anything can happen and it won’t be quite so bad.

I am so sleepy. ... Uncle Andrei must be furious. I hope he went to see Gabriela, because I’m not going to leave. I’m going to snuggle close and sleep for a little while, then I’ll wake him up and try it again. ...

Chapter Twenty-five

Journal Entry

NO ONE HAS SEEN Andrei for ten days. We assume that he is living on the Aryan side. After so many years of working together, it is difficult to believe he is really gone. None of us knew till now what a symbol of security he was. It has been a terrible blow to the morale here at Mila 19.

We now operate ninety soup kitchens and have some twenty thousand children under the care of Orphans and Self-Help.

Dr. Glazer tells me we have a new trouble, venereal disease. Before the war, prostitution was never a Jewish social problem. Nowadays I hear more and more of wives and daughters, many from fine old Orthodox families, taking to the streets.

For a family to get a daughter married to a Jewish militiaman is an achievement.

Tommy Thompson has been evicted from Poland. We have lost a dear friend. However, we have been expecting it for a long time. Ana Grinspan has already made a new contact to pass in American Aid funds. Believe it or not, a chap named Fordelli, who is the second secretary at the Italian Embassy. Although he is a good Fascist, he takes exception to the German treatment of the Jews. Is Ana having an affair with him?

ALEXANDER BRANDEL

Alex was instinctive about bad news. The moment Ervin Rosenblum walked into his office he knew something had gone wrong. Ervin paced and wrung his hands.

“Out with it.”

“My pass to the Aryan side has been revoked.”

“Has De Monti protested?”

“He left for the eastern front four days ago. He doesn’t know yet.”

“Confidentially, it is just as well you are inside the ghetto with us.”

“But all the contacts on the Aryan side ...”

“It was getting more difficult for you to see anyone, and De Monti refused to co-operate. You were being watched every minute. Ervin, I’ve been thinking. You can fit right in here at Mila 19. We need you in several positions.”

“Like for example?”

“Orphans and Self-Help cultural director. Nu, don’t shrug and make faces. The arrangement of debates, concerts, theater, chess tournaments becomes more and more important to give the people something to think about other than misery. What do you say?”

“I say that you are a good friend.”

“Another thing. The Good Fellowship Club. I can’t keep up with all the material coming in to the journal. I have been thinking for a long time. Build a secret room in the basement. With you putting time in, we could really expand the archives.”

Ervin shrugged at what he felt was charity.

“Think it over, Ervin. Let me know.”

That evening Susan Geller came to Ervin’s flat. Since the ghetto, they had had little time for each other. Susan was nearly completely married to the orphanage and Ervin was on the Aryan side most of the time. They met about once a week at Good Fellowship Club meetings, usually too weary to pursue personal pleasures. Their unofficial engagement seemed destined to go unresolved.

“Susan!” Momma Rosenblum cried with delight.

“Hello, Momma Rosenblum.”

“You heard?”

“Yes.”

“So maybe cheer him up a little.”

Ervin sat on the edge of his bed, staring glumly at the hole in the toe of his bedroom shoe. She sat beside him, creaking the bed.

“So maybe you’ve come to pray over the corpse,” he said.

“Shut up. Alex has offered you a responsible position. So, stick up your nose. Be a martyr.”

“I am glad you stopped by to cheer me up with your tender consolation.”

“Ervin, you’ll take the job?”

“I have a choice, maybe?”

“Stop krechtzing. Alex is very excited about the plans for a secret room in the basement. You know how important the work on the journal is.”

“All right all right I’m bubbling with happiness.”

“Confidentially, Ervin, I am just as happy that you don’t go to the Aryan side any more. I have been afraid for you, even with your fancy super-official papers.”

“That’s something. I didn’t think you had time to think about me.”

“Ugh, you are in a mood. Of course I think about you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Ervin,” she said, taking his hand, “on the way here I was giving this all a great deal of meditation. We’re not getting any younger and God knows I’ll never grow pretty. With conditions as they are and so forth and so forth and so forth, perhaps we should consider getting married. In addition to the fact that already we should be having a little pleasure now and then, there are very practical reasons. For example, you’ll be working at Mila 19 most of the time. It will be difficult for you to keep up this flat. So, why should we waste space? If we are married, Alex will give us our own room on the second floor and you can move Momma in and so forth and so forth.”

He reached over and kissed her on the cheek. “How can a man resist a proposal like that?”

Journal Entry

Ervin and Susan were married yesterday by Rabbi Solomon. It is about time.

ALEXANDER BRANDEL

Chapter Twenty-six

CHRIS RETURNED TO WARSAW from the eastern front to find Rosy gone, his office and apartment thoroughly searched and filled with hidden microphones, and his private line to Switzerland unavailable.

He dialed Rosy’s number in the ghetto, to learn the phone was disconnected; then stormed to the Press Division at the Bristol Hotel, where his attempt to see Horst von Epp was thwarted by a minor bureaucrat.

“I am sorry, Mr. de Monti. Herr von Epp is in Berlin for a conference.”

“When will he be back?”

“I am sorry. I don’t have the information.”

“Well, where can I reach him in Berlin?”

“I am sorry. I don’t have that information.”

A second minor official was equally sorry and uninformative about the revoking of Ervin Rosenblum’s credentials, and a third minor official was sorry about the suspension of Chris’s wire to Switzerland.