Melanie was on her mind.
After working for hours with Melanie and Dr. G on the new code, the forced emotion she constantly heard in her friend wore on her. Enthusiasm, teasing about when she made a mistake, excitement when she got it correct. Each time it was all just a bit too ... false and cheery.
It hadn’t been even two weeks since the assault. Multiple times a day Chaisley asked Melanie how she was doing. Each response seemed calm and resolute.
But they weren’t honest.
Mel should know that Chaisley could tell. But when was the right time to push?
It must have been awful to experience how deep the hatred for Jews had grown. Prejudice had crescendoed frompianissimotofortissimowithout people even realizing it.
Mel seemed even more eager to do whatever they could. But she wouldn’t talk about what happened. When would the facade crumble? And would Chaisley be able to help her when it happened?
In the years prior to the tour—with all the planning and scheduling—another sonata had begun in Chaisley’s heart. It was slow and melancholy. Its purpose had been unclear at the time, but her conviction to listen and be ready for whatever the Lord held in store increased like a chorus of timpani in a grand finale. Perhaps she would play it at her next concert. Unlike her most recent composition, this piece stayed somber.
She climbed out of bed and put on her robe. Settling onto a couch in front of the fireplace in her room, she tucked her feet up under her.
It sickened her to think of the extent the Nazis had gone through to erase the reality of what they were doing. Melanie and Rick described the posters and signs they’d seen everywhere in Austria. How quickly they had been posted. Others told them such thingswere worse and rampant within Germany. When she’d asked why people hadn’t seen the propaganda during the Olympics in Germany, the response angered her. Hitler used his army and police and other loyal groups to take it all down when the world descended on Berlin.
They definitely put on a good show that stated, “Hey, we aren’t trying to start a war, so pay no attention here.” And for the most part, it worked.
Here in Switzerland, things didn’t seem as dire, but then, people kept to themselves. The Swiss didn’t want to side with anyone, but they didn’t want to allow refugees in. Chaisley wasn’t quite sure what to think of the country’s neutrality. Of course, Switzerland shared a border with Germany, so tensions had to be high. Saying they were neutral must be how they survived.
She needed to understand what it could be like to walk in the Swiss peoples’ shoes, even though she wanted to shout from the rooftops about the truth.
Funny. A few months ago, her thoughts had simply been to bring hope and entertainment to people through her music. But now? She prayed daily that God would let her be part of whatever it took to stop the Nazis.
She mentally went through the upcoming calendar. They would spend a couple weeks traveling around the country here and performing more than two dozen concerts, then they would head back to Austria for one more. It was one invitation she couldn’t decline. To do a private concert at Mirabell Palace in the Marble Hall. She’d accepted at the last minute before they’d left London. Of course, if she’d had any idea then that the Anschluss was about to take place, she’d never have agreed. Even so, she’d return. Maybe she’d be able to speak to Dr. Grafton’s contact in Salzburg one more time.
She’d been to the Mirabell Palace as a child with her parents and could still remember all the gold trim, inlays, and ornamentationin the room. Massive arched windows had giant circular windows above them. Even though she wouldn’tseeit again, she could picture it as it had been. It would be a delight to play the piano in a place with so many memories of Mum and Dad.
But ... who would the private audience be?
A shiver made the hair on her arms stand up.
After Salzburg, they would head to France and Belgium, and then they would go into Germany.
Her stomach twisted. It really was the lion’s den.
They were only scheduled to be in Germany for one week before heading into a lengthy tour in the Netherlands, then it would be back to France for a month, Spain a month after that. They had two weeks off and then dove right back into more concerts in Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
She was tired just thinking about it all.
A week in Germany wasn’t much time to find Mary Beth and her mother. But it was also an eternity to spend in the lair of the beast.
Several taps sounded on the door to the room connected to hers. “Come in.”
“Good morning. I’ve brought Rick with me and some pastries.” Melanie’s cheery voice still sounded a bit forced.
“Pastries sound great, but what’s wrong? Don’t even try to argue with me. I know your voice.”
Melanie’s huff was very unladylike. “Nothing’s wrong, per se, just something we need to discuss. I hate it that you can hear every intonation. I simply wanted to start the morning off happy.”
“Well, don’t try so hard next time.” Chaisley laughed along with her friend.
Rick sighed, and it sounded like he took a seat across from her. “Tell me, are you two like this all the time?”
“Yes.”
