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Carla spread fish paste on her bread. "Why do you have to be the same as the others?" she said. "Most of them are stupid. You told me Rudi Rothmann was the cleverest boy in the class."
"I don't want to be with Frenchy and Rudi!" Erik cried, and to his mortification he felt tears come to his eyes. "Why should I have to play with the boys no one likes?" This was what had given him the courage to defy his father: he could no longer bear to walk out of school with the Jews and the foreigners while all the German boys marched around the playing field in their uniforms.
They both heard a cry.
Erik looked at Carla and said: "What was that?"
Carla frowned. "It was Ada, I think."
Then, more distinctly, they heard: "Help!"
Erik got to his feet, but Carla was ahead of him. He went after her. Ada's room was in the basement. They ran down the stairs and into the small bedroom.
There was a narrow single bed up against the wall. Ada was lying there, her face screwed up in pain. Her skirt was wet and there was a puddle on the floor. Erik could hardly believe what he was seeing. Had she pissed herself? It was scary. There were no other grown-ups in the house. He did not know what to do.
Carla was scared, too--Erik could see it in her face--but she was not panicked. She said: "Ada, what's wrong?" Her voice sounded strangely calm.
"My waters broke," Ada said.
Erik had no idea what that meant.
Nor did Carla. "I don't understand," she said.
"It means my baby is coming."
"You're pregnant?" Carla said in astonishment.
Erik said: "But you're not married!"
Carla said furiously: "Shut up, Erik--don't you know anything?"
He did know, of course, that women could have babies when they were not married--but surely not Ada!
"That's why you went to the doctor last week," Carla said to Ada.
Ada nodded.
Erik was still trying to get used to the idea. "Do you think Mother and Father know?"
"Of course they do. They just didn't tell us. Fetch a towel."
"Where from?"
"The airing cupboard on the upstairs landing."
"A clean one?"
"Of course a clean one!"
Erik ran up the stairs, took a small white towel from the cupboard, and ran down again.
"That's not much good," Carla said, but she took it and dried Ada's legs.
Ada said: "The baby's coming soon, I can feel it. But I don't know what to do." She started to cry.
Erik was watching Carla. She was in charge now. It did not matter that he was the older one: he looked to her for leadership. She was being practical and staying calm, but he could tell that she was terrified, and her composure was fragile. She could crack at any minute, he thought.
Carla turned to Erik again. "Go and fetch Dr. Rothmann," she said. "You know where his office is."
