Page 88 of The Watchmaker of Dachau

‘She’s a lovely woman, Friedrich. She likes to cook, and she likes to garden, making beautiful things grow from the soil. We’ll sit in the garden together when I get home, and we will talk and laugh, and I’ll tell her all about you.’

‘Can I come and see her?’

‘Not yet. But one day.’

‘I don’t want to leave.’ Friedrich sniffed and felt a tear roll down his cheek. ‘I don’t want to go with them. Can I please stay with you, and I will come with you and see your wife? I can help her in the garden, and I can help you in the shop fixing watches.’

‘Ah, yes! The shop. Here.’ Isaac gave him a scrap of paper with an address written on it. ‘You keep this, and when you are older, I want you to go to my shop.’

‘Will you be there?’ Friedrich asked.

‘Probably not. It may not even be a shop then. But, if you count eighteen floorboards from the front door and walk due north, you will find one floorboard that is nailed down with gold-tipped nails. Open this floorboard, Friedrich, for there is a treasure inside that is for you, and for you only.’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s a surprise. Promise me though, promise me you will remember, and you will go?’

‘I promise. I will memorise the address just like my Latin teacher taught me to do. I will memorise it and when I am old enough, I will go straight to your shop and I will find it.’

‘Thank you,’ Isaac said, and pulled him even closer to his body. ‘Thank you, Friedrich.’

Friedrich heard his name being shouted – his mother. He didn’t want her to come to the shed. ‘I have to go.’

He felt Isaac relax his hold on him, then a light kiss on the top of his head. ‘You take care of yourself now, Friedrich. You be who you are. Help people. Be kind. Always be kind.’

Friedrich stood, his mother calling his name louder now.

‘Go, go – you need to go,’ Isaac said.

Friedrich suddenly flung himself at Isaac and took him in an embrace, allowing Isaac to rest his head on his shoulder for a moment, not wanting to let go.

‘Go, go now.’ Isaac’s voice was muffled, tears falling from his eyes. ‘Go now.’

Friedrich stood, wiping his face with the back of his hand. He reached the door, then turned. ‘I love you, Isaac. You have been my best friend. Even better than Otto.’

Isaac gave a watery smile, then waved. ‘And you, Friedrich. And you.’

Chapter 34

Anna

Anna had been packing all night. She and Greta had stayed in the kitchen drinking strong coffee as they folded Liesl’s clothes, boxed hats and sorted shoes. Liesl and Herr Becher argued most of the night, their screams at each other bouncing off the walls.

‘If they make it to where they are going without killing each other, I’ll eat my own hat!’ Greta exclaimed, shoving a cream day hat into a box, denting the top.

Anna grinned – first there would be broken plates on her arrival and now a dented, unwearable hat.

It was Friedrich that Anna worried for. The boy was paler than usual, his face betraying every feeling that rushed through his body – fear, anger, sadness. She had wanted to hold him to her, to say that everything was going to be all right, but she couldn’t, and she knew he would not believe her words.

As she helped Liesl carry a suitcase out to one of the cars, she saw the back of Isaac retreating to the garden.

When she returned to the kitchen, the back door was wide open and Friedrich was opening the shed door. She would give him a moment to say goodbye before fetching him, lest his mother find him in there.

As tired as she felt, there was a fluttering in her stomach, the same as when it was her birthday and she couldn’t sleep with excitement. She knew it was foolish. She had been told that upon getting back to the camp, they were to be evacuated, led away by SS guards, all of them holding guns.

Why she thought she would see the Americans she did not know, but perhaps, just perhaps there was a chance.

Caught in her own thoughts, she did not hear Liesl calling for Friedrich and did not hear her footfall on the kitchen tiles. It was only when she was by her side, her cloying perfume taking the air away from her, that she realised it was too late.