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16
The day was bright and sunny.Nacha leaned her back against the wall as she stared out the window at the world below.They were seven stories up, but it felt like a thousand.It might as well have been, for all the good it did her.
She could see a green park from her window.It was unkempt, with long, weedy grass and rusted play equipment, but it was a park and there were children playing in a dirty sandpit.Their laughter was too far away to be heard, but she could imagine it.And she longed to be out there, enjoying a sunny day in the park, even if she was too old to play.
With a sigh, she leaned her head back and let her eyes drift shut as she hugged the embroidered pillow her mother made to her stomach.
“What are you mooning about?”Nathan asked, taking a seat beside her.He sat half on her feet, and she quickly pulled them out of his way.
“Don’t be annoying.”She frowned.“What are you eating?”
“Bread,” he replied around a bite.
“Ugh.Don’t talk with your mouth full.”She rolled her eyes.“I’m bored, that’s all.”
“Me too,” he said.
She offered him a smile.“Cards?”
He grinned.“Okay.”
She’d brought a pack with her out of the ghetto to Waltrina’s apartment, and from there to Irka’s.Waltrina’s brother had been imprisoned by the Nazis for supposed crimes against the Reich, but his wife remained behind in their apartment and had room enough for the Wierzbicka family to stay.
“Only for a few weeks, though,” she’d said when they first arrived as she wrung her hands together.“My neighbours are nosy, and I’m afraid it won’t take long for them to work it all out.”
They’d agreed to four weeks, and their time in the apartment was almost at an end.As bored as Nacha had been for the past few weeks, she couldn’t help fearing what was to come.So far, Tata hadn’t told her the plan.She was fairly certain he didn’t have one.And Jan was no better.The two of them hadn’t been alone since their trip to the movie theatre, so she couldn’t weasel any more information out of him.
All she knew for certain was that he’d continued working at the market with his mother and Walter every day in hopes that he’d find a way back into the ghetto.But so far neither he nor Walter had managed it.There were guards everywhere, he’d said.It was hopeless.
He didn’t tell them more than that, and she wondered if it was because he wished to shield her.She wanted to know everything—what was happening, what was it like, who remained in the ghetto after all this time?But he was reluctant to talk about it and she didn’t have the chance to pry any deeper, since Tata was always there, hovering nearby, shooting her disapproving looks.
Waltrina rarely came to the apartment other than to bring them supplies.She was worked off her feet at the market and doing what she could to help those Jews who managed to escape the ghetto.
She’d taken it upon herself to give as much food and as many medical supplies as she could manage to whoever needed it.They had money to pay, and she had connections at the market.So far, it’d worked well for all of them—no matter what else was going on, Nacha’s family had never gone hungry, thanks to Waltrina and Jan.
Waltrina’s sister-in-law, Irka, was also frequently gone.She worked as a seamstress at a local fabric shop, which paid a pittance.But it kept her occupied and gave her enough money to buy food.Waltrina had made sure Irka was taken care of ever since her husband went to prison, and Irka showed her gratitude by allowing the Wierzbicka family to stay.
Nacha and Nathan played a game of Hearts for the next hour, only stopping to fetch a glass of water from the small kitchen.Nathan cheated, or at least Nacha accused him of cheating, after which he put her in a headlock and she beat him with her palms against his back until he let her go, laughing.
It wasn’t fair that he was so much bigger and stronger than she was.He treated her like a baby most of the time, and she longed to trip him over or put him in a headlock sometime just to show him how it felt.But for the most part, they got along.
Only now they were stuck inside a small single bedroom apartment together with nowhere to go and nothing to do besides the few chores that it took to keep the place tidy and prepare food for the group.
When Jan knocked on the door and Irka let him in, kissing him on each cheek, Nacha wanted to shout for joy.Not only because she was glad to see Jan, but because she was grateful to have contact with anyone from outside of her immediate family.
She missed her grandparents desperately and there was a constant irritation burning in her gut over where they were and what they might be doing, since she hated not knowing.But now Jan was there.Surely he’d have some good news for them.
“Jan,” she said, rushing to see him.
She embraced him before remembering herself and that everyone was watching them.She backed away awkwardly, her cheeks blazing.He grinned, his own face red.
“I’m happy to see you,” she said.
“I am too,” he replied.
Tata shook Jan’s hand with a broad smile.“It’s good to see you, Jan.How are your mother and sisters?”
“They’re well.I brought you some turnips and a sack of potatoes.”He lifted a string bag onto the kitchen bench.
