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“Hey, you!”shouted the officer again, his voice growing louder.“Wait right there.I want to see your papers.”
“Hurry,” whispered Antoni.
The four of them scurried along the footpath, dodging and ducking between pedestrians.As they drew closer to the taxi rank, the last of the people in line stepped into a shiny black cab.They were at the head of the line.
Jan stood on tiptoe and saw that the policeman had left his position in the intersection and was pursuing them down the street at a clipped pace.He scanned the road for any sign of a taxi.He saw one making its way slowly towards them behind a large truck full of sheep.The truck lurched and swayed as it ground down the gears, then back up again.
“It’s as if he’s never driven before,” spat Antoni in frustration.
The policeman marched closer, almost within speaking distance now, as Jan waited impatiently for the cab to pull up to the curb in front of them.Finally, the truck inched its way past them, and the taxi parked in front of them.
Without waiting for the driver to get out and open the door for them, the four quickly piled into the back seat.
“Otwock, and in a hurry!”shouted Antoni.
The driver’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but he complied with a quick shift of pace, pressing his foot to the accelerator and pulling away just as the police officer rushed towards them through the press of the crowd.He reached out a hand to grasp the door handle, but he was too late.
As the car merged into traffic, Jan lay back against the seat with a sigh, his heart thudding so loud, he could feel it.
“Phew!That was close,” whispered Nathan.
“Shh,” admonished Antoni with a glance at the driver.
“Where in Otwock?”asked the man as he changed gears.
“The sanatorium,” replied Antoni.
“That’s in the ghetto now.But I can get you close.”
Smugglingthe Wierzbickas into the Otwock ghetto was easier than Jan had thought it would be.The guards were relaxed and didn’t follow protocol when it came to walking the fence line.The locals ignored them completely, and the Jewish Police inside the ghetto were nowhere to be seen.
Once they were in, Jan helped the family locate an abandoned apartment.The houses in the ghetto were like nothing Jan had ever seen before.They passed by woodenSwidermajervillas that looked as though they’d fallen from the pages of a fairy tale.The villas were large, with wide wooden verandahs on the bottom and top levels.
“Wow, look at that one,” said Nacha, pointing at a particularly impressive blue building with glistening glass windows on three levels and sweeping gardens.
“This is where the wealthy used to come to relax.It’s close to the sanatorium, and holiday makers would come here in the summer months to bathe and rest in the sunshine.Of course, all that was before the war and before they turned Otwock into a ghetto.”
Before long, they found a small grouping of apartments and one that was empty.They carried their suitcases up the dark stairwell and into the apartment.
Antoni and Nathan explored the adjoining rooms in the small, dank space.Nacha pulled open the curtains to let light in, but the window was stuck.Jan helped her open it and their hands touched for a single moment, sending a spark of electricity along his skin and up his arm.
He blushed and offered her a brief smile.
“I suppose you’ll leave now,” she said.
Jan thought she sounded disappointed.Likely she was sad to have to move on yet again, and into a ghetto so far from everything she knew.They’d be strangers here, would know no one.He hated to leave them, but he had to get back to Mama and his sisters.
“Mama will be waiting for me.”
“I know she’s worried.”
“Not so very much.She’s grown accustomed to it.”He laughed.“She says I don’t give her a chance to relax between attacks of anxiety and so she’s become immune to their effects.”
Nacha grinned.“I wonder if that’s what’s happened to me as well.I can’t seem to feel afraid any longer, only despondent.”
Jan studied her face—brown eyes so full of light and warmth, long brown hair pulled back into a braid with a blue scarf wrapped neatly over it.Her smile was delightful and her laughter contagious.He’d known her for as long as he could remember, but something was different now.
Antoni returned from the other room with a sneeze.“Well, there is plenty of dust, but it is safe and dry enough.Thank you, Janek.”
