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25
4thMarch 1943
Time ticked by so slowly.Nacha sat on her bed and stared out the window at the street below.Her street.Her home.The place where she’d spent years of her life.It wasn’t the same anymore now that the rest of the family was gone.When they’d returned to the apartment, Babcia and Papa’s bodies were missing.Someone had collected them.But their bloodstains were on the pillows, and the stench still filled the closed apartment.
Since then, they’d cleaned the place from top to bottom.It gave Nacha and Nathan something to do.Tata spent each day meeting with the ZOB leaders and shouting about revolution and fighting back against the Nazis.He came home tired, his hair dishevelled and his tie askew.But he rarely spoke to either of them about what he’d done or what’d been discussed.
With a sigh of boredom, Nacha skipped down the stairs to the kitchen.She might as well get started on makinggolabki, the little cabbage rolls Nathan loved so much, for supper.There was nothing else to do.No one around to spend time with, even if Tata would let her out of the apartment.
She was entirely alone, especially when Nathan accompanied Tata to the ZOB meetings.She’d asked if she could go, but Tata still saw her as a little girl and didn’t want to place her in danger.She wanted to point out that she was a prisoner in a Nazi ghetto with the constant threat of deportation to an extermination camp hanging over her head, danger was her everyday reality.But she held back the retort, knowing it wouldn’t help him feel any better.He had enough stress to deal with, let alone an argumentative daughter.
Besides, she didn’t really want to be part of the ZOB meetings.She’d only asked to go, to give herself something to do and so she might have someone to talk to other than her brother and father.She looked forward to each of Jan’s visits more than ever before.He came almost every day to bring supplies, check in on them and update them on Waltrina’s search for a suitable apartment.
When he showed up at the front door an hour later, she was up to her elbows in mashed potato dough.
She called out, “Come in.The door isn’t locked.”
He pushed through the door and shut it behind him with a frown.“Why isn’t the door locked?”
“I was hoping you’d come, and I’ve got my hands deep in this pastry.”She grinned and blew a lock of hair out of her face with a puff of air.
He laughed.“You have potato smeared all over your cheek.”
She tried to brush it away with the back of her hand, but it adhered to her hand as well.
He stepped closer with a chuckle.“No, you made it worse.”He reached up a hand and brushed her cheek gently.He was so close, she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face.His eyes were blue and sparkled as they met her gaze.
She blushed.“Thank you.”
He took a step back.“I came to give you the good news.”
“What’s that?”she asked as she kneaded the dough with both hands.
“We found an apartment.It’s time for you all to come home.”
The celebrationat the new apartment that night was enthusiastic, but quiet.They chatted and laughed, drank and ate.There were thegolabkithat Nacha had made and packaged up to carry with them to the Aryan side once Tata and Nathan came home from the ZOB meeting.Waltrina had made piles ofpierogi, steaming hot along with mounds of vegetables fresh from the market.
They sat around in their new kitchen, at the Kostanskis’ table, and ate until they could eat no more.Nacha couldn’t remember being so happy in all her life.The Kostanskis were there, they were together again.The only dampener on her joy was the fact that Babcia, Papa, and her aunts, uncles and cousins couldn’t be there.
She prayed any that had survived so far were safe and that she might see them again when all this was over.It was a pipe dream, she knew, but so far they’d managed to survive against the odds when it seemed impossible.
“I’d like to propose a toast,” Tata said, raising his glass of black-market wine in the air.
Everyone stopped talking and eating to raise their glasses high as well.Nacha couldn’t stop smiling.
“To Waltrina, Jan, Jadzia and Danuta—we are so very grateful for you.We wouldn’t be here without you.”
“To the Kostanskis,” echoed Nathan and Nacha.
They all drank at once.Waltrina gazed lovingly at Tata, and they all pretended not to notice that the two of them held hands beneath the table.
“I miss Babcia,” Nacha said, her heart aching.“But I’m glad I have all of you.”
Everyone fell silent and the mood shifted.
Waltrina jumped to her feet with a forced smile.“I have a surprise.”She bustled into the bedroom and returned with Tata’s violin, still in its case.“You left this at Irka’s the first time, since you didn’t want to take it to the ghetto with you.She gave it to me months ago, and I haven’t had an opportunity to return it.”
Waltrina handed the violin case to Tata, who opened it and lovingly brushed his fingers over the strings.
