Tales From the Secret Annex Part 2

What was to be done with Paula? The crew talked it over and decided that they had no other choice than to keep her with them. She heard them say they were flying to Russia to bomb the Russian lines.

With a sigh, she lay down on a bench and fell asleep. Bim ham boom. . . suddenly Paula sat up straight and stared at the men out of wide-open eyes. But n.o.body had time to bother with her, because the Russians were shoot- ing at the enemy plane for all they were worth. All of a sudden, Paula screamed, the benches trembled, the windows crashed, and a couple of sh.e.l.ls fell inside the plane, a dive bomber, and the plane went down for a crash landing.

Some Russians came running and put the whole crew in handcuffs. You can imagine the funny look on these foreigners' faces when they suddenly saw a little girl of about thirteen standing in front of them. The Germans and Russians didn't understand a word of each other's lan- guage, so a young Russian took Paula by the hand and they followed the crew to a prison camp. The head of the camp laughed heartily at the sight of Paula standing there so unafraid. He didn't want to take this little girl prisoner along with the others, so he decided that he'd look around next day behind the front and see if he could find some simple people to take the little girl in until the war was over.

CHAPTER 3.

One rainy morning after she had spent about a week in the commander's office, Paula was led out just as she was and put in a big truck that was taking wounded soldiers to the hospital. For five hours the truck rattled and b.u.mped over the cobblestones, while outside a curtain of rain cut off the view. The loneliness of the road was relieved by a house here and there, but all those houses seemed dead. At the start of the trip, the roaring of cannon could still be heard in the distance, then it got gradually fainter, and in the end it stopped altogether.

Suddenly the road got busier, they pa.s.sed a few cars, and then the truck stopped outside a white house, painted from top to bottom with red crosses. The wounded men were carried inside, where they were taken in hand by friendly nurses.

When they were all out, the driver went on without a word. Another whole hour pa.s.sed, then he stopped again and Paula saw a fairly large farmhouse between the trees. The driver pointed in the direction of the house, and Paula understood that she was to get out. She stood on the road waiting for the driver, but before she knew what was happening, the truck disappeared and she was alone on the deserted road. She thought to herself: "What funny people the Russians are! Here in this foreign country they just leave me to my fate. I bet the Germans wouldn't do that!" (You must bear in mind that Paula was a German girl.) But then she remembered that the driver had pointed in the direction of the house. So she crossed the road, opened the gate, and found herself in a kind of fenced-in meadow. In front of the house she saw a woman who was working and a little girl who was hanging up washing.

Holding out her hand, Paula went up to the woman. All she said was: "Paula Muller." The woman also held out her hand after wiping it on her soaking-wet ap.r.o.n, and said: "Yustichiyarreya kolovnya." Paula thought that was her name, but it just meant: "Welcome here."

CHAPTER 4.

Mrs. Kantavoska (that was the woman's name) lived on that farm with her husband and three children. She also had a hired man and two maids. Three days earlier, she had received word that a girl of about thirteen would probably be arriving in the next few days. And in that case n.o.body else would be billeted in her house.

That suited Mrs. Kantavoska perfectly, and now she felt sure that this was the girl in question. It was hard for the Kantavoskas to tell Paula what to do. Try as she might, she didn't understand what they wanted of her. For the first two weeks she had difficulty in getting the Paula's Plane Trip 2 I food down, but since hunger is the best sauce, she soon got used to it, and believe it or not she began to help with the washing and sewing by copying the others.

So Paula stayed on, and when six months had pa.s.sed she understood Russian fairly well. At the end of another six months, she understood almost everything, and though it wasn't easy for her she even opened her mouth now and then. The Kantavoskas didn't notice any of Paula's naughtiness, she was much too clever for that; and besides, she didn't want to mess up her life there. She did her work, and since she really wasn't as clumsy as she always pretended to be at home, she gradually became a member of the family.

CHAPTER 5.

Two years after her arrival at the Kantavoskas, Paula was asked if she'd like to learn reading and writing. She accepted eagerly and from then on she went to reading and writing school three times a week with a girl from the neighborhood. She made quick progress and in twelve weeks she was able to read Russian. Along with the neighbor girl, she also learned dancing, and it wasn't long be- fore she could be seen dancing polkas and mazurkas at cafes for a few cents an evening. She gave half the money she made to Mother Kantavoska and kept the other half, because she had long been thinking up a way of getting out of that country.

CHAPTER 6.

She was now sixteen, she hadn't learned much and to Western ways of thinking she might have seemed pretty stupid. So she worked hard at her dancing and it wasn't long before she had saved money enough to pay for a ticket from Minsk (that was the district she was in) to Warsaw. "Once I'm in Warsaw," she thought, "the Red Cross is sure to send me the rest of the way."

No sooner said than done. One morning when she was supposed to be going to school, she packed her acc.u.mu- lated belongings in a bag and slipped away.

As she had foreseen, it was no joke walking from the Kantavoskas' farm to Minsk. A truck driver did give her a few hours' lift, but the rest of the way she walked, and it took hours and hours.

When she reached Minsk dead tired later in the after- noon, she went straight to the railroad station and in- quired about connections with Warsaw. To her horror she heard that the first train wouldn't be leaving until twelve the next day. She pleaded to see the stationmaster, and when he appeared she begged his permission to spend the night in the waiting room. Permission was granted and she was so tired she fell asleep in next to no time. When morn- ing came, she woke up stiff in every limb and asked in bewilderment where she was. But consciousness returned only too soon, because the grumbling of her stomach couldn't be ignored. This was a problem Paula hadn't ex- pected. There was a nice waitress at the station buffet and after hearing Paula's true story she gave her a genuine Russian bun. She spent the whole morning chatting with the waitress, and at twelve o'clock, fully revived and in the best of spirits, she boarded the Warsaw train.

CHAPTER 7.

When she got there, the stationmaster told her the way and she went straight to the house of the Red Cross nurses. She stayed longer than she had expected, because none of the nurses knew what to do with her. They had no addresses or anything of organizations that looked for people, and since Paula didn't have a red cent, the nurses could neither put her on a train nor let her starve. In the end, however, they decided they'd just have to buy Miss X a ticket to Berlin, because Paula had told them that once she was in Berlin she'd have no trouble finding her way home.

Paula's parting with the nurses was affectionate and then she took the train again. At the next station a nice young man got in, who soon struck up a conversation with the bold-looking girl. All through the trip Paula could be seen in the company of the handsome young soldier, and when they left the train in Berlin they arranged to meet each other soon.

Paula started out at once and soon reached the house of her parents, but everything was empty and deserted. It had never entered her head that her parents might have moved in the meantime. What was she to do? Again she went to the Red Cross and told them her story in her broken German. Again she was taken in and fed, but was only allowed to stay there for two weeks.

The only news she had of her parents was that her mother had left Berlin to look for work somewhere else and that her father had been drafted in the last year of the war and was lying wounded in some hospital.

Quickly she went looking for a job as a housemaid, and when she had found one she met Erik, the handsome young man, who found her an engagement in a cabaret three evenings a week. So the Russian dances came in handy again.

CHAPTER 8.

Paula had been dancing for quite some time when one evening in the cabaret it was announced that in two weeks' time a big dance recital would be given for the benefit of convalescent soldiers who had recently been discharged from various hospitals. Paula was given a big part in this affair. She had to practice a lot, and when she came home late at night she was so tired she could hardly drag herself out of bed at seven o'clock in the morning. Her only con- solation was Erik. Their friendship had grown stronger and deeper, and Paula would really not have known what to do without him. When the big night came, Paula had stage fright for the first time in her life. It seemed so odd having to dance just for men. But she had no choice, the opportunity was too good to be missed, mainly because now she'd have a little more money.

The show went off well and as soon as it was over Paula went straight to the hall to be with Erik. All of a sudden she stopped in her tracks, because right there in front of her stood her own father, talking with another soldier. With a cry of joy, she ran over to him and threw her arms around him.

Her father, who had grown old in the meantime, looked up. He was completely flabbergasted, because he didn't recognize his daughter, either on the stage or now. She actually had to introduce herself.

CHAPTER 9.

A week later Paula could be seen walking into the sta- tion at Frankfurt on the Main, arm in arm with her father. They were welcomed by Paula's deeply moved mother, who all that time had been hoping in vain for her daugh- ter's return.

When she had told her mother the whole story, her fa- ther asked her jokingly if she'd care to get into "that plane over there" and fly back to Russia.

The reader needs to know that this story took place dur- ing the war of 1914-18, when the Germans were victo- rious in their Russian campaign.

Kathy

February 11, 1944

Kathy sat on the big boulder that lay in the sun in front of the farm. She was thinking, thinking very hard. Kathy was one of those quiet girls. What the youngster in the dirndl ap.r.o.n was thinking about, she alone knew; she never told her thoughts to anyone-she was much too withdrawn for that. She had no friends and probably would have found it hard to get any. Her mother found her a strange child, and the pity of it was that Kathy felt that. Her father, the farmer, was much too busy to concern himself with his only little daughter. And so Kathy was always by herself. It didn't disturb her; she didn't know any better and was soon satisfied.

But on this warm summer evening she sighed deeply as she looked up and glanced at the cornfields. How jolly it would be to play with those girls over there. Look, they ran about, and laughed; what fun they were having! Now the children came closer, and still closer -- would they come to her? Oh, how awful, they came--but to laugh at her. She clearly heard them mention her name, not her real name, but the nickname that she hated so much and that she often heard the children whisper -- Crazykate!

Oh, how miserable she felt; if she could only run into the house, but if she did, the children would laugh at her all the more. Poor girl, it surely isn't the first time that you have felt so forsaken and envied to other young- sters. . .

"Kathy! Kathy, come home! We are having supper!" Another sigh, and the child slowly rose to obey her mother.

"My, what a cheerful face! We surely have a happy daughter!" the farmer's wife cried when the child, more slowly and more depressed than ever, entered the room. "Can't you say something for yourself?" scolded the woman. Her tone was more unfriendly than she herself knew; her daughter never had been the bright, lively girl she had always wanted.

"Yes, Mother," whispered the child.

"You're a fine one, staying away all morning and not doing a stroke of work. Where have you been?"

"Outside." Kathy felt as though she had a gag in her throat, but the mother misunderstood the girl's embar- ra.s.sment and now really became curious where the child had been all morning. Again she asked:

"Answer me properly; I want to know where you have been, do you understand? I can't stand that everlasting, slow-witted, crazy behavior!"

At the word that reminded her of the detested nick- name, Kathy lost control of herself and burst into tears.

"What is the matter now? You're a real coward! Can't you tell me where you've been hanging out? Or is that perhaps a big secret?"