“You keep Liesl out of trouble. That’s enough of a job for anyone.” Sally smiled at the baby she considered hers. She couldn’t help it. Liesl, sensing she was being talked about, looked up from the hole she was digging with her hands and giggled.
“Look at her, you can’t see any pink on her skin anymore, it’s all mud.”
“She’ll wash.”
“Aunt Sally, can we collect the eggs now?” Tom stood in front of her, his shadow, Ruth, standing behind him.
“Later Tom, it’s a little too early.”
“Aww, please. I want to show Ruth I can get them without Mrs. Hitler pecking me.”
Sally threw her eyes up to heaven. “Go on then but don’t break them. Maggie and I have to bake cakes tomorrow. For the cake sale.”
Tom and Ruth ran off toward the chicken shed.
“Wish they were as keen on cleaning the shed as they are on collecting eggs. Maggie Ardle, you never told me how much dirt, chickens make.”
“If I had, you wouldn’t have got them, now would you?” Maggie replied.
Rachel laughed. “You two are like little children sometimes, always teasing each other.”
“How’s Goebbels and Goering doing?” Maggie asked Rachel.
Rachel wrinkled her nose. “They smell so bad. Constable Halton is sorry he decided to keep the village pigs near the station. Said he should have set them up in the wild, especially when the wind blows a certain way.”
Maggie rubbed her stomach. “I can’t wait for a decent fry up. Fresh eggs and bacon.”
Rachel pretended to be ill.
“I know you don’t want to eat the pigs when they are slaughtered but you will be glad of the chocolate I get.”
Puzzled, Rachel asked, “how can you turn Goebbels and Goering into chocolate?”
“We can trade your share with Mr. Callaghan at the shop.”
“My share? I don’t own those pigs.”
“You do. I took out a share in your name. You deserve it, aren’t you the one who takes the scraps down there every day?”
“Oh.” Rachel didn’t look too certain.
“Maggie’s teasing you love. Not about the chocolate but about the pigs. All the families who feed them will get an equal share.”
“That’s better. I don’t think mama would like me to be involved with pigs. She was very strict about keeping kosher while we were growing up. But then things changed and it wasn’t possible any more. One of her uncles starved to death as he wouldn’t eat non-kosher food.”
Sally looked at Maggie. What could you say to that?
“Rachel, try to think of happier times,” Maggie said, squeezing the girl’s hand. “Speaking of which, do you want to help us bake cakes tomorrow?”
“Me? I would but I am up at the hospital tomorrow, working the early shift.”
“Silly me, I forgot about that. I bet your pretty face makes our boys feel better.”
“Maggie!” Rachel blushed, her pink cheeks making her look prettier. “I best get home and do some reading for my English class. Reverend Collins likes to check my progress.”
The girl almost ran out of the garden leaving Maggie and Sally laughing behind her.
“I love days like this.”
“Me too Sally, love, me too.”
Sally cut open the envelope, not recognizing the handwriting on the front. She gasped as she saw the signature.
“What’s wrong?” Maggie and Susan asked in unison. They’d gathered in Sally’s kitchen to bake some cakes for the Women’s Institute meeting.
“News of Derek?” Maggie asked, as Sally remained quiet.
Sally shook her head. “It’s Harry, he’s finally written and he’s safe. Living on the Isle of Man.” Sally quickly scanned the letter. Taking a seat, she read it out to her friends.
Mrs. David Duncan
10 Merryfield Terrace
Douglas, Isle of Man.
[date]
Dear Sally
I’m sorry for not writing. This is the first time I have had paper. I met a lady in the village, she is very nice and has promised to send this for me. If you write back to the above address, she will keep the letter for me.
How are Tomas and Liesl? Please tell them I am fine and looking forward to seeing you all again soon.
I have a new friend, Joseph. The same men who arrested me picked him up sometime later. He worries about his mother who wasn’t home when the army came to pick him up and the army refused to let him write a note to explain. An old employer of Joseph’s mother moved to England and rescued Joseph and his mother from Frankfurt, Germany. The old man got her a job here. But he has written to her now, so hopefully, she is happy.
Can you please help me find out what happened to another friend, a Mr. Stephen Hillman? He’s lived in England since the last World War when he met and married his wife. He never got his papers. He was very kind to us, protected us from the worst of the camp. Not from the guards. They were alright. It was the Nazis they arrested who hate us Jews. Even in the camp where everyone was locked up and subjected to the same rules about food and such, they make our lives miserable. Things could have gotten bad for me and Joseph, if not for Mr. Hillman. The guards respected and liked him, as he could speak good English.
I think he was lonely, as his wife died in a bombing raid. Mr. Hillman stopped them sending me and Joseph on the Arandora Star.. He had to go and we wanted to leave with him but we heard the boat sank. We hope he survived. Can you find out?
After they took Mr. Hillman and the others away, they rounded us up but wouldn’t tell us where we were going. The guards who looked after us were worse than those who arrested us. The new ones had been to somewhere called Dunkirk and they hated us. They didn’t care we were Jews, not Nazis. They spat in our water, beat
