“Don’t the Germans stop you?”
“They haven’t yet. We make our moves by night, and hole up in some small inlet, under camouflage nets all day.” Hamilton led us aboard as the Partisans eyed us suspiciously. They were clad in a variety of uniforms, the only commonality a red star on their caps and a pervasive odor suggesting bathing facilities were hard to come by in the mountains of Yugoslavia. They were also well armed, here on this dock on the Italian coast, far from the front lines. Pistols and knives at their belts, Sten guns and rifles near at hand. These were men-and a few women-who lived on the edge, in that place where sudden violence could erupt at any moment, and you were either prepared for it or fell victim to it.
“Hamil-tone,” a voice boomed out from belowdecks, stretching out his name the same why Stjepan had. “Have you brought me those fucking excellent cigarettes?”
“Goddamn right I did, Randic,” Hamilton shouted. “Come up and meet our guests.”
The door to the companionway slammed open and a short, thickset man burst through. He embraced Hamilton and let loose with a volley of what I guessed was Serbian. He had long brown hair, sticking out at all angles from under his wool cap with the standard-issue red star. His mustache was broad and nicotine-stained, but it did little to hide his devilish grin.
“Hell with guests, where are my god-damn Lucky Strikes, you American bugger?”
“Right here,” Hamilton said, pulling two cartons from his pack. “Randic, this is Lieutenant Piotr Kazimierz and Lieutenant Billy Boyle.”
“Our freight, yes? Come, below,” Randic beckoned. We followed him down the narrow steps as Randic tore open one of the cartons of smokes. The main cabin was filled with stacked supplies: blankets, crates of ammo and Spam, brown greatcoats and medical supplies. Randic slid in on a bench and gestured for us to take a seat around a wooden table marked by cigarette burns and carved initials as he lit up.
“Randic is the commander of this detachment,” Hamilton said as he grabbed a bottle of wine and four glasses that could have used a scrubbing. He poured, and I figured the grimy glassware was all part of the boat’s disguise.
“God-damn all, Hamil-tone, I am,” Randic said. “But it is your boat and your supplies, so we must take these men north for you. Ziveli.”
“Ziveli,” Hamilton said, answering the toast. “Let us live long.”
“Funny, eh?” Randic said after he’d drained his glass. “How many dead men have made that toast?”
“Faol saol agat, gob fliuch, agus bas in Eirinn,” I said, raising my glass.
“What bloody god-damn language is that, my friend?” Randic said.
“Gaelic. It means ‘Long life to you, a wet mouth, and death in Ireland.’”
“I like it, you god-damn bugger. Life, wet mouth, death in your homeland. What else is there to drink to? You Irish from America?”
“Yes.”
“And you,” Randic said, pointing at Kaz. “Are you a son-of-a-bitch Romanian?”
“No, I am a son-of-a-bitch Pole, but I speak the language. Why?”
“Good,” Randic said, pushing his glass toward the wine bottle. Hamilton poured. “Your papers are excellent, but this one-Boyle-he looks too well fed, even for a god-damn priest. You, Pole, you are good. Skinny. Not much food in Rome, even for the Pope.”
“Did you get the clothes?” Hamilton asked, finishing off his second glass. He and Randic were puffing on Luckies and downing red wine as if they were in a drunkards’ race.
“Yes, yes, cassocks, shoes, everything you asked for, even underwear, all Italian.”
“Fellas, we need you to strip down and leave everything behind,” Hamilton said. “You’ll be outfitted as two priests traveling on church business would be. No weapons, nothing out of the ordinary. We have two small suitcases and some food for you to take along. Boyle, we didn’t change your name, to make it easier for you. Lieutenant Kazimierz, your Romanian name is Petru Dalakis.”
“Everything real,” Randic said. “God-damn Italian priests are freezing asses off now, eh?”
“You didn’t rob a couple of priests, did you?” I asked.
“Why? You holy boy? Kiss the Pope’s ass?”
“If two priests report their clothes were stolen, the Germans might be on the lookout for imposters. But what’s your beef with priests? And Italians for that matter? They’re on our side now, if you haven’t heard.”
“Beef?” Randic gave Hamilton a quizzical glance.
“He means what is your problem,” Hamilton said.
“Ah. Beef. God-damn funny language you have. First thing, no priests will make report,” Randic said, raising an eyebrow in Hamilton’s direction. Maybe he was kidding, maybe not. “Second thing, there is no now, where Italians are friends. There is only what has happened. It will always be that way. For you, perhaps, there is now. For us, never.” He rapped his fingers on the tabletop, grimy nails tapping out an insistent rhythm.
“Why?” I asked.
“Hamil-tone, do these boys know nothing?” Randic struck a match and lit an oil lamp, the wick catching, inky black smoke floating to the ceiling until the flame held. The sun hadn’t set, but the cabin was dark with shadows, smoke, and surliness.
“We know about the camps,” I said. “Concentration camps for Jews, Gypsies, and anyone else the Nazis want to kill.”
“I did not lose my family in god-damn camp,” Randic said. “Wife and two little boys were walking down the street in Valjevo, going to market. They pass hotel where Italian garrison lives. Italian soldier is on balcony, reading newspaper. Nice day to be outside. He sees my wife and children, puts down newspaper. Picks up machine gun. Shoots them in street. Puts down machine gun and goes back to newspaper. Do you think that man is my friend now? ”
“No,” I said, in a soft, weak voice. “Never.”
“God-damn right. Same thing with priests from Rome. You know the Ustashi?”
“Only that they’re Croatians, right?”
“Fuck, you know nothing. Marshal Tito is a Croat, and I would die for him. Ustashi are Croats, yes, but…” He waved his hand in the air, searching for the right words.
“Fanatics,” Hamilton said. “Right-wing, Roman Catholic fascist fanatics.”
“All that,” Randic said. “We are Serbian Orthodox Church. Ustashi want to kill or convert us. Prefer killing. Kill Jews, Muslims, Serbs, everyone. And your Pope, he loves them, that bugger Pius.”
“Listen, we’re not involved in your politics,” I said, wanting to change the subject. Not that I was a holy roller, but I was Catholic, an altar boy from South Boston, and I didn’t take to bad-mouthing His Holiness. But our lives were in this guy’s hands, so I didn’t want to fight over religion with him.
“Politics! Listen, Hamil-tone, he calls it politics when Ustashi bastards murder us. Is that how politics goes in America, Mr. Boyle? Knife to throat? Women raped? Sons shot and thrown in pit? Ah, you are a fool. But I hope Nazis no kill you anyway.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I feel the same way. I didn’t know it was that bad in Yugoslavia.”
“The world should know,” Hamilton said. “Tito has raised an army; they’re much more than a guerilla force. He’s fought the Italians, the Germans, the Royalists, Chetniks, and Ustashi, and held them all off.”
“Josip Broz Tito is a great man,” Randic said. “He fights.” We drank to Tito as the diesel engine growled to life and the boat began to move.
“Tell me about the Pope and the Ustashi,” I said. “What does he have to do with them?”
“You tell, Hamil-tone,” Randic said, emptying the bottle into his glass. “I drink.”
“The Vatican doesn’t have diplomatic ties with the Ustashi puppet state,” Hamilton began. “But the Pope granted the prime minister, Ante Paveli? an audience when Mussolini and Hitler put him in power after the fall of Yugoslavia. The archbishop in Sarajevo, Ivan saric, is a pure fascist. Plus, there are many priests active among the Ustashi, from Paveli?’s bodyguards to those running his concentration camps.”
“Ivan saric,” Kaz said. “He’s the bishop who writes horrible poetry, isn’t he?”
“He butchers both words and people,” Randic said.
“Yeah, he runs the Catholic newspapers in Sarajevo, so he can print whatever he wants. Poems about the magnificence of Hitler, about money-grubbing Jews, the joy of forced conversions of Serbians-all terrible stuff,” Hamilton said.
